{"product_id":"soft-burial-9780231214995","title":"Soft Burial","description":"\u003cp\u003eFang Fang's \u003ci\u003eSoft Burial\u003c\/i\u003e begins with a mysterious, nameless protagonist. Decades earlier she was pulled out of a river in a state of near-death; upon regaining consciousness, she discovered that her entire memory had been erased. The narrative follows her journey through recovery as she takes a job as a housekeeper in the home of a powerful cadre, marries the doctor who saved her, and starts a family of her own. As the story unfolds, the protective cocoon of amnesia that her subconscious wove around her begins to give way, revealing glimpses of her previous life and the unspeakable trauma that she suffered. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSoft Burial\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most remarkable--and most controversial--recent works of Chinese literature. Part mystery, part historical fiction, and part social exposé, the novel intercuts different generations, regions, and time periods. First published in 2016, \u003ci\u003eSoft Burial \u003c\/i\u003einitially received critical acclaim but soon faced a wave of denunciations and was taken off the shelves of bookstores throughout China. Fang Fang challenged the unspoken rules that govern how Chinese writers portray the past by depicting the human costs of the Land Reform Campaign in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and she was attacked for expressing sympathy toward members of the \"landlord class.\" An intimate portrait of historical trauma and the psychological toll of repressed violence, \u003ci\u003eSoft Burial\u003c\/i\u003e is a landmark in contemporary Chinese fiction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFang Fang is the pen name of Wang Fang, one of contemporary China's most celebrated writers. Her books in English include \u003ci\u003eThe Running Flame\u003c\/i\u003e, also translated by Michael Berry. Fang Fang's account of the COVID-19 lockdown in her hometown, \u003ci\u003eWuhan Diary\u003c\/i\u003e, was translated into twenty languages and garnered critical acclaim from major media outlets around the world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMichael Berry is professor of contemporary Chinese cultural studies and director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. A Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author of several books, including \u003ci\u003eJia Zhangke on Jia Zhangke\u003c\/i\u003e (2022) and \u003ci\u003eTranslation, Disinformation, and\u003c\/i\u003e Wuhan Diary (2022). He is also the translator of numerous books, including Fang Fang's \u003ci\u003eWuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City\u003c\/i\u003e (2020).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51183550267666,"sku":"9780231214995","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ec197fe5-8330-44c7-8e96-db2f70230539.jpg?v=1744469653","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/soft-burial-9780231214995","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}