When we learned of the death of Mr. Shen Congwen during our trip to Taipei, Paul Ingres and I both had infinite mourning. We are his loyal readers and admire his human backbone. In 1971, there was a publishing house in the United States that specialized in publishing academic works, Twayae Publication, to publish a series of books about writers from all over the world, they asked me to write a Chinese writer, I chose Shen Congwen; this book was published in 1972, including his life background and work analysis.
During the period when I was writing the book "Shen Congwen" in English, Ingres often heard me mention Shen Congwen's various things, and he was very curious about him, and seemed to be very familiar with it.
In 1978, Ingres and I made our first trip to the mainland, not long after the end of the "Cultural Revolution", the mainland's policy was not as open as in recent years, and we wanted to meet Shen Congwen, but we were not allowed, which was something we deeply regretted during that trip. In 1980, we traveled to the mainland again, and when we arrived in Beijing, I still said that I wanted to see Shen Congwen, so I wrote his name on a piece of paper, probably my handwriting was too sloppy, and the person in charge of passing on the message came back to me and said: "I can't find the person 'Shen Congyou'!" It turned out that he regarded "Wen" as "again". This also makes me have a lot of feelings. Shen Congwen has devoted himself to the study of Chinese costumes in recent years, and most of the younger generation does not know the writer "Shen Congwen"!
Fortunately, we finally met Shen Congwen that time. The first time was at a party, Shen Congwen had not yet suffered a stroke at that time, and his face was full of red light, looking energetic. I asked Ingres, "Do you know who this man is?" Ingres smiled and said, "He is Shen Congwen!" Shen Congwen listened, glad that a strange American recognized him the first time they met. He was very pleased that he had written the book "Shen Congwen" and introduced him and his works to readers in the Western world.
Although Shen Congwen had not yet suffered a stroke at that time, he did not say much and ate very little, but he loved to eat sugar. Regarding the matter of eating sugar, Shen Congwen explained:
"When I was young, I liked a girl in a sugar mill, and I loved to eat sugar!" I translated this to Ingres, and Ingres laughed.
Later I went to his house to see him. He was living in a very small apartment building, and he saw that the house was full of materials for his research on Chinese costumes. I flipped through it and found that he had done every piece of material neatly. From here, we can see Mr. Shen Congwen's personality: whether it is writing or researching, he has a rigorous attitude and is not sloppy.
In 1984, I went to Beijing again, and of course I visited Shen Congwen again. He had moved to a more spacious house, which was said to have been allocated to him by the Academy of Social Sciences. Unfortunately, he had suffered a stroke. When we went to visit him, it was very difficult for him to stand up, and he needed the help of his wife Zhang Zhaohe to stand up. I saw that I was very sad and persuaded him to sit. His complexion was no longer full of red light, and he seemed to have a hard time speaking. Seeing this, I knew that his physical strength was poor, and he did not dare to stay too long before he quit. This was shen Congwen's last impression left in my memory.
Commentary on Shen Congwen
Excerpt from "Man Who Blends with Nature Returns to Nature"
[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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