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Bach As Personal Anchor
- Schell relates his lifelong love of Bach and playing the oboe as a personal anchor.
- He contrasts Bach's inward, mortal focus with Mao's outward revolutionary aims to illuminate his characters' tensions.
Keep Original Language Visible
- Schell deliberately inserts Chinese words and characters to preserve cultural nuance.
- He believes untranslated Chinese phrases add depth and better reflect how things are actually said.
Show, Don't Explain
- Moving from nonfiction to fiction required Schell to 'show' rather than 'explain.'
- He cut expository passages and learned to convey ideas through dialogue and narrative action.