Radical: A Life of My Own by Xiaolu Guo

From the acclaimed author of Nine Continents and a Granta Best Young
British Novelist, Radical is an enchanting reflection on identity and
meaning from the fringe of society.
The world can seem strange and lonely when you step away from your
family and everything you have built for yourself. Yet beauty may also appear.
In the autumn of 2019, Xiaolu traveled to New York to take up her position as
a visiting professor for a year, leaving her child and partner behind in London.
The encounter with American culture and people threatened her sense of
identity and threw her into a crisis—of meaning, desire, obligation, and selfhood.
This is a book about separation—by continents, by language, and from
people. It’s about being an outsider and the desperate longing to connect.
Xiaolu uses her exploration of language (one of the meanings of the word
“radical” is the building block of Chinese characters), and her own life, to create this unique text. At once a memoir, a lexicon, and an ardent love letter, it
is an expression of her fascination with Western culture and her nostalgia for
Eastern landscapes, and an attempt to describe the space in between. An
archive of an artist’s search for creative freedom, it is above all else an intimate
account of her efforts to begin anew.
“When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving, and
language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world.”
—Deborah Levy, author of The Cost of Living
“An etymological voyage that lives up to its title: radical in angle of attack, smart and
brave.” —Iain Sinclair, author of The Gold Machine

XIAOLU GUO is the author
of Village of Stone, A Concise
Chinese-English Dictionary for
Lovers, Twenty Fragments of a
Ravenous Youth, I Am China,
A Lover’s Discourse, and Nine
Continents. Guo has also directed
several award-winning films including She, a Chinese
and UFO in Her Eyes, and has had film retrospectives
around the world