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Mr. Ma & Son: A Sojourn in London
by
Lao She
Paperback, 589 pages
Published
October 15th 2004
by Foreign Languages Press
(first published 1929)
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I give the novel a rating of four stars and the translation three. William Dolby has done well with a fiendishly difficult text, and he tackles, with some success, with the very colloquial nature of Lao She's genius. The virtuosity Lao She displays in the original Chinese is quite astonishing, and to be honest Dolby cannot fully convey the range of Lao She's highly acerbic satire. In English the characters too come across as being a bit two dimensional and caricature-like. Nonetheless Dolby's En
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Mr Ma and Son arrive in London to take over a relative's antiques shop and make a life in the city, far from their home in Beijing, where everyday means a new challenge trying to navigate not only London's bustling streets but also the social conventions of 1920s English society. Mr Ma and his son, Ma Wei, must not only deal with the trials of running a business (especially since traditionally merchants were looked down upon by Chinese society) but also the established sinophobia in British soci
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Messieurs Ma est une succession de scènes toutes plus amusantes les unes que les autres. En 400 pages, Lao She, l’auteur du parfait «Quatre générations sous un même toit» nous trace de beaux portraits de ces deux immigrants chinois dans les années 20, pas toujours reluisants mais toujours drôles.
Lao She est très acerbe vis-à-vis du comportement des anglais à l’égard des étrangers: « Au XXe siècle, un homme valait ce que valait son pays: si son pays était fort, il méritait d’être appelé un « ho ...more
Lao She est très acerbe vis-à-vis du comportement des anglais à l’égard des étrangers: « Au XXe siècle, un homme valait ce que valait son pays: si son pays était fort, il méritait d’être appelé un « ho ...more
Cet ouvrage fut une agréable lecture.
Témoignage d'une réalité parfois ignorée, volontairement ou non, il s'articule avec humour pour ne pas offenser les lecteurs sans pour autant manquer de faire apparaître la réalité de la situation de Monsieur Ma et son fils.
Le choc des cultures - il n'y pas d'autre terme pour qualifier cette rencontre - nous fait sourire, froncer les sourcils et grincer des dents parfois, non ce n'est pas possible de réagir comme cela, c'est exagéré n'est ce pas? Et bien non ...more
Témoignage d'une réalité parfois ignorée, volontairement ou non, il s'articule avec humour pour ne pas offenser les lecteurs sans pour autant manquer de faire apparaître la réalité de la situation de Monsieur Ma et son fils.
Le choc des cultures - il n'y pas d'autre terme pour qualifier cette rencontre - nous fait sourire, froncer les sourcils et grincer des dents parfois, non ce n'est pas possible de réagir comme cela, c'est exagéré n'est ce pas? Et bien non ...more
Mr Ma and son is a short, semi satirical story about the Chinese immigrant experience in London during the mid 1920s. The writing is light and witty and the book is filled with caricatures of both the English and Chinese stereotypes of the time-period. Despite the characters tendencies towards exaggeration, you are able to relate to them and it makes the book a compelling read.
An interesting depiction of Sino-British relations in London.
A beautiful parallel text. The Chinese is quite simple and at times colloquial, and with the help of the English, I was able to understand every last bit of it. I'm giving 4 stars because of frequent errors in the English text (bits of sentences are repeated), indicative of insufficient proofreading. The problem does not appear to exist in the Chinese text.
A glimpse into smoggy 1920s London from the point view of Chinese living there. Lao She, one of Beijing's most beloved writers, was able to draw on his own experience living in London in the same period, and produced a fairly decent novel as well as an interesting one.
KOBOBOOKS
Reviewed by Asian Review of Books
Reviewed by Asian Review of Books
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Lao She (Chinese: 老舍; pinyin: Lǎo Shě; Wade–Giles: Lao She; February 3, 1899 – August 24, 1966) was the pen name of Shu Qingchun (simplified Chinese: 舒庆春; traditional Chinese: 舒慶春; pinyin: Shū Qìngchūn; Manchu surname: Sumuru), a noted Chinese novelist and dramatist. He was one of the most significant figures of 20th-century Chinese literature, and best known for his novel Rickshaw Boy and the pla
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“London fog’s fascinating. Just take its colours, for instance – it may be several all at once. In some parts it’s light grey, and you can still see things within a range of forty or fifty feet. In other parts, it’s such a dark grey that there’s no difference between night and day. In some places it’s greyish yellow, as if the whole of London city is burning damp wood. In yet other places, it’s a reddish brown, and when the fog is this colour you can forget about being able to see anything any more. All you can spot if you’re standing indoors, looking out the windowpane, is the reddish brown colour. If you walk in the fog, it’s dark grey just ahead of you, and it’s not until you raise your head and make an actual effort to pick out a lamp shining somewhere, that you can see the faintest yellow tinge to it. That sort of fog doesn’t come in wisps, but in one whole mass, and blocks out the world. As you walk, the fog follows you. You can’t see anything, and nobody can see you. You don’t even know where you are. Only the fiercest-burning gas lamps penetrate the gloom, and all you can distinguish are the wisps of steam from your”
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“In this twentieth century, people are judged according to their nation. The people of a powerful nation are people; the people of a weak nation are dogs.”
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