Ha Jin's novels and short stories

Ha Jin has won his second PEN/Faulkner Award this year for War Trash and as I know there are only a few being twice with the honor. I have thought of reading the novel for quite a while but have no plan to read it soon. I enjoy reading most of his short stories, such as My Best Soldier, Saboteur, The Bridegroom, etc. Waiting is a good novel but it took me more than two weeks to finish the reading. I felt depressed but not driven Crazed like the one he wrote after. I like the way he told the stories by mirroring the language we used to have for the times decades ago and would not mind going over the stories again with such words as

A sparrow shouldn』t match itself against a raven.
An ant can』t shake a tree.
The three of them wear the same pair of trousers and breathe through one nostril.
Who would imagine a toad could grow wings and soar into the sky.
Pursue the tottering enemy.
The boundless joy in fighting Heaven, the boundless joy in fighting Earth, the boundless joy in fighting Man!
As if he had lifted a stone at an enemy but smashed his own toes.
Stop dreaming that heaven will drop a roasted quail into your mouth.
A wise man doesn』t fight when the odds are against him.
…

Written in their diversity of sttyles, his stories not only catch American readers』 hearts but also help refreshing the old memories.

"War Trash" is worth reading.

Let us translate. I start with 2 easy ones.

The boundless joy in fighting Heaven, the boundless joy in fighting Earth, the boundless joy in fighting Man!
與天奮鬥，其樂無窮；與地奮鬥，其樂無窮；與人奮鬥，其樂無窮。

He had lifted a stone at an enemy but smashed his own toes.
他搬起石頭砸了自己的腳。

Ha Jin

novelist, poet
Born: 1956
Birthplace: Liaoning Province, China

From the age of 14 until he was 20, Jin served in the People's Liberation Army in China. Upon release, he taught himself English working the night shift as a railroad telegrapher, and received his BA and MA from Chinese universities. In 1985, he moved to the United States to pursue graduate work in English at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He decided to remain in the U.S. after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. His first two books of fiction, Ocean of Words (1996) and Under the Red Flag (1997), came on the heels of his poetry collections Between Silences (1990) and Facing Shadows (1996). Ocean of Words received the PEN/Hemingway award. In 1988, he published a novella, In the Pond. His poignant novel Waiting (1999), the story of an army doctor in Communist China in the late 1960s, received the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. His 2004 novel War Trash, about a Chinese soldier taken prisoner during the Korean War, earned him a second PEN/Faulkner prize in 2005.

click here for More on Ha Jin from Infoplease[/FONT]

Adelyn,

Thanks again for being there to help. You have made me comfortable hanging out here. Thank you for the wonderful work you have done with the forum. We all like you.

[:439:] [:462:] [:481:]

Reviewed by Poornima Apte in 2002

Professor Yang of Shanning University, China, is "The Crazed" of Ha Jin』s new novel. Having just suffered a stroke, he is given to frequent rants, many pieces of which hint at a wretched life lived. His faithful graduate student and soon-to-be son-in-law Jian Wan is assigned by the university to attend to the professor』s daily needs. In the sparse hospital room, he cannot help listening in on the rants. As he does, Wan tries to understand the deep sense of loss that his professor has suffered. It is later evident to the young graduate student that the professor has had to deal with much personal pain and a fruitless existence. "Every intellectual is a clerk in China", Professor Yang raves, "just a clerk, a screw in the machine of the revolution." The professor』s unfortunate life eventually changes the course of at least three others.

Jian Wan himself is desperately trying to hold it all together―caring for his professor while his PhD qualifying exams loom around the corner. The fate of these exams will determine whether or not he can make it to Beijing to be with his ambitious fiancée, Meimei (Yang』s daughter). At first, Jian Wan assumes he has no other choice than follow the scholarly course that has been charted for him. However, Yang』s endless rants about the meaningless existence of a scholar, along with a transformative trip to the countryside, point him in another way. "As a human being, I should spend my life in such a way that at the final hour I could feel fulfillment and contentment, as if I had completed a task or a journey." Jian Wan says. He no longer wants to pretend to be a scholar, but live instead, a truly productive life. As Jian Wan tries to find a way out, he realizes he is powerless in a society that crushes all dissent. The final pages of The Crazed find Wan in the midst of the cathartic events of Tiananmen Square.

Ha Jin』s sparse writing , which was on wonderful display in "Waiting", is as effective as ever. His words are as clinical and precise as the hospital room in which much of the novel is set. The pace moves forward rapidly and well. Sometimes, I found that the professor』s rants covered a lot of space in the text prolonging the suspense a bit too much. These sections set in the hospital with an almost unrelenting focus on the professor were a little claustrophobic.

Despite these small distractions, the main story comes through loud and clear in Ha Jin』s wonderful book. The machinations of a government that can manipulate the smallest events in its citizens』 lives are on awful display here. Jian Wan in the novel sees an image of China: "in the form of an old hag so decrepit and brainsick that she would devour her children to sustain herself."

In such a society, one wonders, who cannot help but be "crazed".

[:488:]

the book rview is so beautiful.  i have read it three times, aloud. i love these lines in particular:

"As a human being, I should spend my life in such a way that at the final hour I could feel fulfillment and contentment, as if I had completed a task or a journey." Jian Wan says.

Ha Jin's sparse writing , which was on wonderful display in "Waiting", is as effective as ever. His words are as clinical and precise as the hospital room in which much of the novel is set. The pace moves forward rapidly and well.

"in the form of an old hag so decrepit and brainsick that she would devour her children to sustain herself."

[:478:]

Finally, I finished Ha Jin』s War Trash this week.  Same as his other books I read before, it took me more hours to read it than any best selling novels, and also made me start taking notes again while reading. I had stopped doing that for a while. There were so many unforgettable words and phrases in the book helping me refresh part of my nearly washed away memory. If not taking them down, 「I would kick myself for the rest of my life」. I usually don』t connect English words to Chinese thoughts while reading any English novels, but whenever reading his, I can』t help but wonder the familiar Chinese meanings of many words, which were very popular once upon a time in China.

Ha Jin』s writing is always full of wit and I think of him as the best political writer to tell foreigners about the people and things including many sad incidents happened in China during the period from 1949 to 1990. If he isn』t, I don』t know if there is one. Here are the words I like most, and no offense intended against anyone at all.

「History has shown that the communists always treat their enemies more leniently than their own people. Only by becoming their significant enemies can you survive decently.」