Comments on: Lijia Zhang’s “Socialism is Great”

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:41:58 +0000

I saw the hardback edition in a bookshop a few months back and it looks fascinating. I’m looking forward to the paperback edition coming out.

By: Lindel

Lindel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:00:34 +0000

An autobiography seems like a very personal activity for a writer, especially if that is their first book.

I would think the comfort of your native language would be very attractive. But maybe she decided writing it in English was a challenge she wanted to make. It is quite an accomplishment for a non-native english speaker to write a book in english that works for a native english audience.

Then there is Joseph Conrad who wrote Heart of Darkness who some consider a great English novelist, but who didn’t learn english until he was in his 20’s and spoke with a heavy polish accent.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:14:11 +0000

The book written in English. Her former husband is a well-known correspondent for a US newspaper, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he helped with some of the polishing. And I do give her leeway - as I said, this was a small thing, but the comparison with Wild Swans was really striking in terms of stylistics and imagery. I think the book is extremely truthful and informative. For great content ‘d give it a 9, for style I’ give it a 7.5.

By: Lindel

Lindel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:03:47 +0000

Was the book written in English or Chinese? One issue you might bring up with some of these chinese authors is the challenge of writing in a language that is not their mother tongue and whether the book would be different if it was written in chinese first and then translated.

Also it seems a certain leeway should be given to those writing autobiographies. It is usually a more personal activity, and not intended as a historical or even expected to have the same discipline of a biographical work.

You do expect a certain level of truthfulness from the author, but should not expect the review of the material before being published to have attended the same level of verification as a biogprahical work.

You expect a general truthfulness, but also expect the story to be told from the point of view of the author, in the end a deeper understanding of the authors own point of view of “blank” is the most one should expect from an autobiography.

By: fatbrick

fatbrick — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:43:48 +0000

Do you notice that some time this webpage will ‘eat’ the first few columns of your articles?

By: tommydickfingers

tommydickfingers — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:09:30 +0000

I met Lijia (and her husband) many years ago in Beijing when they were freelancing. Nice people. I wish her well and will buy the book.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:58:52 +0000

I didn’t see any big deal in her being fingerprinted. It’s simply the last image we have of her in the book, and she doesn’t say what happened next.

By: neil

neil — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:54:41 +0000

Sounds like an interesting book. but, i dont know what the big deal is about her being fingerprinted. The UK government have passed a law that allows them to fingerprint every citizen for the purpose of the ‘national identity register’.

Lijias journey is a abberation, and we have a dark age ahead of us.