Current Read

I am currently reading one of Mr Kawabata’s earlier works after the war, The Lake and Yu Hua’s To Live. The former, though not his best, still somehow emanates loneliness in an ex-teacher obsessed in trailing women; the complexity in the emotions again insightful. The latter hails from China as it’s most profound voice, but in my opinion, the normal pitfalls in translation – especially for Mandarin - is starkly drawn out here. Plentiful can be expressed in each single Chinese phase, albeit not the English Language’s. Nevertheless, the epic story of Fugui, a landlord’s son turns farmer, proves a worthy read thus far. I am also constantly, fondly reminded of its movie-version by Zhang Yimou. Time flies, I was a young lad then. Speaking of the great director, local TV station finally has substantial draw for me with the showing of his masterpiece Hero. I expect dazzling, poetic Kungfu sequence and an ancient Oriental assassination plot of great brilliance, all over again. And there are, of course, the controversial in-the-mind-only duels.