Wives and adulteresses

Book title: Wives and Concubines Author: Suttongar Publisher: Masaa for Publishing and Distribution Category: Novels Number of pages: 104 About the book: The well in human heritage has multiple connotations, some related to water where life is, and others related to fear of the unknown which may end in revenge, punishment, and death. The last connotation is what Suttongar builds her novel (Wives and Concubines) upon. Thus, the well forms the background for the tragic fates of the heroes of this novel, women whom Chinese feudal society condemned to live under harsh traditions during the period of the Northern warlords before the Chinese Civil War. One reader says about (Wives and Concubines): it is "the story of a man who destroyed the lives of a group of women, and created a generation of tragedies." The events of the novel reveal the terrifying image of the customs of China at that time, which destroyed human dignity and compassion for others. It also reveals, in another aspect, the plots and hidden and apparent conflicts that usually revolve among women in a social situation like the one presented in the novel. The novel was published in 1991 and was adapted into a film titled (Raise the Red Lantern) in the same year, directed by Zhang Yimou, which was nominated for an Oscar in its 64th edition. The novel was also listed among the hundred best Chinese novels of the twentieth century.