Comfort Comedy

Wang MozhiCITIC Press Group·Dafang2018

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Chapters
6
ISBN
9787508690346

Tags

Featured Fiction Social Fiction Jazz MusicInterpersonal RelationsFull-Length NovelContemporary Chinese LiteratureCity MemoryContemporary ShanghaiLiterary Youth

Summary

Comfort Comedy is a novel by Wang Mozhi, a Shanghai-based author and music critic. Published in 2018 by CITIC Press Group (Dafang), it was a commissioned work of the 2017 Shanghai Writers' Association. The novel revolves around newspaper editor and columnist Chen Ling and her boyfriend Yang Zhihui, a jazz and rock enthusiast. Through flashbacks, it traces their respective pasts and romantic histories: they once scoured the city for cut-out CDs, collected vinyl records, formed an underground band, and toured along the highways. When those heady years recede and the record industry gradually declines, the two attempt to make a documentary about the spread of rock music in Shanghai to "preserve the evidence" of a vanished glory. Through a wealth of authentic detail, the novel unfolds a panoramic portrait of contemporary Shanghai's cultural and artistic scene—musicians, critics, record shops, and underground venues—while also revealing the hidden wounds and passions of everyday lane life and human relationships. Structured as a prelude, four movements, and an intermission, the book mirrors musical form, its narrative weaving back and forth between present and past. Critics have called it "a brief history of the spiritual wanderings of Shanghai's artistic youth" and "a spiritual mini-biography of a generation of artistic youth."

Editor's review

这是一本用耳朵读的小说。作者王莫之十八岁起就在上海淘打口碟、听地下演出、写乐评，他把二十年积攒的唱片经验全部放进这部处女长篇里，让摇滚、爵士、黑胶的气味从纸页里透出来。难得的是，他并未停在怀旧里：小说用“楔子—四折—中场休息”的音乐结构，让过去与现在同时发声，读完《中场休息》的篇幅恰好等于听完一张专辑，形式的巧思与内容互为回响。金宇澄、林白、张定浩、项静与音乐人 B6、肥内等联袂推荐，张定浩形容读它像听一位表情冷淡的低音萨克斯手吹自由爵士。对关心上海城市文化、华语独立音乐史，或只是想找回九十年代到千禧年那段“唱片时代”体温的读者，这本书都值得收藏。

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Reading tips

  1. 可配合书中提到的专辑边听边读，尤其是“中场休息”一节，体会结构与时间的呼应。
  2. 不必急于理清时间线，允许叙事在过去与现在之间来回，读到后半部自然汇合。
  3. 准备一张上海地图或播放一份九十年代华语摇滚、爵士歌单，能更好地进入小说的地理与声音现场。
  4. 读完后可延伸阅读作者短篇集《310上海异人故事》与长篇《现代变奏》，对照同一片城市经验。

About the publisher

CITIC Press Group·Dafang

CITIC Press Group·Dafang is a publishing imprint under CITIC Press Group. Publicly available information is limited, and details such as its founding background and scale are not yet known. Judging from the five titles in the database, Dafang focuses on the intersection of literature and history while also covering literary theory and criticism. Representative books include Franco Moretti's The Bourgeois: Between History and Literature, Nancy Armstrong's How Novels Think: The Limits of Individualism (1719–1900), Sun Haohui's historical novel The Qin Empire (Fully Revised Edition), António Lobo Antunes's Along the Rivers of the Past, and Wang Mozhi's Comfort Comedy. Its authors range from literary scholars to historical novelists and contemporary fiction writers, and its publishing direction spans literary appreciation, foreign literature, historical fiction, and quality fiction, showing an orientation that balances academic depth with readability.

Contents

  1. Prelude
  2. Movement One: Jealous Waltz
  3. Movement Two: The Art of Not Shooting
  4. Intermission
  5. Movement Three: Seeking Water in the River of Forgetfulness
  6. Movement Four: The Boy's Magic Horn

FAQ

这本书是喜剧或搞笑读物吗？ 不是。书名中的“安慰”与“喜剧”指向的是城市文艺青年在理想退潮后的自我宽解，作品是带有怀旧与感伤气质的文学长篇，而非逗笑型喜剧。
没有音乐背景能读得懂吗？ 可以。书中虽然出现大量乐手、唱片与曲目，但主线始终是陈玲与杨致晖的感情与生活选择，音乐是氛围与时代底色，不必具备专业知识也能进入。
作者王莫之是什么人？ 1982年生于上海，作家、编辑，同时也是乐评人和资深乐迷，玩打口碟与黑胶唱片，作品散见于《收获》《花城》《上海文学》等刊，另著有《现代变奏》《310上海异人故事》。
这本书讲的是真实乐队和音乐人吗？ 小说以虚构人物为主线，但大量细节取材于上海摇滚、爵士演出的真实生态，记录了不少不为大众熟悉的乐团与音乐人，被视为一种文学化的“文化档案”。

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About the author

Wang Mozhi Author

Wang Mozhi is an author about whom limited public information is currently available. The library holds one work by this author, titled An Comforting Comedy (Kangwei Xiju). Judging from its common classifications, the work is placed among premium fiction and social fiction, suggesting that its writing leans toward examining social reality through fictional narrative and presenting observations on contemporary life through plot and character relationships. Based on the available information, it is not yet possible to confirm Wang Mozhi's nationality, dates of birth and death, or writing career, nor to determine the number of works or the trajectory of the author's writing. The introduction to this author can therefore only center on the thematic positioning of An Comforting Comedy: it combines the readability of fiction with the realistic concern of social themes and is worth the attention of readers interested in social fiction and premium fiction. If more complete author information becomes available later, the author's creative background and stylistic features can be further supplemented.