The reality of life in China today contrasts with the sunny optimism of the 'Chinese dream' in this gripping, gruesome dystopia from 'one of the masters of modern Chinese literature' Jung Chang
One dusk in early June, in a town deep in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li Niannian notices that something strange is going on. As the residents would usually be settling down for the night, instead they start appearing in the streets and fields. There are people everywhere.
Li Niannian watches, mystified. But then he realises the people are dreamwalking, carrying on with their daily business as if the sun hadn't already gone down. And before too long, as more and more people succumb, in the black of night all hell breaks loose.
Set over the course of one night, The Day the Sun Died pits chaos and darkness against the sunny optimism of the 'Chinese dream' promoted by President Xi Jinping. We are thrown into the middle of an increasingly strange and troubling waking nightmare as Li Niannian and his father struggle to save the town, and persuade the beneficent sun to rise again.
LIANKE YAN
Yan Lianke Henán, 1958 es uno de los escritores chinos contemporáneos más reconocidos, controvertidos e independientes. Es autor de numerosas obras traducidas a más de veinte idiomas, entre las que destacan: Los besos de Lenin, El sueño de la aldea Ding, Al servicio del pueblo, Los cuatro libros, Días, meses, años, La muerte del sol y Crónica de una explosión. Ha sido galardonado con multitud de premios tan prestigiosos como el Franz Kafka, el Lu Xun y el Lao She chinos, y el Flower Trade of World Chinese Literature Award de Malasia. Ha sido candidato al Femina Prix y finalista en dos ocasiones del Man Booker International, así como propuesto para el Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras y el Nobel de Literatura. Recientemente ha recibido el Newman Prize for Chinese Literature. Si bien muchas de sus obras han sido censuradas en China y continúan sin poder publicarse o reeditarse, gozan de un innegable prestigio internacional
