ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1961
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Hans Maeter - Sergeant Chung Ming
Dutton, 1961
309 str.
tvrdi povez
stanje: vrlo dobro

This novel, translated from the German by Oliver Coburn and first published in 1958, is purportedly based on experiences and reports of refugees from Communist China. The story begins with an attempted escape from a Labor Re-education Camp of the People`s Security Army by two young Chinese. Other prisoners are then punished, among them Chung Ming. In a recounting of his past we learn his initial acceptance of Communist rule and then his harsh disillusionment beginning with the early in-doctrination of his village by the highly disciplined People`s Army, the land reform, the breaking up of family and clan loyalties, the teaching of slogans and creeds to the children, the mock mass trials and barbarous executions. The shrewd Commissar Stalin Chan supervises first the disgrace of Chung Ming`s sister-in-law and then the trial of his father, in which Chung Ming crushes his father`s skull rather than see him die a slow death by stoning at the hands of the crowd. Then he attempts to murder the Commissar, leaves him for dead only to encounter him again in the Labor Camp. The Commissar recognizes him and takes his devious revenge but finally Chung Ming escapes. The enigmatic characters are rarely more than two dimensional and the emphasis is on melodrama and action rather than politics or insight, but it is authentic, workmanlike storytelling with a breathtaking escape in the end which begs for cinema honors.

Everett Raymond Kinstler (cover illustrator).

Chung Ming is a veteran sergeant in Chiang Kai-Shek`s army when he first sees Commissar Chan. Two years later Chan comes to Hung-Chow to carry through Communist Land Reform. He is billeted on old Chung, Ming`s father, and as a result of his systematic poisoning of the atmosphere, a peaceful village becomes a hotbed of envy, hatred and suspicion. Old Chung is condemned to death and Ming is forced to flee. He creeps back and cuts Chan`s throat, but after escaping, Ming is arrested near Canton.
Four years later, in a forced labour camp, a recovered Chan, now camp commandant, recognises his would-be murderer, and makes use of him under threat. But revenge and escape cannot be prevented for ever.
In vivid, tense and all too convincing detail, this novel shows how a fanatical Communist can achieve the Party`s soul-destroying aims with terrifying success; but that, even so, the human spirit is still resilient.


Fiction, Historical Fiction, First edition