About the author
Ju Yan: publicly available information is limited; it is currently known only that the author has one work, the social novel Plankton. Judging by the title and category, the novel likely uses the image of “plankton” to observe the condition of individuals in urban society: small, drifting, and yet dependent on one another along their separate tracks. Ju Yan’s writing seems less reliant on dramatic external conflict and more focused on rendering, with delicate strokes, the emotions and choices within everyday circumstances, thereby presenting overlooked figures and relationships under social structures. Because the author’s place of origin, birth year, and life experience are not clearly recorded, the full scope of their writing is hard to assess; the existing work is the main basis for understanding their literary profile. The subject matter of Plankton forms a thought-provoking echo with its title, drawing attention to the author’s calm and considerate observation of reality. If readers recognize their own sense of suspension in it, the work’s social significance has already been achieved.