I Love Bill and Other Stories

by Wang Anyi, Todd Foley (Translator), Xudong Zhang (Foreword by)

Overview

I Love Bill and Other Stories showcases the work of Wang Anyi, one of China's most prolific and highly regarded writers, in two novellas and three short stories.

A young artist's life spirals out of control when she drops out of school to pursue a series of unfulfilling relationships with foreign men. A performance troupe struggles to adapt to a changing China at the end of the Cultural Revolution. The head of an isolated village arranges a youth's posthumous marriage to an unknown soldier, only to have the soldier's former lover unexpectedly turn up. A fun trip takes an unexpected turn when two young women are kidnapped and sold off as brides. A boy's bout with typhoid provides an intimate look at family life in Shanghai's longtang alleys.

In this thoughtful translation by Todd Foley, I Love Bill and Other Stories offers poignant and nuanced portrayals of life during China's economic and cultural transition at the turn of the millennium.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501771057
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	09/15/2023
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Wang Anyi is president of the Shanghai Writers' Association and professor at Fudan University. She has received the Mao Dun Literature Prize, and her works in English translation include Baotown, The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, and Fuping. Todd Foley teaches courses on Chinese literature, film, and critical theory at NYU.

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What People are Saying About This

Pietro Giordan

Dr. Foley's translation is highly readable and convincing as it renders in an original fashion the deceivingly simple language of a major contemporary Chinese writer, providing useful insights into the understanding of her literary development and of fin-de-siècle Chinese modernity.

Kirk A. Denton

I Love Bill depicts everyday life in China in a period of radical transition. Wang's subtle portrayals capture the psychological effects of social and political transformations and expose serious social problems such as human trafficking, the oppression of women, and the urban-rural divide.