Shifu, You'll do Anything for a Laugh
Regular price
€17.50
Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh is a collection of eight compelling short stories written over the past twenty years: surrealistic political fables, ghost stories, tales of failed and perverse love, and stories about the destructive effects of superstition and ignorance. These stories capture the current concerns of the Chinese: lack of income, famine, and the devastating effects of the one-child policy. One particular get-rich-quick scheme involves an unemployed man who decides to convert an abandoned bus into a venue for private trysts which will enable him to charge lovers by the hour.
Mo Yan was born to a peasant family in Shandong, China in 1955. In 1976 he joined the army and it was here that he was educated, first as a librarian, and later at the Army Arts and Literature College. He is still a staff officer in the People's Liberation Army. Despite the audacity of his writing, he has won virtually every national literary prize.