Classical Chinese Novel Popular Library -- A Flower and a Moon Shadow

Author: Wei Xiuren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-03-01
Features: In the spring of the eighth year of the Xianfeng era in the Qing Dynasty, although the weather was warm and flowers were blooming, everything seemed renewed, Fujian scholar Wei Xiuren was filled with indignation and could only pour it into his writing, beginning to compose The Flower and Moon Scar Novel. The novel tells the story of two scholars. Book Pearl is literary and elegant but faces a tragic fate, ultimately dying in depression; his friend Han Hesheng, on the other hand, is both literary and martial, achieves many merits, and returns as a marquis. The two characters take different paths in wealth and misfortune, their life stories evoking deep reflection. Pearl's experiences are based on Wei Xiuren's own life. The Flower and Moon Scar is not only Wei Xiuren's autobiography but also a tragic novel that "writes the heart of the frustrated scholar." The style of the entire book is melancholic, elegant, and sorrowful, very much in line with the taste of scholars. The writing is beautiful and classical. There are many poems in the novel, many of which are quite accomplished. Wei Xiuren's friend Fu Xueqiao called this style of writing "a master of Ci and Fu, yet not a master of fiction."