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''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Dai Sijie, and published in 2000 in French and in English in 2001. It is the author's first published novel. Its original French title is similar, "''Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise''". A film based on his novel was released in 2002, directed by Dai himself. ==Plot summary== The novel, written by Dai Sijie, is about two teenagers. Luo, "a genius for storytelling",〔Sijie, p. 19〕 and an unnamed narrator, "a fine musician"〔Sijie, p. 5〕 are sent to be re-educated during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They are sent to a mountain called "Phoenix of the Sky" near Tibet, because their doctor parents have been declared enemies of the state and "reactionaries of the bourgeoisie" by the Communist state. There, while forced to work in the coal mines and with the rice crop, they are captivated by and fall in love with the daughter of the local tailor, the Little Seamstress. Throughout the novel, the small farming village of Phoenix of the Sky delights in the storytelling of the two teenagers. They even are excused from work for a few days to see films at Yong Jing, a nearby town, and later relate the story to the townspeople, through an activity known as "oral cinema", where the story is retold. 〔''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'' translated by Ina Rilke Page 19〕 At the same time, they meet Four-Eyes, the son of a prominent poet, who also is being re-educated. Although he is succeeding in re-education, he is also hiding French, Russian, and English novels that are forbidden by Chinese law. The boys convince Four-Eyes to lend them the book, ''Ursule Mirouët'' by Honoré de Balzac. After Luo stays up all night reading the book, he gives the book to the narrator and leaves the village in order to tell it to the Little Seamstress, "the region's reigning beauty" that both characters are attracted to, and the narrator becomes "completely wrapped up in the French story".〔Sijie, p. 57〕 When Luo returns, he is carrying leaves from the tree below where he and former virgin, the Little Seamstress, had sex. The village headman, described as a passionate Communist who has just returned from an unsuccessful dental surgery, threatens to turn in Luo and the narrator for spreading the counter-revolutionary ideas found in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' if they don’t agree to fix the headman’s teeth. Faced with the threat of prison, the pair fix the village headman's teeth, but they operate the drill “slowly... to punish him.”〔Sijie, p.134〕 Later, when the headman is calmer and thankful to the two for repairing his teeth, he allows Luo to leave the village for a month to look after Luo’s ailing mother. During Luo’s absence, the Little Seamstress concludes that she is pregnant. Her character confides this in the narrator, for "when () had left the previous month she was not yet worried"〔Sijie p. 159〕 about missing her period. However, since it is illegal to have children out of wedlock in the revolutionary society, and she and Luo are too young to marry, the narrator must set up a secret abortion. Three months after the abortion is performed and Luo returns, the pair's mission of educating the Little Seamstress backfires. At first, however, it seems as if their plan is working perfectly – she adopts the city accent and begins making modern clothing. Yet, one day, she "comes to understand her own sexual power", and leaves without saying farewell. In his grief, Luo becomes inebriated and burns all of the foreign books "in () frenzy,"〔Sijie, p. 178〕 ending the novel. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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