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Summary: The picture says it all
Review: Gao Xingjian the well known Chinese author and artist here writes of his travels in China after a diagnosis of lung cancer and the persecution of him by the government. With the amazing redemption offered him after a second x-ray allays his fears on the cancer he commences to travel throughout the heart of both China and himself. You could say these are travels of the domain of the self as are of course all travels no matter where you go. This is not so much a novel as a set of experiences both external and internal. At first, the reader is confused by the interchange between what he is doing and the excerpts of conversations with "She" the mysterious woman who he talks to and about, she may be one woman or many this is not made clear although at times it seems there is only one, possibly, the "one". Probably the best way to describe this book is by the stark and beautiful drawing on the cover which encapsulates the fullness of the whole book itself, much like the subtlety of chinese culture and language. The lonely being on the mountain Lingshan, which may or may not be a mountain, perhaps it is a place he seeks which cannot be found as a physical place but rather a place you can go to without ever leaving. At times the book is slow going and some of the conversations become labourious and yet these are compensated by some truly luminous pieces especially when it comes to the conversations with SHE who forms the most important focus of his journey. These conversations are intimate and searching asking much of the author as is the case in real relationships when it comes to the revealing of the innermost parts of the soul. It seems that small trivial sounding things are just that but they usually hide something far more important. Often his life seems completely lost in its cynicism for exmaple She says: "it was you who said that love is an illusion people conjure up to delude themselves, you don't believe in the existence of something called love" and then at other times She notes: "love is stressful and wearisome". The book is full of the contradictions of a human life. Even though the novel comes across sometimes as a life with little hope it does have a germ or spark within it. Life is still worth living afterall and even needs to be lived eg: "I want to stay forever with you on this snowy night. Don't go away don't abandon me. I want cry. I don't know why. Don't abandon me, don't go so far from me...". Unfortunately the subtleties and hidden meanings of the Chinese language and culture become lost in the translation but it is still there between the lines. The picture says it all.
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Summary: Great work
Review: A man travels the length and breadth of China, collecting stories, folk songs, lovers and experience in a search for meaning. This edition of Soul Mountain, described as the author's greatest work
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Summary: search within and see the world
Review: Soul Mountain is a book of travels. it is recollections of author's 15,000 k.m. journey to the remote mountains and villages of unknown China. IT was both an escape from political oppression and seach for the meaning of self. The author seeks to reveal the hidden china and its people. It is a world of magic and secrets. He saw women who knew magic and were experts in seduction. He recorded their songs, prayers and call for spirits. IT IS CHINA WHICH YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN. This is not a novel with a definite plot. The traveller goes to reach the soul mountain. There are I, SHE, YOU, HE only, no names. no characters. The world is a stage and everybody is a character. His prose is beautiful and captivating. Very Moving ,indeed. but you may be perplexed by its mix of real places with fiction. Author's articulations about the role of art and artist are real provocation to the Communist establishment in China. it is a declaration of artist's freedom in a totalitarian society. He asserts the cultural diversity of chinese people also.
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Summary: Why Nobel Prizes are given for an author's entire oeuvre!
Review: The author is the winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Literature, the first Chinese author ever to be so honored. Primarily known for his dramatic works, this somewhat experimental novel, while certainly demonstrating Gao's flair for theatrics, reveals the often Byzantine intricacies of much Asian fiction. This is the story of a character, presumably much like the author himself, on a journey to the titular mountain. As with most fictive sojourns, and in very Joseph Campbellesque patterning, Gao encounters small victories and defeats as he progresses and along the way meets some very bizarre, yet interestingly so, beings like the mythical Wild Men, Daoist masters, and some very intriguing Buddhist nuns. As with many contemporary Asian authors, Gao is often profane and quite graphic in his descriptions; this will quite likely turn away those of tender sensibilities. Still, the book would provide an excellent introduction to Asian novelists.
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Summary: 1st Nobel Laureate in literature from China
Review: My own interest is Japanese women writers in English translation but I read male Japanese authors too, to the extent that I have time. I don't read works by Chinese writers in English translation--no time! But I eagerly bought this book and I have enjoyed reading it. A map of China showing his meandering route would have helped, as would a chronology of Chinese history briefly explaining his references to dynasties and historical personages throughout the book. Gao's commentary about wanton destruction of the environment, as well as of historical and cultural treasures is powerful. His folk stories are very poignant, even funny sometimes. His bureaucrats are hilarious lazy, bumblers. Ok! I don't want to give away anything the reader deserves to experience in the book him or herself. But I will say this, near the end of the book, there are two chapters that it really hurt to read because suddenly I could not empathize with the author/narrator at all. I read in dismay and horror and thought, "How can he be writing this?" Must be a literary device that really worked on me. I will long remember those 2 chapters. One more observation, when he ponders himself as a writer and his opus and his own authorship, or lack thereof, I am reminded of how Cervantes does this in Don Quixote and I wonder why no reviews that I have read remark on this? I give Mabel Lee credit for making Gao's work known to the reader of English. The listings at the end of the book show she has devoted a great deal of her time to Gao's work. I hope to read Bus Stop next.
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Summary: Masterpiece, Shoddy Translation
Review: This English edition of Soul Mountain by the Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian fails to do justice to the orginal. There are simply too many mistakes, too many inaccuracies in the translation. The translation seems to be done by more than one person. Otherwise, how can one explain that a sinologist like Mabel Lee does not know Lao TZu? In her translation, Lao Tzu is translated as someone's "father." Also the term "elevation," which appears many times in the book, is often translated as a proper noun; but it is also correctly translated as "above sea level" in a couple of places. There are other examples of such inconsistencies in the translation. There seems to be a lot of guess work, not proper understanding of the original, in this translation. There are more than one places where a word or phrase the transaltor does not know is simply treated as a proper noun. There are also careless mistakes such as "one million yuan" translated into "one hundred yuan." The original prose of Mr. Gao is lucid, graceful and sensuous. The translation is full of long, involved, awkward sentences, like "It is only when my tape gets to the end and I stop the recorder to change the tape that, panting, that he too comes to a stop." Mr. Gao's work is infused with Chinese culture, history and is full of literary allusions and idioms. To render everything gracefully and faithfully into another language is no easy task. But this does not give a translator excuse or freedom to guess the meaning and create his/her own version. Mr. Gao used a famous saying in Chinese which talks about finding by sheer luck what one has been searching for far and wide. A literal trasnlation of the saying would be "You can wear OUT iron shoes in fruitless searching, and yet by a lucky chance you may find it without even looking for it." Lee's translation is "if you wear OLD iron shoes you won't find it anywhere and to look for it would be a total waste of time." Examples of such inaccuracies or misunderstandings are too numerous to name. It is a shame that such a masterpiece is presented to English readers in such shoddy translation. It deserves a new, better translation.
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Summary: Oy vey, I feel un-intellectual after reading this
Review: Am I just becoming a cranky, cultural reactionary when I say that I want some *story* in a novel? The conditions under which I read "Soul Mountain" were far from ideal, I must admit... I was getting paid to read it (for a movie company) and had to clock in at about a page a minute, with liberal skimming. This is probably the sort of book that rewards a slower perusal. The absence of plot is something the author himself comments on in one of the chapters -- a description of a scene between him and his publisher, who complains that "Soul Mountain" is not a novel because it lacks a narrative through-line and continuing, clearly defined characters. Philistine though I may be, I found myself agreeing with the critic... A quasi-stream-of-consciousness book in which the protagonist is fractured into four subjective selves (one female!) during an epic journey across the mountains of China, "Soul Mountain" can probably be categorized in the same territory as Joyce's "Ulysses" and Proust's "In Seach of Lost Time." I certainly don't want to turn anyone off of reading it... if it got a Nobel prize, it must be good, right? Expect a difficult read, though, unless you are a grad student and eat this sort of thing for breakfast. For myself, though, I'll run back to Tolstoy with my tail between my legs. That way I can get my Great Literature yet still have a ripping good yarn as well. ;-)
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Summary: Worthy of its Nobel Prize
Review: This is a wonderful book. The style and voice(s) used are easy to follow and draw you into the stories and ideas without forcing you to disruptively analyze the author's intent. Mabel Lee should be commended for her translation, which lets the unmistakably Chinese voice shine through while still communicating the message effectively in English.
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Summary: "In the face of misfortune man is nothing."
Review: Alluring, exasperating, frustrating, and interesting: these are only a couple adjectives that often characterize reading Gao Xingjian's SOUL MOUNTAIN. The premise is straightforward but Xingjian's approach tends to bring out the best and worst; either readers are profoundly confused or delightfully entertained. One thing is for certain, this is not the type of book that can be plowed through and digested in a rapid manner, rather one is frequently commanded to slowly ponder the narrative and just let the passages and images sink in. Only in this manner does the true essence of this book shine, in my own experience. The protagonist of SOUL MOUNTAIN is largely autobiographical. After being wrongly diagnosed with lung cancer the protagonist sets out on a soul-searching trip through the remote mountainous southern province of Sichuan. As he wonders through the mountains he is determined to travel to Soul Mountain whose existence is debatable. In his search he meets local people and studies their folk traditions and legends, as would an anthropologist, a writer and an intellectual. Set on the periphery of the Han civilization (ethnic Chinese) these cultures are often subjected to Chinese exclusion and ignorance. What often makes this book a convoluted reading experience is that fact that there is little continuity between the chapters. The narrative jumps around and it is difficult to grasp any type of chronological order. Furthermore, there is little assurance that there aren't multiple narratives in different times and places. At first glance SOUL MOUNTAIN can be ascertained as a jumbled mess with a dreamy-type feel. These aspects might be enough to discourage the reader, but that shouldn't result in the rejection of the book. Patience and deep reflection created a memorable reading experience for me. I recommended this book to others, especially those interested in Chinese or experimental literature.
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Summary: Gao was not unknown in China
Review: I wasn't going to write a review but I thought the following statement in Luis C. Chin's review is quite misleading:"Gao Xingjiang is not representative of Chinese Literature and was an obscure and unknown writer not only in China ... but also in the West." I left China in late 80's. At that time Gao Xingjian was aleady well known among mainland Chinese writers, I was one of them. His fame then was mainly due to his experimental plays. I just want to say that a reviewer should base his/her statements on facts, not on one's own self created myths. Also, the value of a literary work should not depend on the author's fame. I read the Chinese version of "Soul Mountain" and enjoyed it. But I can't comment on the English version which I have not read.
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