Ha-jin Yi Knihy

A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year Lilian Shang, a history professor in Maryland, knew that her father, Gary, had been the most important Chinese spy ever caught in the United States. But when she discovers his diary after the death of her parents, its pages reveal the full pain and longing that his double life entailed—and point to a hidden second family that he’d left behind in China. As Lilian follows her father’s trail back into the Chinese provinces, she begins to grasp the extent of her father’s dilemma—torn between loyalty to his motherland and the love he came to feel for his adopted country. As she starts to understand that Gary, too, had been betrayed, she finds that it is up to her to prevent his tragedy from endangering yet another generation of the Shangs. A stunning portrait of a multinational family, an unflinching inquiry into the meaning of patriotism, A Map of Betrayal is a spy novel that only Ha Jin could write.

The collection features a blend of humor and poignancy, exploring the complexities of contemporary life in China. Through a series of engaging tales, Ha Jin captures the warmth and humanity of his characters while revealing surprising and sometimes disturbing truths about their experiences. Each story offers a unique glimpse into the cultural and emotional landscape of modern China, making for a compelling read that balances delight with depth.

Novelist Ha Jin raises questions about language, migration, and the place of literature in a rapidly globalizing world. Consisting of three interconnected essays, The Writer as Migrant sets Ha Jin’s own work and life alongside those of other literary exiles, creating a conversation across cultures and between eras. He employs the cases of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Chinese novelist Lin Yutang to illustrate the obligation a writer feels to the land of their birth, while Joseph Conrad and Vladimir Nabokov—who, like Ha Jin, adopted English for their writing—are enlisted to explore a migrant author’s conscious choice of a literary language. A final essay draws on V. S. Naipaul and Milan Kundera to consider the ways in which our era of perpetual change forces a migrant writer to reconceptualize the very idea of home. Throughout, Jin brings other celebrated writers into the conversation as well, including W. G. Sebald, C. P. Cavafy, and Salman Rushdie—refracting and refining the very idea of a literature of migration. Simultaneously a reflection on a crucial theme and a fascinating glimpse at the writers who compose Ha Jin’s mental library, The Writer as Migrant is a work of passionately engaged criticism, one rooted in departures but feeling like a new arrival.

The story follows an amateur calligrapher in a provincial Chinese town who uses his artistic skills as a means of resistance against oppressive party bureaucrats. Blending dark humor with sharp social commentary, the novel explores themes of power, individuality, and the struggles of creativity within a repressive regime. Ha Jin's debut captures the tension between art and authority, offering a poignant reflection on the role of the artist in society.

From the universally admired, National Book Award-winning, bestselling author of Waiting—a timely novel that follows a famous Chinese singer severed from his country, as he works to find his way in the United States At the end of a U.S. tour with his state-supported choir, popular singer Yao Tian takes a private gig in New York to pick up some extra cash for his daughter’s tuition fund, but the consequences of his choice spiral out of control. On his return to China, Tian is informed that the sponsors of the event were supporters of Taiwan’s secession, and that he must deliver a formal self-criticism. When he is asked to forfeit his passport to his employer, Tian impulsively decides instead to return to New York to protest the government’s threat to his artistic integrity. With the help of his old friend Yabin, Tian’s career begins to flourish in the United States. But he is soon placed on a Chinese gov­ernment blacklist and thwarted by the state at every turn, and it becomes increasingly clear that he may never return to China unless he denounces the freedoms that have made his new life possible. Tian nevertheless insists on his identity as a performer, refusing to give up his art. Moving, important, and strikingly relevant to our times, A Song Everlasting is a story of hope in the face of hardship from one of our most celebrated authors.

Román, jenž je univerzálním příběhem komplikované lásky, přináší zároveň okouzlujíci i šokující popis světa moderní Číny. Lin Kchung, pracovitý a svědomitý vojenský lékař, sedmnáct let miluje vzdělanou moderní ženu, zdravotní sestru Man-nu. V tradičním světě jeho rodné vesnice žije manželka, která mu byla vybrána jeho rodinou a s níž má dceru. Lin, ve snaze se rozvést a začít nový život, musí čelit nesmyslným překážkám v podobě různých nařízení, které omezují svobodnou lidskou volbu. Děj románu se odehrává na pozadí tzv. Kulturní revoluce, atmosféry plné nedůvěry, strachu, absence hlubších sexuálních znalostí a lidského soukromí. Když se těmto dvěma lidem podaří dojít svého cíle, jsou již vyhaslí, neschopní vzájemného pochopení, unavení a vyčerpaní.

Focusing on the life of a pioneering stage director, the narrative explores the complex history of China's Communist Party through the experiences of Sun Weishi. Educated in Moscow, she contributed significantly to Chinese theater by producing works by Chekov and Gogol. However, her artistic endeavors led to persecution during the Cultural Revolution, culminating in her arrest and tragic death in prison. The novel captures the struggles of a remarkable woman against the backdrop of a tumultuous political landscape.

Nankingské rekviem je literárním zpracováním otřesné události známé jako Nankingský masakr, která se udála na přelomu 1937/1938. Během druhé čínsko-japonské války dobyla císařská japonská armáda Nanking, a poté následovalo bezprecedentní hromadné vraždění mužů a znásilňování žen, odhad počtu obětí dosahuje čtyřset tisíc. Autor vychází z dokumentů a pramenů, celý příběh však nechává vyprávět fiktivní postavou v ich-formě.

1951, kurz nach Ausbruch des Koreakriegs, wird Yu Yuan, ein junger chinesischer Offizier, wie Tausende Freiwillige von Mao Zedong nach Nordkorea geschickt, um den kommunistischen Brüdern im Norden des Landes zur Seite zu stehen. Er gerät amerikanische Gefangenschaft und einzig der Gedanke an die Heimat birgt für ihn die Hoffnung, wieder zu dem Menschen zu werden, der er vor dem Krieg einmal war. Doch als Yu schließlich nach Hause zurückkehrt, muss er feststellen, dass es diese Heimat so nicht mehr gibt. Vierzig Jahre nach seiner Freilassung schreibt der inzwischen siebzigjährige Yu gegen das Vergessen an.