Thursday, May 24, 2007

Courant: Qi @ Bookworm Sat. 5-26-07

http://www.courant.com/features/booksmags/hc-bkcut24c.artmay24,0,7701407.story

Life in China: straddling old and new


- CAROLE GOLDBERG


Hartford Courant
May 24 2007

Shouhua Qi, a native of Nanjing, China, and a professor of English at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, will sign copies of his latest book Saturday from 1 to 2 p.m. at Bookworm, 968 Farmington Ave., West Hartford.

[NOTE: QI WILL BE AT THE STORE STARTING AT NOON.]

His partly autobiographical book is titled "Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories" (Long River Press, $18.95), which examines contemporary Chinese society after the end of the Cultural Revolution. It is dedicated to Qi's father, a middle school principal who suffered humiliating treatment and physical degradation during the revolution, as did many of the so-called "elites" during that period.

The book, its publisher says, is a collection of stories about "the myriad world of jaded entrepreneurs, overzealous cops, karaoke addicts, dog lovers, liberated coeds and frustrated urbanites who move in and out of China's colorful neon-lit cities and dusty rural villages, transitioning from one world to the other."

He also is the author of the novel "When the Purple Mountain Burns," a fictional account of the slaughter of 300,000 Chinese civilians in Nanjing during the Japanese invasion in 1937 and 1938. Qi is now writing about American POWs during the Korean War who decided to live in China.

For information on the book signing, call Bookworm at 860-233-2653.

No comments: