TY - BOOK AU - Yan,Lianke AU - Rojas,Carlos TI - Sound and silence: my experience with China and literature T2 - Sinotheory SN - 9781478030393 PY - 2024/// CY - Durham PB - Duke University Press KW - Yan, Lianke, KW - Chinese literature KW - History and criticism KW - Criticism KW - China KW - Lectures KW - lcgft KW - Essays KW - Speeches N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; Translator's introduction / Carlos Rojas -- Author's note -- He who has been selected by heaven and life to appreciate darkness -- National amnesia and literary memory -- The abjection of alt China and its literature -- The wild child that is American literature -- My thoughts on literary censorship and controversy -- My literary review book -- The distinctiveness of writing in China -- Fear and betrayal have accompanied me throughout my life -- Writing under a sky of concentrated power and relative laxity -- Living without dignity, but writing with honor -- My ideal Is simply to write a novel that I think is good -- A village's China and literature -- Afterword: Ripping open the dreamscape N2 - "Yan Lianke is a renowned writer of novels, short stories, and essays who became prominent in contemporary Chinese literature through works of fiction and literary criticism in the late 1990s. Yan's writing is provocative and nuanced, engaging Chinese history to highlight the reality of life for the people of China and to analyze the country's contributions to a worldwide literary canon. Working against increasing publication restrictions in China, Yan has sought out publishing opportunities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and in translations from presses around the world. Sound and Silence, inspired by a series of lectures Yan gave during a North American tour and a 2014 acceptance speech for the Franz Kafka prize, encapsulates the author's groundbreaking perspectives on life, writing, and literary history. In these essays, Yan Lianke discusses how he understands his literary project, and particularly the role of literature as social commentary"-- ER -