Selected Prose Works of He Qi Fang

Author: He Qifang (written by), Lin Zhihao (edited)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: He Qifang (1912–1977) was a modern poet, essayist, and literary scholar. His original name was He Yongfang. He was from Wanning, Sichuan. In 1929, he entered the preparatory department of China University in Shanghai and extensively read works of Chinese and foreign literature. From 1931 to 1935, he studied at the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, immersing himself in literary books during his spare time and publishing numerous poems and essays. In 1936, his poetry collection Hanyuan Ji (co-authored with Bian Zhilin and Li Guangtian) was published, attracting attention from the literary world. After the publication of his essay collection Painting Dreams, he won the literary award from Da Guangbao. After graduating from university, he taught at Nankai Middle School in Tianjin and Laiyang Rural Normal School in Shandong. Following the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he returned to Wanning and Chengdu to teach and participated in founding the magazines Chuan Dong Wen Yi (East Sichuan Literature) and Gong Zuo (Work). In 1938, he went to Yan'an and served as the director of the Literature Department at the Lu Xun Academy of Arts. During this time, he worked with the Huo Long army to the northern part of Shanxi and the central part of Hebei. The new life inspired He Qifang to write essays like I Sing of Yan'an and poems like How Broad Life Is, praising the revolution and celebrating the light, which were widely acclaimed. After 1944, he was sent to Chongqing to work and served as the deputy director of the Xin Hua Daily newspaper. By the end of 1948, he began teaching at the Marxism-Leninism Institute (now the Advanced Party School). His major published works include the poetry collections Prophecy, Night Songs (later renamed Night Songs and Songs of the Day), the works collection Intentional Collection, the essay collections Reminiscences of Hometown, Spark Collection, and its sequel, among others. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, He Qifang devoted his main efforts to literary research and criticism while participating in leadership roles in the literary world. He also wrote a small number of poems. He led the establishment of the Institute of Literature (now part of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), serving as vice director, director, editor-in-chief of Literary Review, secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers' Association, and member of the Philosophy and Social Sciences Department of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His published works include On Realism, Xiyuan Collection, On Writing and Reading Poetry, Progress Cannot Be Made Without Criticism, On the Dream of the Red Chamber, Appreciating Poetry, The Spring of Literary Art, and the six-volume Collected Works of He Qifang. In his early poetry, He Qifang's works were exquisite in art, colorful, and characterized by freshness and tenderness. After joining the revolution, his poetry became more straightforward, simple, optimistic, and bold. He was also renowned for his lyrical essays. The essays in Painting Dreams often employed symbolic techniques, with intricate structures, rich and vivid language, and a high degree of artistic originality. Later, in Reminiscences of Hometown, his essays tended to be more simple and natural, with unrestrained emotions and a clear tone.