Ring Flower

Name: Ring Flower
ISBN: 9787533958725

Ge FeiZhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaOct 2020

3.7

Word count: 127K words
Chapters: 15
ISBN: 9787533958725

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Summary

Featuring the title story “The Ring Flower,” this collection of thirteen novellas and short stories by Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Ge Fei gathers work mostly published around the turn of the millennium. It includes celebrated pieces such as “Mona Lisa’s Smile,” “The Feeling of the Rainy Season,” and “Ma Yulan’s Birthday Gift,” alongside lesser-known gems like “Fake,” “Awakening,” and “Swinging.” In “The Ring Flower,” journalist Ding Xiaoman, while reporting on the murder of a young girl, meets a pitiable little boy and is deeply moved by his tragic background and fate. Ge Fei, winner of both the Mao Dun Literature Prize and the Lu Xun Literature Prize, has been hailed by the contemporary literary world as “a writer’s writer.”

Editor's review

The Ring Flower is the culmination of Ge Fei’s novellas and short stories in recent years, collecting eight representative works from different periods of his career. A leading figure of avant-garde literature, Ge Fei maintains in this volume a heightened self-awareness and exploratory spirit regarding narrative form; yet compared with the experimentalism of his earlier work, the book displays a more composed, introspective aesthetic. Centered on pieces such as “The Ring Flower” and “Mona Lisa’s Smile,” the collection builds a literary world rich in metaphor and symbol. Ge Fei excels at planting intricate structural traps and labyrinths of meaning within seemingly ordinary domestic narratives, so that readers, while following the rises and falls of his characters’ fates, are continually confronted with philosophical questions about memory, truth, and fiction. His language is refined and fastidious, combining the resonance of classical literature with the cool rigor of modernist speculation. The book’s value lies not only in its display of literary technique but also in its exploration, through small, specific stories, of the spiritual predicaments and existential reflections of contemporary Chinese intellectuals and ordinary people amid historical change. For readers familiar with Ge Fei, it is a journey through the arc of his creative development; for new readers, it is an excellent gateway into Ge Fei’s literary universe.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Veteran literary readers with a strong interest in avant-garde literature and narrative experimentation
Literary scholars seeking a deeper understanding of Ge Fei’s style and intellectual trajectory
Contemplative readers who prefer stories that probe philosophical meaning and human depth
Lovers of literary fiction who appreciate precise language, intricate structure, and rich metaphor

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction who want fast pacing, strong plot, and clear resolutions
Readers impatient with a reflective, slightly abstruse literary style

Reading tips

Reading in order is recommended, as it reveals subtle shifts and inner connections in Ge Fei’s style across different periods.
Pay attention to intertextuality among the pieces and to the symbolic system built by recurring images (such as flowers, memory, and illness).
Do not rush to find a “correct” answer to each story; immerse yourself in the atmosphere and rhythm of the language and appreciate the distinctive beauty of its ambiguity and openness.

About the publisher

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House is a Chinese publisher specializing in literary publishing. Judging from the 808 titles in the database, its publishing areas cover world classics, foreign literature, social novels, folk literature and classic works, as well as modern and contemporary literature and prose. Representative titles include foreign literary translations such as Anna Karenina, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, In Praise of Shadows and The Complete Tragedies and Comedies of Shakespeare, alongside classic works by Lao She and Lu Xun such as Camel Xiangzi, Teahouse and Wandering. Its authors and translators include Leo Tolstoy, Cao Ying, Lao She, Yukio Mishima, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and Zhu Shenghao. The press emphasizes the translation and introduction of classic texts and the compilation of native literary works, giving equal weight to Chinese and foreign literature. Owing to limited public information, its specific series and editorial policies are not elaborated here.

版权信息
雨季的感觉
公案
赝品
未来
失踪
让它去
打秋千
苏醒
马玉兰的生日礼物
暗示
戒指花
不过是垃圾
蒙娜丽莎的微笑
附录

FAQ

How does The Ring Flower compare with Ge Fei’s earlier full-length works, such as the Jiangnan Trilogy?

This is a collection of novellas and short stories. Compared with his structurally ambitious novels, it focuses more on the deep exploration of particular situations and moments, with more condensed narration and more concentrated imagery, demonstrating Ge Fei’s skill in handling complex themes within short forms.

Do the stories share common themes?

Although each story stands on its own, they generally revolve around core themes such as the unreliability of memory, personal narratives of history, the boundary between truth and fiction, and the spiritual condition of intellectuals, giving the collection an inner unity.

Is this book suitable for readers encountering Ge Fei’s work for the first time?

Very suitable. With varied subjects and styles and a moderate length, this collection is easier to enter than his novels and offers a fairly comprehensive first taste of Ge Fei’s distinctive literary world and narrative charm.

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About the author

Ge Fei Author · Chinese · 1964

Ge Fei, whose real name is Liu Yong, was born in Dantu, Jiangsu, in 1964. He is one of the representative writers of China's avant-garde literature and currently a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University. His writing emerged in the avant-garde wave of the 1980s, and he is known for narrative experimentation, labyrinthine treatments of time, and the uncertainty of memory, which give him a distinctive place in contemporary Chinese literature. His representative works include Brown Birds, Renmian Taohua (Peach Blossom Paradise), Shanhe Ru Meng (Mountains and Rivers Dreaming), Chun Jin Jiangnan (Spring Ends in Jiangnan), and Wang Chunfeng (Looking at the Spring Breeze). His Jiangnan Trilogy traces a century of family fate as a reflection of social change. He has received the Lu Xun Literary Prize, the Lao She Literary Award, and the ninth Mao Dun Literature Prize. Thirteen of his works are included in the collection, spanning classic works, social novels, and prose, showing that his writing crosses fiction and essays and combines avant-garde sensibility with realistic concern.