In July 1922, Yu Dafu returned to Shanghai, ending his ten-year study abroad career in Japan. When he first arrived in Shanghai, he threw himself into the construction of the Creation Society with Guo Moluo and Cheng Fangwu. However, the publication preview of the inaugural issue of the Creation Quarterly unexpectedly caused a controversy between the Creation Society and the Literary Research Society, and Yu Dafu was physically and mentally exhausted, so he took his wife to Anqing to take up a teaching position, but even so, life was still stretched. In the spring of 1923, he sent his wife and son back to Fuyang, while he went to Shanghai alone and continued to devote himself to the construction of the Creation Society. This period was also the downturn in Uddhav's career, although he published several novels, but the number of poems was zero, which showed the bitterness in Uddhav's heart.
Yu Dafu once described the psychological state at that time in the "Self-Introduction to the Collection of Tsubasa":
"I knew I couldn't stay in the kingdom of art, but the world of the wicked stuffed my way."
"As a result of unemployment for half a year, I have added a lot of experience to my dreaming brain every day. For example, I know that there are many sad men and women in the world, and these few of my novels only want to find those poor readers in the slums and broken temples. ”
In this context, Yu Dafu set his sights on the low-level laborers around him and used novels to describe their life experiences, and "The Drunken Night of spring breeze" is one of them.
Narrated in the first person, the novel tells the story of an unemployed writer and tobacco worker Chen Ermei from the restraint of the first meeting to the misunderstanding and then to the final misunderstanding of the ice.
The writer in the novel moved to this apartment because of unemployment, and because of the nature of his work, he often stayed at home during the day to translate manuscripts, and went out for a walk at night to relax his mood.
In the novel, Chen Ermei is a paper cigarette factory worker, who grew up in the countryside of Shanghai, his father has long died, although he entered the society early, but his heart is very kind and simple.
The difference between the two is described in the novel: "She didn't want to work, and the work had to force her to do it, I wanted to find a little job, and finally I couldn't find it." ”
When Chen Ermei found that the writer had been staying at home, she took the initiative to lend a kind hand to help.
"This bag is a bread of grape pulp, please keep it, and it will be delicious tomorrow." In addition, I have a bag of bananas to buy here, please come to my room and eat it! ”
In the chat with the writer, he learned that the writer smoked, and he advised:
"I advise you to eat it or not." Don't eat our factory cigarettes. I really hate it here. ”
Seeing that the writer dressed well, often went out at night, thought that he was in love with vanity, and went out at night to stay with the villain, he advised him not to go outside to play with the villain, and asked him to change.
When he learned the truth, he found that he had misunderstood him, and he apologized and did not forget to encourage him to continue to work hard.
"Oh, I blame you, I blame you. Please don't be too careful, I had no evil intentions. Because your behavior is so strange, I thought of going down the evil road. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do a good job? What did you just say —what's it called—something that could sell for five dollars, and how nice it would be if you could make one a day? ”
Compared with yudaf's previous novels, although this novel also implies the sentiment of "no money in the pocket and many hatreds in the heart", the theme of the novel is not dim, but shows us the beautiful friendship between working people and intellectuals.
It is also from this novel that Yudaf not only pays attention to his own bitterness, but also begins to pay attention to social reality.
Scholars have a high opinion of this novel,
Mr. Xia Zhiqing wrote in the novel "History of Modern Chinese Literature" about a pair of men and women trapped by poverty, mainly expressing the meaning of humanitarianism, but also writing that when people meet pure people, their desires will be eliminated.
Fang Zhong, author of The Biography of Yu Dafu, believes that "'Bo Dian' and 'The Drunken Night of spring breeze' are excellent short stories depicting the image of working people in the history of modern Chinese literature. ”