By Alai, translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun
Lin (Houghton-Mifflin).
Written
in Chinese by Tibetan author Alai, Red Poppies is now
reaching an English-speaking audience, thanks to a translation
by Notre Dame professors Goldblatt and Lin. Originally published
in 1998 in China, the novel tells the epic story of a Tibetan
family prior to the coming of Chinese communism in 1950. Narrated
by a chieftain's son, whose family can't decide if he's an idiot
or a genius, the picaresque tale takes the reader on a wild ride
through tribal warfare, comical coming-of-age experiences, the
politics of opium poppies and the final days of the Tibetan kingdom.
The novel was a bestseller in China. In 2002, The Los Angeles
Times Book Review named the English translation one of the
100 best books of the year.
