Golden Age - Wang Xiaobo, Yan Yan (Translator)
Wang Xiaobo, Yan Yan (Translator)
Category: Novel
Narrator: Brian Nishii
Tags: Novel, General Fiction, Adults, Literature
Like Gary Shteyngart or Michel Houellebecq, Wang Xiaobo is a Chinese literary icon whose satire forces us to reconsider the ironies of history., Wang Er, a twenty-one-year-old ox herder, is shamed by the local authorities and forced to write a confession of his crimes, but he instead takes it upon himself to write a modernist literary tract. Later, as a lecturer at a chaotic, newly built university, Wang Er navigates the bureaucratic maze of 1980s China, boldly writing about the Cultural Revolutions impact on his life and those around him. Finally, alone and humbled, Wang Er must come to terms with the banality of his own existence., But what makes this novel both hilarious and important is Xiaobos use of the awkwardness of sex as a metaphor for all that occurred during the Cultural Revolution. This achievement was revolutionary in China and places Golden Age in the great pantheon of novels that argue against governmental control., A leading icon of his generation, Wang Xiaobos cerebra
