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Two months later, when we returned to Beijing from abroad, his rheumatic legs were no longer able to move and he was aging. He was still smiling, smiling so naturally, so idyllic, no hanging, no worries, no demands. (Beijing, June 1980) (Courtesy of Nie Hualing)
In April 1980, Paul and I went to more than a dozen places after meeting Mr. Shen Congwen in Beijing. He returned to Beijing two months later. Before we leave Beijing and return to the United States, we must go to see Mr. and Mrs. Shen. Mr. Shen's works wrote that "Black in the Pretty", perhaps Zhang Zhaohe was a black and beautiful beauty. Zhang Zhaohe in front of him is still pretty, and his beauty is full of vicissitudes.
At that time, from the United States to Beijing, you had to pass through Hong Kong. A friend in Hong Kong told me that Mr. Shen was in a better situation, that he had only one small room before, and that he had now moved to a new dormitory at the Academy of Social Sciences. When we met in April, Mr. Shen's face was rosy. At this meeting, he had rheumatism in both legs and had limited mobility. In just two months, Mr. Shen has aged a little. Mr. Shen's improved home has two rooms. The interior is simply furnished, and a quaint wooden cabinet inlaid with Persian balls is particularly conspicuous. That's the work of art that Shen Congwen, who wrote such a delicate novel as "Jing", I stared at the cabinet and thought so.
I collected a lot of things before, but I lost them all during the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Shen said. He seemed to have sensed my confusion.
I turned my head to look at the bookshelf against the wall, and there were some books on it.
My book, in the "Cultural Revolution", was sold in two ways.
I told Mr. Shen that in the sixties, Twayne Publishers planned to publish a series of commentaries by world literary scholars, and asked me to write "Shen Congwen Commentaries", and I looked everywhere for his books. He traveled through several university libraries and dug through dusty piles of old books in Hong Kong's used bookstores to collect some of his works.
There's nothing worth writing about, Mr. Shen said.
You are the modern Chinese novelist I admire the most.
Mr. Shen smiled modestly.
If you don't write it, it is a great loss to Chinese literature.
My novel is outdated.
Good art never goes out of style.
Now studying ancient silk is not the mood of writing, nor can I write it.
Mr. and Mrs. Shen took us into the inner room, and there were materials piled up everywhere. They held out a thick stack of books, all of which were ancient costumes and silk embroidery patterns. Pieces of exquisite and simple splendid embroidery, light and dark intertwined with delicate colors, just like Mr. Shen's novels. That was his artistic ingenuity condensed in another way during the long and arduous days, and it did not matter whether he wrote it with a pen or not.
Paul and I were speechless in amazement.
Mr. Shen smiled, smiled so naturally, so idyllicly, no hanging, no worries, no demands. That smile permeates the incomprehensible Zen machine.
Such a small room, so much information, how to work! I say.
The house is on the street, there are too many cars coming and going, too noisy. Mr. Shen said.
These silk splendid embroideries have artistic value, historical value, academic value, and even practical value.
Very right, can be copied, increase exports. I suggested.
Are there results?
There is no way. He shook his head, still smiling.
When we left, Mr. and Mrs. Shen were sent to the staircase.
I said: Next time I come to Beijing, I will come to see you.
Walking out of the apartment building, I said to Paul: Shen Congwen is the best novelist in modern China, and he has not written a novel in thirty years. Now, I don't think he wasted thirty years, he maintained his dignity in personality and art.
I totally agree. You don't know how touched I am. He is a national treasure of China! ......
Four years later, in June 1984, I went to Beijing alone. Mr. Shen had suffered a stroke in the first year. Ben didn't dare bother him, but it was too late not to look at him. The older generation is gradually withering away. In 1980, I went to see Mr. Mao Dun, who had just returned home from the hospital. Seeing me and Paul said: I would love to see you guys. As he departed, he insisted on delivering to the gate. We stopped him. I'll never forget the look he stood in the patio on crutches gasping for breath, waving at me and Paul, clinging to his last remaining life. Let's go back one step at a time. He kept waving, slightly, clinging to it. Walking out the door, I couldn't speak for a long time...
I finally decided to go see Mr. Shen. He can also stand up, but it is not convenient to walk. He had to go to the hospital that afternoon for a check-up. I didn't stay long, nor did I talk much, but I just wanted Mr. Shen to know that there was such a person at the end of the world, and in terms of personality and writing, Shen Congwen was the sky she looked up to. When he left, Mr. Shen insisted on sending me with a cane, maybe he knew that was the last side? A middle-aged man helped him and took me to the landing. That was the little tiger in the garden of the little tiger on the cover of the "Xiangxing Sanji" that I was holding and reading.
(Excerpt from Nie Hualing: Images of Three Lives (Revised Edition), Beijing: Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore, 2012, pp. 424-430.) ）
Commentary on Shen Congwen
Excerpt from Shen Congwen, a Countryman, 1984
[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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