Autumn Night (Reflections on Classic Prose by Renowned Authors)

Author: Lu Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Classics are the treasures left behind by time, portraying and interpreting human nature. The significance of classics lies in their enduring freshness, remaining an unchanging landscape on the bookshelves of readers through the ages. In the ever-changing flow of time and life, where nothing can be repeated, classics are the words, sounds, and expressions that have conquered time. Those sincere statements, those fearless cries, those reflections on the human spirit, awaken our past hopes, inspire our present courage, and free us from vanity and skepticism about the future. These images of wise men and their timeless words purify our souls, shake our spirits, and teach us what can be missed but not forgotten, what is fleeting yet invaluable.
The authors included in "Insights from Master Classics of Prose" are all pioneers and collectors of modern Chinese literature, as well as experimenters and innovators of various new artistic forms. No wonder Shi Zhecun, when speaking to me with a hint of pride about the artistic explorations of his younger contemporaries in the 1980s and beyond—especially their attempts at "avant-garde" modernist techniques like symbolism, impressionism, and stream of consciousness—once remarked, "All of these, we did in the 1930s, and even better than they did. It’s nothing new."
Indeed, every era deserves its own literature. But classic literature belongs not only to its time but also to the generations that follow, those who can appreciate and share in the artistic resonance of the classics.