Banished!
It is 1969 and China is in the throes of the Cultural Revolution. The Tao family is banished to the countryside, forced to leave comfortable lives in Nanjing to be reeducated in the true nature of the revolution by the peasants of Sanyu village.
The parents face exile with stoicism and teach their son to embrace reeducation wholeheartedly. Is this simple pragmatism, an attempt to protect the boy and ensure his future? Or do the banished cadres really cling to their belief in their leaders and the ideals of the Revolution? These questions remain tantalizingly unanswered in this prize-winning first novel.
This is a poet’s novel, written in a spare and elegant style, gracefully rendered in English. Han Dong finds irony and humor in his tale of one family caught up in the injustices and absurdities of Cultural Revolution China, and through his chronicle of the vicissitudes faced by the Taos he tells the story of millions whose lives were disrupted in that turbulent decade.
For those of us used to reading horrific stories of personal suffering during the Cultural Revolution, the distinctiveness, and hence importance, of Han Dong’s Banished! is quickly evident. Avoiding resentment or condemnation, explicit or implied, Banished! focuses from start to finish on human feelings and reactions to loss and gain, conflict and resolution, hope and despair. Its strongly humanistic focus thoroughly globalizes the work and will make it meaningful to readers beyond those with a particular interest in China.
Han Dong (Author)
Han Dong, born in 1961 in Nanjing, has been a major player on the modern Chinese literary scene since the 1990s. He is known primarily as one of China’s most important avant-garde poets and is also an essayist, short story writer, and novelist.
Nicky Harman (Translator)
Nicky Harman is a UK-based prize-winning translator of Chinese literary works. She is the winner of the 2020 Special Book Award of China.
