Quotes from book
Soul Mountain

Gao XingjianOriginal title Lingshan (1990)

Soul Mountain is a novel by Gao Xingjian. The novel is loosely based on the author's own journey into rural China, which was inspired by a false diagnosis of lung cancer. The novel is a part autobiographical, part fictional account of a man's journey to find the fabled mountain Lingshan. It is a combination of story fragments, travel accounts, unnamed characters , and folk poetry/legends. An English version translated by Mabel Lee was published in the United States on December 5, 2000.

Gao Xingjian photo

“Life is probably a tangle of love and hate permanently knotted together.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 12, p. 70

Gao Xingjian photo

“Some distance away is a white azalea bush which stuns me with its stately beauty. ____ This is pristine natural beauty. it is irrepressible, seeks no reward, and is without goal, a beauty derived neither from symbolism nor metaphor and needing neither analogies nor associations.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 10, p. 61.

Gao Xingjian photo

“What is essential is whether it is perceived and not whether it exists. To exist and yet not to be perceived is the same as not exist.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 77, p. 481

Gao Xingjian photo

“Body odour (known also as scent of the immortals) is a disgusting condition with an awful, nauseating smell.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 1, p. 6

Gao Xingjian photo

“Indeed, loft aspirations produce ideas.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 5, p. 32

Gao Xingjian photo

“Life is fragile, yet to obstinately struggle is natural.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 80, p. 503

Gao Xingjian photo

“When God talks to humans he doesn’t want humans to hear his voice.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 81, p. 505

Gao Xingjian photo

“The creature known as man is of course highly intelligent, he's capable of manufacturing almost anything from rumours to test-tube babies and yet he destroys two to three species every day. This is the absurdity of man.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 8, p. 49

Gao Xingjian photo

“I hadn't originally intended to do any reading, what if I did read one book more or one book less, whether I read or not wouldn't make a difference, I would still be waiting to get cremated.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 12, p. 69

Gao Xingjian photo

“Realty exists only through experience, and it must be personal experience.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 2, p. 15

Gao Xingjian photo

“It takes a full sixty years for the Cold Arrow Bamboo to go through the cycle of flowering, seeding, dying and for the seeds to sprout, grow, and flower. According to Buddhist teachings on transmigration this would be exactly one kalpa. "Man follows earth, earth follows sky, sky follows the way, the way follows nature, don’t commit actions which go against the basic character of nature, don’t commit acts which should not be committed." "Then what scientific value is there in saving the giant panda?" I ask. "It’s symbolic, it’s a sort of reassurance―people need to deceive themselves. We are preoccupied with saving a species which no longer has the capacity for survival and yet on the other hand we’re changing ahead and destroying the very environment for the survival of the human species itself."”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 8, p. 47

Gao Xingjian photo

“Not knowing what one is looking for is pure agony. Too much analytical thinking, too much logic, too many meanings! Life has no logic, so why does there have to be logic to explain what it means? Also, what is logic? I think I may need to break away from analytical thinking; this is the cause of all my anxieties.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 8, p. 50

Gao Xingjian photo

“In the snow outside my window I see a small green frog, one eye blinking and the other wide open, unmoving, looking at me. I know this is God.”

Gao Xingjian book Soul Mountain

Source: Soul Mountain (1989), ch. 81, p. 505

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