Family

Author(s): Ba Jin

Location(s): China

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): 1930s

From one of the most outstanding figures of modern Chinese literature . . . A moving, colorful novel that reflects a period of great turmoil in Chinese history. Originally written for and about educated Chinese youth in the 1930s, Pa Chin’s political ideas formed from three Western ideologies: international anarchism, Russian populism, and the French Revolution. These influences melded with his personal exposure to civil wars, the early existence of the Communist Party in China, the war with Japan, and the New Culture Movement to become the impetus for this inspirational novel. Family is the story of the Kao family compound, consisting of four generations plus servants. It is essentially a picture of the struggle between the traditional and the modern, age and youth, Confucianism and individualism—old China and the new tide rising to destroy it—as manifested in the daily lives of the Kao family, particularly the three young Kao brothers. The complex passions aroused in Family and in the reader are an indication of the universality of human experience. Furthermore, anyone interested in the society and history of modern China will be captivated by both the plot and the vast amount of cultural materials displayed in this highly celebrated novel. Olga Lang’s introduction and Sidney Shapiro’s smooth translation elucidate the larger context of the times and the genius of Pa Chin’s writing.

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