İthaki Yayınları The Four Books

2016 international booker prize finalist
2011 man asian literary award nominee
A literary monument of a bygone era, destined to be forgotten.
Yan lianke, china's most powerful, most discussed, and globally recognized "master of satire,"The Four Books...constructing a modern mythology. set during mao's "great leap forward," this novel forces the reader to confront not only china's recent history but also humanity's universal complicity.
In the 99th region of a massive re-education camp, free-thinking artists and academics are being held to strengthen their loyalty to communist ideologies. here, the musician and his lover bilgin -along with the writer and theologian- are forced to perform exhausting physical labor and are encouraged to inform on each other for their dissident behavior; the reward is the chance to win freedom. over them is a young administrator, the son, who enjoys the systems of rewards and excessive punishment. when agricultural and industrial production quotas are pushed to an unattainable level, the 99th region plunges into anarchy. then, when harsh weather conditions and famine set in, they are abandoned to their fate by the regime and left to survive on their own. in these lands, where faith and loyalty are tested by hunger and steel by human blood, writing the truth is the greatest sin.
The Four BooksA testament to how the human spirit and literature survive even under the shadow of censorship and oppression.
“yan lianke, one of the masters of modern chinese literature, gives the reader more than enough pleasure that can be taken from a book. he manages to make humor even from the most gloomy situation. i wholeheartedly recommend this book.”
– jung chang
“yan built his distinguished career on exposing the surreal absurdity of china’s 20th-century tragedies. this multi-layered
"the novel [...] is a historical testimony of vital importance."
-Journal of library