Jump to content

Sandalwood Death

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Sandalwood Death
First edition (Chinese)
AuthorMo Yan
Original title檀香刑
Published2001
Published in English
2013

Sandalwood Death (Chinese: 檀香刑) is a 2001 novel by Nobel prize-winning author Mo Yan.[1] The English version, translated by Howard Goldblatt, was released in 2013 by the University of Oklahoma Press.[2]

Plot summary

Maoqiang (茂腔) opera singer Sun Bing, a leader of the Boxer Rebellion, is sentenced to death for attacking at the hands of his daughter's father-in-law, an executioner known for killing by "sandalwood death," a slow method of punishment in which the victim is skewered with a cured sandalwood rod.[3]

In his author's note, Yan writes that he had difficulty telling friends what his book was about, eventually electing to tell them it was "all about sound."[4]

References

  1. ^ "Mo Yan, Chinese author". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  2. ^ "Press Release: MO YAN WINS THE 2012 NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE | Chinese Literature Today". www.ou.edu. University of Oklahoma Press. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  3. ^ Buruma, Ian (31 January 2013). "Folk Opera". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Fiction Book Review: Sandalwood Death by Mo Yan, trans. from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt . Univ. of Oklahoma, $24.95 (424p) ISBN 978-0-8061-4339-2". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 8 December 2018.