In The Age Paola Totaro profiles Ma Jian, discussing his new book The Dark Road (I haven't seen a copy yet (sigh); get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk) as well as the new Folio Society edition of Moss Roberts' translation of Luo Guanzhong's Three Kingdoms (which is also available in cheaper editions ...).
Ma wrote an introduction to the Folio Society edition -- and here explains:
Ma wrote an introduction to the Folio Society edition -- and here explains:
It strikes me that the work offers an alternative to the monolithic ideology of Confucianism, which provides only one model to emulate. Three Kingdoms gives you a panoply of different routes; everyone can find their own path. It shows that sometimes the route to fulfilment or success is not the obvious one. You must take twists and turns to achieve a goal.