Recently, the complete collection of novels by writer Chen Yingzhen was planned and published by the Republic of China, which was the first complete collection on the mainland. The three volumes of "The General Clan", "Night Truck" and "Zhao Nandong" completely collect 37 short and medium-length novella works created by Chen Yingzhen from 1959 to 2001, presenting the whole picture of his life's novel creation.
Chen Yingzhen (1937-2016) was a writer, thinker, and social activist. Chen Yongshan, born in Miaoli County, Taiwan, was born in Anxi County, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, and graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of Tamkang College of Arts and Sciences. In 1959, he entered the literary world with the novel "Noodle Stall", and won the Wu Turbiliu Literature Award, the China Times Novel Recommendation Award, and the Flower Trail World Chinese Literature Award. In 1985, he founded the magazine "Human World", which pioneered the documentary photography reporting of Chinese, cared for marginalized groups, and spoke out for the weak. With his unique literary style, profound perception of social transmutation and deep humanitarian spirit, his novels have influenced a generation of literary youth and intellectuals, and writers and thinkers who continue the May Fourth tradition.
In 1988, the Taipei HumanIties Publishing House published the fifteen volumes of Chen Yingzhen's Works. In 2001, Taipei Hong Fan Bookstore published the six volumes of Chen Yingzhen's Novels. In 2017, Taipei HumanIties Publishing House published the complete works of Chen Yingzhen in 23 volumes. In 2020, the Republic of China launched a complete collection of Chen Yingzhen's novels, which was the first complete publication in the mainland.
"Always gaze at man, life and labor from the standpoint of the weak and the small.". Chen Yingzhen's works have always been concerned with the hearts and destinies of ordinary people, and have written biographies for the unknown people on the back streets of history: noodle stall couples on the streets of Taipei, office workers wandering in the city, provincial non-commissioned officers carrying the scars of war and history, lost small intellectuals, secret policemen with mental breakdowns, left-wing youth whose ideals are imprisoned... Gentle and poignant human ukiyo-e, a group portrait of the fate of ordinary people in the 20th century.
"The General Clan" (1959-1967), which was selected as one of the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century, depicts the chaotic and floating life of ordinary people in a panoramic way: the missing, the struggling to survive, the people imprisoned by faith, the insulted and hurt... It is like a lament of the floating world, leaving an eternal testimony of life for ordinary people. Twenty-four stories, tearful love and tender bitter sympathy. Bai Xianyong said that "'The General Clan' is a Taiwanese fable."
"Night Truck" (1967-1982) focuses on the "backstreet" of Taiwan's fullness, corruption, luxury, showiness and happiness after the two world wars, reflecting on the collapse of the environment, the scars of people, and the loss of cultural evidence. Through the story of the small staff in the "Washington Building" in Taipei in the 1980s, it tells the alienated way of life, the repressed dreams, the insulted dignity, and the hearts that are silently hurt by the modern people, playing the twisted fate of contemporary young people and the distorted image of the times.
"Zhao Nandong" (1983-2001) writes a history of suppressing youth and wind and thunder, the past and present lives of Taiwan's left-wing youth. Chen Yingzhen redeemed all the voices and footprints that had been suppressed and erased by the back of the paper through the writing on the back of the paper. Walking through the backstreets of Taiwan's contemporary history, his novel is "the most authentic history, and the most authentic poem", connecting the history of the two world wars, taiwan after the Cold War, and the separation of the two sides of the strait. Seven works cleave the vast night fog that has enveloped the entire twentieth century, dig through the dark rock formations of history, and polish the light of human divinity.
The complete collection of Chen Yingzhen's novels published this time is accompanied by a special book entitled "Reading Chen Yingzhen", and six literary masters have specially read articles to take you to appreciate Chen Yingzhen's human scenery.