- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (31 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140256776
- ISBN-13: 978-0140256772
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,317,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Special Investigator Ding Gou'er is dispatched to the Republic of Wine to investigate rumours of cannibalism. Beginning his mission at the mining company, he soon encounters Diamond Jin whose legendary capacity to hold liqour seems to hide a fondness for darker appetites. Then, at a banquet served in his honour, Ding Gou'er partakes of a dish - the memory of which is confused by an alcoholic fog - he will come to regret eating...In this hypnotic narrative, Mo Yan spins tales of terrible creatures - a dwarf, a scaly demon, a troupe of small boys raised for eating and a cookery teacher who primes her students with monstrous recipes.
About the Author
Regarded as one of China's finest writers, Mo Yan is the author of Red Sorghum, which was made into a highly successful feature film, and The Garlic Ballads which was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1995.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
having never read the novel nor seen the movie "red sorghum", i didn't know what to expect from mo yan, especially since this was an english translation of his modern chinese work. i have to admit, after reading the last sentence, i was dumb-founded as to how i felt about the book --- you'll see what i mean when you come across the last sentence.
i normally don't fancy being drunk nor being in a mind-state that is conducive to hallucinations and paranoia, but i still enjoyed this book. i read "republic of wine" as an open-minded twenty-something chinese-american, so i understood and coped with a lot of the translations (rather well, i think, probably better than most western readers). to me, it was a good story, albeit a little weird at times and lacking a little closure at the end. at other times, it was a bit wordy, overly dense with imagery and queer diction that i optimistically attributed to the translation into english. the premise of the story seemed original to me, but i got lost on a number of occasions due to the style the author chose to write his story.
if you're looking for a happy-ending story, move along. however, if you're looking for a thought-provoking tale (or two?) that makes you think on a myriad of levels, for good reasons and bad, this is certainly a good candidate.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
A deliciously sarcastic satire of China's corruption
30 Aug 2001
Format:Paperback
Mo Yan well-deserves his reputation among those in the know as one of modern China's most wonderfully wry writers, as this discomfiting yet compelling novel attests.
Republic of Wine's strength is in its evocative, viciously funny descriptions and depictions and in the symbolic social implications they raise. Centered around a fictitious province in China named Liquorland, the novel portrays China's obsession with food and drink and skewers the extremes to which it is taken by the wealthy and the politically connected (which are often one and the same). There is an expression in Chinese "Chi-he-wan-le" literally "Eat-Imbibe-Play-Joy". In ancient China, the landed and the literati had elaborate rituals and cultures surrounding the consumption of delicacies and fine liquor, which were mingled with the higher arts such as poetry composition, calligraphy, painting, and music. The Cultural Revolution attacked such traditions (among other things), and in its aftermath the finer points disappeared, leaving only its cruder translation: gluttony. Many Chinese know of few entertainments besides food and booze. A Chinese banquet is a grandiose affair, aimed at wasting expensive food and flaunting one's wealth. The higher level the revelers, and the bigger the favors the host is trying to earn, the more obscenely wasteful the dishes. Especially in the 1980s, when government corruption peaked, wining and dining was a popular form of bribery that took a chunk out of the Chinese treasury to the tune of billions of dollars per year. Republic of Wine is beautifully biting in its spoofing of this food obsession, which includes a craving for ever more exotic and expensive foods to impress ones guests with, here taken to the frighteningly logical extreme of serving up braised infants. Mo Yan also mocks the farcical attempt of Chinese men to prove their dubious machismo by "bottoms-upping" toast after toast: the last one standing is the "real man".
Republic of Wine's strength is in its evocative, viciously funny descriptions and depictions and in the symbolic social implications they raise. Centered around a fictitious province in China named Liquorland, the novel portrays China's obsession with food and drink and skewers the extremes to which it is taken by the wealthy and the politically connected (which are often one and the same). There is an expression in Chinese "Chi-he-wan-le" literally "Eat-Imbibe-Play-Joy". In ancient China, the landed and the literati had elaborate rituals and cultures surrounding the consumption of delicacies and fine liquor, which were mingled with the higher arts such as poetry composition, calligraphy, painting, and music. The Cultural Revolution attacked such traditions (among other things), and in its aftermath the finer points disappeared, leaving only its cruder translation: gluttony. Many Chinese know of few entertainments besides food and booze. A Chinese banquet is a grandiose affair, aimed at wasting expensive food and flaunting one's wealth. The higher level the revelers, and the bigger the favors the host is trying to earn, the more obscenely wasteful the dishes. Especially in the 1980s, when government corruption peaked, wining and dining was a popular form of bribery that took a chunk out of the Chinese treasury to the tune of billions of dollars per year. Republic of Wine is beautifully biting in its spoofing of this food obsession, which includes a craving for ever more exotic and expensive foods to impress ones guests with, here taken to the frighteningly logical extreme of serving up braised infants. Mo Yan also mocks the farcical attempt of Chinese men to prove their dubious machismo by "bottoms-upping" toast after toast: the last one standing is the "real man".
Mo's winding, rambling narrative is the book's only shortcoming, which may be deliberate as it flirts with assertions that it was written under the influence. In some ways, the surrealism and sarcasm are overplayed to a degree that makes it difficult to become very involved in the stories. In that regard, it reminds me of the stories of Wang Shuo; the similarity may be partially due to the esteemed Howard Goldblatt, who translated both of Wang's English versions as well as Republic of Wine.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
This Guy is Amazing
29 Mar 2000
Format:Hardcover
This has been an excellent book. He is by far the best writer in China today and I hope he receives his deserved acclaim from the international literary world one day.
Mo Yan is a great and creative talent...this is an absolutely bizarre book where he displays his profound imagination. He completely condemns the ostentatious consumption of China's corrupt ruling elite and their total, chilling disregard for the lower strata off which they consume. I see the book as a metaphor of the unchecked growth in wealth and power of this elite since the economic reforms.
The main reason I admire Mo Yan is because he is an absolutely fearless writer. He is never afraid to take creative risks; he does so in each book and this gives him a style truly his own. The scatological humor, references to dogs, reptiles, apes and donkeys; through the ugliest specimens of nature he alludes to the human condition. Li Yidou's fight with his wife in the chapter 'Cooking Lesson', where in his eyes she degenerates into an ever more grotesque series of images is a case in point: 'her stumpy little fists, which looked like donkey hooves'; 'like a footless person wearing shoes, she was actually wearing a bra', etc. Hilarious, yet nauseating.
I can't wait for his next novel.
Oh yeah, and the translation by Howard Goldblatt is dead on. Truly excellent, and you can tell he is completely in tune with Mr. Mo's agenda.
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