Lingnan University Writer-in-residence Public Lecture on “Literature, in Small Times, in Great Times” by Mr Su Tong

25 Mar 2014

 

"All characteristics of a certain period of time are essentially the characteristics of the people of that time. So are its problems. I believe times are created by people, and only people and their lives are worth writing,” renowned Chinese novelist Mr Su Tong told 400 Lingnan University students, staff, guests and members of the public his views on times at the public lecture “Literature, in Small Times, in Great Times” on 25 March.

A native of Suzhou who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, Mr Su said he was weary of the term “great times”. “What are great times? What do great times and their greatness mean for the people and their lives?” For a creative writer, he remarked, the people, their characteristics and problems are what really matters. He cited the example of materialism, which has been harshly criticised as a social evil. But he thinks it is pointless to attack materialism, which is created by the people anyway. “All the features and problems characterise the period of time in which they exist, and the people who create the circumstances. And for me, all these are great. They are nothing small,” Mr Su concluded.

Mr Su Tong has been invited by Lingnan University as writer-in-residence this year to teach a course on “Discovering Short Stories”, leading the students to create their own short stories. On 10 April, Mr Su will present another public lecture on “From Raise the Red Lantern to The Oriole” at the Hong Kong Central Library. All are welcome. The writer-in-residence programme this year is sponsored by Drs Richard Charles & Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation.

About Su Tong
Su Tong was born in 1963 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, where he lived through his childhood and teenage years. After graduating from the Department of Chinese at Beijing Normal University in 1984, he had worked as a teacher and literary editor. He learned to write while at university and published his first short stories and poems in 1983. Now based in Nanjing, Mr Su is a professional writer of the Jiangsu Writers’ Association.

His best known novellas include Wives and Concubines, Blush, Family of the Opium Poppy and Three Lanterns. His full-length novels include Rice, My Life as Emperor, The Boat to Redemption and The Oriole. He has also written more than 100 short stories, including Watermelon Boats, Tale of the Abandoned Baby, Pig Heads in the Snow and Arrowhead. He won the 3rd Man Asian Literary Prize (2009) and the 8th Chinese Media Literature Award (2010) for his work The Boat to Redemption. His short story Arrowhead won the 5th Lu Xun Literary Prize in 2010. He was one of the finalists of The Man Booker International Prize 2011. His latest work The Oriole was included in Yazhou Zhoukan’s top 10 novels of 2013.