Wenwan Zhai Zalang

Author: Lü Shuxiang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: When the author was young, he studied abroad and was planning to write about foreign writers and works during his spare time from teaching. However, he suddenly changed his career path and delved into the study of the Chinese language. From then on, it became a natural progression, and he couldn’t go back to his old ways. Even after he had passed his 80th birthday and had already given up his primary job, he was approached by the editor of Dushu (Reading) to contribute articles, which reignited his old passion. When he finally picked up the pen to try, he realized he could only act as a mouthpiece, neither able to expand on the topics nor make any new discoveries. But since he had already started, he decided to continue writing gradually. However, five years later, he had only managed to write eight articles. He had to stop there. Still, he compiled the articles he had written into a collection, which is what we see today as Wei Wan Zhai Zailan. The seven articles included in this small book were originally published in Dushu. These reading notes-style articles were published under a column titled Wei Wan Zhai Zailan. "Wei Wan" means "it is already late." In traditional Chinese philology, there is a concept called "reversed meaning," which is still studied by philologists today. Whether this counts as "reversed meaning" is unknown, but what is certain is that the author chose "Wei Wan" as the name of his study while feeling that "it was already too late." It’s like a person walking alone in the dark, shouting "Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid!" in their mouth, but their heart is actually filled with fear.