The Four Faces

by Han Suyin

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0586035419
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Panther
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A tragic farce about cultural politics during the Cold War

This 1963 novel is one of the less know works of Han Suyin. I picked it up as I was rummaging through my father's bookshelf recently. I have to admit that the 5-star rating is rather subjective, but I loved the book. For someone like me who has grown up in Europe during the Cold War, the book is so entirely familiar and utterly clever. The fierce pseudo-intellectual debates about `freedom' (code word for the Right) and `peace' (code word for the Left) ring absolutely true. The book takes place during a `neutral' literary conference, which many outsiders and even participants--as was the case during those days--see as an oxymoron: writers like all artists have to take sides on whether they are `progressives' or `reactionary.' Yet, the author shows how ultimately virtually all of the authors are primarily concerned with themselves, their success, reputations and notably love lives. An interesting aspect is that the conference takes place in Cambodia, which at that time was a neutral country. As the book points out, for the Cold Warriors this was like a red cloth to a bull. These were the days of the Domino Theory and the American intelligence services considered neutral as being soft on the Communists: You are either with us or against us (sounds familiar?). Cambodia at that time was infiltrated by many destabilizing elements from different sides. At the same time, rogue agents of the former colonial master, France, had moved into drug trade around the Golden Triangle. Sadly, in the real world, all of this did destabilize Cambodia and resulted in decades of violence. The worst period was of course Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rule and the associated `killing fields,' but still today things in Cambodia are far from stable, democratic and prosperous. Around this situation Han Suyin has spun a story that is both tragic and farcical. Apart from Cold War tensions and cultural politics, it involves love and sex and intrigue, even murder, all of which Han Suyin describes with a twinkle in her eye. It was a thoroughly delightful read.