The book by Eva Hung contains stories written by contemporary Hong Kong writers that were carefully selected to comprise a new literary work. The stories Tied Together by Fate and Plenty and Sorrow from the book tell the lives of people from Hong Kong and Shanghai and deliver important messages. Oblivion is an originally book by Marc Auge – French writer – which raises philosophical ideas of life and death, and the role of memory in them. This essay will discuss the analysis and reaction of every above-mentioned works.
The Oblivion is a work about how a human’s memory provides meaning to his life. The author’s narrative orbits around the idea that it is also essential to forget in order to recall. Thus, remembering is as much a denial process as retrieval or selection. It is the blooming of the past in the present. The remnants of the past’s remembrance — its portrayal as the present — are lost in forgetfulness rather than the past itself, which is already departed, allowing new remnants and other remembrances to grow and take root in their wake.
Tied Together by Fate is a literary piece by Chan Wai Ying written in the first-person narrative with an open end of the story. The set and time of story take place in the main character’s house and talk about the episode when a woman was painting the walls. The author probably used this narrative type in order to deliver the main character’s feelings and emotions. I believe he succeeded because his reaction to this piece consisted of confusion, misunderstanding, and sadness. The story has different famous quotes, like “At that moment she realizes that 3:15 isn’t teatime for all workmen.” (Hung 63). The quote provokes thoughts about the female role in society and how a man’s life in Hong Kong is portrayed.
The story Plenty and Sorrow consists of four parts: Prologue, Monologue, Film is just a film, The Story, and The Performance. The piece is a love story between Zhao Mei and Yousheng, who fell in love in Shanghai when they were young. It is interesting how the author writes every part of the story depending on the setting. For instance, the Prologue takes place on a film set and is thus written like a movie script. This adds curiosity while reading the piece; moreover, the author probably desired to deliver the power of difference in society. The piece talks about the distinction between the main characters, and the narrative helps understand this idea. The story’s impression is sorrow, and the idea of dissimilarity is relatable because it can be observed in everyday life. Differences sometimes can be considered as inequality, which every person experiences, and thus the story can be read and related to by anyone.
To conclude, every story was written in unique styles and narratives and convey social and philosophical ideas. In the Oblivion, author argues that forgetting is a key to remember, and human life are the memories. Tied Together by Fate raises social, gender, and economic roles by telling the story of a man who experienced lost. And Plenty and Sorrow deliver the message about differences, or inequalities, through a love story.
Work Cited
Hung, Eva. Hong Kong Stories: Old Themes New Voices. Hong Kong: The Reserach Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. Print.