War Elephant

雷杰龙China Culture and History Press · ChinaAug 2025

Rating 3.4
Word count
195K words
Chapters
22
ISBN
9787520542494

Tags

Social Fiction Social ObservationAdventure JourneyFate and FortuneLove EntanglementsComplex HumanityEveryday MarvelsShort FictionShort StoriesLinguistic ExperimentModernism

Summary

This is a collection of modernist novellas and short stories. It includes nine flash fictions such as "Performance Artist" and "The Stone by the Lake," four short stories such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Sri Lanka," and four novellas such as "Cockfighting" and "War Elephant," touching on themes including the tsunami, a stolen stone, the fate of individuals in history, the fragility and warmth of personal life, the sacred and secular dimensions of language, the unshakable bonds of cherished family love, and the cognitive grasp of the world's details and concepts during long journeys. The tone is poetic and the narration understated. Writing in the spirit of a "narrator," the author speaks gently and unhurriedly, leading readers to explore the pleasures of existence. The work prominently displays the style of existentialist fiction within modernism, emphasizing the unadorned expression of existence in life, freely handling time and space, and brimming with philosophical thought.

Editor's review

War Elephant is a novel by Lei Jielong set against the history of the Yunnan borderlands. Through the legendary fate of a war elephant, it weaves together the grand narratives of the Western Yunnan theater of the War of Resistance, ethnic migration, and ecological change. With solid historical research and delicate literary craftsmanship, the author explores the intertwined themes of war, home, and nature through the emotional bond between humans and elephants. The novel not only restores the little-known history of the "war elephant unit" on the Yunnan-Burma battlefield, but also integrates the landscapes, customs, and ethnic traditions of the southwestern frontier into the fabric of the narrative, conveying a rich sense of regional culture. Lei Jielong's prose combines the vastness of epic with the insight of fable. The war elephant "Zhaoshutun" is both a witness to history and a symbol of ethnic spirit; its shifting fortunes mirror the trauma and resilience of this land. As a literary work with a distinctive theme and a high level of accomplishment, War Elephant strikes a balance between historical fiction and ecological concern, offering readers a reading experience different from conventional war narratives.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Can be read alongside historical materials on the Yunnan-Burma theater to understand the novel's historical context
  2. Pay attention to the detailed descriptions of frontier natural landscapes and ethnic customs
  3. Note the unique emotional experience and symbolic meaning brought by the war elephant as a narrative perspective

About the publisher

China Culture and History Press China · Founded in 1980

China Culture and History Press has long devoted itself to modern and contemporary literature and culture-and-history reading matter, with publishing directions centered on classic works, social novels, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy, alongside culture-and-history periodicals such as Zongheng. Among the more than 1,500 titles in the collection, representative books include Zhang Henshui's Ti Xiao Yin Yuan, Lu Xun's Complete Classic Works (10 volumes) and Wild Grass, and Lao She's Four Generations Under One Roof series and the boxed set of Lao She's Classic Works (10 volumes), while its author resources are concentrated on figures such as Zhang Henshui, Lu Xun, Lao She and Sima Qian. Its publishing character lies in solid editorial work on culture-and-history source texts and in issuing famous authors' works in sets, balancing the readability of individual texts with the systematic presentation of complete collections for focused reading and collecting. Beyond these directions, public information on the press's contemporary original publishing is limited, so it is not elaborated here.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 微小说
  3. 行为艺术家
  4. 湖边的石头
  5. 看云的人
  6. 黑暗中的心跳
  7. 语言故事
  8. 护法
  9. 唐太宗面前的玄奘西游记
  10. 翠微宫
  11. 镜湖
  12. 短篇小说
  13. 皇帝的新装
  14. 斯里兰卡
  15. 江山
  16. 记骨
  17. 中篇小说
  18. 斗鸡
  19. 临梵
  20. 战象
  21. 魔巴之死
  22. 以萤火之明，探索存在的乐趣（后记）

FAQ

Is the war elephant unit in the novel based on historical fact? Yes. There is historical evidence of elephants being used to transport supplies on the Yunnan-Burma battlefield, and the author builds a literary reconstruction on this basis.
What is the literary style of this book? The style is weighty and vast, blending historical documentary, regional flavor, and allegorical elements, with a relatively slow narrative pace.
Is it suitable for readers unfamiliar with Yunnan culture? The novel provides rich background exposition, but readers with some interest in history and culture will better appreciate its deeper resonance.

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About the author

雷杰龙 Author

Lei Jielong is represented in the Chinese book records by only one work, the social novel War Elephant. Publicly available information about his nationality, dates of birth and death, education, and writing career is limited, making it difficult to sketch a full biography at present. According to the existing classification, War Elephant is categorized as a social novel, suggesting that the work focuses on the relationship between individuals and society and may unfold its narrative against the backdrop of real life. The title itself carries symbolic overtones, readily evoking themes such as power, conflict, and the human condition, which aligns with the orientation of fiction concerned with social reality. Because verifiable information is scarce, his writing style and literary influence await further documentation; readers may begin with War Elephant to appreciate its choice of subject and narrative features.