Shanghai Redemption

Abstract

struggling with contemporary life, all three grapple with the Big Questions of the existence of God, fate, and suffering. Jiří Pehe, an esteemed Czech novelist and feuilletoniste , weaves the action with themes of national identity in the ever-changing central European landscape and highlights how language is tied in from one regime to the next. Nothing wrong with showcasing a little patriotism, either. Angel is a thoroughly Czech story. Witness Josef: “I have always felt more Czech than German.” Daughter Hanna admits that “I have a dreadful urge to speak Czech.” And the westernized Alex? “I have to write in Czech.” Josef and Hanna lead difficult lives. At key points during distress, the angel Ariel appears, providing solace and promises. Even though Alex lives a modern, “cushy life,” his center eventually does not hold and he encounters Ariel himself, thus fulfilling the book’s title. All three generations of the Brehme family feel the need to record life’s events and feelings in order to make sense (if any) of the absurdity taking place around them. After reading his grandfather’s and mother’s accounts of atrocities, Alex feels ashamed of his own “easy” circumstances, wishing that he, too, had led “a real life.” This novel works very well because all three disparate voices ring true. Pehe paints a realistic portrait of Josef as a Czech Legionnaire while Alex’s struggle with postmodern culture exudes sincerity. If there is one quibble, it would be that the feminine voice of Hanna could be more nuanced from the others, to make her character more plausible. Josef’s hope that happiness can still result despite a life of suffering and unfairness will eventually resound in his daughter and grandson as well. We’re never quite sure, though, as choice and fate linger on to the last word of the story, which may be Pehe’s way of winking at his reader. Talented veteran translator Gerald Turner turns in yet another laudatory performance here. Virginia Parobek Lancaster, Ohio Qiu Xiaolong. Shanghai Redemption. New York. Minotaur Books. 2015. 320 pages. Those unfamiliar with Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspector Chen series may want to read all or some of the earlier novels prior to reading this newest one, if only to better appreciate the ways in which the central character and his circumstances are brilliantly developed with each installment (see WLT, May 2009, 55–58). Of them all, World Literature in Review 84 WLT MARCH / APRIL 2016 this is one of the finest novels in the series, matched only by The Mao Case. Inspector Chen is a police detective in modern China who is frequently called upon to handle cases that have political sensitivity; he has risen to a position of substantial authority and recognition precisely because in solving cases, he has been able to keep the Communist Party interests and public image in mind. Chen is a man who loves Yang poetry and that of T. S. Eliot; he is somewhat introverted and private but also fully competent in dealing with people and the complexities of the cases he handles. As might be expected, his sensitivity and intellectuality are frequently struggling against the compromises his position requires. Being fair-minded, he is constantly striving for legal and moral justice in situations that require finesse, discretion, and sometimes compromise. He is often asking himself where his main loyalties and responsibilities lie, with his conscience or the greater good stipulated by party bosses. Sometimes they match, but frequently they do not neatly coincide. Reading these novels, one feels a deeper understanding of contemporary China as well as some sense of how an intelligent, sensitive individual might feel inside the current political, post–Mao system, especially the ways in which one might have to navigate among the delicate and notalways -clear boundaries of political correctness . One of the greatest consequences, psychologically speaking, is exampled page after page in the internal contemplations of Chen himself, his constant self-counsel , and his careful editing of his speech to cloak some of his motivations and thoughts, which if shared publicly could result in imprisonment or worse. While these internal precautions are part of any thoughtful person’s process, the political system in...