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Yan Lianke

    August 24, 1958

    Yan Lianke is a Chinese author renowned for his satirical lens on contemporary China. His works, often provocative and critical of societal ills, delve into sensitive subjects, leading to some of his most celebrated pieces being banned within China. Lianke's style is marked by its raw, sometimes bizarre, approach that compels readers to confront the absurdities of life. Despite controversies, his literature has garnered global acclaim for its depth and unflinching exploration of Chinese realities.

    Yan Lianke
    The explosion chronicles
    The Four Books
    Three Brothers
    Hard like water
    Discovering Fiction
    Dream of Ding Village
    • 2024

      World-renowned author of novels, short stories, and essays Yan Lianke describes his literary project, reflects on censorship in China, and his perspectives on life, writing, and literary history.

      Sound and Silence
    • 2023

      Set in a religious training center in Beijing, this novel explores the unexpected romance between a Buddhist nun and a Daoist priest. Through their relationship, the story delves into themes of spirituality, love, and the complexities of belief, all while showcasing the author's sharp satirical style. The narrative promises to blend humor and poignant moments, highlighting the characters' struggles with their faith and societal expectations.

      Heart Sutra
    • 2022

      Après avoir attendu pendant dix ans, j'ai senti un jour que je pouvais écrire Elles. J'ai écrit leurs larmes, leurs rires, leurs silences et leurs fureurs. J'ai écrit leurs souffrances tues et leurs prises de conscience. Pour l'écrire, j'ai employé toutes mes forces, ma sincérité, mon amour et ma compréhension des êtres, tout le respect et l'estime que je porte à ces femmes nées êtres humains. C'est à sa mère, à ses sœurs, à ses tantes et aux femmes de son village que Yan Lianke pense en écrivant. Des femmes résistantes qui conjurent la misère en chantant, dont les magnifiques portraits se tissent de souvenirs d'enfance et d'analyses sur l'amour, le mariage et la condition des femmes dans la Chine rurale. Car ces femmes qui l'ont aimé et ont façonné son existence d'homme et d'écrivain, Yan Lianke est convaincu qu'elles ont été injustement oubliées, effacées de la mémoire des hommes. Ce livre profondément émouvant est né de sa volonté de leur rendre hommage et de leur donner une visibilité qu'elles n'ont jamais eue.

      Elles
    • 2022

      Eminent Chinese novelist Yan Lianke offers insights into his views on literature and realism, the major works that inspired him, and his theories of writing.

      Discovering Fiction
    • 2021

      A breakneck adventure story following the erotic love affair of party cadres Aijun and Hongmei during China's Cultural RevolutionOn his return to his village in the Balou Mountains, soldier Gao Aijun sees a young woman wandering barefoot along the railway tracks in the warm late-afternoon sun.

      Hard like water
    • 2020

      Chronicling the extraordinary lives of his father and two uncles, as well as his own, this book is a celebration of the power of one family to hold together in the most punishing of circumstances. Sharply alive to the cyclical nature of history, and the power of familial guilt, it also shows how the pen can be a route to freedom

      Three Brothers
    • 2018
    • 2016

      With the Yi River on one side and the Balou Mountains on the other, the village of Explosion was founded a thousand years ago by refugees fleeing a volcanic eruption. But in the post-Mao era, the name takes on a new significance as the rural community grows explosively from a small village to a town to a city to a vast megalopolis. Behind this rapid expansion are three rival families. Linked together by a web of ambition, madness and greed, the four Kong brothers; Zhu Ying, the daughter of the former village chief; and Cheng Qing, who starts out as a secretary and goes on to become a powerful political and business figure, transform their hometown into a Babylon of modern times -- an unrivalled urban superpower built on lies, sex and thievery. Brimming with absurdity, intelligence and wit, The Explosion Chronicles considers the high stakes of passion and power, the consequences of corruption and greed, the dynamics of love and hate, as well as the seemingly boundless excesses of capitalist culture. 'One of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung Chang 'One of Chinaâe(tm)s most successful writers . . . [Yan Lianke] writes in the spirit of the dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich, who observed that "reality and satire are the same"' Evan Osnos, New Yorker

      The explosion chronicles
    • 2014

      Une terrible sécheresse contraint la population d'un petit village de montagne à fuir vers des contrées plus clémentes. Incapable de marcher des jours durant, un vieil homme demeure, en compagnie d'un chien aveugle, à veiller sur un unique pied de maïs. Dès lors, pour l'aïeul comme pour la bête. chaque jour vécu sera une victoire sur la mort. Ce livre est d'une force et d'une beauté à la mesure de cette plaine couronnée de montagnes dénudées où flamboie un soleil omniprésent. Le roman de Yan Lianke est un hymne à la vie. La fragilité et la puissance de la vie, et la volonté obstinée de l'homme de la faire germer, de l'entretenir, d'en assurer la transmission. C'est un acte de foi, aux confins du conte et du chant, à la langue comme jaillie de la nuit des temps ou des profondeurs les plus intimes de l'être.

      Les jours, les mois, les années