Tom and I will record our “official” 2013 preview podcast tomorrow, so you can look forward to that, but as a way of upping the number of books we can talk about on the blog, I’d like to start a weekly “preview” column. Something that may not always be that serious, yet will at least give some space to recently released or forthcoming titles. I’m sure that this will evolve over the next X number of weeks, so please cut me some slack on these first few . . . <\/p>\n
Sandalwood Death<\/em> by Mo Yan.<\/a> Translated from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt. University of Oklahoma\/Chinese Literature Today. $24.95<\/b><\/p>\n Jonathan Stalling of Chinese Literature Today<\/em><\/a> — which really probably definitely shouldn’t be abbreviated as “CLT<\/span>” . . and yes, I am 12 — spent a good 10-15 minutes of MLA<\/span> explaining to me why this book was so awesome. I forget all the plot details, but I do remember the bit about an executioner taking someone apart over a series of pages . . . So, to go along with the almost nauseating amounts of meat mastication in Pow!<\/em>,<\/a> readers coming to Mo Yan post-Nobel Prize also have the option to read about the “gruesome ‘sandalwood punishment,’ whose purpose, as in crucifixions, is to keep the condemned individual alive in mind-numbing pain as long as possible.”<\/p>\n I have to say, the more I read about Mo Yan’s books, the more I dig him . . . And I’m really looking forward to reading this before teaching Pow!<\/em> in my Translation & World Literature class this spring. <\/p>\n Generally, I’m not a huge fan of book trailers, but I have to admit, the one that CLT<\/span> did for this is really pretty elegant and cool in an anime sort of way. <\/p>\n