night lights
theres nothing i can do when i think of you late at night
p set among a remote cluster of cave dwellings in shanxi province theres nothing i can do when i think of you late at night is a genre defying expos of rural communism . in a series of vivid interlocking vignettes several narrators speak of adultery bestiality incest and vice revealing the consequences of desire in a world of necessity . p the wen clan caves are based on an isolated village where the author cao naiqian lived during the cultural revolution . the land is hard and unforgiving and the people suffer in poverty and ignorance . through the individual perspectives of the wen clan denizens a complete portrait of village life takes shape . dark yet lyrical caos snapshots range from pastoral stories of childhood innocence to shocking accounts of brutality and terror . his work echoes william faulkners go down moses and sherwood andersons winesburg ohio yet the authors depictions of elemental passions and regional mores make the book entirely his own . p celebrated for its economy of expression flashes of humor and an emphasis on understatement rarely found in chinese fiction theres nothing i can do when i think of you late at night is an excellent introduction to the power and craft of cao naiqian . his vivid personalities and unflinching realism herald the haunting work of an original literary force .