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DKU Intercultural Book Club

The DKU Intercultural Book Club is hosted by Austin Woerner in partnership with the Duke Kunshan University Library.

Each session the Book Club will choose one book to read in both English and Chinese. Read in whichever language you prefer and come ready to discuss your reactions to the book with other readers who may have experienced it in the other language!

昆杜跨文化读书会是由 Austin Woerner (温侯廷)与昆山杜克大学图书馆携手主持的一个文学社团。

每个月我们会选一本有中英文版的书,大家可以选自己喜欢的版本(中文版或英文版)然后一起分享各自的阅读心得。

DKU Intercultural Book Club

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Events


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Lu Xun, Short Stories

《鲁迅小说全集》 The Real Story of Ah Q and Other Tales of China, tr. Julia Lovell

Champion: Lin Haitong

Buy it in English (Taobao)

Buy it as an ebook (Amazon Kindle)

购买中文版 (淘宝)

读电子版 (微信读书)

Early 20th-century satirist Lu Xun is known as the “father of modern Chinese literature,” and he is required reading in Chinese high schools. However, though his work is much admired here, few people outside of China have read it. Julia Lovell, the translator of Lu Xun's short stories, is an excellent prose stylist, so this promises to be a pleasurable read for the English speakers among us — and for our Chinese readers, it will be a chance to share a familiar touchstone.

Note: We will not read all the stories in this collection. The stories we plan to read and discuss are these nine:

  • 故乡 “My Old Home,” 祝福 “New Year’s Sacrifice,” 孔乙己 “Kong Yiji” (these are required reading in Chinese textbooks, and are important cultural touchstones)

  • 阿Q正传 “The Real Story of Ah Q,” 狂人日记 “Diary of a Madman,” 药 “Medicine” (these three are not included in textbooks but are some of Lu Xun’s most famous works)

  • 头发的故事 “Hair,” 孤独者 “The Loner,” 在就楼上 “Upstairs in the Tavern”

Earlier Event: December 7
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
Later Event: February 15
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time