The Collected Works of Eileen Chang - Half a Lifelong Bond

Author: Eileen Chang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: She is a mysterious writer who excels at transforming life into art and is filled with almost romantic tragic emotions. She is a scion of a noble family but takes pride in being self-reliant. She feels deep empathy for others yet is always able to see the pitiable and amusing aspects of the common people. She can enjoy the spotlight and the solitude at the same time. This alone is enough to make her a tragic legend. Half a Lifelong Love is not about a grand, passionate love story but rather the kind of experiences that countless daughters in the mortal world might encounter. There was once true love, but it eventually faded into. Only in the moment of reunion do they regret missing the love of a lifetime.
Final Hint: The desolation of life and the world lies not in the process but in the moment of reflection. He had known Man Zhen long ago—it had been over fourteen years now—enough to make him suddenly feel much older. Time flies especially for those in middle age; ten or eight years can seem like the blink of an eye. But for the young, three or five years can be a lifetime. From the time he met Man Zhen to their separation had only been a few years, yet in those years, so many things had happened as if they had experienced all the joys and sorrows of life and death.
Eileen Chang exists in the history of modern Chinese literature as an outstanding writer, not as a strange or eccentric figure. Perhaps she will not belong solely to the history of modern literature. Imagine decades or even centuries from now, she might hold a stable position in the history of Chinese literature, much like Li Qingzhao, whom she admired. And we know that by then, many of the modern writers we are familiar with today will likely be forgotten.
Half a Lifelong Love is Eileen Chang’s first complete novel, originally titled Eighteen Springs. It was completed in 1951, and later during her time in the United States, she revised it, removing the slightly politically charged ending and renaming it Half a Lifelong Love. Several ordinary people—Shi Jun, Man Zhen, Shu Hui, and Cui Zhi—were young urbanites found everywhere. They entangled their not-so-unusual love and grievances in a web they couldn’t escape for so many years, and in the process, they aged. Meanwhile, the tumultuous changes of modern Chinese society—September 18th Incident, December 8th Incident, victory in the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang’s takeover, the liberation of Shanghai, and support for Northeast China—only served as their backdrop, faintly coloring their story with the hues of chaos. What moved readers and left them sighing was the story of these few people in turmoil—bits of obsession, threads of resentment, fragile love, and the helplessness of hiding their faces.
Half a Lifelong Love fully reveals Eileen Chang’s exquisite and endlessly lingering language, like the delicate and intricate patterns of a window lattice. Without every grid, it would not be complete, yet simply looking at it reveals beauty, though it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where. Her refined yet melancholic tone is perfect for slowly narrating this long-standing unfulfilled love. Man Zhen and Shi Jun were destined for deep love but shallow fate; Shi Jun and Cui Zhi, two people who did not love each other, got married. Shu Hui went to the rear, and Cui Zhi, though deeply in love with him, felt as if she were lost in the vastness of the world, unable to swim across. Man Zhen married Zhu Hongcai with a heart heavy as if she were committing suicide. Time flowed like water, and those once-agonizing loves slowly faded; the once-heart-wrenching pains were already distant; and the once-mortal hatreds had become as light as flying dandelion seeds.