Mao Zedong’s John the Baptist, The Prophet of China’s Revolution

“In 1903, Zhou Shuren, a 22-year-old Chinese student studying in Japan on a government scholarship, committed an act of treason: He shaved off his queue, the ponytail that Chinese men wore as a symbol of submission to the emperor. … That he did. Under the pen name of Lu Xun, the writer spent the rest of his life devoted to bringing a revolution to China – both in letters and politics.”

‘The ‘Big Bang’ That Created Roberto Bolaño’s Literary Universe’

The late Chilean author’s first book, written in the late 1970s but only just published, “is called Antwerp and it is but 78 pages, even with the generous margins. … Antwerp is the creation of themes and characters that will reappear throughout Bolaño’s writings. It is also the creation of Bolaño the writer, a statement about the kind of writer he wants to be.”