Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City (Weatherhead Books on Asia)

Set in the long-lost City of Victoria (a fictional world similar to Hong Kong), __Atlas__ is written from the unified perspective of future archaeologists struggling to rebuild a thrilling metropolis. Divided into four sections—"Theory," "The City," "Streets," and "Signs"—the novel reimagines Victoria through maps and other historical documents and artifacts, mixing real-world scenarios with purely imaginary people and events while incorporating anecdotes and actual and fictional social commentary and critique. Much like the quasi-fictional adventures in map-reading and remapping explored by Paul Auster, Jorge Luis Borges, and Italo Calvino, Dung Kai-cheung's novel challenges the representation of place and history and the limits of technical and scientific media in reconstructing a history. It best exemplifies the author's versatility and experimentation, along with China's rapidly evolving literary culture, by blending fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a story about succeeding and failing to recapture the things we lose. Playing with a variety of styles and subjects, Dung Kai-cheung inventively engages with the fate of Hong Kong since its British "handover" in 1997, which officially marked the end of colonial rule and the beginning of an uncharted future. Contents Preface: An Archaeology for the Future Introduction Part One: Theory 1. Counterplace 2. Commonplace 3. Misplace 4. Displace 5. Antiplace 6. Nonplace 7. Extraterritoriality 8. Boundary 9. Utopia 10. Supertopia 11. Subtopia 12. Transtopia 13. Multitopia 14. Unitopia 15. Omnitopia Part Two: The City 16. Mirage: City in the Sea 17. Mirage: Towers in the Air 18. Pottinger’s Inverted Vision 19. Gordon’s Jail 20. “Plan of the City of Victoria,” 1889 21. The Four Wan and Nine Yeuk 22. The Centaur of the East 23. Scandal Point and the Military Cantonment 24. Mr. Smith’s One-Day Trip 25. The View from Government House 26. The Toad of Belcher’s Dream 27. The Return of Kwan Tai Loo 28. The Curse of Tai Ping Shan 29. War Game Part Three: Streets 30. Spring Garden Lane 31. Ice House Street 32. Sugar Street 33. Tsat Tsz Mui Road 34. Canal Road East and Canal Road West 35. Aldrich Street 36. Possession Street 37. Sycamore Street 38. Tung Choi Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street 39. Sai Yee Street 40. Public Square Street 41. Cedar Street Part Four: Signs 42. The Decline of the Legend 43. The Eye of the Typhoon 44. Chek Lap Kok Airport 45. The Metonymic Spectrum 46. The Elevation of Imagination 47. Geological Discrimination 48. North-Oriented Declination 49. The Travel of Numbers 50. The Tomb of Signs 51. The Orbit of Time Acknowledgments Author and Translators Author and Translators Set in the long-lost City of Victoria (a fictional world similar to Hong Kong), this book is written from the unified perspective of future archaeologists struggling to rebuild a thrilling metropolis. It reimagines Victoria through maps and other historical documents and artifacts, mixing real-world scenarios with purely imaginary people and events while incorporating anecdotes and actual and fictional social commentary and critique.--From book jacket