Narrative
頑主
Not translated into English
Wang Shuo · 1987
Synopsis
In Beijing, a band of idle young men found a small company, the Three T's Company: to sort out other people's troubles, entertain those who are bored and take the blame in their place. Clients arrive with their personal problems, and the partners deal with them with mocking aplomb. According to Aisixiang, the author paints in an ironic tone the carefree attitude of a youth that has lost its ideals, and ridicules along the way the cultural circles of his time.
Context
The story appeared in 1987 and was adapted for the cinema the following year, with Ge You, under a title that is rendered in English as The Troubleshooters. Aisixiang counts it among the two texts in which the author best managed to express himself, and sees in it a satire of the cultural circles of the moment. It belongs to the vein that earned its author the label of hooligan literature. No French or English translation has been found, whereas Picquier and Flammarion have published other books by Wang Shuo.
Who it is for
A short narrative, carried by ironic dialogue; it is not translated, but several of the author's novels exist in French.
Prizes and reception
With around ten million copies, its author was the most widely read writer in China in the 1990s.