Three Leaps of Wang Lun
A Chinese Novel
«“Döblin unfolds a colourful panorama, teeming with characters, changing landscapes and human activity, all revolving around Wang Lun and his ‘Three Leaps,’ the three pivotal moves he makes in his life...Reader prepared to immerse themselves in the noisy, bustling, exotic word of Döblin’s novel will be richly rewarded, for it is a challenging, absorbing and, above all, an entertaining book.” —Times Literary Supplement
"Döblin knew precious little about China when he started his 'big book'; he was mainly attracted by the idea of an entirely exotic non-Western non-modern society, and he researched as he went along. But he caught something very real of that peculiarly bookish tenor of Chinese literature that winds its echoes through much of the vast canon.” —Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly»
Here for the first time in English is Alfred Doeblin's astonishing epic of eighteenth century China, hailed on its publication in 1915 as a master-piece of Expressionist prose, and since recognised to be the first modern German novel. Les mer
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Here for the first time in English is Alfred Doeblin's astonishing epic of eighteenth century China, hailed on its publication in 1915 as a master-piece of Expressionist prose, and since recognised to be the first modern German novel. The Three Leaps of Wang Lun is the story of a doomed sectarian rebellion during the reign of Emperor Ch'ien-lung (1736-1796). It is also the most sustained evocation, in any European language, of a China untouched by the West. Doeblin's imagination, almost hallucinatory in its intensity, brings this China to vivid life. Teeming cities and Tibetan wastes, political intrigue and religious yearning, life at Court and the fate of wandering outcasts are depicted in a language of enormous vigour, unfolding the theme of meekness against force, a mystical sense of the world against the realities of power. This translation for the first time presents the whole work as Doeblin wrote it. The inclusion of the Prologue, dropped from the first German edition and never replaced, restores a unity of structure and theme missing from previous editions. The Introduction places the novel in the context of Doeblin's life and work, the Expressionist movement and the historical background, and discusses its theme and style.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- The Chinese University Press
- Innbinding
- Paperback
- Språk
- Engelsk
- Sider
- 452
- ISBN
- 9789622014701
- Utgivelsesår
- 1991
Anmeldelser
«“Döblin unfolds a colourful panorama, teeming with characters, changing landscapes and human activity, all revolving around Wang Lun and his ‘Three Leaps,’ the three pivotal moves he makes in his life...Reader prepared to immerse themselves in the noisy, bustling, exotic word of Döblin’s novel will be richly rewarded, for it is a challenging, absorbing and, above all, an entertaining book.” —Times Literary Supplement
"Döblin knew precious little about China when he started his 'big book'; he was mainly attracted by the idea of an entirely exotic non-Western non-modern society, and he researched as he went along. But he caught something very real of that peculiarly bookish tenor of Chinese literature that winds its echoes through much of the vast canon.” —Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Monthly»