The Letters of Fu Lei

Author: Fu Min
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The letters collected in this volume are not ordinary family letters. In a letter to Fu Cong, Bo Lei wrote: "Writing long and tedious letters to you is not idle chatter, nor is it aimless gossip. It serves several purposes. First, I truly regard you as an opponent for discussing art and music; second, I deeply wish to elicit some reflections from you, a young person, to provide me with fresh nourishment as a father, which I can also pass on indirectly to other young people; third, I want to use correspondence to train you—not just in writing, but especially in your thinking; fourth, I want to be a constant alarm clock and a 'loyal mirror' for you at all times and in all places, whether it concerns your character, life details, artistic cultivation, or performance posture." The emotional thread running through all the letters is to let the son understand the honor and disgrace of the nation, the dignity of art, and the ability to approach everything with a serious attitude, becoming an "artist with both virtue and artistry." — Fan Yong
Bo Lei (1908–1966) was a renowned Chinese literary translator and literary critic. Throughout his life, he translated a vast amount of works, characterized by their vividness and fluency, rich vocabulary, and skillful use of color. His translated works span thirty-four volumes, including the epic masterpiece John Christopher by Roman Rolland, which won the Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as biographies such as Beethoven: His Life and Works, Michelangelo: His Life and Works, and Tolstoy: His Life and Works; Voltaire's Candide, Le Sage, and Zadig; Mérimée's Carmen and Hérodiade;'s Philosophy of Art; Balzac's Père Goriot, Eugénie Grandet, Uncle Bonaparte, Madame Bovary, Colonel Chabert, La Comtesse de Charny, Julie Miró?t, The Curé of Tours, Pere Goriot: His Rise and Fall, and Lost Illusions; and many other masterpieces. His translations total approximately five million words and are all collected in The Complete Works of Fu Lei. His posthumous works, such as Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art and The Letters of Fu Lei, are also deeply loved by readers and have been reprinted multiple times. Over one million words of his writings have been compiled in The Complete Works of Fu Lei. In recent years, to express heartfelt praise for his contributions to writing and translation, various illustrated commemorative editions have been published, such as Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art, Michelangelo: His Life and Works, Beethoven: His Life and Works, The Philosophy of Art, and the illustrated commemorative edition of John Christopher.
Bo Lei was an open-minded and resolute individual. In the early days of the Cultural Revolution, he suffered persecution and, on the early morning of September 3, 1966, he and his wife, Zhu Meifu, took their own lives in a tragic and heroic manner, leaving this world. Bo Lei and his wife were exemplary Chinese parents, dedicating their lives to nurturing their two children—Fu Cong, a renowned piano master, and Fu Min, a distinguished English teacher—with great hardship and devotion. Their educational philosophy, which emphasized moral integrity before family, independent thinking, and teaching methods tailored to individual aptitude, was successfully embodied in their children. The heartfelt teachings of the parents and the sincere exchanges between the child and parents are evident throughout the letters, deeply inspiring and enlightening parents and children worldwide.
To commemorate the 95th anniversary of Father Bo Lei's birth and the 90th anniversary of Mother Zhu Meifu's birth, The Complete Works of Fu Lei, The Complete Translations of Fu Lei, and The Complete Writings of Fu Lei are set to be published. During the process of compiling the manuscripts, The Letters of Fu Lei were reorganized and published simultaneously by Liaoning Education Press. The original Sanlian edition of The Letters of Fu Lei was arranged by date, but many letters were lengthy and often written over several days. The current arrangement is based on the mailing date. As a result, two hundred letters have been selected: one hundred sixty-one from Father and thirty-nine from Mother. Among them, one hundred thirty-eight are in Chinese, and thirty-eight are in English and French, translated by Professor Jin Shenghua of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Compared to the original Sanlian edition of The Letters of Fu Lei, in addition to corrections and corrections of typographical errors, thirty-four new letters have been added: eleven from Father and twenty-three from Mother. Sixty-five supplementary letters have been included: fifty-six from Father and nine from Mother. The foreword features six surviving letters from the older brother, and the afterword is an essay by Mr. Lou Shiyi. Annotations in the text have been added by the editor; explanations in square brackets are either translations by Professor Jin Shenghua or by the editor.