In 1936, when Lu Xun, a giant of modern Chinese literature, died, the literary community seemed to hold an informal handover ceremony. Some readers believe that the literary void left by the giant may be filled by Shen Congwen. At first, Shen Congwen seemed unlikely to become the heir to the throne of the social literature school, because the young Shen Congwen had nothing in common with the older generation of Lu Xun. As writers, they are as different as rice and corn. Lu Xun's personality carries a stoic and indomitable quality, as well as an indissoluble pessimism, which is also immersed in his works. He was a ruthless critic of all absurd phenomena and decadence in Chinese society, especially during the civil war. He was not only concerned with the inferiority of his own people, but also worried that the erosion of Western industrialization might bring deeper disasters to his unknowing compatriots. Thus, angry writers have no choice but to portray their countrymen as fooled fools or driven minions, as a sick category. Like a desperate doctor, he found new wounds, uncovered old scars, and never looked away from his patients for a moment, nor did he have a moment of leisure to chant flowers and moons.
However, differences in lifestyles can never be the basis for the struggle for inheritance, whether it is literary or otherwise. In the case of Shen Congwen, he positioned himself as the "recorder" of life. Compared to Lu Xun's works, which are mainly derived from Chinese towns, Shen Congwen focuses on the Chinese countryside. From adolescence to adulthood, Shen Congwen could not survive the hysteria of national politics and repression without being flexible enough. Several intermittent military experiences allowed him to experience rural life and the cruel horrors that accompanied it. But these unpleasant experiences did not diminish his appreciation of the intrinsic beauty of village life and his praise for the virtues of the peasant in the countryside. Even brutal warlords cannot weaken Shen Congwen's trust in the inner goodness of the people, and from these good qualities, he sees the structural basis for building a vibrant state in the future.
Shen Congwen's efforts in literature were naturally nourished by all the great artists. As a modern writer, he draws the best of China's literary heritage and benefits from it. The experience of wandering around made him feel the colorful and rich details of life, and his penchant for books laid a solid foundation for him to build his masterpieces. As for the impact of Western industry, Shen Congwen believes that any such invasion will not seriously affect the vitality of Chinese. Lu Xun expressed his disappointment and self-criticism with sharp irony, which contained hatred, and stood before the public like a mirror, while Shen Congwen's choice of themes and prose style was more gentle and even delicate. As a survivor of many bloody massacres and ideological upheavals, Shen Congwen is a writer who transcends human suffering and moves towards basic humanity. He wrote in the style of classical simplicity (the original text is simplicity, the Chinese translation uses su xuelin's comments quoted in the second paragraph of chapter ninth of this book), trying to find the most accurate words for his noble feelings. If one re-evaluates his early novels, Shen Congwen's prominence in chinese literature today will be somewhat diminished, as his early writings are often flawed. But his later writing, by describing Chinese men, women and children, truly presents the living conditions they have and will always have in China, making up for the shortcomings and exaggerations of the previous works. The fictional characters in his work, like the changing seasons they experience, the hunger they endure, and the children they give birth to, are personal and real. Shen Congwen's lyrical and vivid depiction of Chinese life is his unique contribution to Chinese literature, and it is these contributions that have pushed him to the forefront of modern Chinese fiction writers.
Among the Chinese writers who emerged in the 1930s, Shen Congwen was the most widely known and one of the most important. But now, he is one of the most silent writers in the Chinese mainland, devoting most of his energy to writing novels and instead studying the porcelain, silk design, and bronze mirrors of the Tang and Song dynasties. Shen Congwen is a real artist... In the thirties, he was denounced by leftists as empty and thoughtless because of his lack of interest in left-wing dialectics. Ironically, his critique of the social situation hampered the acceptance of his work by the then ruling Kuomintang government, which meant that some of his works were also banned. Critics, even if he is praised from an aesthetic point of view, only from the point of view of a "stylist" or an "impressionist"—few critics understand him from the point of view of a modern novelist. The book's commentary on Shen Congwen's work will focus on his modern themes, style, and imagery. Unlike the works of Western writers, Shen Congwen's works are not well known to most Western readers, so before analyzing his modern literary works, I will divide several chapters to introduce his life and the era in which he lived. I hope this book will help Western readers understand the master of modern Chinese literature and gain insight into the dilemmas and problems faced by this independent artist who is still creative in a complex ideological situation.
Nie Hualing
University of Iowa, Iowa City
Commentary on Shen Congwen
[United States] by Nie Hualing
Translated by Liu Yujie
Beijing United Publishing Company Phoenix One Force
Shen Congwen celebrated the 120th anniversary of his birth
The English edition was first published 50 years later
Chinese edition was first published
Phoenix One Force exclusive release
Shen Congwen: A writer who transcends human suffering and moves towards basic humanity
Nie Hualing: Founder of the International Writing Project/Nobel Peace Prize Candidate/Works Listed in the "Top 100 Novels of the twentieth century Chinese"
★ An introduction to Shen Congwen's life and his time
★ Comment on Shen Congwen's writing style
★ Interpret the noble feelings of "countrymen"
★ Discusses Shen Congwen's unique contribution to Chinese literature
About the Author
Nie Hualing, born in Wuhan in 1925, is a Chinese-American writer. He graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of National Central University (the predecessor of Nanjing University) in 1948 and went to Taiwan with his family in 1949. In 1964, he went to the United States to teach at the University of Iowa, engaged in writing and painting at the same time, and received an honorary doctorate from three institutions, including the University of Colorado. In 1967, Nie Hualing and his wife co-founded the "International Writing Project", in which more than 1,000 writers and poets from more than 100 countries and regions participated. In 1976, Nie Hualing and his wife were nominated as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Nie Hualing's works include novels, essays, reviews and biographies, some of which have been published in China, the United States and Italy, among which the novel "Mulberry Green and Peach Red" is listed as one of the "Top 100 Novels of the twentieth century Chinese".
Translator Profile
Liu Yujie was born in 1989 in Hui County, Henan Province. Doctor of Literature from Wuhan University, he is currently working at the College of Literature of Minnan Normal University. Mainly engaged in overseas Chinese literature, Chinese and foreign comparative literature research, his academic papers, translations published in Chinese Literature, Drama Literature and other journals, among which, the paper "Local and Non-local in Globalization" won the first prize of the "Second Master's and Doctoral Forum of the Chinese Literary Geography Society" organized by the Chinese Literary Geography Society.
Synopsis
The first edition of the English edition of Shen Congwen's Commentary was published in 1972 by the New York Biography Publishing House. The author, Nie Hualing, is a well-known female writer of Chinese descent who has an influence in the world of Chinese literature that cannot be ignored. In "Shen Congwen Commentary", the author not only introduces shen Congwen's life and the era in which he lived, tells the life course of Shen Congwen from a soldier to a writer and art historian, but also discusses the unique contribution of Shen Congwen and his works to Chinese literature from the perspective of aesthetics and artistry, and comments and analyzes the modern themes, styles and imagery of Shen Congwen's works, aiming to help readers understand this literary master who has a far-reaching influence in the history of modern Chinese literature and is still highly respected to this day.
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