Author: Liang Yuchun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Classics are the treasures left behind by time, portraying and annotating human nature. The significance of classics lies in their enduring freshness, remaining an unchanging landscape on the bookshelves of readers no matter how time flows. In the ever-changing space and time, in the irreversible course of life, 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 current courage, and free us from emptiness, vanity, and doubt about the future. The images of these wise figures and their timeless words purify our hearts, shake our souls, and teach us what can be missed but not forgotten, and what is fleeting yet precious.
Indeed, every era should have its own literature. But classic literature does not belong solely to its own time; it also belongs to later generations of readers who can appreciate and share an artistic connection with it. Liang Yuchun's essays deeply embody the essence of British essays, with techniques, emotions, and spirits reminiscent of Charles Lamb, the 18th-century British essayist. He inherited a tragic sense of humor while drawing nourishment from the soil of Chinese classical literature, thus forming his unique artistic style. Most of his essays subtly suggest the author's intention of "acting old in youth." In The Forget-Me-Not Grass, at the end of a passage, it says: "These are the sentiments of middle age," yet the author was only twenty-four at the time. His "acting old" before readers was likely an attempt to understand various aspects of life more deeply. With his short life span, the fictional identities he adopted probably stemmed not from personal experiences but from the insights he gained from reading.