The remote country of women

the long version

Bai Hua shifts from tragicomic farce to earthy eroticism to modernist playwriting in this carefully wrought exploration of the clash between two ways of life. In alternating chapters, the novel tells the stories of Sunamei, a winsome young woman from an idyllic matriarchal community, and Liang Rui, a self-absorbed man who is also weary witness to the Cultural Revolution. Through his two protagonists, Bai Hua addresses themes of the repression and freedom of sexuality, the brutality of modernity, and the fluidity of gender roles as the novel moves hypnotically and inevitably toward a collision between two worlds. First published in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in 1988, The Remote Country of Women has since been translated into French, German, and Russian. It appears now in English for the first time.