Christopher Rea and Julie M. Wang have translated The Crossing of the Boars (Columbia, 2026), a landmark novel by the celebrated Malaysian-Taiwanese writer Zhang Guixing.
In December 1941, Japanese troops landed on the northern coast of Borneo and began a brutal three-year, eight-month occupation. Set in a forgotten theater of World War II, The Crossing of the Boars is a gripping magical-realist tale of a multiethnic village fighting for survival.
Zhang Guixing’s novel immerses readers in a tropical society plagued by violence. Once overrun with bearded pigs, the fictional Village of the Boars finds itself overrun with Japanese soldiers, who prove harder to expel. This stylistic masterpiece offers a dazzling mix of ecological fantasy and labyrinthine mystery. Celebrated for its linguistic virtuosity reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez, William Faulkner, James Joyce, and Salman Rushdie, Zhang Guixing’s magnum opus is an epic work of historical fiction.
About the Author
Born in 1956 in Sarawak, Malaysia, Zhang Guixing (張貴興) came to Taiwan twenty years later to attend university. Centering his works around life in the rainforests of Borneo and the challenges faced by ethnic Chinese living in Southeast Asia, his writing is poetic and full of rich rhetorical flair. He is the recipient of many awards, including the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature.
About the Translators
Christopher Rea is the professor of Chinese Literature at the University of British Columbia’s department of Asian Studies.
Julie M. Wang is an educator and translator located in Vancouver, Canada.
