Four Fables - Softcover

She-Sun, Do

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578330335 ISBN 13: 9781578330331

Publisher: Todd Publishing, 1998

Synopsis

This is the first English translation of writings by Mr. Do She-Sun, one of Taiwan's and Asia's most famous and highly recognized contemporary writers. Two short stories and two plays present some of Mr. Do's most penetrating insights into the human condition not only of contemporary life in Taiwan but also of human life in general. In the first story, Birth, for example, two doctors who specialize in abortions enter the body of a nurse and meet in her internal organs. From there, they must solve their own interpersonal problems and then work together to find a way out. The conclusion of this story is as surprising as the plot and its unusual setting. In the first of the two plays, The Great Tree, which has been performed three times already in Taiwan, a road building crew encounters a huge, ancient tree that they must cut down to proceed with the new road. However, a family lives next to the tree and defends it. The conflict between traditional living and modern progress appears vividly in this play.

The reader gains initial access to Mr. Do's unusual work through a comprehensive introduction written by the co-translator, David Cornberg, Ph.d. Based on his close relationship with Mr. Do and on his knowledge of Chinese and literature, Dr. Cornberg frames the four fables in an approach that invites the reader to experience life through the written eyes of another culture.

About this title

About the Author

Do She-Sun was born in Taiwan in 1950 and has lived there all of his life. He has accomplished many firsts in art in Taiwan, including the publication of the first book of poetry there that included a cassette tape, the first use of a theater stage for a live poetry performance and the creation of the first thousand line poem in Taiwanese contemporary literature.

David Cornberg was born in Eugene, Oregon on March 11, 1944. He grew up in Santa Monica, California with a one year stay in New York City. He did his undergraduate work in Philosophy at Stanford University then took his Master's Degree in Education from UCLA and my Ph.D. in Education from the University of Oregon. He has lived and in many parts of the US, including New York, Connecticut, Florida, Oregon, California and Alaska. He has spent eleven winters in Alaska and during the 70's he built his own cabin in lived in the Alaska wilderness for almost three years. He met his wife in Alaska where they had their daughter and in 1998 moved to Taipei, Taiwan, where they still live. He has done many different kinds of work, including ditch-digging, sewing machine repair, wrangling horses, painting houses and, of course, teaching in many different kinds of educational institutions. He is also a painter and an actor.

About this edition

• Publisher: Todd Publishing
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1578330335
• ISBN 13: 9781578330331
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192