With the Dust

Name: With the Dust
ISBN: 9787506387828

尔雅Writers Publishing House · ChinaJun 2023

3.9

Word count: 308K words
Chapters: 173
ISBN: 9787506387828

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Summary

Tong Chen tells the story of two artists pursuing their artistic ideals, and the love and life conflicts they encounter along the way. One protagonist, Xu Duoduo, is a rural painter who travels the world of calligraphy and painting with an ancestral painting, dreaming of worldly success and of becoming a true painter—but his dream is thwarted, and he ends up selling the painting. The other protagonist, Xu Baichuan, is an influential independent film director in the film and television world who hopes to make films of greater artistic merit; taking Xu Duoduo as his model, he makes the film The Painting Sale, but in a noisy age the work also falls short of his own expectations. In their respective lives there are also two women: Liu Xiaomei, a calligraphy-and-painting dealer who started out in the countryside and struggles in the city; and Duo Yan, a painter and singer in the modern city who seeks only perfect love. They each form complicated romantic ties with the two male protagonists.

Editor's review

Following his A Lone Western Regions, Er Ya returns with a more introspective and historically resonant novel exploring the individual and the era, memory and disappearance. Told through the recollections of a middle-aged intellectual narrator, the novel pieces together fragments of time from the 1980s to the present, using delicate psychological portraiture and a keen eye for daily life to reveal the spiritual wandering and perseverance of individuals amid sweeping historical change. Er Ya's narrative voice is highly distinctive—restrained and cool yet quietly poetic. He elevates personal memory into a spiritual archive of a generation, letting readers feel the weight of time and the texture of life within seemingly plain narration. The work's value lies in moving beyond mere storytelling: by repeatedly chewing over and reconstructing memory, it invites readers to consider how, in an age when all that is solid melts into air, we confirm our own existence and make peace with the dust of the past. It is not a book that offers answers but one that provokes reflection, its literary value lying in its precise rendering of the spiritual predicament and unremitting searching of contemporary intellectuals.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in social change from the 1980s to the present and the inner journeys of intellectuals
Readers who appreciate cool, restrained, and reflective literary language
Readers in midlife seeking to reflect on the meaning of life and times past
Literary lovers drawn to philosophical themes of memory, time, and existence

Not a good fit for

Entertainment-oriented readers seeking strong plot and fast-paced narrative
Readers impatient with novels that emphasize inner monologue and reflection and lack intense external conflict

Reading tips

It is best read in a quiet, uninterrupted setting so as to enter the novel's contemplative atmosphere
Readers may slow down and follow the narrator's thoughts, savoring the gaps and tensions between the words
Reading in conjunction with one's own memories or knowledge of particular eras (such as the 1980s and 1990s) will bring deeper resonance

About the publisher

Writers Publishing House China · Founded in 1953

Writers Publishing House is a Chinese publisher focused mainly on literary publishing. Its output covers classical literature, foreign literature, folk literature and Eastern philosophy, with some extension into popular reading such as social fiction and parenting books. Its catalogue contains more than 900 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber and its edited editions, Shakespeare's Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and foreign literary classics such as The Brothers Karamazov and Lost Illusions. In terms of authors, it includes classical writers such as Cao Xueqin and Gao E, foreign masters such as William Shakespeare, Dostoevsky and Balzac, and translations by translators such as Zhu Shenghao, Geng Jizhi and Fu Lei. Overall, its publishing profile balances Chinese and foreign literary classics, emphasizes quality translations, and serves both academic and general readers; publicly available information on its specific publishing plans is limited.

版权信息
第一章许多多
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第二章刘小美
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第三章许百川
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第四章许多多
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第五章许百川
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第六章许多多
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第七章许百川
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第八章朵焉
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第九章许多多
第十章刘小美
第十一章许百川
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后记

FAQ

How does this book relate to or differ from Erya's earlier work A Solitary Journey Through the Western Regions?

In its spiritual lineage, Dust Alike is a continuation and deepening of A Solitary Journey Through the Western Regions; both concern the individual's existence within vast time and space. But the earlier work has more of a geographical spirit of exploration, while Dust Alike turns entirely to inner excavation and a retracing of time, with more restrained narration and denser reflection—an important shift in the author's writing.

What special meaning does the title 'Dust Alike' carry?

The phrase 'dust alike' comes from the Daodejing: 'Softening its light, merging with its dust.' In the novel it metaphorically evokes the complex relationship between the individual and the tide of the times, memory and forgetting, lofty ideals and mundane reality. The protagonist tries to recognize and situate the self amid the teeming 'dusty world,' ultimately arriving at a state of understanding and acceptance—'dust alike.'

How difficult is this book to read?

This is not a plot-driven novel; its narrative pace is gentle and it relies heavily on inner monologue, accumulated detail, and layered imagery. Readers accustomed to traditional linear narrative may need some time to adjust. But its language is refined and beautiful and its thought profound; for readers willing to settle into deep reading, it will be a rich spiritual experience.

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About the author

尔雅 Author

Er Ya is an author about whom limited public information is available. Six works are known to date, spanning social fiction, literary appreciation, time-travel fantasy, modern romance, and otherworldly fantasy. Representative titles include Tong Chen, You Have Vines, I Have Peach Blossoms: The Book of Songs: The Older, the Better, My Aggressive Girlfriend, Please Take Your Mark, Actress, The Little Cook, and The Three Years After You Left. These works show a wide range of subjects, from accessible interpretations of classical literature such as the Book of Songs to social fiction close to real life and brisk modern romance and time-travel stories. The titles often carry the flavor of online literature and light reading, with an easy, readable style aimed at general readers. As details such as birth and death dates, nationality, and English name are unknown, a complete account of the author's life and writing background is difficult to present; readers may begin with the works above to appreciate the free movement between classical and contemporary themes.