Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch

Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch
Author(s)	Dai Sijie
Original title	Le Complexe de Di
Translator	Ina Rilke
Country	France
Language	French
Genre(s)	Novel
Publication date	2003
Published in English	2005
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch (French: Le Complexe de Di) is a novel by Dai Sijie published in 2003. The French title of the novel is a play on "le complexe d'Oedipe", or "the Oedipus complex". The novel was translated into English in 2005 by Ina Rilke under the name Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch.

Plot introduction

The book follows Muo, a French psychoanalyst, returning to China to rescue his university sweetheart. His sweetheart is referred to as "Volcano of the Old Moon" (the characters of her family name represent "old" and "moon" and her given name is composed of the characters for "fire" and "mountain"), while her actual name is never revealed, her initials are H.C. In a similar fashion to Jane Gallagher in The Catcher in the Rye, Volcano of the Old Moon never makes an appearance in the book, but is thought of often by Muo. The story is not always told chronologically; as in the case of stating where Muo is, then later telling how he got there. The book also switches into the point of view of Muo by use of his journal entries or letters, but is otherwise written in the third person.

Miscellaneous

Le Complexe de Di won the Prix Femina in 2003.