Chinese Literature Podcast

Not About to See Your Light1 min read

Rob Moore and Lee Moore dive into Han Shaogang’s Pa Pa Pa

In this episode, Rob Moore and Lee Moore return to the “Root Seeking” authors with Han Shaogong’s enigmatic short story about a young child in the countryside who can only say two things: “Papa” and “F#$* Mama.” Every time he utters one of his two phrases, the villagers try to divine what he means and what it means for the fate of the village. Does this boy serve as a good leader for the village? Does he destroy the village? The story questions whether or not language means anything, whether we can say stories even mean anything:

The Chinese Literature Podcast is recorded on the not so-sunny Eugene, Oregon, campus of the University of Oregon, with the generous support of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies. Header image by Bernd Müller.