China Daily Interviews Su Tong
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-11/17/content_8982881.htm
"I'm not sure if The Boat to Redemption can help overseas readers know more about China. It's just a novel centering on the fate of people caught in an absurd time," Su said in an e-mail interview, adding his upcoming novel will be set in contemporary China.
"A nation must have the courage to face its own history, whether it's glorious or shameful, beautiful or gray. Misunderstandings often come from hiding and evasion.
"After all, a novel does not stand for the truth of history, so I'm not afraid of misunderstanding."
Comments
God bless Su Tong, is all I can say. I only ever read the first six pages of this novel and it seemed fine to me, but these interview answers are enough to make me want to hug the guy. Amid all the demands and expectations and scrutiny, there he goes doing what writers do – finding a strange or fruitful thing to write about, and writing about it, and to hell with everybody else. Way to not be a tool.
Eric Abrahamsen, November 18, 2009, 2p.m.
(Re: Su Tong's intensity) Here's an image I won't forget soon:
Su often compares his memories to a box of jewelry, in which lies a bullet. This was inspired by his frightened mother picking up the then 3-year-old Su and taking him to another room when a bullet hit the family's door, close to where Su was sleeping.
Cindy Carter, November 19, 2009, 2:01p.m.