Spider Eaters: A Memoir - Softcover

Yang, Rae

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520215982 ISBN 13: 9780520215986

Publisher: University of California Press, 1998

Synopsis

"Spider Eaters" is at once a moving personal story, a fascinating family history, and a unique chronicle of political upheaval told by a Chinese woman who came of age during the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution. With stunning honesty and a lively, sly humor, Rae Yang records her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland, to her girlhood at an elite middle school in Beijing, to her adolescent experience as a Red Guard and later as a laborer on a pig farm in the remote northern wilderness. She tells of her eventual disillusionment with the Maoist revolution, how remorse and despair drove her almost to suicide, and how she struggled to make sense of conflicting events that often blurred the line between victim and victimizer, aristocrat and peasant, communist and counterrevolutionary. Moving gracefully between past and present, dream and reality, the author artfully conveys the vast complexity of life in China as well as the richness, confusion, and magic of her own inner life and struggle. Much of the power of the narrative derives from Yang's multi-generational, cross-class perspective. She invokes the myths, legends, folklore, and local customs that surrounded her and brings to life the many people who were instrumental in her life: her nanny, a poor woman who raised her from a baby and whose character is conveyed through the bedtime tales she spins; her father; her beloved grandmother, who died as a result of the political persecution she suffered. Spanning the years from 1950 to 1980, Rae Yang's story is evocative, complex, and told with striking candor. It is one of the most immediate and engaging narratives of life in post-1949 China.

About this title

Review:

"Moving, poetic, and honest, this is one of the best memoirs yet published of the Cultural Revolution in China."--"Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis:

Spanning the years from 1950 to 1980, this work represents the personal story of a Chinese woman who came of age during the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution. The author records her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland, to her girlhood at an elite middle school in Beijing, to her adolescent experience as a Red Guard and later as a labourer on a pig farm in the remote northern wilderness. She tells of her eventual disillusionment with the Maoist revolution and how she struggled to make sense of conflicting events that often blurred the line between victim and victimizer, aristocrat and peasant, communist and counter-revolutionary. Moving between past and present, dream and reality, the author aims to convey the vast complexity of life in China as well as the confusion and magic of her own inner life and struggle.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0520215982
• ISBN 13: 9780520215986
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 298