Ocean of Words - Stories

Zusatztext "Extraordinary.... [Ha Jin's] laconic! luminouse prose makes Ocean of Words a nearly flawless treasure." — Chicago Tribune "A compelling collection of stories! powerful in their unity of theme and rich in their diversity of styles." — The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary.... [These stories are] shot through with wit and offer glimpses of human motivation that defy retelling.... Read them all." — Boston Globe "An exceptional new talent! capable of wringing rich surprises out of austere materials." — Portland Oregonian Informationen zum Autor Ha Jin left his native China in 1985 to attend Brandeis University. He is the author of the internationally bestselling novel Waiting , which won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the National Book Award, and War Trash , which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize; the story collections The Bridegroom , which won the Asian American Literary Award, Under the Red Flag , which won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, and Ocean of Words , which won the PEN/Hemingway Award; the novels The Crazed and In the Pond ; and three books of poetry. His latest novel, A Free Life is his first novel set in the United States. He lives in the Boston area and is a professor of English at Boston University. War Trash , The Crazed , The Bridegroom , Waiting , In the Pond , and Ocean of Words are available in paperback from Vintage Books. Klappentext Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award The place is the chilly border between Russia and China. The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched for signs of the fatal disease of bourgeois liberalism. In Ocean of Words, the Chinese writer Ha Jin explores the predicament of these simple, barely literate men with breathtaking concision and humanity. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable Russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, Ha Jin's characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest Isaac Babel's Cossacks and Tim O'Brien's GIs. Ocean of Words is a triumphant volume, poignant, hilarious, and harrowing. "A compelling collection of stories, powerful in their unity of theme and rich in their diversity of styles." -New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary. . . . [These stories are shot through with wit and offer glimpses of human motivation that defy retelling. . . . Read them all." -Boston Globe "An exceptional new talent, capable of wringing rich surprises out of austere materials." -Portland OregonianA REPORT Our Most Respected Divisional Commissar Lin: I am writing to report on an event that occurred last Saturday afternoon. Our Reconnaissance Company, the best trained men and the flower of our Second Division, marched through Longmen City to the Western Airport, where we were to do parachute exercises. While we were passing Central Boulevard at the corner of the First Department Store, I ordered Scribe Hsu Fang to start a song with an eye to impressing the pedestrians. He executed the orders, and the whole company began to sing: Good-bye, mother, good-bye, mother- The battle bugle blowing, Steel guns shiny, The outfits on our backs, Our army is ready to go. Please do not weep in secret, Please do not worry about your son. Wait for my triumphant return; I will see you then, my dear mother. . . . . . . . While we were singing, the march suddenly slowed down, and the uniform footsteps of one hundred men...

Product details

• Authors: Ha Jin
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.07.1998
• EAN: 9780375702068
• ISBN: 978-0-375-70206-8
• No. of pages: 224
• Dimensions: 133 mm x 202 mm x 13 mm
• Series: Vintage International; Vintage International
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature