Chongqing - On December 10th, Hai Rao, a renowned writer living in Germany, returned to her hometown of Chongqing with her new book My Franz and held a book-sharing meeting at Jingdian Bookstore, where she had a conversation with well-known Chinese writers Zhang Zhe, Li Yuansheng and Wu Jingya.
Author Hai Rao. (Photo/Zhou Shuangshuang)
My Franz, a long novel, takes the life course of two Chongqing women as its main subject and sketches out a secret history of the Franz family. Writer Hai Rao was born in Chongqing. As written in her first novel, Far Marriage, many years ago, she married in Germany and lived here.
With a third-person perspective, My Franz profoundly reflects on the profound difficulties encountered by Chinese women married in foreign countries and illuminates the lasting trauma of war on ordinary individuals with an on-the-ground perspective. This novel also conveys deep reflections on both war and the changing tides of history.
"This is a rich and full-length masterpiece, which provides readers with multi-dimensional interpretation possibilities, both reflections on the war and compassion for life, as well as the meaning of the truth, the subtleties of human nature, and the cultural differences between China and Germany." Zhang Zhe said he had thought that the book was a description of daily life, as in Far Marriage, but he hadn't realized that Hai Rao's writing was more profound, cutting into the trauma of World War II.
On December 10th, Hai Rao, a renowned writer living in Germany, returned to her hometown of Chongqing with her new book "My Franz" and held a book-sharing meeting at Jingdian Bookstore. (Photo/Zhou Shuangshuang)
Li Yuansheng said My Franz is Hai Rao's accumulated work forged over years of dedication. "The success of this novel lies in the fact that it does not put the main line on the first protagonist of the novel, but is very cleverly linked by the two Chinese women who have married far away." Li Yuansheng said that during the reading, he even wondered whether this was a work of autobiography because the plot or scenes, or the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, were too real, genuine, and sincere.
Wu Jingya has been recommending Hai Rao to return to her hometown, Chongqing, to share her creative journey since she learned about the publication of her new book. In her opinion, My Franz is a profound and warm book, "The book throws out the issue of war traumas, these traumas are like a black rain for more than 70 years, poured out people's hearts, but at the end of the book, the answer to solve the problem is given, that is, to heal with communication, love, and hope." Wu Jingya said.
At the sharing meeting, in addition to Hai Rao's long-time book fans, many young faces were also there. Hai Rao also encouraged these primary and secondary school students to boldly read books not required for the course, especially books on history.
(Cheng Jialu, as an intern, also contributed to the report)