Xue Yiwei

Stephen Nashef

Celia, Misoka, I

A meditation on the meaning of life in an increasingly global world, from acclaimed Chinese-Canadian author Xue Yiwei. Set in modern-day Montreal, Celia, Misoka, I is the story of a middle-aged Chinese man who has been living in the city for fifteen years. After the death of his wife, he begins to reflect on his past and how he has ended up alone in Canada, a solitary member of the Chinese diaspora. It is in this period of angst and uncertainty, during the most unusual of winters, that he meets two women by Beaver Lake, on Montreal’s Mount Royal. They, too, have their own stories: stories of their own personal plights, which connect present to past, and West to East. The distinct paths taken by these three characters — Celia, Misoka, and “I” — span continents and decades, but, whether by chance or design, converge in Montreal, like mysterious figures in an ancient Chinese Zen painting. After coming together, the three begin to examine who they are, where they might belong, and how to navigate otherness and identity in a globalized world. A RARE MACHINES BOOK

Xue Yiwei's life has been marked by that of the legendary Montreal surgeon Norman Bethune, who died in China in the cause of Communism. Like other Chinese of his generation - the generation that has turned China into the world power it is today - Xue Yiwei was inspired by Dr. Bethune's example during the Cultural Revolution. But unlike his peers, he went to the lengths of moving to Montreal, where he has lived for sixteen years as a writer acclaimed in China and - until now - unknown in Canada. This subversive novel is the story that only he could write.Dr. Bethune's Children, which is banned in China (it is available only in a Chinese language version published in Taiwan), focuses on individual lives marked by some of the traumatic events of recent decades that have been veiled by official secrecy. In showing us the effects of the distress and repression that have marked his whole generation, Xue Yiwei unveils the human heart.

Dr. Bethune's Children

Three strangers of different origin are blown onto a snowy stage by the gust of globalization.What is the meaning of life? This is the core theme of Xue Yiwei's literary works. And what is the meaning of life in the time of globalization is the theme of this novel. You might feel the answer is not evident at the end of reading. But turning pages, you will be assured that your vision about life is being broadened by the fate of three main characters and their extraordinary encounter in a seemingly ordinary deep winter in Montreal. And as a result, you will be assured that history still matters, humanity still matters, mutual understanding still matters, trust still matters, hope still matters ... even if uncertainty has been casting so long a shadow into this world around us. And most of all, the meaning of life still matters, as does the literature that seeks it out.

Xue Yiwei

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