Brothers (Yu novel)

For the William Goldman novel, see Brothers (Goldman novel). For the Gordon R. Dickson short story, see Brothers (Dickson).

Brothers
Volume 1, First Chinese edition
AuthorYu Hua
Original title兄弟（Xiong Di）
TranslatorEileen Cheng-yin Chow and Carlos Rojas
LanguageChinese
PublisherPantheon Books (English); Shanghai Literature (Chinese)
Publication date
2005 (Part 1); 2006 (Part 2)
Publication placeChina
Published in English
2009
Pages656
ISBN978-0-375-42499-1

Brothers (Chinese: 兄弟; pinyin: Xiōngdì) is the longest novel written by the Chinese novelist Yu Hua, in total of 76 chapters, separately published in 2005 for the part 1 (of the first 26 chapters) and in 2006 for part 2 (of the rest 50 chapters) by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.[1] This was Yu Hua's first novel after a decade of dormancy from writing and publishing works.[2] It has over 180 thousand characters in Chinese, more than the 100 thousand characters that were originally planned for the book. It intertwines tragedy and comedy, and Yu Hua himself admits that the novel is personally his favorite literary work.[3] Brothers was a new realm of literature for Yu Hua, with the novel often being described as extremely crude and expletive.[4] Brothers has experienced great success with nearly 1 million copies sold in China.[citation needed] By 2019, Yu Hua's works had been published in 38 countries and translated into 35 different languages.[5] This success may be contributed to his success publicity tour to gain attraction towards the novel after his hiatus from writing.[4] While reception among Chinese critics was generally negative,[6] the novel was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and awarded France's Prix Courrier International in 2008.[7][8] It was translated into English by Eileen Cheng-yin Chow[9] and Carlos Rojas in 2009, a couple from the Middle Eastern department at Duke University.[10]

The story of the novel revolves around the step-brotherhood between protagonists Baldy Li and Song Gang. Their life, both absurd and tragic, throughout China's history from the 1960s to the early period of Chinese Economic Reform serves as the main plot. The division of the novel into two parts is contextually on the basis of the death of Li Lan, the biological mother of Baldy Li and the step-mother of Song Gang. The first part primarily focuses on their childhood, especially during the Cultural Revolution with the collapse of their reorganized family and the tragedy of Song Fanping, the biological father of Song Gang and the step-father of Baldy Li. The second part focuses on their adulthood with different life trajectories, especially during the early period of Chinese Economic Reform that formulates the mixture of absurdity and tragedy.[11]

  1. ^ Rea, Christopher (2011). "Review of Brothers: A Novels". MCLC Resource Center. MCLC Resource Center Publication. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  2. ^ Wang, Baorong; Quan, Yubin (2016). "Reception of Yu Hua's Brothers in the Anglophone World". International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. 4 (3): 3–10.
  3. ^ Yu, Hua (2017). "On Brothers and Chaotic Aesthetics: An Interview with Yu Hua". In Lawrence J. Trudeau (ed.). Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 410. Gale. Literature Resource Center.
  4. ^ a b Lovell, Julia (February 2012). "Finding a Place: Mainland Chinese Fiction in the 2000s". The Journal of Asian Studies. 71 (1): 7–32. doi:10.1017/S0021911811002993. ISSN 0021-9118. S2CID 143531588.
  5. ^ Rabut, Isabelle; Pino, Angel (2019-05-04). "Brothers, and the reception of Yu Hua in France". Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies. 6 (2): 99–110. doi:10.1080/23306343.2019.1673280. ISSN 2330-6343. S2CID 211655095.
  6. ^ Barboza, David (2006-09-04). "A Portrait of China Running Amok". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-06. "Many critics here have lashed out at Mr. Yu, who has long been one of China's most respected novelists, for producing what one called a trashy, Hollywood-style portrait of the country."
  7. ^ "Courrier international - Actualités France et Monde". Courrier international (in French). Retrieved 2021-11-26.
  8. ^ Yu, Hua. "Short story: Boy in the twilight by Yu Hua". Retrieved 2018-03-21.
  9. ^ "Eileen C Chow | Scholars@Duke". scholars.duke.edu. Retrieved 2021-11-26.
  10. ^ Yu, Hua. Brothers: A Novel. Translated by Eileen Cheng-yin Chow and Carlos Rojas, Anchor Books 2009.
  11. ^ Yu, Hua. Brothers: A Novel. Translated by Eileen Cheng-yin Chow and Carlos Rojas, Anchor Books, 2009.