Real: Sweet talk

*Sweet Talk*, a novel by Rial that won the prestigious Motun Literature Prize, one of China's most prestigious literary awards. Set against the backdrop of modern and contemporary Chinese history, this unique work portrays the fate and survival strategies of intellectuals in a reportage format. Keren, a hero of the Anti-Japanese War believed to be dead, is revealed to have been alive through the testimonies of three people. The story unfolds as it oscillates between actual truth and fabricated memories. Keren is an intellectual and romantic thinker of modern China. Driven into a crisis due to his past history, he is framed as having died in the Battle of Erligang through the special consideration of someone who cares for him, and is presented to the world as a national hero. However, less than a year later, a poem presumed to have been written by Keren is published, spreading rumors that he is still alive and living in seclusion on Mount Dahuang. Indeed, circumstances are detected indicating that he is living in seclusion on Mount Dahuang, immersed in writing his own biographical novel. As comical situations arise from Keren's subsequent activities, the factions vying for hegemony in China at the time begin to get busy… The story depicts the testimonies of Bai Shengtao, a doctor; Zhao Qingyao, a prisoner; and Fan Zhihuai, a legal scholar, regarding this case, presented at different times.

Korean title: 감언이설

Korean author: 리얼

Korean publisher: 문학과지성사

ISBN-13: 9788932019369