Naked Earth-Quality Guarantee

Description

An NYRB Classics Original

Set in the early years of Mao’s China, Naked Earth is the storyof two earnest young people confronting the grim realities ofrevolutionary change. Liu Ch’üan and Su Nan meet in the countrysideafter volunteering to assist in the new land reform program. Eager tobuild a more just society, they are puzzled and shocked by thebrutality, barely disguised corruption, and ruthless careerism theydiscover, but then quickly silenced by the barrage of propaganda andpublic criticism that is directed at anyone who appears to doubt arighteous cause. Joined together by the secret of their common dismay,they remain in touch when Liu departs to work on a newspaper in Peking,where Su Nan eventually also moves. Something like love begins to growbetween them—but then a new round of purges sweeps through therevolutionary ranks.

One of the greatest and most loved of modernChinese writers, Eileen Chang illuminates the dark corners of the humanexistence with a style of disorienting beauty. Naked Earth,unavailable in English for more than fifty years, is a harrowing tale ofperverted ideals, damaged souls, deepest loneliness, and terror.