Yangsze Choo's 'The Fox Wife' explores gender, murder and folklore in the 1900s

NPR's Book of the Day

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Yangsze Choo says she doesn't thoroughly plan out her novels – her newest, The Fox Wife, blossomed from that core idea behind the title, of a woman who also happens to be a fox. But beyond that, it's a story about a mother avenging her child, about a murder investigation in early 20th century China, and about family curses. As the author tells NPR's Scott Simon, foxes hold a wide range of intrigue and mystery in Chinese, Korean and Japanese legends — and it's these traits that broke open a whole world of secrets for her characters.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Big shout out to Tinbee for covering me while I was gone.
0:08.1	Now, on to today's show, there are the types of writers that plan. You know, they've got a firm idea of the beginning, middle, and end of their story.
0:16.4	They know the plot beats, know the characters, etc cetera. And then there are writers like Yangxi
0:20.8	Chu, who is not a planning writer. Her new novel is titled The Fox Wife. It's about a
0:27.2	woman who is also a fox. There's other stuff, of course, but that's all she started with,
0:32.1	that one idea, a woman who is a fox. She and NPR Scott Simon get to talking about the characteristics of foxes
0:40.3	across cultures and throughout time and how they're wily and clever because they need to be. Similarly,
0:47.4	Chu points out to women. That's ahead. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:55.8	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:00.3	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:02.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people
1:05.7	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:09.6	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:15.3	Snow is a fox.
1:17.6	Really, a fox spirit, able to allure, to entrap, and to change shapes.
1:23.8	Snow can take on the form of a woman referred to as Asan,
1:27.2	and in 1908 she's on the hunt of the man who murdered her daughter.
1:32.3	Snow's search for truth and justice through Manchuria, and Japan is at the center of Yang Chi Chu's new novel, The Fox Wife.
1:40.6	And Yang Shihu, the author of several best-selling novels, including The Night Tiger,
1:44.9	joins us now from California. Thanks so much for being with us.
1:48.4	Thank you for having me, Scott. It's such an honor. Well, the honor is ours. Help us understand
1:54.3	the position that the fox can hold in various Chinese cultures. You know, I've always thought that the legend of the fox is so
	...

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