''The April 3rd Incident'' is a collection of short stories by
Yu Hua
Yu Hua (; born April 3, 1960, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province) is a Chinese author. Shortly after his debut as a fiction writer in 1983, his first breakthrough came in 1987, when he released the short story '' On the Road at Age Eighteen''. Yu H ...
, who wrote the stories from 1987 to 1991. The English translation, by Allan H. Barr, was published in 2018 by
Pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
.
[ - print: September 1, 2018.] Barr teaches Chinese at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
.
[ - Updated 12 March 2014]
The stories included are experimental, and ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' characterizes the shorter ones as having "devastating wit and morbid humor".
''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' described them as "very post-punk and confrontational".
[ Barr stated that ]Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
, Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
, and Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...
had influenced Yu Hua's writing.[
The stories allude to an incident that is never clearly defined, not even in the chapter that shares its name with the collection's title; April 3 happens to be the birthday of Yu Hua.]Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...
.[
]
Contents
In the chapter "The April 3rd Incident" the narrator is trying to figure out about an incident that he is unclear about.[
In "Death Chronicle" a truck driver trying to do the morally right thing in a possible hit-and-run incident is perceived by outsiders as having malicious intentions. Ten years prior to the events, he had done a hit-and-run incident,][ killing two people.][ He had been one a mountain road that was treacherous for drivers.][ James Kidd of the '']South China Morning Post
The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
'' describes the truck driver as "gruff" and "self-justifying".[
"A History of Two People" talks about two characters having a shared dream even though one is richer than the other,][ and one is unaware of the true circumstances of the other due to his own status. Jennifer Rothschild of '']Booklist
''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...
'' stated that this shows how two people can progress into different life paths.
Reception
Kidd ranked ''The April 3rd Incident'' five of five stars, and concluded that it "reinforces Yu as China's boldest and smartest literary agent provocateur."[
''Publishers Weekly'' stated that the series would get a positive reception from new readers and people devoted to Yu Hua's works.][
''Kirkus Reviews'' stated that "it's interesting to look back at u Hua'swork when he was at his fiercest."][
Rothschild stated that "this challenging collection shows that his literary prowess and mastery were present from the start."]
References
External links
*
The April 3rd Incident
' - Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...
*
The April 3rd Incident
' - Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
Chinese short story collections
Short stories by Yu Hua
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