One Man's Bible: A Novel

“Courageous … One Man’s Bible is driven by the sweeping panorama of history and the suffering and reconciliation that underlie it.”— Washington Post Book World

Published to impressive critical acclaim, One Man's Bible enhances the reputation of Nobel Prize-winning Gao Xingjian, whose first novel, Soul Mountain, was a national bestseller.

One Man’s Bible is a fictionalized account of Gao Xingjian’s life under the oppressive totalitarian regime of Mao Tse-tung during the period of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. Whether in the “beehive” offices in Beijing or in isolated rural towns, daily life everywhere is riddled with paranoia and fear, as revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries, and government propaganda turn citizens against one another. It is a place where a single sentence spoken ten years earlier can make one an enemy of the state. Gao evokes the spiritual torture of political and intellectual repression in graphic detail, including the heartbreaking betrayals he suffers in his relationships with women and men alike.

One Man’s Bible is a profound meditation on the essence of writing, on exile, on the effects of political oppression on the human spirit, and how the human spirit can triumph.

One Man's Bible is a fictionalized account of Gao Xingjian's life under the Chinese Communist regime. Daily life is riddled with paranoia and fear, and government propaganda turns citizens against one another. It is a place where a single sentence spoken ten years earlier can make one an enemy of the state.

But One Man's Bible is also a profound meditation on the essence of writing, on exile, on the effects of political oppression on the human spirit, and on how the human spirit can triumph.

“A remarkable achievement.” - Christian Science Monitor

“450 brilliant pages of reflection, self-reflection and redemption.” - Ruminator Review

“Perhaps the most powerful thing Gao has ever written.” - New York Review of Books

“[Gao] paints a stark, unforgiving picture of the results of Mao’s regime and of the Cultural Revolution.” - Denver Post

“Conveys that profound sense of dislocation human beings can sometimes feel, when looks back on one’s own life.” - Baltimore Sun

“Dreamlike …. elegant and haunting.” - Boston Globe

“Unforgettable … One Man’s Bible burns with a powerfully individualistic fire of intelligence and depth of feeling.” - New York Times