The Social Fantastic: Ge Fei with Zhang Xudong

 

The hero of The Invisibility Cloak lives in contemporary Beijing—where everyone is doing their best to hustle up the ladder of success while shouldering an ever-growing burden of consumer goods—and he’s a loser. Well into his forties, he’s divorced (and still doting on his ex), childless, and living with his sister (her husband wants him out) in an apartment at the edge of town with a crack in the wall the wind from the north blows through while he gets by, just, by making customized old-fashioned amplifiers for the occasional rich audio-obsessive. He has contempt for his clients and contempt for himself. The only things he really likes are Beethoven and vintage speakers. Then an old friend tips him off about a special job—a little risky but just don’t ask too many questions—and can it really be that this hopeless loser wins?

 

This provocative and seriously funny exercise in the social fantastic is among the most original works of fiction to come out of China in recent years. It is sure to appeal to readers of Haruki Murakami and other fabulists of contemporary irreality.

 

Ge Fei is the pen name of Liu Yong. He is known for his groundbreaking short stories, novellas, and the Jiangnan Trilogy, which includes the novels Renmian Taohua (Peach Blossom Beauty), Spring Ends in Jiangnan, and My Dream of the Mountain and River, and for which he received the 2015 Mao Dun Literature Prize. He teaches at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

 

Zhang Xudong is a Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at NYU. He is the Director of NYU China House, where he is an expert on modern Chinese Literature and Culture.

 

Copies of The Invisibility Cloak will be available for purchase.

 

This event is being co-sponsored by NYU China House, NYRB Classics, and the Confucius Institute @ China Institute.

 

For questions or to register by phone, please contact Aaron Nicholson at 212-744-8181 ext. 138 or by email at anicholson@chinainstitute.org