![]() This inventive, powerful debut novel-equal parts action-packed and thought-provoking-belongs completely to its talented author from the first page. It’s a fascinating conceit, reportedly pitched as “ Mulan meets The Song of Achilles,” though it doesn’t seem to draw inspiration directly from either of those works-the skeleton of the story belongs to the real-life Hongwu Emperor, including his humble birth, brief stint as a Buddhist novice, and years as a warrior that lead to an even greater destiny.īut what Parker-Chan makes from the story of Zhu Yuanzhang is both inseparable from its real-life inspiration and wholly original. But as the title suggests, She Who Became the Sun isn’t about a boy named Zhu Yuanzhang who rises from his peasant origins to rule a united China it’s about a girl who does the same. ![]() Shelley Parker-Chan’s new novel She Who Became the Sun lays claim to the story of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang. ![]() ![]() In the case of a story based on a person from history or myth, the discussion broadens: is ownership even a useful concept in that case? If a real-life person’s story fundamentally belongs only to that person, can that story be re-written, re-envisioned, transformed-and in the process, does it evolve into a new story, with a new answer to whose story it has become? Who do stories belong to? Some would say a story belongs to the author who wrote it, and copyright law would back up that interpretation, at least for the first 75 years after publication. ![]()
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