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April 5, 2015

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Author reflects on adolescence and his famous novel ‘English’

ADOLESCENCE is full of stress and turmoil. Rapid changes in the body and a desire to fit in with peers create anxiety and feelings that teenagers take years to process.

Such was the character of Liu Ai, or Love Liu, in Wang Gang’s semi-autobiographical novel “English.”

A peeping Tom in his teen years, Liu is often listening at doors and looking into windows with an uncomprehending innocence.

“Because he was confused,” Wang told Shanghai Daily. “He wanted to know why his father happily accepted that his mother was cheating on him; why the man who slapped his father in the face could also recite Pushikin’s love poetry to his favorite Uygur teacher, Ahjitai; and why his parents wanted him to stay away from his English teacher, who had the only English dictionary in the town, an obvious symbol of gentility and refinement in that era.”

Wang’s “English” was first published in 2004 under the Chinese title “Ying Ge Li Shi” by People’s Literature Press. In 2009, Penguin Books bought the copyright and published an English version and used “English” as the correct translation of the Chinese term.

“I used the phonetic rendering of the word ‘English’ for the Chinese title of the book because in the novel the students began their English-studies this way,” Wang said.

In February this year, German publisher Ostasien Verlag published a German version, and called it “Der Englishlehrer,” meaning “The English Teacher.”

To better understand the novel that was written almost 10 years ago, the publisher in past months has invited Wang to give talks at book launches in six German cities, including Bremen, Frankfurt and Hamburg.

Wang’s “English” was set in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, during the “cultural revolution (1966-76).” Out in the hinterland, politic struggles weren’t as brutal as in the large coastal urban centers, but Mao was still a god-like figure.

Liu Ai, 12, was not privy to or aware of what went into the decisions that were made and much seem arbitrary to the curious lad. Even news of the chance to learn English came as a surprise: “Russian was gone. Uyghur was gone. English was coming.”

When the English teacher Wang Yajun — a tall, elegantly dressed man from Shanghai carrying an English dictionary under his arm — arrived at the school, Liu was intrigued. He turned away from late Chairman Mao’s little red book and toward the teacher’s big blue book for answers to his most pressing questions about love and life.

The climax of the story centered on how Liu and his parents and everyone around sent their beloved English teacher to prison for the “crime” of not adhering to standard Party behavior.

“People are always talking about how hard it was to find a good guy in those years. The truth is that it was really hard to be a good guy,” Wang said.

“English” is often compared to “The Catcher in the Rye” and has also been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Korean and many other languages.

Wang answers a few questions about the novel.

How did the book “English” first come into being?

It was in the winter of 1998, Urumqi. I was walking around the campus where I used to study when I came upon an old friend who happened to be teaching English there. He told me that our English teacher had passed away. I was so struck by the news as it kept ringing in my ears. I came back and started to write down the story, and it took me six years to finish the book.

What’s the message in “English”?

Many critics deemed it a coming-of-age novel about the power of language. For me, it is a book of repentance, an opportunity to meet my old self and my beloved English teacher. The “cultural revolution” was a human catastrophe suffered by the Chinese nation, when friends, neighbors, colleagues and families turned upon each other. I wanted to make amends before it was too late.

What do you think of the students from Xinjiang these days? What does learning English mean to them now?

Students in Xinjiang are no different from students elsewhere in China. They have to study hard to pass the gaokao, or the national college entrance examination, so that they can continue their studies and have a good future. English is no longer a symbol of civilization and freedom from tyranny. For many of them, it is just a subject at school and a tool of communication. An English dictionary is no longer the only reference for a foreign culture. Living in the Internet era, there are many ways to obtain knowledge, if not too many.

As a parent, what would you like to say to teenagers and young adults?

It is natural for young people to feel sad, lonely and depressed. It doesn’t matter whether they speak English or not, rich or poor, civilized or backward… I only wish them good luck and happiness every day. Life is too short to waste whining about nothing. They need to learn to make the best of what they have and enjoy life, through which they may find what they do want from life.




 

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