Summary

In this section, Carlos Rojas explains how Yan Lianke was a young boy during the first year of The Great Leap forward and how his hunger as a young child has affected his writing. The specter of hunger is present in both "The Years, Months, Days" and "Marrow." In "Marrow," the hunger is present in the younger brother. The wife continues to interact with her dead husband and consult him on issues on how to raise their children and curb the fourth child's deviant desires. The themes of food and hunger are both connected with themes of identity. Hunger even unites the wild and the domesticated, as Yan had an interaction with a hunger wolf when he was but a child. These two novellas are shaped by spectral presences and illustrate how extreme deprivation can shape a protagonist's understand of themselves and the...