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Summary: Bridge Between the Spirit and the Flesh
Review: I thought Soul Mountain was one of the most stunning,provocative books I have ever read. It had my total attention from the first paragraph.I found myself periodically closing the book and just staring at the cover, musing to myself,"How did he write this? How brilliant and unique this writing style is." The translation-not speaking Chinese I have no idea if the translation was accurate poetically, emotionally or literally- but if Mabel Lee has made up her own work on Soul Mountain through a poor translation (as some of your reviewers suggested, I say, I can't wait to read more of Mabel Lee.I have recommended this book to everyone I know and purchased it for scores of people. I consider it to be a brilliant cross-over journeybetween spirit and flesh and China and the West. I have re-read entire sections over and over, and each time enjoy it as much as the first reading. I eagerly await Gao Xingjian's next book.
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Summary: A masterpiece about being human
Review: I found Soul Mountain to be one of those unique works of literature that immediately identifies itself as great for inexplicable reasons. I cannot compare this book to any other, either in terms of narrative sytle or content. Nonetheless, it is one of the most meaningful reflective texts I have read. It is about the author's journey of self-discovery, but along the way, you may have your own. Given a reprieve from death when his diagnosis of lung cancer is rescinded and forced to leave Beijing due to threats of political imprisonment, the autobiographical narrator I travels throughout interior China documenting traditional folk songs and seeking a state of being in which he can give free rein to his artistic expression. In a series of unconnected episodes, I tells of his encounters with forest rangers, Buddhist and Daoist monastics, government workers, keepers of the traditions of ethnic minorities, and his own childhood memories. As he tells these stories, I decries the destruction of traditional culture for the sake of "progress" under the Communist regime but mourns the weight culture places on individual freedom. I longs to return to a wild, primal state but is rebuffed by the callous indifference of raw nature. I's story is that of trying to reconcile these conflicting ideas of what it is good for the self to become. Interleaved with I's story is the story of you, who in metaphor with I's own journey, is traveling to the mythical mountain Lingshan (Soul Mountain). Early in his journey, you gains a traveling companion, she. The interaction between you and she becomes frightening portrayal of how men and women can trap each other in a relationship neither wants, and how easy it is to do so. Eventually you frees himself of she and resumes his journey to Lingshan, but his experiences are not again the same. Experimental fiction always walks a fine line between narrating in an unorthodox way that is nonetheless perfect for telling the particular story being told and narrating in a way that is such a distortion of traditional narrative that the reader cannot follow. It took me a few (short) chapters to acclimate myself to the interplay between pronouns, to Gao's storytelling mode that is half travelogue and half metaphor, but once acquainted with it, I found it unique but very readable. The story is almost its own tutor in how to read it. There's a point about 300 pages in where both I's and you's stories undergo major changes, and the narrative style here changes a bit too, and I was lost again for a few chapters. This is unfortunate because I felt this section of the book was one of the most important and I missed a lot here, but even a re-read didn't help. The vast majority of the book though, is very lucid. Gao's prose defies adjectives. It is haunting, multilayered, deeply symbolic, almost a mirror of the self. I've placed this book in my stack of things to read again in ten years, books that become reflections of one's own experience and should be re-read to see what new insights appear as that experience changes.
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Summary: barriers
Review: Like so many fine foreign novels, language and cultural barriers are so difficult to overcome that even brilliant translations would not do the job.
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Summary: Great High Literary Art from China's Finest Living Writer
Review: I must admit that this isn't an easy book to read, especially if you are accustomed to reading memoirs or novels with simple, linear plots. Yet those who are patient will be rewarded with Mr. Gao's splendid prose - in a fine English translation from Australian scholar Mabel Lee - and insightful look at contemporary rural China. The unnamed narrator embarks on a quest for "Lingshan", or translated literally as "Soul Mountain" through the Chinese countryside. Along the way he will stumble on Chinese archaeological sites, meet with wildlife conservation biologists and discuss the country's endangered wildlife, and reflect on lost loves and meetings with various Chinese women. The novel can be best seen as a spiritual quest undertaken by the narrator, interested in renewing his life after being diagnosed with a life-threatening cancer. I can certainly understand why this novel was worthy of a Nobel Prize for literature; it is the finest novel I've read by a modern Chinese writer.
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Summary: The Dogs Barking, the Sun Shining, the Love of Woman
Review: Here is a story I find helpful in illustrating this complex, insightful book. It is taken from Rickard and Thuan's book, titled "The Quantum and the Lotus"(p232) A 19th Century Tibetan hermit named Patrul had a disciple named Lungtok. Lngtok was having difficulty learning to meditate. One evening while they were outside the monastery overlooking the mountains, Patrul caqlled Lungtok to him and said "Didn't you tell me you don't understand the nature of the mind?" "Yes", Lungtok replied.Patrul asked Lungtok to lie next to him and asked "Can you her the monastery dogs barking"? "Yes" "Can you see the stare shining?" "Yes", "Well" said Patrul, "that's meditation." Shortly after receiving this lesson Luntok received understanding and enlightenment. Soul Mountain is the story of a spiritual quest. After the narrator learns that he had been wrongly diagnosed with lung cancer, and following prosecution by the Chinese communist authorities as a "rightist", the narrator leaves Peking -- destination and purpose obscure. He decides to try to find an obscure mountain called Lingshan or soul mountain. In the process of his lengthy journey, he travels through remote areas of China where he meets a variety of people, hears Chinese folk, songs, sees archeological sites, learns about Chinese animals and searches. The search motive is common in religion and literature. The goal is not set out at the beginning but the narrator seeks to come to a degree of self-understanding and to remove sorrow through reflection and the loosening of attachments. In the process of his lonely journey the narrator develops personnae, or alter egos. He begins to refer to himself at times as "he" and then there is a young woman lover, a "she". This does not make for clear, easy reading, but it is an appropriate technique for a book which tries to teach about the self. The narrator does not claim to be religious. Nevertheless, the book for me has a strong Buddhist background. Gao has obviously thought deeply about and been influenced by Buddhism. This influence pervades the book and its reflections. It is most pronounced, however, in the visits to the Buddhist and Daoist monastaries of the narrator and in his discussions with Buddhist and Daoist monks and nuns. For all the virtues of the search the narrator finds he needs companionship and human society. In particular he needs the society of women and he craves sexual relationships. We hear of many of the narrators sexual relationships along his way together with his reflections on "he" and "she". This is a book that talks eloquently of the force of human erotic passion and of the centrality of that passion to the relationship between men and women. The Buddha would understand. In a famous text he observes: "Monks, I don't knop of even one other form that stays in a man's mind and consumes it like the form of a woman... The touch of a woman stays in a man's mind and consumes it. Monks, I don't know of even one other form that stays in a woman's mind and consumes it like the form of a man. ... The touch of a man stays in a woman's mind and consumes it." Our narrator finds he cannot abandon his sexuality and opts for human society over the life of a recluse. This decision does not to me indicate a rejection of spiritual (or Buddhist) values but rather a placement of them in the context of ongoing human reality. Also the narrators decision to live without meaning seems to me to indicate an agreement with Buddhist teachings of dispassion, selflessness and non-attachment. It is, in the words of Meister Eckhart which many find parallel to Buddhist teachings, "Living without a Why." There is some acceptance of the spiritual values of the Buddhist recluse brought to bear upon living in the everyday. This, I think, is a teaching the book shares with the Tibetan story with which this review begins. Many people in the West who for whatever reason find themselves unable to accept western theistic religions have explored Buddhism and other eastern religions for whatever guidance they may provide in living a spiritual life outside the boundaries of a traditional Western faith. In his books, the Dalai Lama, for example, speaks of a "secular spirituality" which uses insights of self-reflection, compassion, and self-kowledge as a means which may be open to many people independently of their religious belief or lack of religious belief. I think Soul Mountain is a book with many of the same themes. People who have thought about spirituality and who are not afraid to experiment with the unfamilar will feel at home with this difficult but highly worthwhile book.
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Summary: Very, very badly translated
Review: I'm an Overseas Chinese and reading this book in English just seemed so weird because the ideas and style in which he writes is very very Chinese. The translator doesn't even stop (or footnote) in order to truely differenciate say between the use of 'Lao Gong' as opposed to 'Zhang Fu'. They mean the same thing (husband) but the subtle differences make a hell lot in such a poetic book. My conclusion is that it's a really badly translated book where all the magic is lost. I can't imagine a non-Chinese person reading it and truely getting the full impact of it. I just hope the Nobel organization did not award him the prize based on this book or translations of such poor quality. Otherwise I can't help but question if it was all just a matter of "First Chinese to win the Nobel literature prize" card that was behind the decision. Skip this book, you're better off with Nien Cheng
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Summary: A laborious journey, with no end in sight
Review: Having seen the glowing reviews and the "Nobel Prize" stamp on the book cover, I wasn't necessarily expecting an easy read, but a rewarding one. About a third of the way through, I am finding this book nearly unreadable. Much has been made of the different narrative voices used, and indeed the "I" and "You" perspectives invite the reader to experience the author's journey in different ways. Unfortunately, the author saddles "You" with a very annoying companion in the form of "She," and has "You" tell her stories that I assume are adaptations of Chinese folk tales, but don't resonate much with this American reader. I give the book 2 stars instead of 1 because some of the "I" narrator's experiences are fairly interesting if overly repetitive, and because I suspect that some of my difficulty with the book stems from my own unfamiliarity with Chinese culture.
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Summary: Painful
Review: It's been a long time since I unwittingly subjected myself to such pain. I began reading this book with such high hopes. I carefully read the glowing reviews and the introduction. After the purchase, it was a quick slide downhill. Despite my patience with the book and the seemingly acclaimed author & playwrite, I found myself dreading my trek on Soul Mountain. I scratch my head in confusion each time I look at the front cover imprint for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Was this the result of a bad press run? The book sits on my bookshelf as a reminder that you can't always judge a book by its cover.
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Summary: Read this book backwards.
Review: When long novels have a reputation for telling a good story in a compelling way, I allow the first 100 pages to engage me (Shipping News, Remains of the Day). After 250 labored pages in Soul Mountain and increasing annoyance with the author, I decided to read the last chapter in hopes of finding a finite ending or a clue that would tell me I had missed something of import in the intervening pages. I found neither. However, the novelty of reading a book backwards amused me so I read as far as the famous Chapter 72 (or was it 74?) in which a critic decries the writings as "not a novel at all," and proceeds to describe the book's many shortcomings. Finding myself in complete agreement, I happily closed the cover. Reading all the glowing reviews posted here has not changed my mind.
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Summary: Difficult, Demanding, Rewarding (in part)
Review: This novel by the Nobel prize winner Gao Xingjian is one of the most difficult I've read in a long time. The "plot" is simple; having received a new lease on life after an erroneous cancer diagnosis, the author undertakes a journey to the mythical "Lingshan", a mountain which may exist in reality, but more probably represents a spiritual goal. Each of the 81 chapters exists in a space all its own--there are beautiful stories of the author's journey, legends of long ago, vignettes of village life in a world that tourists never see. For Western readers, the issue is that it doesn't hang together in a coherent way--the narrator himself is an "I", a "You", a "He", and perhaps even a "She". Episodes begin but don't conclude. The narrative is never chronological. I was relieved when I got to Chapter 72, a discussion between the novelist and a reviewer or agent. To paraphrase: "This isn't a novel..a novel must have a complete story...there must be a protagonist..the author says: "It's Eastern."..The critic says: "Yours is much worse than Eastern! You've slapped together travel notes, moralistic ramblings, feelings, notes, jottings, untheoretical discussions, unfable-like fables, copied out some folk songs, added some legend like nonsense of your own invwention, and are calling it fiction!" The author is confused after this exchange--he writes out of loneliness, not to earn a livelihood. As a reader, I was comforted--the author obviously understands that he has defied the literary conventions and written only for himself. Do I recommend this book? Hard to say. Accept it for what it is--pick it up, and read a few chapters for the exquisite writing; don't worry about who "I" and "You" and "She" and "He" are. Appreciate the simplicity of the life the author portrays. Don't worry about chronology or factual accuracy. Isn't that what the East is all about?
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