MCLC: Under the Hawthorn Tree sensation

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Under the Hawthorn Tree sensation
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Source: The Guardian (1/7/12):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/08/hawthorn-tree-zhang-yimou-ai-mi

Mystery Chinese blogger scores a hit with Cultural Revolution novel
Under The Hawthorn Tree has already sold more than a million copies in
China alone
By Dalya Alberge

A novel by an anonymous Chinese author living in America, which started
life as a blog, has become a worldwide publishing sensation. It has been
snapped up by publishers in 15 countries who have been impressed by the
fact that it has sold more than a million copies in China and inspired a
film by an Oscar-winning Chinese director. Some publishers even bought it
before reading a translation. Yet none of the publishers, translators or
editors knows the author's identity.

Under the Hawthorn Tree, a tragic love story set during the Cultural
Revolution, is written under the pen name of Ai Mi. All that is known
about the author is that she leads a reclusive life in Florida, having
gone there to study. She is thought to be in her fifties or sixties, if
only because her insight into the Cultural Revolution suggests someone who
experienced first hand the political and social persecution of Mao
Zedong's last decade. She tells her readers that it was inspired by a true
story. Her central character ­ a young woman from a "politically
questionable family" who falls in love with the son of a general ­ is
based on a real person with names and places disguised.

In a publishing world where an author's identity is often more important
than their talent, it is striking that publishers as far afield as Italy,
Norway, Brazil and Israel have responded to the writing alone. Lennie
Goodings of Virago bought it without knowing a word of Chinese ­ and was
relieved to discover that it lived up to her expectations when she
commissioned an English translation. She said: "It's a beautiful love
story, almost like a Romeo and Juliet. It has that real simplicity about
people trying to love each other across class. [Set] against the Cultural
Revolution, it shows the startlingly intimate reach of politics in that
period [which] even affects ­ and infects ­ their love."

Goodings asked someone from Shanghai who works in Virago's accounts
department to read it: "Her face fell and she said, 'I'm not interested in
the Cultural Revolution. It's my parents' generation.' The next day she
was at my shoulder, eyes brimming, saying 'it's so wonderful and I cried'.
On the basis of that, I bought it blind." Although the original blog was
serialised on a website that was blocked by the Chinese authorities, an
admirer had passed it to one of China's state-affiliated publishers, which
has been overwhelmed by its sales.

Anna Holmwood, the English translator, said: "It doesn't present a problem
for the Chinese government. If you were to take a particular political
line about the Cultural Revolution, that might be problematic. But
nowadays people are very open about talking about what a terrible time it
was."

In the opening chapter of the book, which will be published by Virago this
month, the central character is befriended by a Russian who teaches her a
Russian song, The Hawthorn Tree. Ai Mi writes: "Of course, this had to be
done in secret. Not only had everything associated with the Soviet Union
become dangerous but, just as importantly, anything contaminated by the
idea of 'love' was considered the bad influence and the putrid remains of
the capitalist class. The Hawthorn Tree was deemed 'obscene', 'rotten and
decayed', and of 'improper style' because the lyrics spoke of two young
men Š in love with the same young maiden."

The film version, directed by Zhang Yimou, the director of House of Flying
Daggers, will be released in Britain at a later date.