Customer Reviews

Written on Water (Weatherhead Books on Asia)

5 star:		(1)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to disagree with the two previous reviewers. These essays are simply wonderful -- sensuous, vivid, maybe trivial, but for a reason. Chang was writing in Shanghai during the time of the Japanese occupation, when censorship made it impossible to be political. Thus her focus on the everyday, the quotidian, the little pleasures and hardships of life. These essays, some of which are very personal, provide a wonderful backdrop to some of her fiction. Also, they present a picture of war-time Shanghai that does not quite match the image presented in history books. I loved every one of these essays and recommend this anthology to anybody interested in Eileen Chang, modern China, Shanghai or urban modernity.

I have read several books written by Eileen Chiang which I've enjoyed but this is not an easy book to understand. I believed it to be taken from her point of view on life in general. I will have to re-read it one day as I did not finish it.

I was absolutely disappointed by this book. I've read Eileen Chang's major novels and short stories and found her fiction extremely insightful. I expected similar quality from her essays and assumed that I would be getting wise quirky essays in the tradition of Linyu Tang.
Unfortunately these essays are nothing more than badly written commercial rubbish that she churned out for popular magazines. None of them show the slightest thought or insight, and they aren't even well written. In fact, writing trivial articles about the history of dress collars while Shanghai was under cruel Japanese occupation even seems morally questionable.
There is a good introduction by the translator/editor, which provides some useful context and argues for the significance of these essays. And to the historian interested in daily life of the period, the contents might have some interest. In general, however, these minor writings are nothing more than commercial ephemera. The translation of this collection can only do harm to the reputation of one of modern China's great fiction writers.