Song of Striking the Soil

Name: Song of Striking the Soil
ISBN: 9787549573882

朱天心Guangxi Normal University Press · ChinaDec 2021

4.4

Word count: 123K words
Chapters: 9
ISBN: 9787549573882

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Summary

The Song of the Earth Beater faithfully records the high school years of the young writer and her few close friends, bright and full of feeling. They produced nothing, knew only joy and sorrow, yet great ambitions rose with the wind while their path remained uncharted. This "Song of the Earth Beater" begins with sixteen- or seventeen-year-old Xiaoxia and Kaluo walking along Xinsheng South Road beside National Taiwan University, and ends on July 1, 1976, on Jieshou Road, where Xiaoxia headed for the Joint College Entrance Examination. Seen today, can the once so swaggering youthful grand words and great dreams—even the girl's charming, naive prattle—still return? High school life is forever worth remembering; youth is best written down in all sincerity.

Editor's review

The Song of the Earth Beater is Zhu Tianxin's record of her youth, recounting the high school years of sixteen- or seventeen-year-old Xiaoxia, Kaluo, and their friends: producing nothing, knowing only joy and sorrow, yet great ambitions rising with the wind. The book has no deliberately constructed plot; it relies on candid writing and a vivid girlish voice to set down, truthfully, campus life, friendship, and the pressure of entrance exams in a particular era. Its value lies not in nostalgia but in capturing the contradiction of youth itself: on one side, swaggering grand words and great dreams; on the other, the real road toward the Joint College Entrance Examination. Read today, it conveys the atmosphere of Taiwanese high school life in the 1970s and mirrors the similar joys and bewilderment of one's own adolescence. It suits a quiet afternoon read; there is no need to chase plot—simply follow the voice. For readers who like youth narratives, school memories, and frank writing, this is a book with warmth and a sense of time; those expecting strong plot or a complete life story may find it less to their taste.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who like youth campus subjects and prefer frank narration
Those curious about Taiwanese campus life in the 1970s
Readers who want a relaxed, essayistic work with a sense of the era
Those currently in or just past high school who are willing to look back on their youth

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer strong plot, complete storylines, and dramatic conflict
Those hoping for systematic historical analysis or social research material
Readers impatient with girlish, scattered, chatter-like narration

Reading tips

There is no need to chase plot chapter by chapter; read a small section each day and feel the rhythm through the girlish voice.
When encountering characters and scenes, note period details such as campus, entrance exams, and daily pastimes to sense the era.
Keep a pen to mark sentences that resonate or leave you wistful, and after finishing, revisit your own high school memories.

About the publisher

Guangxi Normal University Press China · Founded in 1986

Guangxi Normal University Press is a publisher known for literature, foreign literature and history titles. Its 1,175 books in the database show a solid accumulation in classics and prose collections, including foreign literary works such as Les Fleurs du mal: Annotated Poems of Baudelaire, Snow Country, Dubliners and The Wild Palms, as well as modern prose compilations like The Complete Prose of Zhou Zuoren. History and philosophy also hold a notable share, with titles such as Running Dogs: Clerks and Runners in Qing County Yamen and The History and Thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom reflecting attention to Qing local administration and modern history. In art literature there is the 16-volume Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Manual. Its author resources include foreign writers Charles Baudelaire and Yasunari Kawabata, translators and annotators Liu Nanqi and Zou Bo, and scholars such as Zhong Shuhe, Bradly W. Reed and You Chenjun. As public information is limited, this characterization is based only on the books in the database, which together present a profile balancing Chinese and foreign literary classics with academic works in the humanities and social sciences.

版权信息
代序
简体首版序
闲梦远南国正芳春
楚天千里清秋
绿兮衣兮
日月光华旦复旦兮
行行且游猎篇
附录从前从前有个阳光世界

FAQ

Is this book a complete story?

It is not a complete novel in the traditional sense; it is more a factual record of girlhood life, linked together from campus days, fragments of friendship, and a girl's private thoughts. There is no need to look for a main plot; following the voice and moods of Xiaoxia and her friends will better convey the book's frankness and period atmosphere.

Will I feel alienated if I don't know Taiwanese high school life?

There may be a few period and regional details to get used to, such as the Joint College Entrance Examination and the campus environment, but the book's core is a girl's joys and sorrows, friendships, and growing pains, which are common experiences. Read it as a record of life in a particular era, and the distance becomes an entry point into understanding that time.

Is it better read in one sitting or slowly?

It is better read slowly. The book moves through scattered slices of life, and its voice and moods need savoring; reading it in one sitting may leave only a vague impression. Read a small section at a time, leave some room for reflection, and pause to note sentences that resonate; the reading experience will be fuller.

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About the author

朱天心 Author

Zhu Tianxin is an important writer in the Chinese-language literary world. Public information about her is limited, and details such as her dates of birth and death, nationality, and education are not clearly recorded in the available sources. Her eight works in the collection span social fiction, prose, and youth literature, with representative titles including The Hunters, Songs of Pounding Soil, That Cat, That Person, That City, In Remembrance of My Village Brothers, The Ancient Capital, A Thirty-Three-Year Dream, The Wanderer, and Love in the Season of Early Summer Lotuses. These works show her writing moving across youthful memory, city life, animal observation, and military dependents' village experience, with delicate and lyrical prose that often links personal recollection to broader historical change. She attends closely to the small textures of everyday life and writes movingly about the ties between people and places, and between people and animals. Her work has had a notable influence on Taiwanese literature and Chinese-language writing.