"The Land of the Ghosts" - There is no ghost as scary as humans

Journey back to find identity

After the Vietnamese translation was released, the Taiwanese psychological and social novel The Land of the Ghosts by author Kevin Chen was widely welcomed by readers. The work was reprinted four times just a few months after its release.

The Ghost Land takes place in the poor countryside of Yongjing, Central Taiwan. The book tells the story of the seven siblings of the Chen family and their hidden psychological issues, painting a picture of thorny issues in Taiwanese society.

The novel is over 400 pages long, consisting of 45 chapters. Each chapter is a different narrator, giving each family member a chance to tell their story, including a ghost - the deceased father.

Cover of the book "The Land of the Ghosts" by Kevin Chen (Photo: Nha Nam).

The main character of The Land of the Dead is Tran Thien Hoanh - the youngest son of the Tran family. After serving his prison term for murdering his gay partner in Germany, Hoang returns to his hometown to mourn his father.

He struggled with discrimination from his mother for being gay. Eventually, he escaped from his family and the "hellish land" of Vinh Tinh to live in Germany and start his literary career.

But "you can't escape the sun", "the devil" follows, Hoanh still had to return to his hometown when he heard the news of his father's death, and also started to return to find his own identity.

An atmosphere rich in local culture

Indigenous cultural elements play a particularly important and pivotal role in the novel The Land of the Dead .

From the first lines to the last, Kevin Chen uses all the indigenous cultural elements to talk about Vinh Tinh. This is a poor, remote countryside with countless superstitious customs and rituals to the point of being bad.

To emphasize the details of the village customs and create a ghostly, unreal atmosphere for the novel, the entire main storyline of The Land of Ghosts takes place within 24 hours, on the full moon day of the 7th lunar month, which is also when the children return to mourn their deceased father.

According to indigenous customs, the full moon of the seventh lunar month is the occasion when the gates of hell open, giving souls a chance to return to the human world. Therefore, many ghost stories, horror legends as well as taboos appear on this day.

With a skillful and emotional writing style, Kevin Chen spends a lot of time on ghostly legends and customs that must be done on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month.

The author also writes about the bad customs that people in poor rural areas often pass on to each other and practice. Then, he peels back each layer, revealing the truth behind all those mysterious and scary things, leaving an overwhelming feeling in the hearts of readers.

45 chapters with many perspectives and many fates, is a mirror reflecting the indigenous culture that is both unique, oppressive and suffocating.

Author Kevin Chen.

"The land of the damned" exists in everyone's mind.

Kevin Chen comes from a farming family with 9 children. At the age of 43, he used his own life as material to write the novel The Land of the Dead .

The land of ghosts and demons, as interpreted by Kevin Chen, is not only a deserted, abandoned land full of ghosts, but also a hidden and gloomy place in each person's mind. This is where people lock up the deepest and most difficult things to share and let go.

The novel is a combination and fusion of many different writing styles: magical realism, black comedy and thriller mystery.

The Land of the Dead begins with ghostly legends and the stuffy, oppressive atmosphere of a countryside full of prejudice. In the end, the work shows readers that there is no ghost as scary as humans.

All the characters' misfortunes come from the Hellish Land within their own minds, which constrains and frames their thoughts, forcing them to do "devil-sent" things.

Stepping out of the boundaries of domestic literature

The novel Haunted Land is the opening book of Kevin Chen's summer trilogy.

The book was not only well received by readers but also received critical acclaim. The novel was honored to receive two prestigious literary awards in Taiwan: the Golden Book Award (of the National Institute of Literature) and the Golden Ding Award (of the Ministry of Culture).

Not only receiving response from domestic readers, the novel after being translated into English also gained attention from foreign readers.

In October 2022, the novel was featured on The New York Times Fall Book List and was named one of the top 10 world literature books of 2022 by Library Journal.

Kevin Chen (Tran Tu Hoanh), 47 years old, was born into a farming family in Bat Duc Alley, Vinh Tinh Commune, Truong Hoa District, Taiwan. He currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Kevin Chen graduated from the English Department, Fu Jen Catholic University, National Taiwan University Theater Institute.

He won first prize in the Lam Vinh Tam Literature Award for short stories, the Cuu Ca Novel of the Year Award, and the 44th Kim Dinh Award.

On the occasion of writer Kevin Chen's visit to Vietnam, Nha Nam organized an event to meet and talk with the author, listening to his sharing about the book The Land of Demons.

Time : 6pm, Thursday, July 27.

Location : Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi.

Guest:

- Writer Kevin Chen.

- Translator Nguyen Vinh Chi.

- Doctor of Literature Nguyen Quyen.

Source link: https://dantri.com.vn/van-hoa/vung-dat-quy-tha-ma-bat-chang-co-ma-manh-nao-dang-so-bang-con-nguoi-20230725003755518.htm