Since the agricultural revolution secured our position as the dominant species on our planet, we have been searching for the answer to a persistent and as-yet-unsolved problem.
What is society's optimal form?
Drawing on our animal heritage, we first tried communal living in the form of tribalism in which the burdens of the one were shared by all. But when those tribes were either wiped out or absorbed by larger, more organized, authoritarian states, we gave despotism a chance, hoping that some measure of good fortune might fall to us from the grasping hands of our monarchical masters. But when rampant corruption and unfairness toppled authoritarianism, we landed on democracy, hoping that, if the many were given a choice in their leaders, some measure of accountability and cohesion would arise to replace our banished kings. Now, we face yet another stage in societal evolution, a new form of government, one that is less than a century old but which promises to be popular in the 21st century. I speak, of course, of the one-party state that has sent a resurgent China roaring into the future. What does life look like in this new China? And will the fat years last? Mr. Chen speculates in his dense novel.
The year is 2013 and, thanks to the swift and uncontrolled depreciation of American economic power, China has become an unrivaled and ascendant superpower. Its economic reforms of the early 1990s, an opening up of its markets coupled with harsh, government controls on the extent of its lending, have elevated millions of Chinese out of poverty and delivered them a nation they can be proud of. Now, 20 years later, with the continuation of these wise policies, along with the suppression of discordant elements, China, after a 400-year exile, has returned to its proper place on the world stage, front and center. These are the governments words. This is what the history books say. This is what everyone knows to be true.
Lao Chen, a Taiwanese author living happily in China, is, like all of his friends, a happy man. Life in China used to be marked by strife and discord. But for the last few years now, everyone has been happy. The economy is healthy, China is strong, and there are no longer any protests. The world is as it should be. But when Little Xi, an old friend of Chen's, resurfaces, armed with a strange and paranoid tale of dislocation, mental illness and chilling state power, Chen is drawn down into a terrifying conspiracy in which a few beleaguered and lost souls are trying to find answers to some troubling questions. Why has everyone but them forgotten the most vital month in recent history? Why is everyone so happy? And who is behind the lies that underpin Chinese society? Transfixed by his affection for Little Xi, Chen delves into the mystery, afraid of what he'll find but determined to discover the truths that will bring peace to the woman he loves.
Drawing from one of the most powerful and frightening literary conceits (the omnipotent government), Mr. Koonchung, in The Fat Years, summons the spirits of the great dystopian novels of the 20th century and re-imagines their threats in a 21st century world. Though none of this is particularly new, or striking -- it seems like the West's doom is heralded daily of late --, the extent to which the author mashes fiction, science and economics together into a compelling and terrifying product elevates Mr. Koonchung's work above the fray. But as much as this is an economic treatise and clarion call to democratists, it is also a mystery, an effort to engage the reader in a circle of bewildering characters, all of whom have been, to varying degrees of success, brainwashed into believing in Chinese primacy that is both truth and lie. The extent to which the characters eventually solve the mystery but are powerless to do anything about it is a worthy homage to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The Fat Years is far from a masterwork. Its plot is limited to a series of vignettes, some of which succeed far better than others. More over, the hectoring tone of its far-too-lengthy economics lecture, though interesting as an intellectual exercise, drags and irritates, causing the work to fracture into its component parts. I recognize that the tone here is meant to mirror the lofty pulpit from which China's party elites sneer down at its citizens, but knowing this is not enough to save this section. For all its flaws though, Mr. Koonchung is a talented author who successfully taps into our fears of state power and channels from them a plausible scenario in which its ugliest form could rise. And given that all that authoritarian states require to persist is the passivity of its citizenry, his uncomplicated and yet cunning scenario has my attention.
A disturbing ride, but far from perfect. (3/5 Stars)
No comments:
Post a Comment