Sound and Silence: My Experience with China and Literature

This pensive if homogenous compendium by novelist Yan (Heart Sutra) brings together lectures he delivered at universities across the U.S. in 2014 opining on literature and the chilling effects of state censorship on art. Yan suggests that literature’s ability to “help us find the delicate light, beauty, warmth, and love that lie hidden in the darkness” is well suited to capturing the contrasts of contemporary China, in which the benefits of rapid economic development have accrued alongside state oppression of civilians. Frequently introduced at speaking engagements as “China’s most controversial and most censored author,” Yan devotes several selections to exploring the impact of China’s censors, pondering whether the sustained suppression of ideas produces blind spots authors might not even be aware they have. The pieces offer revealing insight into Yan’s views on writing, but the selections frequently return to the same ideas and come to feel repetitive. For instance, multiple lectures discuss the imperative for writers to maintain artistic integrity even when it pits them against state officials, and other pieces repeat the metaphor of two windows, one open and the other shut, to illustrate the tension between China’s increasingly globalized economy and the state’s stronghold over “society and the people.” This will primarily interest Yan’s most devoted fans. Agent: Laura Susijn, Susijn Agency. (Apr.)