Embed Notice

The Chinese writer Fang Fang’s first novel was published in 1982 and for the best part of 40 years, she made her living as a writer, including winning national awards for her work. Then came COVID-19. Her public lockdown diary, “fengcheng riji,” published on her Weibo (microblog) account, became a phenomenon, and made her a target for criticism. She’s been called a liar and a traitor, reprints of her backlist of nearly 100 books have been halted, and her new work is effectively banned from publication in China. @nybooks reviews “Soft Burial,” her latest novel (translated by Michael Berry), and finds a story about trauma and survival. “I’ve chosen to forget, while you have chosen to leave a record. But once you record what happened, how will I ever be able to forget?” one character says to another. “Meanwhile the novel itself acts as a site, however small, however incomplete, for remembrance,” writes reviewer Madeleine Thien. [Story may be paywalled]

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/15/killing-memories-soft-burial-fang-fang/

#Books #Bookstodon @bookstodon #Literature #BookReview #Wuhan #COVID19 #China #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday