false 472276 5 <I>The Republic of Wine</I> is a novel Joseph Heller might have written had he been Chinese. As it is, the honor goes to Mo Yan, one of China's most respected writers. Set in the fictional province of Liquorland, this tall tale begins with a rumor of cannibal feasts featuring children as the delectable main course. In response, Chinese officials send special investigator Ding Gou'er to look into the allegations. He arrives by coal truck at the Mount Lao Coal Mine, where he meets the legendary Diamond Jin, Vice-Minister of the Liquorland Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Bureau, a man known for an epic ability to hold his booze. Almost at once, Ding's worst fears seem to be realized when he is invited to a special dinner, given enough alcohol to stun an ox, and then served what appears to be "a golden, incredibly fragrant little boy." Horrified, he attempts to make an arrest and in the ensuing confusion, accidentally puts a bullet in the main course. <blockquote> The braised boy was now a headless boy. The unsmashed parts of his skull had tumbled to the edge of the table's second tier, between a platter of sea cucumbers and another of braised shrimp, pieces of head like shattered watermelon rind, or pieces of watermelon rind like shattered head, watermelon juices dripping like blood, or blood dripping like watermelon juices, soiling the tablecloth and soiling the people's eyes. A pair of eyes like purple grapes or purple grapes like a pair of eyes rolled around on the floor, one skittering behind the liquor cabinet, the other rolling up to a red serving girl, who squashed it with her foot. </blockquote> Despite his hosts' explanation that the boy's arms are made of lotus root, his legs of ham sausage, and his head from a silver melon, Ding remains suspicious--until he is rendered so addled by wine that he ends up eating half an arm all on his own. As Ding continues his investigation, Mo Yan sends up the Chinese preoccupation with food, drink, and sex even as he daringly explores the nature of his country's political structure. <p> A lesser novelist might be satisfied with just this one narrative thread; Mo Yan, however, has bigger ambitions. In between chapters chronicling Ding Gou'er's adventures in Liquorland, the author has inserted letters and short stories purportedly sent to him by one Li Yidou, a doctoral candidate in Liquor Studies at the Brewer's College in Liquorland, and an aspiring author in his own right. The correspondence between fictional character and author allows Mo Yan to wax satirical on the subject of art, politics, and the troubling point where the two intersect in a Socialist society: "One of the tenets of the communism envisioned by Marx," the hopeful Yidou writes, "was the integration of art with the working people and of the working people with art. So when communism has been realized, everyone will be a novelist." In such a society everyone might write novels, perhaps; but as <I>The Republic of Wine</I> masterfully demonstrates, only a first-rate artist like Mo Yan could pull off such a subversive and darkly comic metafiction so seamlessly. <I>--Alix Wilber</I> 460551 2000 The Republic of Wine : A Novel total:41|5:8|4:15|3:10|2:4|1:4| 41 142 69 8 3 0 false false Tue Aug 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 11:30:06 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 08:57:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sat Mar 08 10:40:44 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 08 12:12:49 -0800 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/world/...

Read the article, and then read the book (unless you are Leslie. Hi Les! This book is not for you, it will make you queasy. Sorry.) I read The Republic of Wi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 03:05:14 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 03:14:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Dec 02 11:05:25 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 11:05:51 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Mar 02 14:29:17 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 02 14:33:01 -0800 2008
A convoluted-but-fascinating journey into a fantasy world interwoven with a real world (or the other way around, in reverse?). Whatever t...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jun 12 08:32:30 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 08:33:34 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Dec 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 21:28:08 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 04 03:50:45 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 29 22:36:15 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 22 16:08:28 -0700 2008
*actually, booze-soaked]]> 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 00:22:38 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 00:22:38 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 27 23:58:19 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 23:58:27 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 22 20:32:57 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 20:32:57 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Tue Nov 17 17:36:41 -0800 2009 Mon Sep 14 17:47:01 -0700 2009 Tue Nov 17 17:36:41 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 12 23:43:39 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 23:43:42 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Sep 12 16:12:27 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 16:12:27 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 27 19:43:48 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 20:03:01 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 26 05:53:39 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 05:53:39 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue May 12 14:01:01 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 14:01:01 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Apr 23 20:42:24 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 20:42:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Apr 23 04:53:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 04:53:13 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Apr 22 19:42:36 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 19:42:36 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3715622