Chinese Novel "Hope and Life" Was Released in English at the London Book Fair

It is a novel that is based on the literary genre of country life literature, which dates back to the 1920s and was especially well-liked from the 1940s to the 1950s.

on Apr 21, 2023

Chinese Novel "Hope and Life" Was Released in English at the London Book Fair

You can reach a country through its literature, which bridges the East and the West.

At the 2023 London Book Fair, Sun Qian, vice president of Phoenix Art and Literature Publishing, makes this statement. She and her colleagues haven't visited the venue since the COVID-19 outbreak, so this is their first visit, and they brought fresh literature with them.

On Tuesday, the same day the London Book Fair started, Hu Xuewen's Hope and Life, a book by the Chinese author published in Chinese by Phoenix, was released in English. Joel Batchler translated the text into English, which the New Classic Press then released.

It is a novel that is based on the literary genre of country life literature, which dates back to the 1920s and was especially well-liked from the 1940s to the 1950s. Hu's book, about a dying midwife who has delivered almost 12,000 babies, offers something fresh.

Because she delivered generations of people over the previous century, from the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) to the present, the midwife, Qiao Damei, is revered in the village where she lived her whole life.

Community members continue to visit her while she lies on her deathbed for company, confession, and discussion. The story takes place over the course of 24 hours, but through flashbacks, the midwife's viewpoint on a century of history is revealed.

A 600,000-word novel that chronicles rural life in China over the course of a dramatic century is a grand tale and ambitious undertaking. It is inevitable to wonder if it will be too difficult for Western readers, but Hu doesn't seem concerned at all, noting that country novels have long been a staple of world literature.