Fortress Besieged (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Zhongshu, Qian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141187867 ISBN 13: 9780141187860

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2006

Synopsis

Set on the eve of the Sino-Japanese war, Fortress Besieged recounts the exuberant misadventures of the hapless hero Fang Hung-chien, who after aimlessly studying in Europe at his family's expense returns to Shanghai armed with a bogus degree from a fake university. On the liner back, Fang's life becomes deeply entangled with those of two Chinese beauties - while when he does finally make it home, he obtains a teaching post at a newly established university, encounters effete pseudo-intellectuals, and falls into a marriage of disastrous proportions. A glorious tale of love, marriage, war, calamity, disillusionment and hope, this is one of the greatest Chinese novels: combining Eastern philosophy, Western traditions, adventure, tragicomedy and satire to create a unique feast of delights.

About this title

Review:

"The most delightful and carefully wrought novel in modern Chinese literature....Future generations of Chinese readers will return to this book more frequently than to any other novel of the Republican period."

About the Author:

Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998) was a novelist, poet, man of letters and one of China's most outstanding scholars and was seen by many in his country as the last link in an unbroken chain of geniuses stretching back to Confucius.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0141187867
• ISBN 13: 9780141187860
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448