The New York Review of Books (December 7, 2023 Issue) – The latest features A Fallen Artist in Mao’s China – Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow; Gut Instincts – Recent books about the importance of the microbiome have driven many patients to fixate on the idea of “gut health.” Are they right to do so?; Prelude to Empire – Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novels, whether set in German East Africa or the United Kingdom, never cease to demonstrate how the minutiae of people’s lives have been affected by European colonialism…

A Fallen Artist in Mao’s China

Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow, a fictionalized account of the life of the actress Sun Weishi, depicts the hypocrisy of the Communist elites and the fate of those who embraced new ideals after the revolution.

Perry Link

The Woman Back from Moscow: In Pursuit of Beauty by Ha Jin

This book will be denounced in Beijing. Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow is a novel based on the life of Sun Weishi, an adopted daughter of Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, whose brilliant mind and intensive study in Moscow of the Stanislavski acting method brought her to the pinnacle of China’s theatrical world during the Mao years. Her beauty and effervescent personality attracted powerful men—not only Zhou, who doted on her, but also Lin Biao, the Chinese Communist Party’s leading general, who divorced his wife in order to propose marriage to her (unsuccessfully), and Mao, who apparently raped her during a long rail trip. She had several other suitors and eventually married the film star Jin Shan.

Gut Instincts

Recent books about the importance of the microbiome have driven many patients to fixate on the idea of “gut health.” Are they right to do so?

Nitin K. Ahuja

Reviewed:

A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease by Shilpa Ravella

Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure by Bryn Nelson

The Anti-Viral Gut: Tackling Pathogens from the Inside Out by Robynne Chutkan

Right before their colonoscopies, with the stress of a bowel prep still rumbling in their bellies and a mental image of the procedure beginning to sharpen, some patients will ask me why I chose a career in gastroenterology: “What made you interested in this?” The reason I usually give is that you could go all your life without a heart problem, or a lung problem, or a kidney problem, but not without a bit of nausea, constipation, or abdominal pain. The work of digestion is part of the rhythm of our daily lives, I tell them, which helps my work feel similarly immediate.