Wind

Name: Wind
ISBN: 9787539659770

潘军Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House · ChinaNov 2021

3.9

Word count: 210K words
Chapters: 31
ISBN: 9787539659770

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Summary

This is an original contemporary novel. It mainly tells of the writer "I," who often heard family elders speak of the legendary Zheng Hai, a man of wisdom and courage, and who, as an adult, decided to write a novel about him. "I" travels to Zheng Hai's hometown, Guanzhiyao, to conduct field research, visiting the descendants of the Ye family linked to Zheng Hai in the legends. By tracing and learning about everyone in Guanzhiyao connected to Zheng Hai, "I" gradually comes to understand that the prototype of Zheng Hai was a sailor in Guanzhiyao who had met the Ye family's second young master twice and once saved the lives of two Ye brothers in a great wind. He became a hero to the Ye family and to Guanzhiyao. Afterward, Zheng Hai left Guanzhiyao, and the many later legends about him were all based on people's fond imaginings, for no one ever saw him again and he never returned, coming and going like the wind.

Editor's review

Pan Jun's Wind is a highly experimental avant-garde novel. It does not tell a complete, linear story but, through the vague thread of "searching for Zheng Yu," builds a labyrinth of memory, reality, and fiction. The novel's most captivating quality is its unique structure: three seemingly independent yet interwoven chapters ("Wind," "Window," "Wall") and an open-ended "Appendix" together challenge traditional narrative logic. Reading this book is more like taking part in an intellectual game; the reader must actively piece together fragments and distinguish truth from falsehood within the author's narrative "traps." It is not only a novel but a metafictional experiment about the nature of novel writing itself, exploring profound philosophical questions such as how history is narrated, how memory is altered, and whether truth can be reached. With a calm, restrained touch, Pan Jun creates a lingering atmosphere of suspense and absurdity; its literary value lies in its extreme pursuit of form and its bold provocation of readers' reading habits. For readers weary of conventional story patterns, Wind offers an excellent, subversive reading experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Veteran literary enthusiasts with a strong interest in avant-garde literature and narrative experimentation
Readers who enjoy actively solving puzzles and piecing things together while reading, and who relish intellectual challenges
Scholars and students researching contemporary Chinese literature, especially the avant-garde fiction movement
Thinkers seeking to understand the complex relationship among history, memory, and narrative

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a traditional story with a coherent plot, clear characters, and a definite ending
Readers new to pure literature who are looking for a light, easy reading experience

Reading tips

Let go of the insistence on a "complete story" and try to feel the hazy imagery and beauty of uncertainty brought by the textual fragments.
You may focus on the loose intertextual relationships among the three chapters and consider the symbolic meanings of images such as "wind," "window," and "wall."
After finishing, set the book aside for a few days and return to it; you may discover something new about the novel's structure and the author's intent.

About the publisher

Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Founded in 1984, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literary and art publisher. Its collection of 389 titles spans classic works, essays and miscellaneous writings, Eastern philosophy, folk literature, classical literature and design. Representative books include Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Laozi's Dao De Jing, Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the Shakespeare drama collection featuring Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and Othello, with Zhu Shenghao's translations adding luster to the series. Its author resources range from classic Chinese and foreign writers such as Lao She, Laozi, Luo Guanzhong and William Shakespeare to translators and authors including Zhu Shenghao, Li Chensen and Liang Sicheng. The publisher is characterized by its balance of Chinese and foreign literary classics with traditional culture titles, combining scholarly value with popular reading. Public information is limited, and the above is based mainly on the books in the collection.

版权信息
第一部
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章
第二部
第十一章
第十二章
第十三章
第十四章
第十五章
第十六章
第十七章
第十八章
第三部
第十九章
第二十章
第二十一章
第二十二章
第二十三章
第二十四章
第二十五章（尾声）
附录一想象与形式——关于《风》的一些话
附录二《风》：穿行于写实和虚构之间

FAQ

What story does this book actually tell?

It does not tell a single, clear story. The core thread is that an investigator (or the narrator "I") is commissioned to find a historical figure named "Zheng Yu," but during the investigation the clues break off, witnesses' accounts contradict one another, and historical records are vague; ultimately, the "search" itself becomes the theme, and the truth remains as elusive as the "wind."

Why is it called an "avant-garde novel"?

This is mainly reflected in its "anti-novel" narrative structure. It deliberately disrupts chronological order, blurs the narrator's identity, and mixes historical materials, interviews, conjecture, and fiction, dissolving the plot core of the traditional novel and forcing readers to consider meta-questions such as "how is a novel constructed" and "what is real."

Is it very difficult to read?

It has a certain threshold. It does not offer the smooth reading pleasure of popular fiction but sets up many obstacles to reading and points for pause and thought. Readers need to maintain a high level of attention and patience and be willing to accept ambiguity, multiple meanings, and incompleteness in order to appreciate its unique charm.

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About the author

潘军 Author

Pan Jun is an author about whom limited public information is available. Nine of the author's works are held in the collection, spanning social fiction, management communication and medicine, which suggests a fairly broad range of interests. The fiction is represented by works such as The Death Penalty Report, Monologue and Gesture: Red, Monologue and Gesture: Blue, Monologue and Gesture: White, Wind, Double Pupil and Haikou Diary. These works tend to focus on real social issues and individual circumstances, with a reflective and introspective quality; the Monologue and Gesture volumes, divided by colour, show a serial and somewhat experimental structure. Excellent Management Communication addresses management practice, indicating that the author's writing is not confined to fiction. As details of the author's life, nationality and dates remain unknown, this introduction is based solely on the works in the collection and makes no biographical inferences.