Lenin's Kisses
by Yan Lianke
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Pub Date Oct 02 2012 | Archive Date Jun 10 2013
Grove/Atlantic, Inc. | Grove Press
Description
Winner of the Lao She Literary Award but also the reason why Yan Lianke was asked to leave the army, Lenin’s Kisses unites communism and capitalism in an absurdist masterpiece that moves between the founding of the People’s Republic and modern day China.
Deep within the Balou mountains lies a small rural town populated by disabled people. Blind, deaf, and disfigured, the 197 citizens of Liven enjoy a peaceful lifestyle with plentiful food and leisure, by and large spared from the government’s watchful eye. But when an unseasonal snowstorm wipes out the grain crops, a county official dreams up a money-making scheme to boost his career and raise money for the district, disrupting the balance of their trouble-free lives. He convinces the villagers to set up a traveling act showcasing their disabilities, including Blind Tonghua’s acute listening and One-Eye’s one-eyed needle threading. With the money, he intends to buy Lenin’s embalmed corpse from Russia and install it in a great mausoleum to generate tourism; however, even the best intentions go astray.
Provocative and bitingly humorous, Lenin’s Kisses is a rollicking tragicomedy that stands as a cautionary tale of the all-consuming desire for power and wealth.
Deep within the Balou mountains lies a small rural town populated by disabled people. Blind, deaf, and disfigured, the 197 citizens of Liven enjoy a peaceful lifestyle with plentiful food and leisure, by and large spared from the government’s watchful eye. But when an unseasonal snowstorm wipes out the grain crops, a county official dreams up a money-making scheme to boost his career and raise money for the district, disrupting the balance of their trouble-free lives. He convinces the villagers to set up a traveling act showcasing their disabilities, including Blind Tonghua’s acute listening and One-Eye’s one-eyed needle threading. With the money, he intends to buy Lenin’s embalmed corpse from Russia and install it in a great mausoleum to generate tourism; however, even the best intentions go astray.
Provocative and bitingly humorous, Lenin’s Kisses is a rollicking tragicomedy that stands as a cautionary tale of the all-consuming desire for power and wealth.
Advance Praise
“With its distinctive language, structure, and narrative method,Lenin’s Kisses presents a distinctive vision of ‘rural China’ and ‘revolutionary China,’ even while establishing a new literary ‘nativeChina.’” —Contemporary Literature Commentary
“The novel’s depth lies in its ability to express an unbearable sorrow, even while constantly making the reader laugh out loud . . . a truly miraculous novel.” —Hong Kong Ming Pao Weekly
Praise for Yan Lianke
"[Yan Lianke] is one of China's most successful fiction writers." —The New York Times
“The novel’s depth lies in its ability to express an unbearable sorrow, even while constantly making the reader laugh out loud . . . a truly miraculous novel.” —Hong Kong Ming Pao Weekly
Praise for Yan Lianke
"[Yan Lianke] is one of China's most successful fiction writers." —The New York Times
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780802120373 |
| PRICE | $27.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 512 |
