WULOLIFE
"Catch the Cat in Heat" Author: Tan Bo Publisher: Shanghai Joint Publishing Company
"Catch the Cat in Heat" Author: Tan Bo Publisher: Shanghai Joint Publishing Company
Description
Introduction · · · · · ·
"Catch the Cat in Heat" is a new work by novelist Tan Bo, which includes twelve short and medium-length novels with great style and texture. They are like highly concentrated mineral crystals, showing the original and boiling urban life in multiple sections, and carving extremely real Northeastern Paozi and Biaozi. They are fierce and tender, stubborn and pure, and they remain innocent in the torrent and hardship of life, just bumping and knocking. Honest and passionate people and life, the innocence and love hidden deep in the heart, are powerful without making a sound, and write about the wildness and naivety of an era. The novella of the same name is the largest in volume. Two Northeastern people who came to the south and a big black cat in heat connect the stories of all kinds of marginalized people, presenting a hard-core black comedy.
Tan Bo is known as the "hard bone of contemporary literature" with a concise style, plain and fierce. The twelve novels use plain and powerful language to build the two sides of the river, accommodating the flow and rush of real life. No matter good or evil, love or hate, joy or sorrow, they are all hot and hot, hitting people's hearts one by one. Life passes by, and these twelve novels have made a profound impression on those simple people, brave people, noisy people, silent people, and frustrated people. They powerfully penetrate reality and time and reach the mysterious realm of human heart and human nature.
◎ Highlights of the Work
★ Tan Bo, the "hard bone of contemporary literature", has created a new collection of novels. It is a black humor of the Northeast market and a rock of hard and tender literature. It writes about honest and passionate people and life, and is a masterpiece of vernacular Chinese writing.
Tan Bo is a literary hermit hiding in a factory, far from the literary world, close to the market, hiding in daily life, and pouring out his heartfelt emotions into his pen, bringing the people of the market to life. He is called "the hard bone of contemporary literature", and his novels are evaluated by readers as "every word is refined from the furnace", "wild and hard", "plain and fierce". He has an extremely pure pursuit of literature, and has constructed a unique and textured novel world with many short stories with exquisite skills, cold style and extremely tasteful, providing a strong voice for contemporary literature that connects to market life and is more simple and powerful.
★ “It’s just a bump, it’s a knock.” The dignity and belief of ordinary people in the market silently activate the mechanism of fate.
Twelve carefully polished short and medium-length novels, with woodcut-like brushstrokes, cast extremely real and unforgettable Northeastern "Paozi and Biaozi": Changchun Paozi Xiaoli, Dalian Biaozi Yangming, Senge who does not accept humiliation, football fan Da Zhang, Daming carpenter, Liu Gong, Biao girl Lingzi, drum king Bai, Paul... Strong and pure spiritual qualities, moving moments in the excitement of life, they are fierce and tender, and their rough shells are wrapped in simple hearts. "Tan Bo excavates the legacy of daily life and ordinary people, and the kind of reality, broadness and wildness that should be so is amazing."
★ Sincerely recommended by Han Dong, Shuang Xuetao, Ban Yu, Zheng Zhi, Zhao Zhiming, Wei Sixiao, Zheng Zaihuan, director Geng Jun, "Second Hand Rose" Liang Long, and "Wang Wen" Xie Yugang, and highly appreciated by many novelists and novel readers.
Tan Bo pursues the ultimate to highlight the freedom and charm, height and difficulty of the short story genre. "It is completely classic, impeccable in all indicators" (Han Dong), "Chinese language has come alive in Tan Bo" (Er He). His narrative language "has no nonsense words, and it is firmly rooted" (Ban Yu), "like precious metals, weighing down the scale" (Shuang Xuetao), he is "a hard bone in contemporary literature", "a writer among writers" (Wei Sixiao), and "a pure novelist" (Qin Bazi). He "can tell a story of three thousand miles in three minutes" (Zheng Zaihuan), he is a "master of short story writing" (Zhang Dun), his dialogue is like "knife, black gun, accurate sniper bullet" (Zila Wala Hahaha). His stories "are always true, hot and sad" (Xie Yugang), "writing the lingering and naive of an era" (Lao Huang). When reading Tan Bo's works, some people "were dazed like a monster, and the familiar figures had changed" (Liang Long), some people "saw themselves" in the stories (Geng Jun), and some people "felt soft-hearted at one moment, and hardened their hearts the next" (Zhao Zhiming).
◎ Celebrity recommendation
Tan Bo is probably the best short story writer in China at present. He is not mainstream and not famous, but his existence always reminds me why and what writing is. I highly recommend Tan Bo's short stories, which are completely classic and impeccable in every aspect. I haven't seen his novels for a few years, and I can't help feeling a little disappointed. Recently, he has written again, which is really great! One such person writes one, and we have one less to read.
Catch the Cat in Heat is his only novel. Reading this book reminds me of Ragtime, the immortal work of the great American writer Doctorow. Tan Bo's novel is even more pure, innocent and appropriate. If Doctorow's novel is music, then Tan Bo has written an epic poem, with the observation and rhythm of poetry. This book is so beautiful, vivid and special that it was isolated from mainstream publishing. Now it has finally been published. I am happy for Tan Bo, and I hope that "Utopia" will recognize heroes with wisdom!
——Han Dong (poet, writer)
Tan Bo's novels are all very short, but they are short for a reason, just like precious metals, weighing down a scale. His sentences are brisk, but also contain sorrow, which is a very mature style and an attitude. He is not a writer who covets fame. He holds himself to very high literary standards. His pride and tenderness are all in his carefully polished novels, which makes him a real writer.
——Shuang Xuetao (novelist)
Tan Bo's short stories are very, very good. In the past two years, I have recommended Tan Bo's works to many friends. He writes very little, but it is very good, frugal, restrained, unambitious, and says what he wants to say, without a single word of nonsense, and he writes steadily, with a very good rhythm.
——Ban Yu (novelist)
I was stunned like a idiot. The familiar figure had changed. Maybe the reason for my daze was because I had read this book. "Catch the Cat in Heat" is bright red and green, with a biting cold wind. It is a book about the law of the world, and a light and paid revelation.
——Liang Long (Lead singer of Second Hand Rose)
Tan Bo's novels fascinate me. I see myself in the ordinary people and the Biaozi. Humor, sadness, and a lot to say!
——Geng Jun (director)
The chivalrous spirit originated from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and was deliberately guided and placed in a different space in an increasingly standardized society. Tan Bo excavated the remaining customs and traditions in daily life and ordinary people, and the reality, breadth and wildness that should be so are amazing.
——Zhao Zhiming (novelist)
A contemporary work worth looking forward to. The postscript can basically show the personality of a writer, it is simple, brief and powerful. "Changchun Cannon" is fresh and fierce, "Dalian Biaozi" is sad and miserable. Tan Bo's thin book may give readers a full explanation: what is a surprise?
——Zheng Zaihuan (novelist)
Tan Bo's "Catch the Cat in Heat" includes his novel of the same name (long awaited) and some short stories. He is a tough guy in contemporary literature.
——Wei Sixiao (novelist)
His stories are always true, passionate and sad.
——Xie Yugang (chief creator of “Wangwen Band”)
The twelve stories mainly talk about the guns and cannons in Northeast China at that time. The final novella, "Catch the Cat in Heat", really made me laugh in my bed in the middle of the night. This story is worth a closer look, with dozens of characters taking turns to appear, each with its own unique style. I also love several of the short stories in the beginning. "Four Little Gangsters" and "Dalian Biaozi" are my favorites in this book. They are very well written and describe the lingering and naivety of an era.
——Lao Huang (screenwriter, writer)
About the Author · · · · · ·
Tan Bo, born in 1964, lives in Dalian. His novels are often published in magazines such as Today, People's Literature, Wild Grass, Youth, and Yalu River. He is the author of a collection of short stories, I Must Give You a Surprise.