{"product_id":"the-case-for-literature-mabel-lee-9780300136265","title":"The Case for Literature","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe author of \u003ci\u003eSoul Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eand China's only Nobel Laureate in Literature, offers provocative insights into the meaning and enduring importance of literary expression\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e When Gao Xingjian was crowned Nobel Laureate in 2000, it was the first time in the hundred-year history of the Nobel Prize that this honor had been awarded to an author for a body of work written in Chinese. The same year, American readers embraced Mabel Lee's translation of Gao's lyrical and autobiographical novel \u003ci\u003eSoul Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, making it a national bestseller. Gao's plays, novels, and short fiction have won the Chinese expatriate an international following and a place among the world's greatest living writers. The bold and extraordinary essays in this volume--all beautifully translated by sinologist Mabel Lee--include Gao's Nobel Lecture (\"The Case for Literature\"), \"Literature as Testimony: The Search for Truth,\" \"Cold Literature,\" \"Literature and Metaphysics: About \u003ci\u003eSoul Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e,\" and \"The Necessity of Loneliness,\" as well as other essays. These essays embody an argument for literature as a universal human endeavor rather than one defined and limited by national boundaries. Gao believes in the need for the writer to stand apart from collective movements, regardless of whether these are engineered by political parties or driven by economic or other forces not related to literature. This collection\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003epresents Gao's innovative ideas on aesthetics, and it constitutes the very kernel of his thinking on literary creation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mabel Lee, Xingjian Gao\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0300136269\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300136265\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.43lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.54h x 4.77w x 0.56d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/13\/2008 pg. 24","brand":"Mabel Lee","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44076001001727,"sku":"9780300136265","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8f4a00df-d1b2-4d5e-8987-c730d3b966fd.jpg?v=1685462623","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-case-for-literature-mabel-lee-9780300136265","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}