A Floating Life eBook Simon Elegant
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History and legend brilliantly combine in Simon Elegant's bawdy "autobiographical" account of China's famed rabble-rousing versemaker Li Po.
On a lavishly outfitted river barge in ancient China, a studious young vintner's son takes down the life story of the extraordinary Tang Dynasty poet-in-exile, none other than the "Banished Immortal" himself, the great Li Po. Each day, the young man sits with brush, ink, and scroll and meticulously records the outlandish adventures that Li Po (with flask of warm rice wine always in hand) recalls his ride on the back of an enormous eagle; his work for a brutal butcher as a Pigboy-in-training, his role as advisor to Emperor Hsuan Tsung (in matters of cock-fighting and tree-climbing, not of state); and his recurring encounters with the glorious Peony, a high courtesan and the finest singer in the land.
Li Po rails against all that conspires to constrain him the philosophy of "that pietistic old prater Confucius," the elaborate rules governing the composition of verse, the rigid examinations required to obtain an official post, and the greedy emperors whose expansionism leads China into a period of rebellion and catastrophe.
A Floating Life is a magnificent portrayal of a critical time in China's history and the life of a literary legend. Nearly thirteen hundred years after the fact, Simon Elegant's scrupulously researched novel captures the essence of the eccentric bard of spontaneous verse—lover of birds, breast milk, courtesans, tavern songs and wine ("From each jug of wine a hundred poems bloom" he taunts rival poet Tu Fu)—in fullest splendor and bravado.
A Floating Life eBook Simon Elegant
Simon Elegant's writing has the feel of actually reading the autobiography of an ancient Chinese poet. I studied Chinese in college many, many years ago. Reading this wonderful book was like returning to my studies of Literary Chinese, free of the dictionary. I feel truly grateful to Mr. Elegant for having written this wonderful book.Product details
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A Floating Life eBook Simon Elegant Reviews
Anything written from the Zhuangzi/Daoist point of view, from Lin Yutang's 'Moment in Peking' on down the sadly short list, shows an entirely different portrait of China than we are used to seeing. Amid the conformity, an eccentric; amid the tradition, a progressive; amid the acquiescence, a rebel; amid the herd, an individual. The tide never has, and probably never will, turn, but it is nice to know that there will always be those willing to swim joyously against it.
Li Po, or Li Bai as he is called in standard Mandarin, is one of those rare such characters in Chinese history, and Simon Elegant brings him convincingly to life, a man of flesh and blood and spirit.
I know little of Li Bai; here in China he is much memorialized but less remembered, so the tales in "Floating Life" are as much as I know about the mythology beyond the repute of the poems. I'm sure Elegant did his research, though, and it makes for an engaging tale.
The device of the acolyte/narrator is awkward at times, and the breaks away from Li Bai's voice cause the book's progression to stumble, but it does allow the tale to be told in first person and without overly rigorous chronology. Li Bai's tales, told through his perspective, witty and insightful, are what make the book.
And the book does justice to Li Bai's poetry and ethic. Reading it, one gets lost in the quiet moment, as if downing a bowl of warm Huangjiu in a boat on the West Lake at dusk. Simple, sublime. Li Bai did many things, and is enshrined in the catacombs of history, but what matters is that he knew how to be happy, how to live in the moment.
As a longtime student of Chinese history, I was intrigued when I came across this book. Chinese history, particularly ancient China, has always fascinated me, and this novel didn't let me down. However, it started out a bit slow, and after 20 pages or so, I almost put it aside for something more interesting. The topic may not appear too exciting at first - the life story of a poet in eighth-century China - and it does have a slow start, but A Floating Life is actually a fun book and quite exciting at times.
Li Po is a real person, and has had a great influence even to this day. When my Chinese-born wife saw what I was reading, she immediately quoted some of Li Po's poetry and told me how he was always drunk. Simon Elegant takes some liberties with the story, but this is a novel after all, not a history book, so don't expect everything to be totally accurate.
The writing style is interesting Simon Elegant uses present tense, third-person omniscience for the "present" time of the story, where Li Po is interacting with a young student who has agreed to write down the poet's story in return for instruction in the classic arts. Elegant then switches to past tense, first person limited viewpoint as Li Po relates his adventures. The reader is taken back and forth between the present and past and in a few places it's somewhat awkward, causing me to stop and figure out where in the timeline I was. But most of the transitions are smooth, and the present story fits in well with the past, especially as the two stories meet in the end.
As Elegant tries to convey a sense of setting and background, he describes with elegant (sorry -) ) details the life, customs and culture of the time he is writing about. At first I thought he was really going overboard, just trying to show off his knowledge of the era with all the minute facts he could include, whether or not they added to the story. But the problem with my complaint is, they really do add to the story and hurl the reader back in time to Imperial China.
The book isn't perfect, though, as no book is, and if you're not into historical novels in general and Chinese history in particular, you may not find this too interesting. For example, Elegant spends a whole page or more just describing what the emperor served for dinner. I enjoyed reading that; it reminded me of some fancy banquets I attended while living in Asia. But some readers would just scan through that in an effort to get to the real story.
Also, I still don't see the need for any author to offend the reader with vulgar language. We all know that some people talk like that in real life, but we don't need to read it. It really adds absolutely nothing to the book and in reality, detracts from it. That said, however, I appreciate the fact that Elegant doesn't dwell too long on sex and violence. He lets us know that the world of Li Po was a violent place and briefly mentions some of the brutality, but doesn't disgust the reader with a play-by-play. Ditto on the sex scenes.
Lastly, I don't know if Elegant has downloaded a dictionary into his brain or what, but he sure uses some obscure language in places. I didn't mind that, but I had to keep a dictionary handy to look up some of the words.
Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty remains a focus of very little scholarship in the English language, meaning that many interested readers must turn to a small selection of books about the period. Thankfully, Elegant has written an entertaining and elegant (apologies for the pun) novel which captures the spirit of the age, as well as encompassing much from classic historical works, such as Mark Elvin's Pattern of the Chinese Past, Edward Schafer's The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, and Stephen Owen's The Great Age of Chinese Poetry The High T'ang. Elegant's writing is at times whimsical and fantastic, at others rich in description of foods, smells, sights and sounds. His artful and subtle combination of elements from these scholarly works brings to life a period much appreciated in China but often inaccessible to Western readers. If only there were more works like this, which can be appreciated by scholars and lay readers, China might seem a less opaque culture. Li Bai/Li Po comes alive in this work, and brings more clarity to his background, his poems, and the tapestry of the Tang Dynasty whereon he lived his life. If you've made it so far to read this review, do yourself a favor, buy the book, and enjoy a feast of the spectacular and appetizing delights of Tang China.
truly a cathartic book,highly recommend it to anyone looking for a novel to read period.
Very much enjoyed it, good pace nice structure an wonderful vocabulary. Good job Simon, very elegantly done sir ) )
Simon Elegant's writing has the feel of actually reading the autobiography of an ancient Chinese poet. I studied Chinese in college many, many years ago. Reading this wonderful book was like returning to my studies of Literary Chinese, free of the dictionary. I feel truly grateful to Mr. Elegant for having written this wonderful book.
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