Red Sorghum

themselves around my body, whose pervasive green poisons my thoughts, I am in shackles from which I cannot break free; I gasp and groan, and because I cannot free myself from my suffering I sink to the depths of despair.
    Then a desolate sound comes from the heart of the land. It is both familiar and strange, like my granddad’s voice, yet also like my father’s voice, and like Uncle Arhat’s voice, and like the resonant singing voices of Grandma, Second Grandma, and Third Grandma, the woman Liu. The ghosts of my family are sending me a message to point the way out of this labyrinth:
    You pitiable, frail, suspicious, stubbornly biased child, whose soul has been spellbound by poisonous wine, go down to the Black Water River and soak in its waters for three days and three nights – remember, not a day more or a day less – to cleanse yourself, body and soul. Then you can return to your real world. Besides the yang of White Horse Mountain and the yin of the Black Water River, there is also a stalk of pure-red sorghum which you must sacrifice everything, if necessary, to find. When you have found it, wield it high as you re-enter a world of dense brambles and wild predators. It is your talisman, as well as our family’s glorious totem and a symbol of the heroic spirit of Northeast Gaomi Township!

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    Epub ISBN: 9781448151172
    Version 1.0
    www.randomhouse.co.uk
    Published by Arrow Books in 2003
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    Copyright © Mo Yan 1992
    English translation copyright © Howard Goldblatt 1992
    Translator’s note:
At the request of the author, this translation is based upon the Taipei Hong-fan Book Co. 1988 Chinese edition, which restores many cuts made in the mainland Chinese edition, published in 1987 by the Liberation Army Publishing House in Beijing. Some deletions have been made, with the author’s approval, and minor inconsistencies particularly in dates and ages, have been corrected.
    Thanks to Joseph S. M. Lau, Haili Kong, Chu Chiyu and Sandra Dijkstra for responding to my occasional cry for help. The translation was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
    Mo Yan has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
    This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
    First published in the United Kingdom in 1993 by William Heinemann Ltd
    Published by Minerva in 1994 and reprinted
    First published in English by Viking Penguin, USA, 1993
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    A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
    ISBN 9780099580836