Satiric and urbane, Fortress Besieged was first published in China in 1947. It is a comedy of manners that - to recall Trollope's title - speaks to us of the way we live now. The novel's hapless rogue hero returns from abroad on the eve of the Sino-Japanese War. On the basis of his bogus degree, Fan Hung-chien obtains a teaching post at the newly established San-lu University. The intellectuals that he encounters in academia become the butt of Ch'ien Chung-shu's merciless satire. The theme of besiegement figures prominently throughout this highly structured and polished work, nowhere more tellingly than in the final section, which deals with marriage and this disintegration, as traditional expectations clash headlong with the values and pressures of modern life. In simplified Chinese characters and English.
Paperback, English and Simplifed Chinese, 694 Pages, 6.25" x 9.1"
