Yan’s insightful essays show how attempts to control history and society can be countered by memory and imagination.
An acclaimed Chinese author discusses censorship, artistic independence, and the importance of good writing.
Yan Lianke (b. 1958), one of China’s most prolific and imaginative authors, has won global praise for his novels and stories. He is also an outstanding essayist, as this collection—which “arose out of a series of lectures that the author gave during a trip to North America in the spring of 2014”—amply demonstrates. Much of Yan’s fiction has a labyrinthine strangeness to it; in fact, one of the most interesting pieces here is his acceptance speech for the 2014 Franz Kafka Prize. This tone and approach give him the latitude to be critical of government policies without being direct or strident, although much of his output has been censored anyway (he is often described as China’s most censored author). In several of the essays, Yan examines the Chinese government’s suppression of discussion about social traumas and policy failures in favor of relentlessly positive news. The result is a sort of enforced amnesia, and the author notes that the younger generation has little knowledge of the country’s real history. Despite his great concerns and the recurring themes of his novels, he does not like to be seen as an overtly political writer. His desire, he writes, is to produce novels and stories that are well written and meaningful. Despite the age of these pieces, they seem remarkably fresh, timely and relevant, and the texts serve as a solid introduction to Yan’s fiction, as well as a clear-minded commentary on Chinese society and the place of literature within it. The volume includes an introduction by translator Rojas, who has worked with Yan for many years.
Yan’s insightful essays show how attempts to control history and society can be countered by memory and imagination.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9781478030393
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Duke Univ.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
For those satisfied with blame-the-victim tidbits of received wisdom.
The noted conservative economist delivers arguments both fiscal and political against social justice initiatives such as welfare and a federal minimum wage.
A Black scholar who has lived through many civil rights struggles, Sowell is also a follower of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, who insisted that free market solutions are available for every social problem. This short book begins with what amounts to an impatient declaration that life isn’t fair. Some nations are wealthy because of geographical advantages, and some people are wealthy because they’re smarter than others. “Some social justice advocates may implicitly assume that various groups have similar developed capabilities, so that different outcomes appear puzzling,” he writes. In doing so, he argues, they fail to distinguish between equal opportunity and equal capability. Sowell is dismissive of claims that Black Americans and other minorities are systematically denied a level playing field: Put non-white kids in charter schools, he urges, and presto, their math scores will zoom northward as compared to those in public schools. “These are huge disparities within the same groups, so that neither race nor racism can account for these huge differences,” he writes, clearly at pains to distance himself from the faintest suggestion that race has anything to do with success or failure in America. At the same time, he isn’t exactly comfortable with the idea that economic inequalities exist, and he tries to finesse definitions to suit his convictions: “The terms ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ are misleading in another and more fundamental sense. These terms apply to people’s stock of wealth, not their flows of income.” As for crime? Give criminals more rights, he asserts, as with Miranda v. Arizona, and crime rates go up—an assertion that overlooks numerous other variables but fits Sowell’s ideological slant.
For those satisfied with blame-the-victim tidbits of received wisdom.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781541603929
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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