Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe《石天金山》

Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe

Based in Brisbane, Mirandi Riwoe is a contemporary Chinese Australian writer. Her father is Chinese Indonesian who came to Australia to study medicine at University of Queensland in the 1960s and met her Irish mother. She is always interested in the topic of cultural diversity and gender and has found a space as an author of historical novels. Her first novel, The Fish Girl, was published in 2018 and was shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize. Her recent novel, Stone Sky Gold Mountain, won the Queensland Literary Awards: The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award 2020 and inaugural ARA Historical Novel Prize 2020, as well as being shortlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize.

Stone Sky Gold Mountain tells an unforgettable story as it narrates the experience of Brother Lai Yue and Sister Mei Ying from the Chinese community in Far North Queensland during the gold rush of the late 19th century. This smart and entertaining historical book is concerned with themes of identity, belonging, displacement, misogyny, gender, racism and migration.

Riwoe tells the tale from alternating perspectives of the two siblings, Chinese migrants who come to the gold fields to seek their fortunes in order to support their family and repay their father’s debt. Life on the gold fields is difficult, and they soon abandon the digging and head to nearby Maytown, where they meet a young white woman Meriem who works as a maid for a local sex worker. Against this backdrop the story also explores Ying’s friendship and connection with the white women of the community. Stone Sky Gold Mountain tells a heartbreaking story about the exiled and displaced, about those who encounter discrimination yet yearn for acceptance and belonging, as a tapestry of Australian life in the late 19^th century deftly unfolds.

Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Number of Pages: 264pp

Publication date: 31 March 2020

ISBN 9780702262739

米兰迪·里沃小说《石天金山》简介

米兰迪·里沃（Mirandi Riwoe）是当代澳大利亚华裔作家，她的父亲是上世纪60年代从印度尼西亚移民到澳大利亚的华人，母亲是来自爱尔兰的英国人后裔。多元文化的家庭背景激起了米兰迪对探索早期来澳华人生活的强烈好奇心，她喜欢描写不同文化背景下人们的生存状态。第一部小说《渔女》(The Fish Girl)曾入围2018年斯特拉奖(Stella Prize)。2020年出版的新作《石天金山》(Stone Sky Gold Mountain)荣获2020年昆士兰文学奖项下的昆士兰大学小说奖（Queensland Literary Awards:The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award 2020）和首届ARA历史小说奖(ARA Historical Novel Prize 2020)，入围2021年斯特拉文学奖（2021 Stella Prize）。《石天金山》由资深翻译家、北京外国语大学澳大利亚研究中心客座教授和西悉尼大学人文与交流艺术学院兼职教授李尧翻译成中文，中文译本将由北京文化发展出版社出版。

《石天金山》以19世纪末昆士兰北部的“淘金热”为背景，描写了1877年来自中国的梅莺和来悦在金矿地区挣扎求生的经历。年仅20岁的来悦和妹妹梅莺为父还债，远渡重洋来昆士兰淘金。然而，梦想破灭，兄妹俩遭受了从未体验过的种族主义残酷的迫害。来悦流落到白人牧场放羊，妹妹梅莺女扮男装置身于男人堆里受尽屈辱。梅莺与白人姑娘梅里姆产生了刻骨铭心的畸形恋情，并引来杀身之祸。最终在族人的帮助下才得以逃脱并踏上还乡之路。

这部小说取材独特、想象丰富，作者以现实主义与现代主义相结合的创作手法书写这部历史小说，探讨了多元文化、身份认同、殖民主义、种族主义、和性别等主题。正如澳大利亚评论家所言，这部小说具有“鲜活、生动、引人入胜、充满悲剧色彩，是对鲜为人知的澳大利亚历史惊人的再现。”

Interview of Award Winning Novelist Mirandi Riwoe

by IAC Director Professor Jing Han

点击下载采访稿中文版 Download the Chinese transcript of the interview.

Australian Literature Translation

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