The Drunkard

“This is a novel that’s completely focused on the inner life of the protagonist. He lives in Hong Kong and wants to pursue ‘serious’ or highbrow literature, but he’s forced to make a living writing serialized wuxia or martial arts fiction for newspapers. He finds it degrading, but he also desperately needs the money because he’s addicted to alcohol. He’s always drunk.A friend of his similarly loves highbrow fiction, and his mother has given him her life savings to fund a serious literary magazine in Hong Kong. The friend invites the protagonist to be the editor of this magazine, but the protagonist’s drinking keeps getting in the way of his either doing meaningful work on the magazine, or selling out by writing wuxia fiction. There seems to be no way out for the protagonist trapped between his love for highbrow literature and the highly capitalist city that does not reward many writers with financial stability.” Read more...

The Best Hong Kong Novels

Wong Yi, Novelist