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Raphael in the Details
Appreciation of the Work "The Controversy of the Sacraments"
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)
If Shen Congwen had still published literary works in recent years, he might have won the Nobel Prize in Literature a long time ago. One of the conditions for the nobel prize in literature must be that there are still works in recent years. Although Shen Congwen was nominated several years ago, he has not created for more than thirty years, which is a condition that is worse than other nominated writers.
Nevertheless, Shen Congwen is still one of the most remarkable writers in the history of modern mainland literature. He did not have a high degree of education, relied on his own hard work, and with his innate literary talent, he had written more than forty books including short stories, novels, travelogues, biographies, fables, plays, poems, papers, and literary criticism before the age of forty-six. In the preface to Alice's Travels in China, he said that he was able to have fifty associations in one thing; rich associations were the primary condition for becoming a writer.
Shen Congwen's novels are very broad because of their rich life experience, including various types of characters: small clerks, university professors, young students, downtrodden literati, warlords, bureaucrats, politicians, local tycoons, aunts, prostitutes, prostitutes, military officers, bosses, executioners, bandits, soldiers, small merchants, farmers, boatmen, workers... Almost all the three religions and nine streams of chinese society appear in his works. But the best he wrote were the countrymen: the people who stuck to the ground and the people on the water. This naturally has a lot to do with his experience growing up in Xiangxi since he was a child. He himself wrote frankly in the article "Selected Works from the Novels of The Literature": "I am really a countryman. I have no pride in saying that I am a countryman, nor am I demeaning myself. As usual, countrymen have a deep-rooted temperament that is always a countryman, and love, hatred and mourning have their own unique styles, which are very different from those in the city! ”
Because he is a countryman, Shen Congwen, like Lawrence, believes that human life must adapt to the melody of nature, and the problem of modern people is that man and nature have lost harmony. But what they think of as nature is not the gloomy nature of Hardy's work that is hostile to man; it is a vibrant, vibrant nature. Therefore, most of the characters in Shen Congwen's novels are the kind of people who merge with "nature"; "calmly do their best in life there"—that is, the natural vitality that maintains the Chinese survive in war, killing, and death.
Shen Congwen is known as a stylistic writer. Su Xuelin once said in a commentary that Shen Congwen's work "Although the text is very flawed, it will never fall behind the trap of others, always fresh and lively, and always express itself." After he got this set of tools, he could write extraordinary words no matter what ordinary subject matter... The syntax is short and concise, full of simple beauty... Novelty, sometimes thinking of wrong, making people laugh "... But Shen Congwen's achievements should surpass those comments. Critics of Shen Congwen rarely see the "modernity" of his work. On the surface, he uses a flat and direct narrative, but it is a kind of text that has been selected and arranged by the artist and organized with specific imagery--the text of poetry. Shen Congwen himself said: "Words are only visible and colorful in an organization. He called his essay "The Gymnastics of Emotions": "An author who is accustomed to emotional gymnastics must find it easier to serve the written word than to serve the maid." Indeed, Shen Congwen's ability to serve the writing was very profound. His words are sensational: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste—all five senses are used together.
In recent years, many young novelists on the mainland have been deeply influenced by Shen Congwen. They drew nourishment from Shen Congwen's works and were inspired by him.
Shen Congwen's inability to write novels for nearly forty years is a major loss in the history of modern Chinese literature...
Now Shen Congwen has left. The brigade hurriedly wrote this memorial, and I can only sincerely hope that he will rest in peace in the spirit of heaven.
Taipei Brigade on May 11, 1988
(Selected from Shen Congwen Research Office, Jishou University, ed., "The Long River Does Not Flow Endlessly: Remembering Shen Congwen", Changsha: Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2018, pp. 326-329)
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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