Liu Zhenyun Explained

Liu Zhenyun
Native Name:刘震云
Birth Place:Yanjin County, Henan, China
Occupation:Writer
Language:Chinese
Alma Mater:Peking University
Notableworks:Someone to Talk To
Spouse:Guo Jianmei 郭建梅
Children:Liu Yulin

Liu Zhenyun (born May 1958) is a Chinese novelist and screenwriter.[1] He is best known for his novel Someone to Talk To (awarded the 2011 Mao Dun Literature Prize) as well as his involvement with the many film adaptions of his books. Among these is I Am Not Madame Bovary, produced in collaboration with director Feng Xiaogang, a frequent collaborator of Liu. He is married to noted human rights activist Guo Jianmei.[2]

Life and Work

Liu grew up in the village of Laozhuang in Yanjin County, Henan, China. At age 14, he left his village and joined the army.[3] At age 20, he took the national college entrance exam, achieved the highest score in Henan province, and was accepted at Peking University.[4] After graduation, he became a journalist.[5] In the 1980s Liu began to concentrate seriously on his literary career, publishing his debut novella Tapu, in 1987.

He went on to publish novels such as Hometown, Regime and Blood (故乡天下黄花), Anecdotes in the Hometown (故乡相处流传), Material and Spirit in the Hometown (故乡面和花朵), Nonsense Talk (一腔废话), Cell Phone (手机), The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon (我叫刘跃进).

His novels Someone to Talk To (一句顶一万句) and I Did Not Kill My Husband (我不是潘金莲) have sold over a million copies each. Someone to Talk To was awarded with Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011[6] and has sold more than 1.6 million copies.

He has also authored novellas such as A Small Town: Tapu (塔铺), Recruits (新兵连), The Office (单位), Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers (一地鸡毛), Remembering 1942 (温故一九四二). Throughout the years, Liu's works have been translated into over 28 languages.[7]

Many of Liu's books have been adapted into TV series and movies. He has written the screenplays for some of them including: A Small Town: Tapu, Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers, The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon, Remembering 1942, Someone to Talk To, I Did Not Kill My Husband. Several of these adapted films have been awarded in the film festivals around the world, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the Rome Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival, among others.

Themes and influences

Liu often credits his upbringing in Yanjin county as influencing his work, especially growing up in the shadow of the 1942 famine.[8] He also is noted for including political criticism as well as advocating for social justice in his works.[9]

Works

YearTitleChinese PublisherEnglish PublisherTranslator
1989A Small Town: Tapu (塔铺)
1991Hometown, Regime and Blood (故乡天下黄花)[10] 中国青年出版社(China Youth Press)
1992Corridors of Power (官场)[11] 华艺出版社(Hua Yi Publishing House)Chinese Literature PressDavid Kwan
1992Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers (一地鸡毛)[12] China Youth PressForeign Languages Press[13]
1992Official (官人)[14] 长江文艺出版社(Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing House)
1993Anecdotes in the Hometown (故乡相处流传)[15] Hua Yi Publishing House
1998Material and Spirit in the Hometown (故乡面和花朵)[16]
2002Nonsense Talk (一腔废话)中国工人出版社(China Workers Publishing House)
2003Cellphone (手机)[17] Writers Publishing HouseMerwinAsia[18] Howard Goldblatt
2007The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon (我叫刘跃进)[19] [20] Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing HouseArcade PublishingHoward Goldblatt & Sylvia Li-chun Lin
2009Someone to Talk To (一句顶一万句)[21] [22] (also known as One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences)Duke University Press
2009Remembering 1942 (温故一九四二)[23] [24] People's Literature Publishing HouseArcade Publishing
2012I Did Not Kill My Husband (我不是潘金莲)[25] [26] Yangtze River Literature & Art Publishing House
2017The Era of Watermelon Eaters (吃瓜时代的儿女们)[27] [28]
2021One Day Three Autumns (一日三秋)[29] 花城出版社(Huacheng Publishing House)Sinoist Press[30] Howard Goldblatt & Sylvia Li-chun Lin

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Film review: I Am Not Madame Bovary – Fan Bingbing defies petty bureaucracy in dark satire. South China Morning Post. 2018-01-17. en. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180125023220/http://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2047931/film-review-i-am-not-madame-bovary-fan-bingbing-defies-petty. 25 January 2018. dmy-all.
  2. Web site: Permission to Speak. NewsChina. 2018-01-17. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131239/http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=1476. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  3. Web site: Permission to Speak. NewsChina. 2018-01-18. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131239/http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=1476. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: How math made him a better writer - Chinadaily.com.cn. 毕楠. www.chinadaily.com.cn. 2018-01-18. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180119060617/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201706/07/WS59bbe5bda310ded8ac18abc6.html. 19 January 2018. dmy-all.
  5. Web site: Permission to Speak. NewsChina. 2018-01-18. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131239/http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=1476. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  6. Web site: The Mao Dun Literary Prize Winners. Abrahamsen. Eric. Paper Republic. en. 2018-01-17. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131515/https://paper-republic.org/resources/trans/28/. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  7. Web site: Beijing International Book Fair-New Reading Promotion Ambassador for BIBF. www.bibf.net. 2018-01-17. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180331130353/http://www.bibf.net/en/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=114&NID=35&PID=35. 31 March 2018. dmy-all.
  8. News: Opinion Why Won't the Chinese Acknowledge the 1942 Famine?. Zhenyun. Liu. 2012-11-30. The New York Times. 2018-01-17. en-US. 0362-4331. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117190757/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/global/why-wont-the-chinese-acknowledge-the-1942-famine.html. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  9. Web site: Permission to Speak. NewsChina. 2018-01-17. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131239/http://www.newschinamag.com/newschina/articleDetail.do?article_id=1476. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  10. Web site: Yellow Flowers: All Over Hometown. Amazon.cn. 26 June 2017.
  11. Book: 750710222X. Corridors of Power. Liu. Zhenyun. 1994.
  12. Web site: Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers. Amazon.cn. 26 June 2017.
  13. Book: 978-7119087573. Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers. Liu . Zhenyun . 2014 .
  14. Book: 官人. December 1992. 长江文艺出版社. 9787535407368. 跨世纪文丛. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130530193314/http://book.douban.com/subject/1961473/. 30 May 2013. dmy-all.
  15. Web site: Hometown Stories Spread. Amazon.cn. 26 June 2017.
  16. Web site: Flour and Flowers from My Homeland. Amazon.cn. 26 June 2017.
  17. Web site: Cellphone. Amazon.cn. 作家出版社. 26 June 2017. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130402230803/http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%89%8B%E6%9C%BA-%E5%88%98%E9%9C%87%E4%BA%91/dp/B002SDW7W6. 2 April 2013. dmy-all.
  18. Book: 978-0983659921. Cellphone. Zhenyun. Liu. 2011.
  19. Web site: I am Liu Yuejin. Amazon.cn. 26 June 2017.
  20. Book: 978-1628725209. The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon: A Novel of Contemporary China. Zhenyun. Liu. 4 August 2015.
  21. Web site: One Sentence Is Ten Thousand Sentences. Amazon.cn. 长江文艺出版社. 26 June 2017.
  22. Book: 978-0822370833. Someone to Talk To: A Novel (Sinotheory). Liu . Zhenyun . 3 April 2018 .
  23. Web site: Remembering 1942. Douban.com. 人民文学出版社. https://web.archive.org/web/20170827211954/https://book.douban.com/subject/3623831/. 27 August 2017. live. 26 June 2017. dmy-all.
  24. Book: 978-1628727128. Remembering 1942: And Other Chinese Stories. Zhenyun. Liu. November 2016.
  25. Web site: I Did Not Kill My Husband. Amazon.cn. 长江文艺出版社. 26 June 2017.
  26. Book: 978-1628724264. I Did Not Kill My Husband. Zhenyun. Liu. 14 October 2014.
  27. Book: 吃瓜时代的儿女们. 2017-11-01. 长江文艺出版社. 9787535499639. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180331130350/https://book.douban.com/subject/27176647/. 31 March 2018. dmy-all.
  28. Web site: Who are China's 'Watermelon Eaters?' - Caixin Global. www.caixinglobal.com. en. 2018-01-17. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180117131956/https://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-11-24/who-are-chinas-watermelon-eaters-101175839.html. 17 January 2018. dmy-all.
  29. Book: 一日三秋. 2017-11-01. 花城出版社. 9787536094420.
  30. Book: Liu, Zhenyun . One Day Three Autumns . 2023.
  31. News: 28 July 2012 . zh:刘震云莫言等5人作品获第八届茅盾文学奖 . http://news.163.com/11/0820/13/7BTFAP2100014JB6.html . 20 August 2011 . Zhang Zhongjiang . Netease . zh . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170408083636/http://news.163.com/11/0820/13/7BTFAP2100014JB6.html . 8 April 2017 . dmy-all .