| Has anybody here read any of his stuff? Oxford University Press has translations of two of his books, his first and his final. The first is called The Book and the Sword. It's a fun little book, lots of interesting characters, drama, and martial arts action in early 18th Century China. Lots of historical reference points, too, if you know your Chinese history. It was originally published serially (as were all of his novels), and the story really moves that way. Entertaining is the word for it, though it is still a first novel. The really great book, though, is hi final one, translated into English as The Deer and the Cauldron. It's three volumes long in the OUP edition (I think the Chinese edition was five volumes), but it's amazing. Again, its subject is standard martial arts fiction fare; this time it's late 17th Century, still the Manchurian Qing Dynasty, with noble Chinese rebels fighting against their foreign rulers. But this time it completely subverts the genre that made Cha famous. It's kind of like the Don Quixote of Chinese chivalric fiction. The main character is a boy born in a brothel who never really learns martial arts, doesn't quite get the "code of honor," but sort of swindles his way through multiple adventures, playing every side. It's funny, exciting, engaging, moving etc. but it's also really human and occasionally profound. One of my five favorite novels of all time, along with Gravity's Rainbow, Pale Fire, Moby Dick, and Tom Jones. He has another novel translated into English as Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain. It's a very cool story, but the translation is atrocious. |
