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The Worm-Eaten Brocade Robe
Hardcover
Publisher Price: $30.00
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ISBN13: 9798182724470
Publisher: Not Avail
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 202
Weight: 0.90
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Publisher: Not Avail
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 202
Weight: 0.90
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
This is the tenth collection in Hong Zeng's series of short stories: poetic, philosophical, and tinged with magical realism, this collection explores imagination, memory, love, and spiritual transformation. Nearly all of the stories are adapted from the author's own creative poetry.The Worm-Eaten Brocade Robe follows Shen Qiluo, a young woman trapped within the fading prestige of the Shen family, as she faces an arranged marriage meant to preserve dignity and stability rather than love or freedom. The story explores the tension between outward beauty and inner collapse.
In Delayed Starlight, Lin Yu, an astrophotographer, and Shen Zhiyao, an art curator, are drawn together by the mysterious delayed light of a dying star. Using the motif of delayed starlight, the story explores how love, memory, and identity can outlast their origins-like the light of an extinguished star.Cold Water River follows two women whose lives are shaped by poverty, exploitation, war, and loss in rural China. The story portrays human lives as fleeting traces within a larger, indifferent landscape where suffering is absorbed into the rhythm of the land. Snow Shadow follows the final days of actress Ruan Yu through a quiet, introspective portrait of fame, public scrutiny, and emotional isolation. As the boundary between the woman and the image projected onto her grows increasingly blurred, she becomes trapped within the roles and narratives others create for her.The Elm and the Sea follows Eleanor Voss, a reserved literary intern whose grip on reality slowly unravels as the sea, an elm tree, the moon, and her own body become intertwined with the lingering judgment of her deceased father and emotionally distant mother. Developing Photo follows a solitary man who has built his identity around observing life from a distance until a quiet relationship with a woman slowly dissolves the boundary between observer and participant. The novel explores emotional vulnerability, intimacy, and the transformation of identity, revealing that true connection comes not from perfect clarity or detachment, but from allowing oneself to be seen, changed, and ultimately become part of the image rather than merely its witness.The Cup of Immortality follows Wen Qing as he returns to his hometown during its demolition and reunites with his childhood friend Xu Zhou, whose redevelopment project ultimately leads to the shattering of the town's ceremonial silver cup. As the old town disappears, Wen Qing realizes the cup was never immortal because of the object itself, but because it embodied the shared memories, beliefs, and identity of its people. Rainy Night with Thunderstorm follows Lin Xu's return to his childhood home, where storms awaken fragments of the past and reveal memories of his younger self, his mother, and forgotten moments. Through these encounters, he learns that the past cannot be changed, only understood. The story's motif of overlapping time uses storms, objects, and fleeting images to show how memories endure beyond time and remain quietly alive.Hong Zeng holds two PhDs in literature and served as a professor of literature at Carleton College and Hamline University in the United States. She is the author of five books of literary criticism published in America, several dozen critical essays on literature, and a bilingual (Chinese-English) poetry collection.
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