Time Tunnel: Stories and Essays
by Eileen Chang
Translated by Karen S. Kingsbury and Jie Zhang
Publisher: NYRB Classics
Publication Date: October 21, 2025
Time Tunnel feels like rifling through a desk after the person who wrote there is no longer around.
This isn’t a novel or even a collection that fits together neatly. It’s a gathering of fragments, stories, and essays written across Eileen Chang’s life, from occupied Shanghai to Hong Kong to her later years in Los Angeles. Some were pieces she wrote to make a living, others were private works she never meant to publish. Together they read like a series of windows, each one opening onto a different version of the same woman.
What struck me most was how quietly emotional this collection felt. Her writing is detailed and restrained, yet there’s a sadness that moves through every page. Even in her descriptions of color, texture, and gesture, there’s a sense of loss. It reminded me at times of The Lover, not as forward and more demure, but carrying the same emotional temperature, the ache of remembering and the distance between who you were and who you became.
The early stories like Young at the Time and Genesis were my favorites. They show her sharp eye for small human moments, how she could make a simple room or passing glance carry the weight of history. The later essays, especially New England Is China and Return to the Frontier, reveal a writer who never stopped looking back, even after crossing oceans.
This book isn’t for everyone. It’s not where I would tell someone new to start with Eileen Chang. But for readers who already love her or want to see the scope of her work, Time Tunnel feels like a quiet gift. It captures her reach as a writer and how her life was scattered across languages and continents, always circling back to memory.
Reading this felt like tracing the outline of a life through its drafts and echos. Some pieces sparkle. Others fade. But together they remind you that writing, and remembering, is sometimes the only way we hold on.
Thank you to NYRB Classics and Edelweiss for the early read.
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Set the Mood
Vintage Chinese Porcelain Mug – soft floral pattern for slow reading mornings.
Muji Gel Ink Pens – simple, precise, perfect for notes on translated works.
Jasmine Tea Sampler – subtle, nostalgic, grounding like Chang’s prose.
Archival Notebook – linen-bound journal for capturing fragments and ideas.
Silk Reading Scarf – for quiet moments between pages and reflection.
If You Liked This Book, You Might Like
Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang – her most iconic novella, sharp and melancholy.
Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang – love and fate in war-torn Shanghai.
The Lover by Marguerite Duras – a parallel in tone and memory.
