RED SORGHUM (ˈsôrɡəm)
By MO YAN
Translated by Howard Goldblatt
Notes from book:
“The people of my father's generation who lived there ate sorghum bvnout of preference, planting as much of it as they could. In late autumn, during the eighth lunar month , vast strangers of red sorghum shimmered like a sea of blood. Tall and dense, it reeked of glory, cold and graceful, it promised enchantment, passionate and loving, it was tumultuous.” page 4
“ Uncle Arhat had died the year before on the Jiao Ping highway. His corpse, after being hacked to pieces, had been scattered around the area.” page 9
“In country records I discovered that in 1938, the twenty -seventh year of the Republic, four hundred thousand man- days were spent by local workers from Gaomi,Pingdu,and Jiao countries in the service of the Japanese army to build the Jiao- Ping highway.” page 14
“Father heard Grandma say," Even if you can't agree, you mustn't abandon Justice and honor. This isn't the time or place to fight. Take your fury out on the Japanese" page 27
"Uncle Arhat's blood is in this wine." she said "If you're honorable men you'll drink it, then go out and destroy the Jap convoy. After that, chickens can go their own way, dogs can go theirs. well water and river water don't mix.” page 28
“The long, sorrowful blast of en bugle near the bridge is immediately followed by the staccato rhythm of machine-gun fire. Grandma's blood continues to flow in concert with her breathing.” page 70
“Grandma and granddad exchanged their love surrounded by the vitality of the sorghum field: two unbridled souls, refusing to knuckle out under to worldly conversations, were fused together more closely than their ecstatic bodies. They plowed the clouds and scattered rain in the field, adding a patina of lustrous red to the rich and varied history of Northeast Gaomi Township.” page 71
" Financial losses, lucky bosses." Page 110
"Heaven has no eyes ... Heaven has no eyes ... " page 111
“you pitiable, frail, suspicious, stubbornly biased child, whose soul has been spellbound by poisonous wine, go down to the Black Water River and soak in its waters for three days and three nights- remember, not a day more or a day less- to cleanse yourself, body and soul. then you can return to your real world.” page 359
“ Then said to uncle Arhat," Foreman, that's not all I can do. Now look, when the wine comes down the spouts, the steam dissipates. If you put another, smaller distiller over the spouts, you'd have nothing but the best wine." page 149
“The Japs torched The village before withdrawing. Flames shot up into the heavens, and kept burning, turning half the sky white. The moon that night was full and blood-red, but the war below turned it pale and weak, like a faded paper cutout hanging grimy in the sky.
"where to now, Dad?
No response.”
page 165
"I'm not with the Eighth road Army," Granddad said, "or Ninth Route. I'm Yu Zhan'ao the bandit." Page 183
“when I look back up on my family's history, I find that the lives of all the key members have at some point been linked inextricably with some sort of dark, dank or hole,beginning with Mother.” page 190
“After helping fill in the pit, I stayed with her to look down at this resting place of a thousand bodies, and kowtowed three times. "It's been forty-six years", Mother said " I was fifteen then." page 204
"As the ancients said," Heaven never seals off all the exits." Page 225
"the Japanese entered the village.
The Sun, stained by human blood, set behind the mountain as the crimson full moon of mid-autumn rose about the sorghum.
My Father heard Granddad's muted call:
Douguan-!" page 236
"Hungry? Listen to me. Rivals and Lovers are destined to meet. Men die over riches, birds perish over food. The young must not scoff at the old, for flowers don't bloom forever. One must know when to yield to others. No sign of weakness, it will work to one's later advantage ..." page 241
" It's easy to invite the gods, hard to send them away," Granddad said". page 244
"Grandad and the others are argued" A man only lives once. Don't let the world look down on the people of Northeast Gaomi Township." page 257
"single-stalk garlic is always the the hottest." page 270
“As a result, the years of 1925 to 1928 marked a golden age of banditry in Northeast Gaomi Township. Granddad's reputation rocked the government.” page 274
“But Granddad forget the simple dialectic that a bright sun darkens, a full moon wanes, a full cup overflows, and decay follows prosperity. Grandma's grand funeral would be yet another of his great mistakes.”page 297
" Rumors of brutality were hard for the people to put aside, especially in their dreams." page 311
" A stable , peaceful Society is the training around for humanity, just as caged animals, removed from the violent unpredictability of the wild, are influenced by the behavior of their captors in time. Do you agree? Yes? No? well, say it, Yes or no?" page 323
" I sometimes think that there is a link between the decline in humanity and the increase in prosperity and comfort. Prosperity and comfort are what people seek, but the costs to character are often terrifying." page 334
"Not to be intimidated, the other officer Said, Is it the mission of resistance fighters to starve or freeze? No, we must be flexible and resourceful. Tolerance must be one of our stratagems. The only way we'll win this way of resistance is by conserving our strength.” page 349
“For ten years I had been away from my village now I stood before my second grandma's grave, affecting the hypocritical display of affection. I had learned from high society, with a body immersed so long in the filth of urban life that a foul stench oozed from my porse. I had paid my respect at many gravesites before coming to that of the woman whose short but magnificent life constitutes a page in the most heroic and most bastardly history of my hometown.” page 356
“ Did Fenglian, we call her Little nine.”
“ Village Chief, Five Monkeys Shan”
“ Nine Dreams Cao”
“Five Troubles”
“Old three”
“Second master Cao”
“Eighth Route Master”
"Eighteen Stabs Geng"
