1. Short Biography of the Author:
Dai Sijie is author, scriptwriter and stage director. He was born in 1954 in the province of Fujian in China. When he was 12 years old, his parents, which both were doctors of medicine, were put into prison as “people enemies”. From this time on, but with help of his neighbours, Dai Sijie had to organize his life by himself. As equal as the protagonists in his novel he was sent in course of the program of the „cultural re-education” from 1971 till 1974 to an outlying mountain village in the province of Sichuan. After Maos death Dai Sijie studied history of art. Within a study grant he emigrated in 1984 to Paris.
Up to now Dai Sijie is especially known in France as film director. “Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress” is Dai Sijie’s first novel. It was written in French, was published in autumn 2000 in France and was with 250.000 sold copies a really great success. In Germany the novel was published in autumn 2001 in PIPER VERLAG and was up till now sold approx. 300.000 times.
2. Conclusion of the Novel:
The novel plays at the time of the cultural revolution in China. During that time, millions of young people had been banned to the country to be “re-educated by the revolutionary farmers”. The 18 years aged Luo and the 17 years aged Ma as well were treated as guinea pigs of that experiment. As sons of doctors they counted as “people enemies” in the maoist system. In 1971 they were banned to an afielded village in the mountains near Tibet for indefinitely time. There, they were surrounded by simple-minded farmers and fulfilled their ideologically decreeded compulsory service. They are shifted to a desolated mountain-village at the “Phoenix-of-the-ceiling” in the district Yong Jing. Under the severe survey of the “village provost”, both young men from town had to support the villagers with their daily, hard work.
At their arrival in the mountain village at the “Phoenix-of-the-ceiling”, the “village provost” did not trust both “burgeois” sons of reactionary parents and checked their luggage in a very dainty way. At his arrival in the mountain village, Ma only can save his violin, which is declared as “bourgeois toy” by the villagers , from destruction by cunning: to audition to the “village provost” he plays a sonata of Mozart on his violin and names that piece “Mozart always thinks of the great dean Mao”. He can keep hold his violin because he places it into service of revolution.
Ma and Luo plodded together with the farmers: partly they perform heaviest work on the fields or they have to work underground in the mine that is threatened by a collapse. And partly they have to do extremely unpleasant tasks which serve to the well-being of the villagers.
But a particularly depriming fact for both is that they only have a minimal chance to count in foreseeable time as “sufficiently consolidated in their true attitude” to return again to a civilized life. But worse than any indignity is the boredom and conscripted mindlessness with which they are confronted day per day: there is no existence of books, cinema, music – there is no existence of culture. On the other side they quickly understood with which tricks they can arrange their lives in banishment in a comfortable way and how they can use their projection in knowledge especially compared to the retarded “village provost”.
One day, Laoban, the “village provost”, sends Luo and Ma to the cinema in the district town. They shall watch a film substitutional for all villagers and retell it after that. They have to “deliver” a presentation that is in the exact same manner as long as the viewed film. Especially Luos talent in retelling films meets with a very high rapture of the “village provost” and the villagers. Out of a north-korean propaganda film both young men create a touching narration what leads to the fact that the villagers always wanted them to retell more films. Therefore the “village provost” decided to give both young men once a month leisure so that the both “re-educated” can watch the newest film in the district town. After having watched it they always have to retell it to the villagers.
However, both of them mostly wanted for books. By chance, one day Luo and Ma get to know the charming daughter of the tailor of the neighbour village and make friends with her. Without knowing what is happening to them, Luo and Ma are falling in love with the girl. The pretty girl compensates her lack of education by virginal charm and eagerness for knowledge. Luo notices that by telling her stories he stands a chance at the “Little Chinese Seamstress” who is in great demand of the men in the village. His problem is that he does not know where to get new stories.
From a privileged fellow sufferer, who underhand took along a whole suitcase full of forbidden western literature to banishment, Luo got as reward for a favour the chinese translation of a Balzac novel. During sneaking hours of read out, this novel becomes the key to the heart of the “Little Chinese Seamstress”.
But more important as the flirt is the encounter with the literature of the west: Balzac, Flaubert, Tolstoi and Dostojewski. During a venturesome action both friends capture the remaining books of that suitcase. The auricularly and always risky browse in these books, which are counted as demoralising under the regime, completely changed the world of both young men and the one of the “Little Chinese Seamstress”.
The narratives of hidden love, individualism und lost illusions not only lead to a literal enlargement of the horizon in the heads of those three young beings. The enlargement of the horizon is also brought forward to the fashion by the creative hands of the “Little Chinese Seamstress” in this afielded village: “Madame Bovary” acts as original for the first bikini top in the history of this small village and “The Earl of Montechristo“ restores the blue Mao- skirts to fashionable changes.
By this way these three young people are dreaming of the realisation of individualism and elude by this the daily brainwash by the maoist propaganda. But also the “Little Chinese Seamstress” wants to realise this dream far away from her mountain village. Unconsciously and unintentional by telling her the story line of the novels, both young men have contributed to the emanzipation of the nameless “Little Chinese Seamstress”. She discovers her feeling of self-worth and decides to leave the small mountain village against her father’s will, to quest for happiness in town. She hopes to find in town what the women in the novels of Balzac and Flaubert exemplify to her through their lifes: independence and tribute.
3. Commentary
From the first page of his novel „Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress” on, Dai Sieje arouses interest in his readers: once started to read this novel is unputdownable. With help of a terrific linguistical ease Dai Sieje abducts the reader to go further and further into a China which is difficult to imagine especially for young western readers, if they did not know much about China and the periode of the cultural revolution before. Even by knowing that the novel plays at the time of the cultural revolution in 1971 and by keeping in mind that Dai Sieje wrote that highly autobiographically affected novel as an adult person, his novel had been written with the linguistical ease and the juvenile enthusiasm of a 18 years old teenager.
The use of that funny, juvenile and often really uncouth way of narration causes the reader to find himself smiling benignly, or, from time to time, even laughing out loud while reading and enjoying the novel.
This book is a light but at the same time exciting reading. Even if it was not Dai Sieje’s main intention, the reader gets to know a lot about the maoist propaganda at the time of the cultural revolution. The reader gets information about the notion of the “cultural re-education” and how millions of young people had to live through it at that time. But instead of writing a sad and depressed report, Dai Sieje (who himself was re-educated in such a village during the cultural revolution!) uses a very detailed and, as already mentioned above, properly uncouth way of notation.
However, the information about the cultural revolution is not the main point in Dai’s novel. The autor writes in a very enthusiastic way about deep friendship between two young men, who share the same doom. In addition the book describes their „ravenous appetite“ and love for books and informs about the fact, how literature and education contribute to the literally „widening of the horizon“ and how this can change lifes. Against the background of the cultural revolution the reader can observe, how consolatory books are and how they are able to give strength especially at times when their possession is forbidden.
By telling her the story line of the novels, both young men have contributed to the emanzipation of the nameless “Little Chinese Seamstress”. Through the reading of Balzac’s novels the nameless “Little Chinese Seamstress” discovers her self-esteem as woman.
She decides to leave her village and to move to town. She hopes to find in town the appreciation she noticed it in Balzac’s novels. At that point it is unclear which intention Dai Sieje wants to pursue with the image of women of the “Little Chinese Seamstress”. Isn’t she even worth to have an own name? It is furthermore unusual that both young men never asked the “Little Chinese Seamstress” for her name although she is for both the love of their lifes. Dai is documenting in this novel that it is not possible to detain change and development. Thus, the “Little Chinese Seamstress” does not let her detain from her plan to move to town by nothing and anyone.
The novel ”Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie was a delightful reading, which I would like to recommend unconditionally.
Sources:
- Balzac und die kleine chinesische Schneiderin, Roman von Dai Sijie, SERIE PIPER 3869, erschienen 2001, 200 Seiten, 9. Auflage März 2004, ISBN 3-492-23869-6. Preis: € 7,90 [D].
- Balzac und die kleine chinesische Schneiderin – Ein Film (und ein Roman) von Dai Sijie, Presseheft 10/2003, Schwarz-Weiss Filmverleih, Bonn.
- Balzac und die kleine chinesische Schneiderin, Roman von Dai Sijie. Hörbuch, 5 CDs. Gelesen von Edgar M. Böhlke, Steinbach Sprechende Bücher, Berg 2002. ISBN 3886985644, CD, Preis: € 25,00 [D].
- Balzac und die kleine chinesische Schneiderin. Ein Film von Dai Sijie mit Zhou Xun und Chen Kun. Musik: Wang Pujian. Produktion: 2002, Erscheinungstermin der DVD: Oktober 2004. Preis: € 12,95 [D].
Internetlinks:
- http://www.schwarzweiss-filmverleih.de
