Yù Dafu Collection. Prose Collection

Author: Yu Dafu / Yuan Shengyong (editors and annotators)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-01-01
Features: [Editor's Recommendation]
1. The Novel Volume includes 26 of the author's novels such as Chen Lun (Seduction), Nan Qian (Southward Journey), and Chi Gui Hua (Late Osmanthus Blossom).
2. The Essay Volume includes representative articles written by the author during different periods, categorized into five sections based on content and genre: sentimental narratives, travel sketches, character recollections, miscellaneous essays, and diary-autobiographies.
II. The annotations in this book are divided into title annotations and text annotations.
1. Each article's title annotation generally indicates the original publication source (with the date for newspapers and year/issue for journals), as well as the author's name used at the time of publication and later inclusion in collected works. Title annotations provide as objectively as possible relevant details about the author's writing circumstances and the historical context for reference.
2. Text annotations are placed at the end of each article. To avoid unnecessary clutter, annotations are omitted for expressions familiar to general readers and unlikely to hinder comprehension.
3. Any original annotations by the author are clearly marked as such.
III. The illustrations in this book have been carefully collected to include photographs and artifacts related to Yu Dafu, offering readers some visual materials for a more intuitive understanding of the author.
Content: On a bone-chillingly cold evening in early winter, if you dine in a quiet, desolate hometown town and, before the second bell rings, go up with the family to lie in the warm covers, gazing blankly through the curtain at the dim light on your small wooden desk, you must shed tears upon hearing the singing and footsteps of passersby in the chilly streets outside. Seeing the pedestrians on this dim street will inevitably remind you of scenes from your childhood. The cold, still air of this evening, the melancholic songs of solitary wanderers, are the same as those you experienced in your youth. But how have the people lying in thin cotton blankets on the upper floor, listening to these sorrowful songs, changed? Thinking of this, who could not feel a sense of sorrow?