Description
Book SynopsisOver the past twenty years, Chinese novelist Yan Lianke has emerged as one of the most important writers in the world. In
Discovering Fiction, Yan offers insights into his views on literature and realism, the major works that inspired him, and his theories of writing. He juxtaposes discussions of the high realism of Leo Tolstoy and Lu Xun against Franz Kafka’s modernism and Gabriel García Márquez’s magical realism, charting the relationship between causality, truth, and modes of realism. He also discusses his approach to realism, which he terms “mythorealism”—a way of capturing the world’s underlying truth by relying on the allegories, myths, legends, and dreamscapes that emerge from daily life. Revealing and instructive,
Discovering Fiction gives readers an unprecedented look into the mind and art of a literary giant.
Trade Review"Yan’s commentaries on the realist canon emerging over the last several hundred years are consistently insightful and often strikingly illuminating, as in his assessments of how the strongest writers, from Defoe to Turgenev and beyond, have continually shifted readers’ understanding of what counts as reality. . . . A sometimes dense but always discerning consideration of how truth emerges across an impressive array of global literature." * Kirkus Reviews *
"A thought-provoking look at the state of literature, and how it came to pass." * Publishers Weekly *
Table of ContentsTranslator's Introduction. Creating Reality and Surpassing Realism / Carlos Rojas ix
1. Realism's Four Levels of Truth 1
2. Zero Causality 35
3. Full Causality 51
4. Partial Causality 59
5. Inner Causality 83
6. Mythorealism 99
Appendix: Chinese Authors and Works 125
Notes 129
Bibliography 133
Index 137
