Submarine at Night Author: Chen Chuncheng Publisher: Shanghai Joint Publishing Company

★ "Asia Weekly" Top Ten Novels of 2020

★ Douban Reading 2020 Chinese Literature (Fiction) Top 1

★ The first prize winner of the 2021 Blancpain Utopia Literary Award

★ 2020 One Way Street Bookstore Literary Award Annual Work

★ The first pageone literature award

It was as if birds were roosting in the trees and fish were swimming in the deep water. Everything was safe and peaceful. The night had truly arrived.

"Submarine at Night" is Chen Chuncheng's first collection of novels. Nine stories wander between old mountains and rivers and the unknown universe, opening up secret passages between reality and fantasy with magnificent and floating imagination and warm and quiet writing style: a boy wandering on the seabed, an ancient monument lost in the mountains, words diffused into everything, a cloud trimming station, sword forging and wine brewing, a saxophone under the iron curtain, a concert hall in a blue whale... about hiding and searching, hunting and escaping, a point of certainty in all kinds of impermanence, a small piece of coolness between the scorching sun and the abyss. Chen Chuncheng's novel world is a cave for hiding, a palace suspended on paper, and a submarine sailing to the past.

【Recommendation】

I really like "Submarine at Night". Chen Chuncheng gave me a pleasant surprise. In the NBA, they have a description for young players with great potential: the sky is their limit. This can also be applied to Chen Chuncheng. His strength is that he is both elegant and solid, with a rich imagination. The realistic part is also solid, and the transition and connection are very well done. It is a very sophisticated work. I think he is a writer with a promising future.

——Yu Hua (writer)

When reading Chen Chuncheng's novels, you can feel that the author has thought through all the issues clearly, so the novels look smooth and interesting. His language has been refined to perfection, and he is not an ordinary person. He is destined to be an outstanding novelist.

——A Yi (writer)

Chen Chuncheng is a garden in the evening, every word is worth a closer look, every word is about to be missed. I believe in this legend: "I am a colored pen in a dream, I want to write flowers and leaves to send to the morning clouds", there is an ancient order of words circulating in the dark, and when he appears, I can point it out to you: look, it looks like this.

——Jia Xingjia (writer)

When I first read "The Story of Cutting Clouds" and "Zhufeng Temple", I felt that although the articles were short, they were extraordinary, and the author's writing was full of wonders. After reading the whole book, I realized that it was just a corner of the eaves faintly exposed in the lush bamboo forest. The nine novels are like nine deep palaces, with the doors half-closed and no one around. But if you walk in sideways and move slowly, you will soon see the unique patterns, exquisite components, and dazzling details that are enough to dazzle your eyes. Thanks to the author for building these wonderful and profound palaces with his own efforts, allowing us to glimpse the countless breathtaking and beautiful scenes in them.

——Dongdongqiang (writer)

Every article written by Chen Chuncheng, even every page and every paragraph, has a strange sense of emptiness, pulling people into a state of reality and fantasy. Behind the meticulous words are hidden emotions from a long time ago, which mobilized my memory and touch. After reading each article, I always sigh for half a day.

——Lu Qingyi (director)

Sisyphus pushing a stone up a mountain has always been a symbol of tragedy and grandeur - but what if he was enjoying it, and there was always a hint of smile in his eyes? When I read Chen Chuncheng's novels, I always felt that he was a happy Sisyphus: he never tired of encountering the high mountains of fate, the steep slopes of the times, and the boulders of language. As a reader, I can also pick up his joy and follow him. When a person plays, he is complete; when a person is complete, he plays. I borrow this sentence from Schiller to talk about Chuncheng.

——Shi Hang (screenwriter)

Chen Chuncheng's novels are amazing, with excellent language and a holistic, critical and carnivalesque imagination. The most amazing thing is that he can make the most absurd narratives effortlessly credible, which is a difficult skill. He has a sharp view of his own life, and his expression is very gorgeous and flying.

——Li Jing (critic)

Chen Chuncheng is a very distinctive writer among the post-90s generation. Wang Zengqi's classical hometown and Borges' modern labyrinth are dismantled and reorganized to become the abandoned garden in his works. But once you finish reading his works, you will find that he is much richer than this. He directly skipped the stage of writing about himself, and took the theme of all things as the first thing he did. On top of common sense, he took his thoughts to a thousand miles. Each novel is different, and the theme continues to vary. In an era where rough pens are used to write about floating hearts, he went the other way, hiding in the "deep mountain telegraph station", taking all things as knowledge, studying and playing without utilitarianism. His writing is sophisticated, his words are calm, his imagination is unrestrained and happy, and mixed with cuteness. He is like an old naughty boy who concentrates on studying and has a strong sense of playfulness.

——Gu Jian (Editor of Selected Chinese Literature)

"Submarine at Night" is a unique book that combines knowledge and life, sensibility and rationality, imagination and accuracy. It has a transparent and lingering temperament and a strong fantasy. The novel shows us a new path for contemporary novels in an elegant and charming language.

——Award Speech for the 4th Blancpain Utopia Literature Award

About the Author · · · · · ·