New Nationalisms

New Yorker Review by John Updike

The University of Iowa is delighted to welcome back Su Tong, who will be reading from his novel My Life as Emperor.

"From the celebrated author of Raise the Red Lantern comes a spellbinding novel about life in the imperial court of a child emperor."Hyperion

Penguin India has published a special Indian release of Su Tong's My Life as Emperor. The following is PI's description of the novel.

Opening with a child's ascension to the throne of the Xie Empire, Su Tong's latest novel is a historical tour de force. Charting courtly life, he vividly evokes many characters - the concubines, eunuchs, advisers and protectors - but it is the portrait and narration of the tale by the child emperor, a boy of few talents who is suddenly thrust into a position of power, which is most compelling. Constantly facing a threat from the two step-brothers who covet his position, and unsure of the intentions of his mysterious grandmother, Lady Huangfu, his rule is characterised by fear, incompetence and his own unchecked cruelty.

Can the child ruler gain a greater understanding of human existence and compassion and stave off the curse that haunts him - or will his rule ultimately be recorded as one of slaughter, decadence and failure?

An extraordinary and chilling dramatisation of the dark side of nation-building, Su Tong's latest novel is above all a brilliant exploration of the complexities and failings of human nature.

Please also check out the following links:
Excerpt from the article Wounded Words: Scar Literature: "...the avant-garde short stories of the mid-1980s (Yu Hua's The Past and the Punishments or Su Tong's The Escape of 1934) tended to address the question of historical memory or lack thereof in an increasingly commercial modern era, rather than detail actual events of the Cultural Revolution."

Su Tong Interprets Madame Bovary at the Shanghai Library

Review of Raise the Red Lantern, the Ballet