A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling

Abstract

0 STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION 1. Publication Title: World Literature Today 2. Publication Number: 060-680 3. Filing Date: September 1, 2021 4. Issue Frequency: Quarterly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: Four 6. Annual Subscription Price: $35 US, $45 Canada, $65 Elsewhere, $150 US Institution, $205 International Institution 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: World Literature Today / University of Oklahoma / 630 Parrington Oval, Suite 110 / Norman, OK 73019-4033 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters of General Business Office of Publisher: Same as above. 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of: Publisher: Robert Con Davis-Undiano. Assistant Director & Editor in Chief: Daniel Simon / World Literature Today / University of Oklahoma / 630 Parrington Oval, Suite 110 / Norman, OK 73019-4033 10. Owner: University of Oklahoma Board of Regents / 119 Evans Hall / Norman, OK 73019-3074 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders: None 12. The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income-tax purposes have not changed during the preceding twelve months. 13. Publication Title: World Literature Today 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: Autumn 2020 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: 2613 1200 760 1960 100 50 150 2110 503 2613 92.89% Actual no. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date Average no. copies of each issue during preceding 12 months I certify that all information furnished above is true and complete. Daniel Simon, Assistant Director Total no. of copies Paid and/or requested circulation 1. Paid subscriptions 2. Counter sales Total paid and/or requested circulation Free distribution by mail Free distribution outside the mail Total free distribution Total distribution Copies not distributed Total Percent circulation 2613 1200 760 1960 100 50 150 2110 503 2613 92.89% Zhang Ling A Single Swallow Trans. Shelly Bryant. Seattle. Amazon Crossing. 2020. 291 pages. THE STORY OF A Single Swallow follows the lives of three men, two westerners and one Chinese, who became friends during World War II in a Chinese village. One is a priest, the other two soldiers, and they must navigate the violent and tense climate of wartime China. Their collective trauma brings them together, and they agree that even after the war, they will all meet again annually in the village on a set day. This friendship even continues beyond death, as the ghost of the priest still travels to the village each year waiting for his friends. Their past slowly begins to unfold throughout the narrative via another common aspect of their lives: meeting a young girl. Stella, Wende, A Yan: the three men know her by three different names. They each refer to her by one of these names, claiming ownership over their version of her. Yan means “swallow,” and like a bird she flies into each man’s life and changes them forever. Her life was devastated when she experienced the violence of Japanese troops firsthand, and the priest, who is serving as the village doctor, shows her compassion and takes her in. Swallow shows great promise and intelligence, but the villagers, especially the men, see her as soiled from the attack by the Japanese and disregard her. Themes of gender, memory, and trauma are woven throughout the narrative. At one point, all three of these men show her kindness, and their lives are forever altered. Like the men’s posthumously binding friendship, their connection with Swallow leaves such a deep impact on them, and they remember her with fondness and guilt. Ultimately, the story is not just about friendship; it is also about one woman, a single swallow, who changes the lives of three men forever. Amy Lantrip University of California Irvine World Literature Today Print & Digital Unlimited Articles my.worldlit.org GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE! MY.WORLDLIT.ORG f “T ranslation is an aesthetic act in which the translator tries to replicate the artistry of the original , providing the reader of the translation with a similarly rich and powerful aesthetic experience.” – ANNE O. FISHER WORLDLIT.ORG 107 ...