Loud Sparrows (Book)
Title: Loud Sparrows
Editor: Bei Dao, Foreword
Editor: Aili Mu
Editor: Julie Chiu
Editor: Howard Goldblatt
Abstract: Extremely short stories-known as short-shorts-have become a global phenomenon, but nowhere are they as popular as in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The form's artistic and aesthetic freedoms allow authors to capture the tone, texture, and chaos of their rapidly changing societies. Fragments and contingencies reveal unofficial histories, undocumented memories, and the trials of everyday individuals, and the genre's lean format contrasts with a culture characterized by rampant excess. Loud Sparrows is a collection of ninety-one short-shorts written by Chinese authors over the past three decades. Presenting diverse voices and perspectives by writers both well known and new to the art, the stories are culled from newspapers, magazines, literary journals, and personal collections. Their subjects range from the mundane to the sublime and illuminate everything from humanist ideals to traditional virtues to the material benefits of a commercialized society. The anthology is organized into thematic categories such as Change, Creatures, (In)fidelities, Grooming, Governance, Nourishment, and Weirdness, and includes notes to better understand the genre. Each section is introduced by an original piece of flash fiction written by Howard Goldblatt. The short-short, to borrow a Chinese saying, is "small as a sparrow but has all the vital organs" of a good story. Loud Sparrows offers a comprehensive introduction to a unique literary genre.
Year: 2006
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org/title/loud-sparrows-contemporary-chinese-short-shorts/oclc/836092847&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: WorldCat listing
Secondary URL: http://books.google.com/books/columbia?id=0MGW2ndEjKkC&dq=loud+sparrows&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Secondary URL Description: Publisher's listing
Access Model: Book
Publisher: Weatherford Books on Asia, Columbia University Press
Type: Translation
Type: Scholarly Edition
ISBN: 9780231138482
Translator: Howard Goldblatt
Translator: Aili Mu
Translator: Julie Chiu
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Loud Sparrows: Contemporary Chinese Short Shorts. (Book)
Title: Loud Sparrows: Contemporary Chinese Short Shorts.
Author: Mu, Aili
Year: 2006
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=9780231138499
Primary URL Description: WorldCat entry
Publisher: New York City: Columbia University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780231138499

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