Paradise

Name: Paradise
ISBN: 9787532790890

阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳 / 刘国枝Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaSep 2022

4.6

Word count: 144K words
Chapters: 53
ISBN: 9787532790890

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Summary

Set a century ago in Zanzibar, an ancient East African land under the shadow of German colonial rule, where multiple civilizations and religions coexist. The boy Yusuf is pledged by his father to the merchant Aziz to settle a debt, and thereafter follows the caravan through foreign lands, experiencing the hardships of survival firsthand. He is perplexed by the unpredictable Aziz, the guide at his coming-of-age ceremony; he is curious about the whispered weeping of the mad woman locked away behind the garden; he is captivated by the towering cliff like a wall of flame encountered on the journey, which seems like the gate of paradise, opening his inner eye: should he endure humiliation and survive, keeping a tiny shop and becoming a small shopkeeper, or should he become as hard as iron in a cruel world and seek the poor man's paradise with gardens and fountains, and with freedom and dignity?

Published in 1994, Paradise is one of Gurnah's representative works. Through the unworldly, unfiltered perspective of a young boy, the author embeds a boy's coming-of-age story within the larger backdrop of social upheaval and historical change, and by writing the past lives of a generation of immigrants, seeks to "strive to preserve that memory, to recover those moments and stories by which people live and through which they know themselves."

Editor's review

Paradise is one of the representative works of Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, and an important work that first brought him to Chinese readers on a large scale. Set in the colonial East Africa of the early twentieth century, the novel unfolds through the eyes of a young boy, Yusuf, a complex picture interwoven with growth, faith, slavery, and the clash of civilizations. Gurnah's touch is calm and delicate; he is in no hurry to judge, but instead weaves the collision between colonialism, commercial penetration, and Swahili culture and Islamic tradition into a story of the quest for and disillusionment with "paradise." Yusuf's journey, from the interior to the coast, from innocence to awakening, is in truth a profound metaphor for how the individual seeks identity and belonging within the grand narrative of history. The book's literary value lies in its distinctive narrative voice and rich historical texture; it is not a simple novel of colonial critique, but a deep exploration of the tension between the inner fabric of precolonial East African society and external shocks. For Chinese readers, this work offers a rare opportunity to understand the literary echoes of that "Indian Ocean world" so often overlooked by mainstream narratives.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Nobel Prize–winning works and postcolonial literature
Explorers who wish to understand East African Swahili culture, history, and Islamic tradition in greater depth
Lovers of serious literature who appreciate calm narration, historical texture, and human depth
Thoughtful readers concerned with themes of identity, cultural conflict, and individual destiny

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment or fast-paced plots
Readers entirely unfamiliar with non-Western history and culture who are unwilling to invest patience in understanding

Reading tips

While reading, it may help to consult background materials on East African colonial history and Swahili culture, which will aid understanding of the book's subtle social relations and symbolic meanings.
Pay attention to the subtle shifts in the protagonist Yusuf's perspective; every observation and confusion in his growth is key to understanding the novel's themes.
Gurnah's language is understated and suggestive; readers are advised to slow down and savor the tension and unspoken emotions in his scene descriptions and dialogue.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
译序故事与译事
第一章有围墙的花园
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
第二章山乡小镇
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
第三章内陆之旅
1
2
3
4
5
6
第四章火焰门
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
第五章心心念念的树林
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
第六章血块
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
附录 2021年诺贝尔文学奖得主阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳获奖演说写作

FAQ

What is the relationship between this book and Gurnah's Nobel Prize win?

Paradise is an important work from Gurnah's mature period, fully embodying his core themes and superb literary craft, and is one of the key works for understanding why he won the prize. The Nobel committee particularly praised his profound insight into the effects of colonialism, the fate of refugees, and the gulf between cultures and continents—all of which are concentrated in Paradise.

Does the title "Paradise" have any special meaning?

"Paradise" is a title full of irony and multiple meanings. It refers both to Yusuf's initial naive longing for his uncle Aziz's wealthy life (like paradise) and metaphorically to a certain tranquility that may have existed in the land of East Africa before the intrusion of colonial powers and commercial capital; more profoundly, it points to the religious, cultural, and personal inner quest for an ideal home—a quest that in reality often faces complex compromises and disillusionment.

What challenges does reading this book present?

The main challenges may come from unfamiliarity with the social, cultural, and historical context of East Africa, as well as Gurnah's restrained, undramatic narrative style. The novel has no strong external plot conflicts, relying more on the movement of internal perspective and the accumulation of details to reveal character fate and the tide of history. It requires a certain patience and concentration from the reader.

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About the author

阿卜杜勒拉扎克·古尔纳 Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah is an important contemporary novelist whose works have been translated into Chinese in more than a dozen editions, often classified under foreign literature and classics. His writing centers on migration, diaspora and identity, with a quiet, restrained style that reveals the psychological tensions of characters crossing geographical and cultural boundaries through everyday detail. Representative works include Paradise, Afterlives, Admiring Silence, By the Sea, Gravel Heart and The Pilgrims' Way, along with two five-volume collected editions of his works. Because public information is limited, basic details such as his dates and nationality remain to be confirmed; yet the translated works show his concern with colonial legacies, memory and belonging, and a narrative that combines realism with symbolic depth, offering a distinctive perspective on contemporary African and migrant experience.

刘国枝 Author

Liu Guozhi is an author in the field of Chinese-language book publishing. Publicly available information about her is limited: her biography, nationality, educational background, and honors are not clearly documented, so a complete profile cannot be drawn. Judging from the thirteen works held in the collection, however, her focus clearly lies in foreign literature, especially the Chinese presentation of English-language novels. Representative works include Bring Up the Bodies, Wolf Hall, the Wolf Hall Trilogy (3 volumes), Wolf Hall (10th Anniversary Edition), The Mirror and the Light, Paradise, The Gurnah Collection, Volume One (5 volumes), and The Cider House Rules. These works are mostly classics and finely crafted novels, with some essays and miscellaneous writings, spanning historical narrative and contemporary life and showing her sustained engagement with close reading and language transfer. For readers, her name is associated with substantial, rewarding works of foreign literature, and her work offers a reliable path for Chinese readers to approach them.