MCLC: Lao Ma's new book of flash fiction

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Lao Ma’s new book of flash fiction
From: Harvey Thomlinson <harvey at makedostudios.com>
Lao Ma New Book of Flash Fiction
We are pleased to announce the publication of Individuals: China-style Flash Fiction by Lao Ma, translated by Li Qisheng and Li Ping. Lao Ma, (the pen-name of Prof. Ma Junjie of Renmin Daxue,) is recognised as the pioneer of the genre of China-style flash fiction (short, short stories), publishing hundreds of stories in various literary publications.
The 55 stories in Lao Ma’s Individuals are each less than 1,000 words.  Frustrated professors, pompous judges and devious careerists cross the pages of this book, as Lao Ma skilfully dissects the hypocrisies and ironies of life in China. In his preface to Individuals (the average length of Lao Ma’s stories translated in Individuals is just 700 words), Lao Ma even dares to take aim at Nobel laureate Mo Yan, in the course of expounding his own philosophy of fiction: The 2012 Nobel literature laureate, Chinese writer Mo Yan, says a novel must be lengthy to qualify as an example of the art form. His major works usually weigh in at several hundred thousand words. According to Mo, “Any novel less than 200,000 words lacks dignity. A leopard might be fierce and brave but he is too short in stature to be the king of the jungle.” By his standards, Mo Yan is a tiger of a writer. Lao Ma contrasts Mo Yan’s approach with that the ‘short and concise’ stories of Argentine master Borges and states: I side with Borges. Length is not a measure of literary value. Dogs both big and small can bark. Legs long and short can run.
The collection features forewords by Yan Lianke as well as the author himself.
Available on Amazon
Author Biography
Lao Ma began to write in the 1990s. His opus includes the novel Ai Hai Yo (”Hey”) as well as the short story collections Sha Xiao (”Giggle”), Ge Bie Ren (”Individuals”). Currently Lao Ma combines writing with a position at Renmin Daxue.
Fortysix Books
http://makedopublishing.com/laoma/
by denton.2 at osu.edu on April 24, 2015
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