Record of Violin Making

Name: Record of Violin Making
ISBN: 9787539673332

阿占Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

3.8

Word count: 146K words
Chapters: 54
ISBN: 9787539673332

Report an error Find this book

Summary

This collection of ten recent novellas and short stories, written and published between 2019 and 2021, includes "The Luthier's Notebook," "The Flow of the Human World," and "Fragments of Time." Through the joys and sorrows of ordinary people striving for their livelihoods and ideals, it portrays the spirit of a fine era. The book features twenty exquisite illustrations.

Editor's review

"The Luthier's Notebook" is a collection of novellas and short stories by the writer A Zhan. Set in the old neighborhoods of Qingdao, it sketches a contemporary urban panorama through a series of stories steeped in everyday life. It is not a technical guide to instrument making; instead, it uses "lutherie"—an image of craftsmanship and accumulated time—as a metaphor for how people seek, hold fast to, or rebuild inner order and a spiritual home amid rapid change. A Zhan's writing combines a painter's keen observation with a writer's deep reflection, her touch delicate and textured. She turns her gaze on artisans, drifters, and nostalgists in old alleys, uncovering within the folds of their seemingly ordinary, even marginal, lives the resilience of existence, the dignity of solitude, and the profound emotional bond between people and place. Reading this book is like listening to polyphonic music woven from the sounds of the city, the tide, and the human heart. It offers no cheap consolation but invites the reader to slow down and contemplate the details and emotions overlooked by a fast-paced life, to sense the faint yet enduring power to resist the passage of time contained in the process of "making" and "repairing." For readers familiar with Qingdao, it is an affectionate look back; for those who are not, it is a window onto another possibility of life.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy regional literature and are curious about a city's cultural landscape
Literary readers who appreciate delicate, quiet, deeply visual storytelling
Modern urban readers longing to find an anchor in life and spiritual solace
Readers who resonate with traditional crafts, the shadows of old times, and the fate of ordinary people

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking fast-paced, plot-driven genre fiction
Technical enthusiasts hoping for concrete violin-making knowledge and tutorials

Reading tips

Read in a relatively quiet, undisturbed stretch of time so as to immerse yourself in the atmosphere and mood the book creates
Approach it as a "book of sounds," paying attention to the descriptions of the city's many voices and feeling its distinctive narrative rhythm
There is no need to rush through it in one sitting; read slowly, story by story, and even revisit certain passages to savor the subtle meanings between the lines

About the publisher

Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Founded in 1984, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literary and art publisher. Its collection of 389 titles spans classic works, essays and miscellaneous writings, Eastern philosophy, folk literature, classical literature and design. Representative books include Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Laozi's Dao De Jing, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the Shakespeare drama collection featuring Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello, with Zhu Shenghao's translations adding luster to the series. Its author resources range from classic Chinese and foreign writers such as Lao She, Laozi, Luo Guanzhong and William Shakespeare to translators and authors including Zhu Shenghao, Li Chensen and Liang Sicheng. The publisher is characterized by its balance of Chinese and foreign literary classics with traditional culture titles, combining scholarly value with popular reading. Public information is limited, and the above is based mainly on the books in the collection.

版权信息
制琴记
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
人间流水
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
石斑
不辞而别
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
在峨庄
私奔
师父
1.不是尾声
2.少年不老
3.松菴其人
4.还有茱萸
5.甘草慈悲
6.师徒墨耕
7.仍然不是尾声
孤岛和春天
1. 丑妻和老迷
2. 饺子和蒜泥
3. 鲅鱼和秋月
4. 新城和老城
5. 孤岛和春天
猫什么都知道
满载的故事
一个天才
一把折刀
一年夏天
一种杀戮
一个疯子
一条破船

FAQ

Is this book specifically about how to make violins?

No. "The Luthier's Notebook" is more of a symbolic title. This is a work of fiction containing several novellas and short stories, whose core theme is the human condition, memory, and belonging in modern society. Lutherie, as a meticulous craft requiring patience and focus, serves in the book as a metaphor for spiritual pursuit.

Does the author A Zhan have any special background?

A Zhan, whose real name is Wang Zhanyun, is a Chinese writer and painter. She has long lived in Qingdao and works in both writing and painting. This dual identity gives her literary work a strong sense of imagery and spatial awareness; she excels at capturing the subtleties of urban landscapes and human expressions, forming a distinctive artistic style.

What is the tone of the book? Is it heavy?

The overall tone is quiet, nostalgic, and tinged with a certain desolation, but it is not oppressive or heavy. While writing of loss, change, and solitude, the author is also filled with deep understanding of her characters' fates, a tender gaze upon ordinary urban life, and a celebration of life's resilience. A clear-eyed calm and detachment, earned through vicissitude, often flows between the lines.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

阿占 Author

A Zhan is a writer about whom limited public information is available. Judging from the five works held in the collection, A Zhan's writing spans both fiction and prose, with themes centered on social life and regional culture. The Record of Violin Making and The Record of the Ink Pool follow threads of craft and literary life, while Seafood and Qingdao Blues convey a distinct coastal flavor; the novella Back Sea, from the Baihua Novella Series, shows that A Zhan's novella writing has also drawn attention. Commonly classified as social fiction, culture, and essays and miscellaneous writings, these works suggest that A Zhan is at home both in narrative and in recording life and local scenes through prose. The style tends toward细腻 realistic detail, attentive to particulars and atmosphere, and entrusts observations on human feeling and tradition to the writing of local experience. Because biographical information is insufficient, this introduction makes no further inferences and outlines the direction of the writing only on the basis of the works themselves.