Description
Book SynopsisDung Kai-cheung’s
A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On is a playful and imaginative glimpse into the consumerist dreamscape of late-nineties Hong Kong. First published in 1999, it comprises ninety-nine sketches of life just after the handover of the former British colony to China.
Trade ReviewNamed a
New York Times Notable Book. * New York Times Book Review *
Playful and quirky, the sketches reveal Dung’s eye for this particular moment in history, and his vast imagination . . . Documenting a particular place and time, this vibrant and distinctive collection offers a kaleidoscopic vision of that era. -- Weike Wang * New York Times Book Review *
Highly addictive, the equivalent of literary dim sum. * South China Morning Post Magazine *
[These tales] are as relevant today as they were when they were first published in 1999 . . . Feed your inner nostalgia monster some of these surrealist pop-culture bites. * Kirkus Reviews *
Fascinating and refreshing. * Publishers Weekly *
Surreal, comical, and haunting, this short story collection sees magic in everyday items. * Foreword Reviews *
Dung Kai-Cheung is Hong Kong’s greatest novelist. * Three Percent *
Reading Dung Kai-cheung’s
A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On is like descending into a beautiful fever dream of Hong Kong in the late ‘90s. The story collection is both a time capsule, capturing Hong Kong through pop culture references like Hello Kitty and Air Jordans, and an incantation, breathing life into a surreal cast of characters who transform themselves, literally and metaphorically, through their pop culture choices. * Necessary Fiction *
Longtime urban chronicler Dung has achieved rare distinction as one of very few figures writing about Hong Kong to win recognition in world literature. He has done so by turning mundane, unexamined items in all our lives into haunting, near-Shakespearian spiritual forces. * Nikkei Asia *
Dung Kai-cheung’s catalog is a cultural 'thick description' of popular culture filled with dry wit and humor. His sketches are not short stories. He offers flights of fancy. * Asian Review of Books *
These half-allegorical sketches by a uniquely gifted Hong Kong writer bring to us a nostalgic mosaic of the sights and sounds of a city whose cosmopolitan splendor is fast fading. It is even more heart-rending to read them in English today than some twenty years ago when these astonishing literary tidbits first appeared in the Chinese original. -- Leo Ou-fan Lee, author of
City Between Worlds: My Hong KongDung Kai-cheung is Hong Kong’s greatest living writer, and this translation is a cause for celebration, giving global readers another path into his unique, uncanny Hong Kong. May it help bring him the wider international readership that is long overdue. -- Antony Dapiran, author of
City on Fire: The Fight for Hong KongDung Kai-cheung is the most prolific and imaginative Hong Kong writer of the past three decades. His
A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On is a fascinating and singular literary meditation on how “objects” and “stuff” affect people’s everyday lives, create meaning, and contribute to cultural identity. -- Michael Berry, editor of
The Musha Incident: A Reader on the Indigenous Uprising in Colonial TaiwanI read these ninety-nine sketches with a mixture of dreamy fondness and rueful melancholy. Dung Kai-cheung deftly captures the city at a time of fundamental change in this series of offbeat stories, and one couldn’t ask for better translators than Bonnie S. McDougall and Anders Hansson. -- Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, editor in chief of
Cha: An Asian Literary JournalModeled on a remembrance of the Song dynasty capital city after it fell to northern invaders in the twelfth century, these vignettes record dreams of a bygone (yet never quite gone) Hong Kong with wistfulness and humor, translated by McDougall and Hansson with accuracy and elegance. -- Lucas Klein, editor and translator of
Words as Grain: New and Selected Poems of Duo DuoThis publication represents a milestone in broadening the readership of Dung’s work and in fostering the teaching and research of Hong Kong and Sinophone literature. * Asian Studies Review *
Table of ContentsAuthor’s Preface: The Mask
Translators’ Note
1. Agnès b.
2. Cutie Punk
3.
Magpaper4. Hello Kitty
5. Tank Tops
6. Sena’s Piano II
7. IXUS
8. Girl Specimens
9. Che
10.
Pastéis de Nata11. Photo Stickers
12. Football Kits
13. Red Wing
14. Eat as Much as You Like
15. A Bathing Ape
16. Hysteric Glamour
17. Windows 98
18.
non-no19. Konjak Jellies
20. Mebius
21. Combat Trousers
22. Puffy
23. Sony DV
24. Aprons
25. Air Jordan
26. ICQ
27. The Colored Sunglasses
28. Seiko Lukia
29. My Melody
30. Snoopy
31. Panatellas
32. Secondhand Clothes
33. Teletubbies
34. Ha Kam Shing
35. Nokia 8810
36. Camouflage
37. Le Couple
38. Bucket Hats
39. iMac
40. Rolex Daytona
41. Viva Japanese TV Drama
42. Polaroids
43. Lovegety Station
44. Prada
45. StarTAC
46. Colors
47.
Beatmania48. Adidas
49. Gucci
50. Yahoo!
51. Fujifilm Digital Camera
52. Converse Lo Tec
53. Hairpins
54. Cut Sleeves
55. Scarves
56. Animal Prints
57. The Pleated Skirt
58. Miu Miu Flannel
59. Gray
60. The Cockroach
61. The Cowboy Hat
62. Signal Youths
63. H2O+
64. Depsea Water
65. The Patagonia Fleece
66. The Duffel Coat
67. LV Vernis
68. Panasonic DVD
69.
South Park70. Dreamcast
71.
Tomb Raider III72. Sharp MiniDisc Player
73. Burberrys Blue Label
74. MP3
75. Miffy
76. Devon Aoki
77. Motorola Dual Band
78. Cheesecake
79. PalmPilot
80. PN Rouge Suplinic
81.
Final Fantasy VIII82. The Waist Bag
83. Twisted Strands
84. Sunday
85. A Temporary Tattoo
86. The Neck Pouch
87. Cutie Cute & Horribly Horrid
88. 5S
89. Drawstrings
90. The Three Skewer Brothers
91. Khaki
92. White Blouses
93. Ballet Shoes
94. Birkenstock
95. Cargo Shorts
96. Flip-Flops
97. Hiromix
98. Chappies
99. Made in Hong Kong
