Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather [Signed]
XINGJIAN, Gao (b. 1940)
From Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller Since September 5, 2006
From Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks Seller Since September 5, 2006
About this Item
First Edition (so stated), signed by the author on title page. Crown 8vo: [8],127,[1]pp. Publisher's faux vellum, spine lettered in scarlet, fore-edge untrimmed, strikingly illustrated dust jacket priced $17.95. Very Fine, unread copy, Fine jacket (price-sticker remnant to bar code on back panel). Signed copies of English translations of Gao's books are uncommon. Collection of six short stories, translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee, written between 1983 and 1990. Gao won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 2000, "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity." In these stories, nothing happens, or does it? In the title story, a man sees a fiberglass fishing rod in a store window and is reminded of the times he went fishing with his grandfather. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.). Seller Inventory # BB1525
Bibliographic Details
Title: Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather [...
Publisher: Harper Collins, New York
Publication Date: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: First Printing.
About this title
Novelist, playwright, essayist, and short-story writer Gao Xingjian is that rare breed of artist able to express himself with equal grace in almost any form of literature. In 2000 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in recognition of his astonishing talents. The collection Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather offers this author's own selection and arrangement of his shorter fiction.
Written between 1983 and 1990, these beautifully translated stories take as their themes the fragility of love and life, and the haunting power of memory. In "The Temple" the narrator's acute and mysterious anxiety overshadows the "delirious happiness" of an outing with his new wife on their honeymoon. In "The Cramp" a man narrowly escapes drowning in the sea, only to find that no one even noticed his absence. In "The Accident" a bus hits a cyclist and, as in stop-action film, the chaotic aftermath gives way to a calm, ordinary street corner with no trace of the previous drama. In the title story the narrator attempts to "unburden myself of homesickness" only to find himself lost in a labyrinth of childhood memories. Everywhere in this collection are powerful psychological portraits of characters whose unarticulated hopes and fears betray the never-ending presence of the past in their present lives.
Gao Xingjian has shown a mastery of the epic form in his novels Soul Mountain and One Man's Bible. In Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather, he brings the same passion and precision to the short story.
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