Lessons in Solitude cover

Lessons in Solitude

Rating 3.8
Word count
104K words
Chapters
87
ISBN
9787559821935

Tags

Summary

This is a collection about the experience of a Chinese student studying in Britain and living a drifting life across three places—London, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Graduate life is dull and lonely, so one should not and cannot spend one's study days only studying. In recent years, living away from home in a rented "island room," the author spent much time in the British Library, the Royal Albert Hall, at Premier League stadiums, in Charing Cross Road bookshops, and in whisky pubs.

Editor's review

Loneliness Lessons is not a guide to escaping loneliness but an honest first-hand record: a Chinese student moves among London, Taipei, and Hong Kong for study, lives in a rented "island room," and turns the British Library, the Royal Albert Hall, Premier League stadiums, Charing Cross Road bookshops, and whisky pubs into footnotes on solitude. Its value lies in pulling "study abroad" out of a glossy filter, presenting the dullness of graduate life, the everydayness of drifting, and how one makes a place for oneself beyond books. The prose is unsentimental, more observation and self-possession, suited to commuting, bedtime, or a slow afternoon in a foreign land. It offers no standard answers, yet can make those likewise living in transit and solitude feel understood. Read it as a companion volume; do not chase plot progression—walk through the city with the author's steps, and the quiet, concrete loneliness becomes more palpable.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Students who are studying abroad or preparing to, and want to know the real texture of life in a foreign land
  • Young readers living and working away from home who resonate with solitude and drifting
  • Readers who enjoy city essays and life writing, and prefer quiet narrative prose

Not a good fit for

  • Readers expecting a systematic study-abroad guide or practical application handbook
  • Readers who prefer strong plots and fast pacing, and lack patience for life essays
  • Readers of self-help seeking explicit "methods for overcoming loneliness"

Reading tips

  1. Keep it by the bed or in a commuting bag, read one or two pieces at a time; there is no need to read it straight through.
  2. When a city place is mentioned, look up a map or background now and then to strengthen the sense of space.
  3. If you too live away from home, write a few lines of your own "loneliness lesson" afterward for comparison; it will deepen the reading.

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.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 那一年的旁听生
  3. 自序 孤寂的读书路
  4. I 读书的路途
  5. 孤岛
  6. 大留学潮
  7. 错过了的时代
  8. 不是雪泥鸿爪
  9. 在伦敦的半年
  10. 漂泊生活
  11. 百花里族人
  12. 左翼重镇——亚非学院
  13. 讨厌考试
  14. 读博士的困难
  15. 研究生完全求生秘诀
  16. 虾汤拉面和鸡汤拉面
  17. 爱书人天堂
  18. 像王强一样的书蠹
  19. 倒数中的古巴
  20. II 三城记
  21. 伦敦指南
  22. 三个锦囊
  23. 伦敦很危险
  24. 拯救了我的圣诞灯饰
  25. 在伦敦遇见画狂老人
  26. 恐袭与恐惧
  27. 从废墟中复活
  28. 图亭最有型
  29. 暂别英伦
  30. 智慧城市与自慰城市
  31. 香港小姐
  32. 消噪香港
  33. 文化差异
  34. 温柔的台湾
  35. 地道台湾游
  36. 食在伦敦
  37. 寻找香港的味道
  38. 廖家牛肉面
  39. III 生活的干涩和快乐
  40. 人一旦爱,遂极脆弱
  41. 梦碎与幻灭
  42. 邓寇克
  43. 第一步
  44. 电视节目有好多种
  45. 把荒谬留给电视剧
  46. 文化沙龙
  47. 小王子
  48. 北上苏格兰
  49. 旅行团之死
  50. 避走日本
  51. 听风的歌
  52. 职人叉烧
  53. 不太欧洲的苏黎世
  54. 主题公园威尼斯
  55. 不会脱节
  56. 学不到的断舍离
  57. 上瘾之必要
  58. IV 我的comfort zone
  59. 伦敦的夏天等我回来
  60. 音乐会的最佳座位
  61. 指挥大师
  62. 管弦乐团的五粮液
  63. 面对恐袭
  64. 将世界变好一点
  65. 相约在音乐厅的顶楼
  66. 皇家阿尔伯特地狱
  67. 没有永远标准
  68. 波坦金战舰
  69. 革命在伦敦
  70. 在主教堂听马勒
  71. 花甲之年
  72. 不入乐厅,怎知动听如此
  73. 音乐政治家
  74. 戴上指环的梵志登
  75. 独乐乐,不如读乐乐之乐
  76. 喝威士忌,不如读威士忌
  77. 喝的是工艺精神
  78. 哪里还有奥威尔的脚毛
  79. 村上春树的威士忌
  80. 100%艾雷岛
  81. 威士忌盛世
  82. 炒炒卖卖麦卡伦
  83. 最长的一天
  84. 台式世界杯
  85. 我的世界杯
  86. 邻舍与仇敌
  87. 一个年代的终结:再见云加

FAQ

Is this book a study-abroad guide or a collection of essays?
It is closer to life essays and personal record, writing about the author's days and feelings while studying in London, Taipei, and Hong Kong; it is not a practical guide to application procedures or school selection. If you want the real texture of life in a foreign land, it fits; if you want an operational handbook, look for a dedicated guide.
Will readers without study-abroad experience feel alienated?
Not much. The core is solitude, drifting, and making a place for oneself, experiences not limited to study abroad. The libraries, stadiums, bookshops, and pubs the author writes about are concrete scenes of life; even without overseas study experience, readers can find resonance in everyday details.
Does the book offer methods for solving loneliness?
It offers no standardized solutions, more an honest, companionable record. The author shows how he arranges life beyond books and gets along with the city; readers may take it as a reference, but should not expect step-by-step self-help advice.

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About the author

亚然 Author

Yaran is an author about whom little public information is available; the library holds only one work by this name, a collection of essays titled The Lesson of Solitude. Judging from the title and its classification as prose and miscellaneous writings, the writing appears to center on the theme of solitude, recording personal feelings and everyday reflections in an essayistic style that tends toward introspection and quietness. Since nothing can be confirmed about the author's dates, nationality, education, or writing career, this note makes no guesses about their life and invents no details about awards, positions, or sales. On the available evidence, Yaran's output is small, yet the work can be seen as an attempt at personal, reflective prose that takes solitude as its point of entry; any resonance readers find in it comes more from the universality of the subject than from the author's reputation. Further material would be welcome to fill out our understanding of the writer and the work.

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