MCLC: Jia Pingwa's Dai Deng

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Jia Pingwa's Dai Deng
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Source: Global Times (6/19/13):
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/790001.shtml#.UcWuCT7wJgI

Best-selling author sticks to rural life

By Xinhua | 2013-6-19 13:08:05
By Agencies

By selling nearly 1 million hard copies and 500,000 ebooks of his latest
novel in just five months, Jia Pingwa reasserted his status in the top
echelons of Chinese contemporary authors.

"Dai Deng" is the story of how a female university graduate became a local
official in a northwest China town. There, the graduate names herself Dai
Deng, which means "carrying a lamp," and works hard to settle disputes
between local residents, though mostly in vain.

As he has done for more than 30 years, Jia, 61, set his novel in the
countryside of Shaanxi Province, where he grew up in a peasant family.

"I will devote the rest of my life to presenting the living conditions and
psyches of rural residents," Jia said in an exclusive hour-long interview
with Xinhua on Friday.

He knows that many critics and readers are skeptical about the importance
of examining China's rural culture, which the country's rapid urban
development is leaving in a precarious state. But Jia maintained that
rural residents still account for half of China's 1.3 billion population
and they deserve attention and respect from both authors and readers.

"Mega-cities like Beijing and Shanghai and numerous poor counties together
form the reality of China. They are like two sides of a coin, and I choose
to address the dark side," he said.

He also has another, more personal reason for using literature to explore
and expose the countryside.

"I always heard a voice saying, 'The vast land is overgrown with wild
grass, let the son of Jia's family plow it.'"

Jia said that because he grew up in the countryside, he feels at ease
collecting inspiration for his novels in rural areas. Despite the book
signings he must attend and lectures he has to give, Jia stays in villages
for most of the year.

Some critics say his new novel is too pessimistic, because after failing
to realize her ideals in the fact of a harsh reality, the protagonist Dai
Deng lives like a ghost by the end of the book.

But Jia disagrees, saying the very fact that the protagonist is
"self-luminous" because she carries a lamp with her shows that there is
some light in the dark and repressed grassroots communities.

"This era is rough and stiff and lacks faith. I will write epics for
common people so my readers' dreams can grow wings after reading my
novels, even when they are in utter misery," said Jia.

That may be one of the reasons Jia's loyal readership features people from
all walks of life.

According to Jia, the task for contemporary Chinese authors is recording
the era with their pens. Alongside nonfiction, news reports, film, theater
and other art forms, literature can offer rich material for later
generations studying today's society.

During the interview, Jia also went into great detail about his ideal
masterpiece.

In his opinion, a great novel should combine intriguing structure with
effortless prose and delicious details.