''Beijing Coma'' () is a 2008 novel by Ma Jian. It was translated from Chinese by Flora Drew. The Chinese government has since banned the book. Ma has stated that he wrote the book "to reclaim history from a totalitarian government whose role is to erase it" and named the novel ''Beijing Coma'' in reference to this. ''Beijing Coma'' was listed as one of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' "100 Notable Books of 2008".

Synopsis

The book follows the character of Dai Wei, a man who awakens from a coma to discover that ten years have passed since he was shot in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

on June 4, 1989. The book's narrative switches between Dai Wei's time as a non-responsive coma patient to his life before his shooting.

Reception

Critical reception for the book was positive, with

Tash Aw Tash Aw , whose full name is Aw Ta-Shi (; born 4 October 1971) is a Malaysian writer living in London. Biography Born in 1971 in Taipei, Taiwan, to Malaysians, Malaysian parents, Tash Aw returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the age of two, ...

calling it "a landmark". In ''

Bookmarks A bookmark is used to keep one's place in a printed work. It can also refer to: * Bookmark (digital), a pointer in a web browser and other software * ''Bookmarks'' (album), 2013 album by Five for Fighting * ''Bookmarks'' (magazine), an American ...

'' Sep/Oct 2008 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.00 out of 5) with the summary stating, "Even reviewers who found serious problems with ''Beijing Coma'' admired its political honesty and narrative premise".

Pankaj Mishra Pankaj Mishra (born 9 February 1969) is an Indian essayist, novelist, and socialist. His non-fiction works include ''Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond'', along with ''From the Ruins of Empire: The I ...

compared ''Beijing Coma'' with the work of writers such as

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera ( ; ; 1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship ...

Josef Škvorecký Josef Škvorecký (; September 27, 1924 – January 3, 2012) was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. He spent half of his life in Canada, publishing and supporting banned Czech literature during the communist era. Škvorecký was awarded the ...

and

Ivan Klíma Ivan Klíma (born Ivan Kauders, 14 September 1931) is a Czech novelist and playwright. He has received the Magnesia Litera award and the Franz Kafka Prize, among other honors.Michiko Kakutani is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life and family Kakutani, a Japanese Americ ...

praised the novel's translation while stating that the book "is desperately in need of editing".

Controversy

In April 2012 Ma protested the choice of China as the guest of honor at the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and d ...

. Ma used red paint to smear a cross over his face and attempted to present a copy of ''Beijing Coma'' to

Liu Binjie Liu Binjie (; born September 1948) is a Chinese politician. He currently serves as the Chair of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the National People's Congress. He was most well-known for serving as the director of t ...

, but was stopped by security. Ma called his Chinese publisher a "mouthpiece of the Chinese communist party" and claimed that he had been manhandled while trying to give Liu his book.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Official Publisher site
2008 Chinese novels 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Novels set in China Book censorship in China Censored books