Five spice street

339 Pages·2009·0.963 MB·English, Chinese

by  Gernant, Karen, Chen, Zeping, Canxue

Five Spice Street
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Five Spice Street
CAN XUE
TRANSLATED BY KAREN GERNANT
AND CHEN ZEPING
E
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN & LONDON
A MARGELLOS
WORLD REPUBLIC OF LETTERS BOOK
The Margellos World Republic of Letters is dedicated to making literary works
from around the globe available in English through translation. It brings to the
English-speaking world the work of leading poets, novelists, essayists, philoso-
phers, and playwrights from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East to stimulate international discourse and creative exchange.
This novel was originally published in Chinese under the title Wu Xiang Jie. The
line drawings, reproduced from the original book, are by Wei Ke.
Copyright ∫ 2009 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except
by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Electra type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc., Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania.
Printed in the United States of America by Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Canxue, 1953–
[Wu xiang jie. English]
Five spice street / Can Xue ; translated by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping.
p. cm. — (Margellos world republic of letters)
ISBN 978-0-300-12227-5 (alk. paper)
I. Gernant, Karen. II. Chen, Zeping. III. Title.
PL2912.A5174W8213 2009
895.1%352—dc22 2008035054
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Jonathan Brent
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CONTENTS
Preliminaries
1 Madam X’s Age and Mr. Q’s Looks / 3
2 Madam X’s Occupations / 20
3 Madam X’s and the Widow’s
Differing Opinions about ‘‘Sex’’ / 48
4 Mr. Q and His Family / 68
5 The Failure of Reeducation / 77
6 Madam X Talks Abstractly of Her
Experiences with Men / 85
The Way Things Are Done
1 A Few Opinions about the Story’s Beginning / 99
2 Some Implications / 151
3 The Tails’ Confessions / 187
4 Mr. Q’s Character / 196
5 Madam X Is Up a Creek / 211
6 Who Made the First Move? / 216
7 How to Wrap Up All the
Issues Left Hanging / 244
8 The Rationality of the Widow’s Historical
Contribution and Status / 270
9 The Vague Positions of Mr. Q and
Madam X’s Husband / 283
10 How We Reversed the Negative
and Elected Madam X Our
Representative / 305
11 Madam X’s Steps Are Buoyant; On Broad Five
Spice Street, She Walks toward Tomorrow / 319