死水微澜

by Li Jieren, 李劼人

本来只是一个女人，对现实和道德的拼死抵抗。但故事发生在一九一零年代的天回小镇，特定时代环境拓展了整个作品的气象。通过描写镇子里这些世俗之人生活中的一丝“波动”，表现出恒常萦绕于人的苦痛、局限、悲伤。探讨了外在的寄托是否真能给生命本身 带来安慰。这一切发 生 在 一个偏远小镇，曾激烈地冲撞过，却又像什么没有发生……所以才是，死水微澜。

作者写纷纷芸芸的市井小人，写偏远的天回小镇，却窥探了时代的秘密和人类的情感。

写的都是平凡人本质的生存状态，也就让《死水微澜》成了一部不塑造英雄的现实主义小说。

257 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Ripples across Stagnant Water" is an interesting slice-of-life drama set in the late Qing dynasty in southwestern China, generally in and around Chengdu. I really enjoyed the plot and suspense of it all. It can be said to loosely follow Sister Deng and her actions in the town of Tianhui, while also transitioning to tell stories from different perspectives and the fame or dishonor that follows. In spite of this quite episodic approach, Li manages to tell a story that flows with the ease of a more linear story.

It hasn't been entirely smooth sailing, however. Included in the rich background described by Li is an overabundance of details; he gives the reader more than they could ever need about the setting. This is a blessing and a curse. In doing so, he writes in a few areas of the story that feel as if they are plot holes. They fit and are forgivable within the context of the story, but it feels uncomfortable to have finished the book and still have these remaining loose ends. There are also many awkward and overly formal sounding phrases in the book which I found myself stumbling over.

However, despite not being originally written in English, I found the story engaging and fun to read. The most easily translated idioms included in the story are easily interpreted by an attentive reader, more difficult ones are given parenthetical explanations, and the most cryptic of them given their own footnotes. Speaking of footnotes, the text has also been considerate of their foreign (or just ill-informed) audience by adding additional footnotes to give historical context about particular events, groups, or people mentioned by the author, even if they are mentioned only once, as to help the reader better understand the text.

Overall, I am giving this book five stars, though not only because of its story. The characters are interesting and complex, the plot has many facets that are explored, and the settings are exquisitely detailed. However, just as important, from my perspective, is the work of the publisher and translator to make the reading experience as enjoyable as possible for the reader. This is something I deeply appreciate, and something that makes me give such a positive review.

[Callum Ellerton · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Not that her body had no blemish, but that the blemishes were nature’s way of accentuating beauty” (p. 216).
“Birds die for food. Men die for love” (p. 217).

My readthrough of Ripple on Stagnant Water was cursory at best. I read it over the course of just four days as an assigned reading in my Modern Chinese Fiction in Translation course, and for the most part only skimmed it.

That being said, I truly feel like this is a masterpiece of fiction, and I wish I had more time to sit down with it and give it the attention it deserves. There is a great level of depth to the plot and subplots, and the setting and characters are dynamic and interesting.

I will probably revisit this one day when I have more free time, but for now I feel justified in giving it a solid four stars.

[Aki Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

在成都太古里的方所書店買的，回來讀著清末四川與成都的人與事與物，掙扎的時代，故事微微悲涼，我內心卻悄悄歡喜，真想再去成都。

[Xiaolink · Rating 5 out of 5]

一气呵成 实在太精彩! 对成都民俗的描述 人物的刻画 韵味无穷 恨没早读到~

[Αγγελόπουλος · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.5 好一出老🀄️人鑑賞。特別是中間不斷出現的所以圍觀看客的描寫真是絕了。