A Life Rewritten

Name: A Life Rewritten
ISBN: 9787532158294

东西Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House2015

3.8

Chapters: 11
ISBN: 9787532158294

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Summary

A Life Rewritten is the third novel by the writer Dongxi, following Loud Slaps and The Confession. It was published in 2015 by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. The novel centers on Wang Changchi, who comes from a rural village in Guangxi: his gaokao score was above the cutoff line, yet he was never admitted. His father, Wang Huai, had once seen his own work-assignment slot taken by someone else, so he suspects his son's future was also tampered with. When he goes to the city to fight the injustice, he accidentally falls and is seriously injured. The burden of supporting the family now falls on Wang Changchi alone. To pay off debts, he goes to the city to work; because he cannot collect his wages, he takes the blame for another man's crime and goes to prison. After his release he continues to demand his back pay and is stabbed twice. At his poorest, He Xiaowen, who is nearly illiterate, marries him. Carrying the heavy task of "changing the Wang family," the two enter the provincial capital, only for one problem to follow another. They hold on and they fall; they fall and they hold on. His wife drifts further away in hardship, while Wang Changchi keeps hitting walls in the city. After his son Wang Dazhi is born, Wang Changchi becomes convinced that the family's "ink-black fate" will darken the child's future, so he makes a shocking move, trying to "rewrite" destiny for the next generation in the most extreme way. With black humor and twist-filled plotting, the novel depicts the struggles of peasants entering the city, the crampedness of life at the bottom, and the weight of rigid class barriers. The work was selected for the Chinese Fiction Society's 2015 Chinese Fiction Ranking and won recognition including People's Daily's 2015 "Five Recommended Books of the Year."

Editor's review

东西是首届鲁迅文学奖得主，也是中国当代文坛中生代的重要作家。《篡改的命》把一个关于“命运能不能被改写”的问题，推到了近乎残酷的极致：从高考录取的疑云，到打工讨薪的屈辱，再到父亲为儿子“换一个活法”的惊人之举，小说一环扣一环，读来让人喘不过气。它的力气不在控诉，而在叙述——余华称这种语言“生机勃勃”，欺压与抵抗、丑恶与美好都以生机勃勃的方式呈现。小说出版后入选中国小说学会2015年度中国小说排行榜，在2015年《人民日报》年度推荐五本书中占有一席之地。书名中的“篡改”既指社会规则对个体命运的粗暴改写，也指小人物孤注一掷的自我改写，读完之后你会长久地想着汪长尺这个名字——它像一个在祝福与诅咒之间滑动的符号。若你想读一本不回避现实、又保有文学质感的当代中国长篇，这一本值得放在手边。

Who it's for

A good fit for

关注当代中国现实题材小说的文学读者
喜欢余华、阎真等作家式底层叙事的读者
对社会流动、教育公平、城乡差距等议题有兴趣的人
高校中文系现当代文学课程与读书会的参与者

Not a good fit for

期待轻松治愈、圆满结局读物的读者
对底层苦难与黑色荒诞描写较为敏感、容易不适的读者
只想读短篇或散文、不愿进入长篇小说叙事的读者

Reading tips

先读引子再进入正文，留意“死磕—弱爆—屌丝—抓狂—篡改—拼爹—投胎”七个章节标题构成的命运链条。
可把本书与东西的《耳光响亮》《后悔录》对读，观察作者对“个体与时代”关系的持续思考。
阅读时留意语言风格：大量口语、方言感与荒诞幽默交织，不妨放慢速度体会对话中的锋利。
读完后可结合书中对教育、进城、阶层流动的描写，写一段自己的阅读札记或参加读书会讨论。

About the publisher

Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1952

Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House takes modern and contemporary Chinese literature and folk literature as important publishing directions, while also covering social novels, classic works, and prose and miscellaneous writings, and has long introduced foreign literature and philosophical works. Its books include masterpieces such as Lao She's Teahouse and Camel Xiangzi, Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Wandering and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, and Xiao Hong's Tales of Hulan River, as well as translations such as Gilles Deleuze's Nietzsche and Philosophy, Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Pillars of the Earth trilogy. Its authors include Lao She, Lu Xun, Xiao Hong, Zhou Ying, Liu Yuyu, and Jiang Yi, reflecting a publishing character that balances original literature, academic translation, and general reading.

Preface
Introduction
Chapter One: Diehard
Chapter Two: Totally Weak
Chapter Three: Loser
Chapter Four: Going Crazy
Chapter Five: Rewrite
Chapter Six: Daddy Connections
Chapter Seven: Rebirth
Afterword
Chronology of Dongxi's Works

FAQ

《篡改的命》的作者是谁？

作者是东西，本名田代琳，1966年生，广西天峨人，中国当代作家，曾任广西文联主席、广西作协主席。他的中篇小说《没有语言的生活》获首届鲁迅文学奖。

这本书是哪个出版社、哪一年出版的？

上海文艺出版社2015年8月出版，ISBN 为 9787532158294，定价35.00元，平装本。此外还有麦田出版等繁体中文版本。

小说主要讲了什么故事？

写农村青年汪长尺高考超分却未被录取，父亲汪槐怀疑名额被人顶替，进城抗争重伤。汪长尺进城打工、蹲监、被捅伤，与贺小文成家后仍屡遭挫败，最终为改变儿子汪大志的命运做出极端之举。

这本书的目录有哪些章节？

正文依次为序、引子，以及第一章“死磕”、第二章“弱爆”、第三章“屌丝”、第四章“抓狂”、第五章“篡改”、第六章“拼爹”、第七章“投胎”，书末附后记与东西创作年表。

这本书获得过哪些认可？

入选中国小说学会2015年度中国小说排行榜，获“2015年华夏年度十大好书”“腾讯·商报华文好书2015年度文学类好书”等，并列入《人民日报》2015年12月18日“年度推荐五本书”。

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About the author

东西 Author

Dongxi is a Chinese writer known for short fiction and literary interviews; public information about the author is limited, and biographical details are not widely documented. Two of the author's works are included here: Answers: Interviews with Dongxi, a collection of conversations that presents the author's views on writing and literature, and A White Line Across the Sky: Selected Short Stories of Dongxi, which showcases the author's work in the short-story form. Commonly categorized as literary appreciation and social fiction, the works tend to engage with real life and the many facets of society, with a concise and tension-filled style that captures characters' circumstances and emotions through everyday detail. Read together, the interview volume and the story collection offer mutually illuminating access to the author's poetics and narrative practice.