Dear Colleagues, This posting is not directly related to our fields, but I forward it in the spirit of collegiality. Sincerely, Michael From: Rothschild, Norman [mailto:hrothsch@unf.edu] Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2017 6:05 PM To: Michael Fuller Subject: Elegy of River Shaman ​Hi Michael- Wondering if you would kindly post an announcement on my behalf: After fifteen years examining various facets of the life and career of female emperor Wu Zhao, I recently co-translated a Chinese novel, Fang Qi's Elegy of a River Shaman, a sensation in the mainland which has gone through five printings. Fascinating on its own merits, the novel is well suited for a variety of different classes. The novel came out with Merwin Asia three or four months back: http://merwinasia.com/books/2017/elegy.php An advance excerpt was featured on the World Literature Today website: https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/fiction/elegy-river-shaman-excerpt Blurb from Victor Mair: Fang Qi's Elegy of a River Shaman is an expansive novel born of anthropological fieldwork, folklore research, and historical investigation. It is centered on the Gate of the Thunderous One-Footed Dragon, Kuimen, at a key point of the remote, scenic Three Gorges on the upper part of the Yangtze River. Weaving daily life of the local people together with the legends and myths of the region, the author has created a rich tapestry of narrative, chant, and sheer learning. That the translators, Norman Harry Rothschild and Meng Fanjun, have been able to render all of this esoteric and exotic lore into graceful and felicitous English is itself an impressive achievement. Thumbnail Intro: ELEGY OF A RIVER SHAMAN FANG QI Translated by Norman Harry Rothschild and Meng Fanjun MerwinAsia www.merwinasia.com<http://www.merwinasia.com> ISBN 978-1-937385-38-5​ With the tenacious pride and relentless ferocity of their murderous, totemic ancestor, the Immortal White Tiger, the Li family, led by stout-hearted Li Diezhu and his iron-willed wife Tao Jiuxiang, ascend from migrant destitution to local eminence, only to have the War of Resistance Against Japan (WWII), interfamilial rivalries, political upheaval, and modernity unmake decades of endless toil. The shamanic chants of tragic hero Xia Qifa—a tireless benevolent presence ever willing to help the hardscrabble mountain folk perform rites, weather droughts, or capturing ghosts and dragons—serve as the rhythmic, incantatory soundtrack of the story. In the end, with a grim inevitability, the completion of the Three Gorges Dam inundates the rugged landscape that forged the descendants of the Tiger, submerging countless generations of love and pain, the endless triumphs and struggles that shaped the lore and history of a people, leaving the reader to wonder what remains. In Elegy of a River Shaman, Fang Qi has elegantly woven folk songs and shamanic chants into an intricate, beautiful, and wrenchingly powerful narrative of the destruction and erasure of the traditional culture along the rugged, remote gorges surrounding the Yangzi River. Thank you, N. Harry Rothschild University of North Florida