Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather - by Gao Xingjian (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Precisely detailed and delicately suggestive: the best work of Gao's yet to appear in English translation."--Kirkus Reviews

A collection of six exquisite short stories from Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. These beautifully translated stories take as their themes the fragility of love and life, and the haunting power of memory.

In "The Temple," the narrator's acute and mysterious anxiety overshadows the delirious happiness of an outing with his new wife on their honeymoon. In "The Cramp" a man narrowly escapes drowning in the sea, only to find that no one even noticed his absence. In the title story the narrator attempts to relieve his homesickness only to find that he is lost in a labyrinth of childhood memories.

Everywhere in this collection are powerful psychological portraits of characters whose unarticulated hopes and fears betray the never-ending presence of the past in their present lives.

From the Back Cover

These six stories by Nobel Prize winner Gao Xingjian transport the reader to moments where the fragility of love and life, and the haunting power of memory, are beautifully unveiled. In "The Temple," the narrator's acute and mysterious anxiety overshadows the delirious happiness of an outing with his new wife on their honeymoon. In "The Cramp," a man narrowly escapes drowning in the sea, only to find that no one even noticed his absence. In the titlestory, the narrator attempts to relieve his homesickness only to find that he is lost in a labyrinth of childhood memories.

Everywhere in this collection are powerful psychological portraits of characters whose unarticulated hopes and fears betray the never-ending presence of the past in their present lives.

Review Quotes

"For all their elusiveness, these impressionistic sketches have an austere power." -- New York Times Book Review

"Dreamlike ... the force of Gao's imagination is spellbinding." -- San Jose Mercury News

"A collection of superb short stories that deftly experiment with language and narrative form ... the elegant simplicity of [Gao's] meditations on memory, loss, and love ache beautifully with a melancholic desire to understand the past... immensely rewarding and enriching." -- Rocky Mountain News

"[Gao's] narrators walk as if in a dream through a private landscape of memory and sensation." -- Boston Globe

"Beautiful." -- Village Voice

"Precisely detailed and delicately suggestive: the best work of Gao's yet to appear in English translation." -- Kirkus Reviews

"These spare, evocative pieces. . . offer a sample of Nobel-winner Gao's sharp, poetic early work." -- Publishers Weekly