Author:Michael Tippett
The autobiography of one of Britain's greatest composers is as idiosyncratic as the man himself, revealing his insatiable curiosity about people and places, ideas and sensations, and music of every kind. Vigorous, brave, funny, candid about his sexual and emotional life, Sir Michael has written a remarkable, memorable book.
What makes THOSE TWENTIETH CENTURY BLUES so fascinating, and often very moving, is not just its illumination of a richly patterned life, but the sheer candour of the reminiscences. . . It is altogether an admirable book. . . touchingly honest and endearing.
—— Financial TimesRichly entertaining. . . The heady flavour of the man himself is here.
—— Sunday TelegraphIt is his best book. . . and anyone with the remotest interest in contemporary music should read it.
—— London MagazineExtremely lively and candid. . . he is a master story-teller. . . highly enjoyable.
—— Musical TimesClever, passionate, erudite
—— Publishers WeeklyJay Heinrichs knows a thing or two about arguing.
—— The TimesPacked with humour, tips and anecdotes to help you get what you want
—— Good Book GuideAn amazing story! How Chinese speech and script go to be standardized and made fit for the age of printing, data-processing and the internet is a true adventure story, told with brio and passion in this eye-opening book. It's a complicated tale, to be sure, and the solutions found verge on the miraculous. But the false starts, forgotten heroes, the rejections of the past and returns to tradition that are clearly laid out in this book also map out a cultural history of modern China. Immensely instructive and thoroughly enjoyable
—— David Bellos, author of IS THAT A FISH IN YOUR EAR?Writing about writing is hard; writing about Chinese writing in English is devilish. Strokes, logographs, ideographs - even the basic terminology can cloud the mind like a calligraphy brush loaded with too much ink. Jing Tsu's brilliant solution is to focus on characters - not the ones written from left to right, top to bottom, but the actual living, breathing, thinking individuals who, since the start of the twentieth century, did everything they could to adapt the Chinese language and writing system to the modern world. In Kingdom of Characters, Tsu introduces us to a cast of unforgettable figures: the wanted fugitive who pushes for Mandarin as China's national tongue; the engineer and bamboo expert who develops a Chinese typewriter; the railway administrator who tries to figure out how to send telegrams in a language without an alphabet. Along the way, Tsu tells an essential story of modern China: a country at once transformed and yet deeply traditional
—— Peter Hessler
Kingdom of Characters is an eye-opener. It approaches a central topic in modern and contemporary Chinese culture through a unique perspective, combining scholarship with vivid historical narrative. Jing Tsu wears her erudition lightly and gives us a fascinating and moving story. It shows the passionate struggle of generations of pioneers, who tried to find ways of reshaping and preserving the Chinese written script. It's a story of desperate strife, unflagging dedication, and ultimately, triumph
Kingdom of Characters is a deeply engaging and revealing narrative of the Chinese language in modern times: its graphic and phonetic transformations, conceptual debates, technological innovations, and political contentions. Jin Tsu has brought together a series of key moments concerning Chinese modernity, from the first Chinese typewriter to the digital Sinosphere, from the script reform to the voice revolution. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in the sound and script of modern China
—— Professor David Wang, Harvard UniversityInteresting and very readable
—— Peter Gordon , Asian Review of Books