Author: Shan Sa
Translator: Sang-hae Lee
Publisher: Hyundai Munhak
Hardcover | 528 pages | 230*165mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean only. |
About This Book
"My skin was tanned by the sun; my figure was slim with bronzed muscle. I was
like a challenge to those pale faces and concealed bodies. . . . To other women
the choice of clothes was a form of ingenious exhibition, a shameless seduction.
To me, dresses were like a breastplate that I put on to set off to war against
this life." -- from Empress
Such is the voice of Shan Sa's unforgettable heroine in her latest literary
masterpiece, Empress. Empress Wu, one of China's most controversial figures, was
its first and only female emperor, who emerged in the seventh century during the
great Tang Dynasty and ushered in a golden age. Throughout history, her name has
been defamed and her story distorted by those taking vengeance on a woman who
dared to become emperor. But now, for the first time in thirteen centuries,
Empress Wu (or Heavenlight, as we come to know her) flings open the gates of her
Forbidden City and tells her own astonishing tale -- revealing a fascinating,
complex figure who in many ways remains modern to this day.
Heavenlight's story begins with her birth into the humble yet noble Wu clan. Her
parents had wanted a boy, but destiny will carry their precocious daughter
farther than they ever dreamed. At the age of twelve, she is called by decree to
serve the emperor as a Talented One of the fifth imperial rank. Leaving behind
her beloved mother and sister, she is escorted to the Forbidden City and enters
the imperial gynaeceum, which houses ten thousand concubines.
In her lavish yet sequestered new life, Heavenlight soon discovers that the
great halls are teeming with seductions, plots, murders, and brazen acts of
treason. Propelled by a shrewd intelligence, an extraordinary will, and a close
friendship with the imperial heir, the girl who gallops horses and performs
archery as brilliantly as any man sheds her childhood and rises through the
ranks to the very pinnacle of power. On the one hand, she proves herself to be a
political mastermind who can quell insurrections and open wide the routes of
international trade; on the other, she's a passionate patron of the arts who
brings Chinese civilization to unsurpassed heights of beauty and sophistication.
And throughout her extraordinary reign, we are privy to her innermost struggles.
Writing with epic assurance, poetry, and vivid historic detail, Shan Sa plumbs
the psychological and philosophical depths of what it means to be a striving
mortal in a tumultuous, power-hungry world. Empress is a great literary feat and
a revelation for the ages.
About The Author
Shan Sa was born in Beijing, began writing at the age of seven, and
had her first poems, essays, and short stories published at the age of eight. In
1990 she moved to Paris, where she learned French, studied philosophy, and
worked for the famous painter Balthus. In 2001 her novel The Girl Who Played Go
won the Goncourt Prize and earned critical acclaim worldwide. Shan Sa is also a
celebrated painter with prominent exhibitions in Paris and New York.
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