In 1940s Shanghai, beautiful young Jiazhi spends her days playing mahjong and drinking tea with high society ladies. But China is occupied by invading Japanese forces and things are not always what they seem in wartime. Jiazhi's life is a front. A patriotic student radical, her mission is to seduce a powerful employee of the occupying government and lead him to the assassin's bullet. Yet as she waits for him to arrive at their liaison, Jiazhi begins to wonder if she is cut out to be a femme fatale and coldly take Mr Yi to his death. Or is she beginning to fall in love with him? A passionate tale of espionage, deception and love, "Lust, Caution" is accompanied here by four further dazzling short stories by Eileen Chang.
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About the Author
Eileen Chang (1920-1995) was born into an aristocratic family in Shanghai. Chang studied literature at the University of Hong Kong, but the Japanese attack on the city in 1941 forced her to return to occupied Shanghai, where she was able to publish the stories and essays (collected in two volumes, Romances, 1944, and Written on Water, 1945) that soon made her a literary star. The rise of Communist influence made it increasingly difficult for Chang to continue living in Shanghai; she moved to Hong Kong in 1952, then emigrated to the United States three years later. In spite of the tremendous revival of interest in her work that began in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the 1970s, and that later spread to mainland China, Chang became ever more reclusive as she grew older. Eileen Chang was found dead in her Los Angeles apartment in September 1995.
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This review is from: Lust, Caution and Other Stories (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Interest in Eileen Chang's works was revived in the English speaking world by Ang Lee's film adaptation of the lead title in this collection of five short stories.
"Lust, Caution" Mrs. Mai, the beautiful young wife of a businessman, plays mahjong with Mrs. Yi and her friends. Mrs. Yi's husband is an official in the Japanese backed government of Manchukuo. But Mrs. Mai is hiding something. "In the Waiting Room" Piecing together the lives of people from bits of the gossip they exchange in a doctor's waiting room. "Great Felicity" A young bride's wedding preparations and an old woman's unhappy reflections. A Chinese version of "Family Happiness", Tolstoy's short story about marriage and disillusionment. "Steamed Osmanthus Flower: Ah Xiao's Unhappy Autumn" A few days in the life of a Chinese maid working for a white womanizing businessman. She answers the phone, she meets her husband, and she prepares meals for her son all while feeling protective of her employer. "Traces of Love" A cynical but irreproachably proper woman marries a much older man for the money he has. Yet she never asks him about his will or to make provisions for her and she feels anxious whenever he visits his first wife. Is it really about money? The heroines (all the stories turn around women) all miss something crucial about themselves. Mrs. Mai falls in love with the wrong man, the bride is spending as much money as she can on her trousseau because she assumes her wedding day will be the only happy one in her life, Ah Xiao devotes herself to a dismissive employer, while Dunfeng believes herself more cynical than she really is. These women reach for happiness by pursuing romantic passion or luxuries or motherly care or wealth. Tragically they miss the good in themselves by following the path others expect of them. Vincent Poirier, Tokyo
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