Synopsis
A love story set in a Chinese labor camp during the Cultural Revolution follows Zhang, a rightist poet made impotent, and Huang, a woman jailed for promiscuity, and their passionate, ill-fated love affair
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Reviews
Poet Zhang Yonglin is sentenced to a labor camp he ironically describes as a haven amidst the hysteria of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. After he marries a woman he had seen eight years earlier, the story becomes, on one level, an analogy between his temporary sexual impotence and the postion of intellectuals. A year later he is ready to abandon his wife and escape from the camp. Cameo appearances by philosophic and literary figuresMarx and Meng-tz, Othello and Song Jiandiscussing China and sex allow the incorporation of non-novelistic elements while indulging in gallows humor. The references to Western culture and the translator's historical notes should make this complex and fascinating book easily accessible. Ethan Bumas, Fudan Univ., Shanghai
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Search results for Half of Man Is Woman
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Half of Man Is Woman
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Seller Inventory # B10B-02301
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Half of Man Is Woman
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Seller Inventory # H15A-03360
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Half of Man Is Woman
Published by
Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Very Good. 1st US. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # 16034704-6
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Half of Man Is Woman
Published by
Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. 1st US. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good. Seller Inventory # GRP105527755
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Half of Man Is Woman
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0393025861I3N00
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Half of Man Is Woman
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0393025861I3N00
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Half of Man Is Woman
Published by
Norton, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: zenosbooks, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
hardcover. Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. New York. 1988. August 1988. Norton. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0393025861. Translated from the Chinese by Martha Avery. 285 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Lizzy Rockwell/Kenneth Alcorn. keywords: Asia China Literature Transalted World Literature. DESCRIPTION - As the Cultural Revolution rages, a gulag of labor camps in China's remote, harshly beautiful countryside teaches 'capitalist roaders' and criminals alike 'reform through labor.' There Zhang, a 'rightist' poet, meets and (alls in love with Huang, a beautiful peasant woman jailed for promiscuity. In the jargon of the time, they are a 'calamity couple,' and their relationship becomes the lens through which we see, and feel, the warping effects of the Cultural Revolution on ordinary people. Separated for years, the lovers reunite in another outpost of the gulag. But for the poet Zhang, years of imprisonment and forced labor have meant a loss of self: he is impotent, he cannot write. Words, like human relationships, have been turned upside down. They no longer have any purpose except to make up the empty 'thought reports' by which prisoners 'rectify' themselves. The struggle of the novel is to regain possession of the self, and to reclaim the endeavor that has defined it. Written in an ironical prose, which combines a spare, humorous toughness, surrealism, and a lyrical feeling for the Chinese landscape, this brilliant, moving account of lives at the mercy of politics introduces a literary voice of world importance. The first novel of China's gulag to appear in the West, it was published in China late in 1985 to great popular enthusiam, and much controversy because of its unaccustomed frankness about sex. Since then the book and its author, Zhang Xianliang, have figured prominently in debates about the extent of liberalization in China. inventory #27577. Seller Inventory # z27577
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Half of Man is Woman
Published by
W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Persephone's Books, Gastonia, NC, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First American Edition. xvii, 285 pp. Translated by Martha Avery. Cover has fading on the bottom 1/8" of the front cover. Jacket has light creasing at top edge. A novel of the Great Cultural Revolution. Seller Inventory # 000723
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Half of Man Is Woman
Published by
Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
Seller: Bingo Used Books, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Hardcover in very good + condition with very good + dust jacket. Name embossed and written on front end page. Seller Inventory # 147476
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Half of Man Is Woman
Published by
W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0393025861
ISBN 13: 9780393025866
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: About Books, Henderson, NV, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine condition. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good dust jacket. First Printing of the First US Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988. Bright, clean, square, tight, unmarked copy. Sharp corners. No owner's name or bookplate. No remainder mark. Not a Book Club edition. Not price clipped (17.95). Illustrated with 3 maps and a manuscript facsimile. From the Dust Jacket: "As the Cultural Revolution rages, a gulag of labor camps in China's remote countryside teaches 'capitalist roaders' and criminals alike 'reform through labor.' There Zhang, a 'rightist' poet meets and falls in love with Huang, a peasant woman jailed for promiscuity. Their relationship becomes the lens in which we see, and feel, the warping effects of the Cultural Revolution on ordinary people. The first novel of China's gulag to appear in the West, it was published in China in late 1985 to great popular enthusiasm, and much controversy because of its unaccustomed frankness about sex." "For the Western reader, there is much to admire in Half of Man Is Woman. There are extraordinarily lyrical descriptions of the landscape of north-western China; vivid portraits of camp inmates and peasants as they live their daily lives; and a poignant portrait of a love affair, wrought out of impossible circumstances, doomed to failure." . First Printing of the First US Edition. Hardcover. Fine condition/Very Good dust jacket. 8vo. xvii, 285pp . Great Packaging, Fast Shipping. Seller Inventory # 010101