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On August 3, 1923, Mr.Lu Xun published a collection of novels "Call to Arms""Call to Arms" is a collection of short stories by modernwriter Lu Xun, including 14 short stories written by Lu Xun from 1918 to 1922.These 14 novels truly depict the social life from the 1911 Revolution to theMay 4th Movement. Starting from revolutionary democracy, holding the purpose ofenlightenment and the spirit of humanitarianism, they reveal variousdeep-seated social contradictions, and have a negative impact on the oldChinese system. And some outdated traditional concepts have been deeplyanalyzed and relatively completely denied, showing a strong sense of urgencyfor the survival of the nation and a strong hope for social change.At the beginning of the 20th century, China was suffering from theinvasion of the world powers. The revolutionaries headed by Sun Yat-sencompletely overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty through the Revolution of1911. At this time, the young Lu Xun also realized that if he wanted to savethis nation, he should support the proletariat's way of saving the countrythrough literature. So, Lu Xun abandoned medicine and started literarycreation.Most of Lu Xun's works are easier to understand than classical Chinese,but there is a lot of depth behind them. In "The True Story of Ah Q",the inferiority of the Chinese people formed under the suffocation of feudalculture, Ah Q, who only understands "spiritual victory", and"Medicine" uses the blood of Xia Yu, who was killed by the ruler, totreat his son's illness. Lao Shuan, as well as Kong Yiji, who was incapable ofbeing able to do nothing and was destitute in "Kong Yiji", and whowas not admitted as a scholar who became a source of ridicule, all reflectedthe Chinese people at that time more or less, especially the kindness andignorance of their human beings.Lu Xun's works have the following characteristics: First, the diversityof character creation techniques. In the character creation, the author uses avariety of techniques to describe the characters, and creates a group oftypical characters with distinct personalities; second, the diversity ofartistic expression techniques can also feel the author's strong feelings inthe objective narrative; Third, the integration of Eastern and Western cultures,on the one hand, absorbs the advantages of the relatively flexible and diversestructure of Western novels, and on the other hand inherits the artisticessence of traditional Chinese novels; Every article, almost one has a newform.Lu Xun's cry was undoubtedly highly praised by many people. Li Dazhaosaid "Call to Arms" is the best novel in China; modern literarycritic Zheng Zhenduo said that "Call to Arms" is a rare work in theChinese literary world in recent years. Such a sneering and deep description,it seems that every word is carved on the wood with a knife. Mao Dun alsobelieved that in the new Chinese literary world, Mr. Lu Xun was often thepioneer in creating "new forms". Almost every one of the more thanten novels in "Call to Arms" has a new form, and these new forms havea great influence on young writers, and most of them must follow up to test;the title, genre, and style of "Call to Arms", Even the thoughtsinside are extremely novel, a new world opened up.Well, this is Lu Xun's "Call to Arms". This book will be passeddown through generations to generations.
This is the suggestive write up by Zhou Daxin's who is the literary prize winner of Mao Dun.
In this week’s episode we’re returning to the Nanjing decade, the period of Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist rule from 1927-1937, to discuss the development of the creative sphere at the time. In this episode we’ll talk about how art, literature, and film evolved and try to understand what the major themes and trends of the period were, as well as trying to determine the extent of political influence on artistic endeavours. It’s going to be a pretty long one, but I think it’s a little less name-and-fact heavy than previous episodes, and focuses more on analysis and style, so hopefully it’s a bit more of an easy listen.
“Big boys, the story in this little book is told for you.” Thus begins the preface to Zhang Tianyi’s The Pidgin Warrior (Balestier Press, 2017), as translated by the wonderful David Hull. Not just for boys (big or small), The Pidgin Warrior is a moving, hilarious novel set in 1930s Shanghai during wartime. Hull’s translation is a sensitive and humane rendering of characters that are by turns laughable and heartbreaking, coming together in a story about what it is to be a hero – or just to be a functional human being – in times of personal and social upheaval. As you’ll hear me say on the podcast, I actually **put down the most recent climactic issues of the Saga comic book** because the story here was so gripping. That’s to say: this is not just going to be a great book to teach and learn with. It’s also a gripping and fascinatingly rendered story in its own right. In this podcast, Hull and I continued some of the conversation about translation and its joys and challenges that we started in our previous podcast about his translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings, and I recommend checking that one out as well! Carla Nappi is the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh. You can learn more about her and her work here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Big boys, the story in this little book is told for you.” Thus begins the preface to Zhang Tianyi’s The Pidgin Warrior (Balestier Press, 2017), as translated by the wonderful David Hull. Not just for boys (big or small), The Pidgin Warrior is a moving, hilarious novel set in 1930s Shanghai during wartime. Hull’s translation is a sensitive and humane rendering of characters that are by turns laughable and heartbreaking, coming together in a story about what it is to be a hero – or just to be a functional human being – in times of personal and social upheaval. As you’ll hear me say on the podcast, I actually **put down the most recent climactic issues of the Saga comic book** because the story here was so gripping. That’s to say: this is not just going to be a great book to teach and learn with. It’s also a gripping and fascinatingly rendered story in its own right. In this podcast, Hull and I continued some of the conversation about translation and its joys and challenges that we started in our previous podcast about his translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings, and I recommend checking that one out as well! Carla Nappi is the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh. You can learn more about her and her work here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Big boys, the story in this little book is told for you.” Thus begins the preface to Zhang Tianyi’s The Pidgin Warrior (Balestier Press, 2017), as translated by the wonderful David Hull. Not just for boys (big or small), The Pidgin Warrior is a moving, hilarious novel set in 1930s Shanghai during wartime. Hull’s translation is a sensitive and humane rendering of characters that are by turns laughable and heartbreaking, coming together in a story about what it is to be a hero – or just to be a functional human being – in times of personal and social upheaval. As you’ll hear me say on the podcast, I actually **put down the most recent climactic issues of the Saga comic book** because the story here was so gripping. That’s to say: this is not just going to be a great book to teach and learn with. It’s also a gripping and fascinatingly rendered story in its own right. In this podcast, Hull and I continued some of the conversation about translation and its joys and challenges that we started in our previous podcast about his translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings, and I recommend checking that one out as well! Carla Nappi is the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh. You can learn more about her and her work here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Roy Bing Chan‘s new book explores twentieth-century Chinese literature that emphasizes sleeping and dreaming as a way to reckon with the trauma of modernity, from the early May Fourth period through the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Informed by theoretical engagements with Russian Formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, affect studies, and more, The Edge of Knowing: Dreams, History, and Realism in Modern Chinese Literature (University of Washington Press, 2017) considers how time was transformed with the rise of capitalist modernity, and illustrates the significance of a language of dreams and dreaming as writers sought to cope with this transformation and its consequences. Chan offers careful readings of the work of several writers as a way to tell this story, from Lu Xun’s prose poetry to fiction by Mao Dun, Yang Mo, and Zong Pu. Chan concludes by reflecting on how this context might inform how we understand the notion of the Chinese Dream, and arguing that paying attention to the materiality of literary texts can help us discover the aesthetic resources for articulating hope. It’s a fascinating study that makes significant contributions to how we understand the relationship between time, dreaming, and materiality in modern literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Roy Bing Chan‘s new book explores twentieth-century Chinese literature that emphasizes sleeping and dreaming as a way to reckon with the trauma of modernity, from the early May Fourth period through the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Informed by theoretical engagements with Russian Formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, affect studies, and more, The Edge of Knowing: Dreams, History, and Realism in Modern Chinese Literature (University of Washington Press, 2017) considers how time was transformed with the rise of capitalist modernity, and illustrates the significance of a language of dreams and dreaming as writers sought to cope with this transformation and its consequences. Chan offers careful readings of the work of several writers as a way to tell this story, from Lu Xun’s prose poetry to fiction by Mao Dun, Yang Mo, and Zong Pu. Chan concludes by reflecting on how this context might inform how we understand the notion of the Chinese Dream, and arguing that paying attention to the materiality of literary texts can help us discover the aesthetic resources for articulating hope. It’s a fascinating study that makes significant contributions to how we understand the relationship between time, dreaming, and materiality in modern literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Roy Bing Chan‘s new book explores twentieth-century Chinese literature that emphasizes sleeping and dreaming as a way to reckon with the trauma of modernity, from the early May Fourth period through the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Informed by theoretical engagements with Russian Formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, affect studies, and more, The Edge of Knowing: Dreams, History, and Realism in Modern Chinese Literature (University of Washington Press, 2017) considers how time was transformed with the rise of capitalist modernity, and illustrates the significance of a language of dreams and dreaming as writers sought to cope with this transformation and its consequences. Chan offers careful readings of the work of several writers as a way to tell this story, from Lu Xun’s prose poetry to fiction by Mao Dun, Yang Mo, and Zong Pu. Chan concludes by reflecting on how this context might inform how we understand the notion of the Chinese Dream, and arguing that paying attention to the materiality of literary texts can help us discover the aesthetic resources for articulating hope. It’s a fascinating study that makes significant contributions to how we understand the relationship between time, dreaming, and materiality in modern literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Roy Bing Chan‘s new book explores twentieth-century Chinese literature that emphasizes sleeping and dreaming as a way to reckon with the trauma of modernity, from the early May Fourth period through the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970s. Informed by theoretical engagements with Russian Formalism, semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, affect studies, and more, The Edge of Knowing: Dreams, History, and Realism in Modern Chinese Literature (University of Washington Press, 2017) considers how time was transformed with the rise of capitalist modernity, and illustrates the significance of a language of dreams and dreaming as writers sought to cope with this transformation and its consequences. Chan offers careful readings of the work of several writers as a way to tell this story, from Lu Xun’s prose poetry to fiction by Mao Dun, Yang Mo, and Zong Pu. Chan concludes by reflecting on how this context might inform how we understand the notion of the Chinese Dream, and arguing that paying attention to the materiality of literary texts can help us discover the aesthetic resources for articulating hope. It’s a fascinating study that makes significant contributions to how we understand the relationship between time, dreaming, and materiality in modern literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
David Hull‘s new translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings (Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014)(Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014) is both a beautiful literary work and a boon for scholars and teachers working in the field of modern Chinese studies. Waverings is the second work in... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
David Hull‘s new translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings (Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014)(Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014) is both a beautiful literary work and a boon for scholars and teachers working in the field of modern Chinese studies. Waverings is the second work in the Eclipse trilogy, three books that were published serially in The Short Story Magazine beginning in 1927. These are the first works of fiction written by Shen Yanbing, the man who would later take on the pseudonym Mao Dun. Waverings offers readers a perspective on the 1926-1927 revolution – and problems of labor and women’s rights therein – but that perspective shifts depending on which version of the text that the reader encounters: while the first version was written very quickly in 1927 while the author was in hiding in Shanghai, another 1954 revision of the text is, in many ways, quite different. In his prefatory remarks, Hull thoughtfully reflects on how to navigate this and other challenges for the modern translator. Hull’s translation beautifully renders the powerful illusions and visions that recur throughout the story, and movingly give life to some extraordinarily powerful fictional characters. It’s a boon for lovers of stories, for teachers, and for scholars of the modern world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
David Hull‘s new translation of Mao Dun’s Waverings (Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014)(Research Centre for Translation, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014) is both a beautiful literary work and a boon for scholars and teachers working in the field of modern Chinese studies. Waverings is the second work in the Eclipse trilogy, three books that were published serially in The Short Story Magazine beginning in 1927. These are the first works of fiction written by Shen Yanbing, the man who would later take on the pseudonym Mao Dun. Waverings offers readers a perspective on the 1926-1927 revolution – and problems of labor and women’s rights therein – but that perspective shifts depending on which version of the text that the reader encounters: while the first version was written very quickly in 1927 while the author was in hiding in Shanghai, another 1954 revision of the text is, in many ways, quite different. In his prefatory remarks, Hull thoughtfully reflects on how to navigate this and other challenges for the modern translator. Hull’s translation beautifully renders the powerful illusions and visions that recur throughout the story, and movingly give life to some extraordinarily powerful fictional characters. It’s a boon for lovers of stories, for teachers, and for scholars of the modern world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Att Han Han skulle ta på sig uppgiften att bli den första framgångsrike och uppseendeväckande skändaren av Kinas litterära kanon kommer knappast som någon överraskning. Han Han som inte bara är det senaste årtiondets bästsäljande författare, med högskoleromanen Tre sorters dörrar från år 2000, såld i mellan en och två miljoner exemplar, utan också en framstående rally-förare, Kinas (och sannolikt världens) mest kände och läste bloggare, nyligen också grundare av en sällsynt säljande tidskrift Duchang tuan (Solistkompaniet), och, till nöds, sångare och därtill, förstås, populär medverkande i allsköns tv-program. När han och hans medbrottsling Chen Danqing i ett tv-program 2008 gick till angrepp mot Kinas litterära kanon, med de opetbara giganterna Mao Dun, Bing Xin och Ba Jin som främsta måltavlor, kunde det inte annat än ta hus i helsike. Att Göran Sommardal skulle be professor emeritus i sinologi och eminent kännare och översättare av kine