{"product_id":"fortress-besieged-9780811238601","title":"Fortress Besieged","description":"Set on the eve of the Sino-Japanese war, \u003cem\u003eFortress Besieged\u003c\/em\u003e recounts the exuberant misadventures of its hapless hero Fang Hung-chien. After aimlessly studying in Europe at his family's expense, Fang returns to Shanghai armed with a bogus degree from a fake university. On the ocean liner back, Fang's life becomes deeply entangled with those of two Chinese beauties--Miss Su and Miss Pao. Qian writes, \"With Miss Pao it wasn't a matter of heart or soul. She hadn't any change of heart, since she didn't have a heart.\" When he does finally make it home, he obtains a teaching post at a newly established university, encounters effete pseudo-intellectuals, and falls into a disastrous marriage of Nabokovian heights of distress and absurdity. A glorious tale of calamity, disillusionment, love, war, and wedded unbliss, \u003cem\u003eFortress Besieged\u003c\/em\u003e was acclaimed by C. T. Hsia as \"the most delightful and carefully wrought novel in modern Chinese literature.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Qian Zhongshu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New Directions Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 560\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780811238601\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eZhongshu, Qian:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - The fiction writer, essayist, editor, and poet \u003cstrong\u003eQian Zhongshu\u003c\/strong\u003e (1910-1998) was one of China's foremost \"scholar-novelists.\" With a mastery of Chinese, English, Greek, Latin, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, Qian is seen by many as the last link in an unbroken chain of geniuses stretching back to Confucius. In 1935, he passed his examinations with the highest score in history. He wrote landmark texts on classical Chinese literature as well as short stories, poems, essays, and a second unfinished novel, \u003cem\u003eHeart of the Artichoke\u003c\/em\u003e, which was lost in the wartime mail.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpence, Jonathan D.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eJonathan D. Spence\u003c\/strong\u003e (1936--2021) was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught for more than forty years. He was awarded MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, and the \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e Book Award. \u003cem\u003eThe Search for Modern China\u003c\/em\u003e won the Lionel Gelber Award and the Kiriyama Book Prize.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKelly, Jeanne:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eJeanne Kelly\u003c\/strong\u003e received her B.A. in Russian at Indiana University and her M.A. in Chinese from the University of Wisconsin.\u003cbr\u003eEt al...\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Qian Zhongshu \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":48943990571165,"sku":"9780811238601","price":31.14,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_5b529e0e-029a-4877-a10a-80cceb1a3611.jpg?v=1790153208","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/fortress-besieged-9780811238601","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}