Author Description

Imagine a world where swordsmen must read literary classics to improve their strength; a hospital so destitute that the doctors remove a patient's fingers and replace them with wheat noodles; a world where the Future Female Borges and the Male Madame Curie meet one another in a lonely city and fall in love. These fantastical scenarios can only be found in the fictional universe of Zhu Yue, a Chinese fiction writer whose work seamlessly marries literature, history, and philosophy with a particular brand of dry humor. Initially trained as a lawyer, Zhu has since published many scholarly works on analytical philosophy. Leveraging philosophical weight to achieve metafictional ends, his stories offer readers the rare experience of genuine aesthetic freedom and tremendous intellectual joy. Translated into English for the first time by the capable hands of Pen/O. Henry Award recipient Jianan Qian and Iowa MFA graduate Alyssa Asquith, this collection introduces an exciting new voice from an artist and thinker at the height of his power.