Encounters with Chinese Writers

By Annie Dillard

Book Overview

Bizarre encounters between Chinese and American writers

Winner of the New England Book Show Award

It's been a pilgrimage for Annie Dillard: from Tinker Creek to the Galapagos Islands, the high Arctic, the Pacific Northwest, the Amazon Jungle--and now, China. This informative narrative is full of fascinating people: Chinese people, mostly writers, who encounter American writers in various bizarre circumstances in both China and the U.S. There is a toasting scene at a Chinese banquet; a portrait of a bitter, flirtatious diplomat at a dance hall; a formal meeting with Chinese writers; a conversation with an American businessman in a hotel lobby; an evening with long-suffering Chinese intellectuals in their house; a scene in the Beijing foreigners' compound with an excited European journalist; and a scene of unwarranted hilarity at the Beijing Library. In the U.S., there is Allen Ginsberg having a bewildering conversation in Disneyland with a Chinese journalist; there is the lovely and controversial writer Zhang Jie suiting abrupt mood changes to a variety of actions; and there is the fiercely spirited Jiange Zilong singing in a Connecticut dining room, eyes closed. These are real stories told with a warm and lively humor, with a keen eye for paradox, and with fresh insight into the human drama.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819561568
• ISBN13: 9780819561565
• Release Date: November 1984
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Length: 117 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.4"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher