A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

Dung Kai-cheungs A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On is a playful and imaginative glimpse into the consumerist dreamscape of late-nineties Hong Kong. It comprises ninety-nine sketches of life just after the handover, focusing on once-trendy items that evoke the turn of the millennium. The protagonist of each piece is struck by an odd obsession with an object or fad, and the work blends vivid everyday details with situations that are often fantastical or preposterous. It is a major work from one of Hong Kongs most gifted and original writers, speaking to perennial questions about consumerism, nostalgia, and identity.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 21 June 2022
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Dung Kai-cheungs A Catalog of Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On is a whimsical and imaginative exploration of the consumerist dreamscape of late-nineties Hong Kong. Originally published in 1999, it comprises ninety-nine sketches of life just after the former British colony's handover to China. Each of these miniature stories in turn begins with a piece of ephemera, typically consumer products or pop culture phenomena, and develops alternately comic and poignant snapshots of urban life.

Dung's sketches revolve around once-trendy items that evoke the world at the turn of the millennium, such as Hello Kitty, Final Fantasy VIII, a Windows 98 disk, a clamshell mobile phone, Air Jordans, and cargo shorts. The protagonist of each piece, typically a young woman, is struck by an odd, even overriding obsession with an object or fad. Characters embark on brief dalliances or relationships that last no longer than the fashions that sparked them. Dung blends vivid everyday details—Portuguese egg tarts, Japanese TV shows, the Hong Kong subway—with situations that are often fantastical or preposterous. This catalog of vanished products illuminates how people use objects to define and even invent their own selves.

A major work from one of Hong Kong's most gifted and original writers, Dung's archaeology of the end of the twentieth century speaks to perennial questions about consumerism, nostalgia, and identity.

Weight: 430g
Dimension: 140 x 213 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231205436