Hidden Illness
Tags
Summary
A woman attacks her bedmate every time she sleepwalks, and this “sleep violence” seems inextricably linked to long-term depression;
A man is dumped by his girlfriend, and the inferiority he felt in his student days about his background and appearance returns to haunt him;
An old man agonizes over whether to take the clothes the nursing home has given him, and the memory of being framed in his youth reawakens his inner fear;
Each of us lives with hidden afflictions we cannot speak of and cannot escape.
These hidden afflictions, never faced squarely, bring us an emptiness hard to fill and ache faintly through the long years of our lives.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Literary readers who enjoy psychological realism and short stories
- People interested in observing human relationships and hidden emotions
- Readers who want to understand others' predicaments through literature
- Readers who prefer slow, careful reading in a quiet environment
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting light, healing stories or happy endings
- Readers who only want strong plots and fast-paced stories
- People currently feeling low or sensitive to oppressive themes
Reading tips
- Read only two or three stories at a time, leaving room to process the emotions.
- As you read each story, notice how the character's “hidden affliction” shapes their daily choices; there is no need to judge quickly.
- Keep a pen handy and make brief notes where something moves you, to help sort through your feelings.
- If a story makes you uncomfortable, set it aside and switch to another; there is no need to read them in order.
About the publisher
Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House focuses on literary publishing while also covering the humanities, social sciences, and books on art and daily life. Its approximately 1,535 titles in the database span social novels, world history, design, science fiction, classic works, and film and television: they include modern Chinese literary classics by Lu Xun such as A Madman's Diary: The Complete Short Stories of Lu Xun, Call to Arms, Four Generations Under One Roof, and Teahouse, as well as foreign literary memoirs like Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday. In science fiction it offers Asimov's Galactic Empire series, while in architecture and art it publishes Liu Dunzhen's Classical Gardens of Suzhou and design titles from Phoenix Space. Its authors are concentrated among classic writers such as Lu Xun, Zweig, and Asimov, with translators including Liang Xijiang, Zhong Haonan, and Ye Lihua. Its overall character is built on classic works while embracing genre fiction and visual culture. Public information is limited, and this introduction is based on the titles in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 平行
- 安静的先生
- 锦瑟
- 被远方退回的一封信
- 光明面
- 桥
- 嫌疑人
- 湖边的光明时刻
- 爱情诗
- 凡心已炽
- 隐疾
FAQ
Is this book a novel or a short story collection?
Is the tone very oppressive?
Is it suitable for reading before sleep?
Comments
Find this book
This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Yi Zhou: publicly available information is limited. The library holds four works by this author, namely Baghdad Sunset, Whether That Is a Feast or a Debacle, Errors of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Hidden Ailments, which together offer a rough picture of the writing. The works fall mainly into two categories, social fiction and essays and miscellaneous writings. The former attends to human warmth and coldness within real-life predicaments, developing its narratives through everyday detail in a restrained, observant tone; the latter, flexible in length, records observations and reflections in plain language, with an emphasis on the interweaving of personal experience and the feel of the times. The writing as a whole relies less on plot than on atmosphere and psychological portrayal, maintaining a distinct personal style within contemporary Chinese writing. As basic facts such as dates of birth and death, nationality and education are unavailable, this note sketches only the works and categories held in the library, offering readers a general sense of the author's orientation.
