Beijing Coma
E684464
Beijing Coma is a novel by Chinese writer Ma Jian that intertwines personal memory and political history through the story of a Tiananmen Square protester who lies in a coma while narrating events from his past.
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf | novel ⓘ |
| author | Ma Jian NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| bannedIn | China NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
historical amnesia
ⓘ
individual versus state ⓘ memory ⓘ political repression ⓘ trauma ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | China ⓘ |
| criticalReception | praised by many Western critics for its ambition and political courage ⓘ |
| genre |
historical fiction
ⓘ
literary fiction ⓘ political novel ⓘ |
| hasAwardNomination |
longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize
ⓘ
shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize ⓘ |
| hasMotif |
body as a metaphor for the nation
ⓘ
erasure of history ⓘ silence and voicelessness ⓘ |
| hasSubject |
Chinese Communist Party
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
censorship in China ⓘ family relationships ⓘ state violence ⓘ student protest movement ⓘ urban life in Beijing ⓘ |
| ISBN | 9780701182957 ⓘ |
| languageOfEdition | English ⓘ |
| literaryStyle |
realism
ⓘ
stream of consciousness ⓘ |
| mainCharacter | Dai Wei NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| narrativeDevice | coma patient narrator ⓘ |
| narrativePerspective | first-person narration ⓘ |
| narrativeStructure | interweaving of present coma state with past memories ⓘ |
| notableFor |
critique of contemporary Chinese politics
ⓘ
depiction of the Tiananmen Square protests ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | Chinese ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Beijing Coma NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| pageCount | approximately 600 pages ⓘ |
| plotSummary | The novel follows student protester Dai Wei, who is shot during the Tiananmen Square crackdown and lies in a long-term coma while recalling his life and the events of 1989. ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 2008 ⓘ |
| publisher | Chatto & Windus NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| setting |
Beijing
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Tiananmen Square NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
post-1989 China ⓘ |
| translator | Flora Drew NERFINISHED ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.