European Literary History

Author: Zhou Zuoren
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-06-01
Features: The History of European Literature was listed as "Volume Three of Peking University Series" in October 1918 and published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. In September 1917, Zhou Zuoren was appointed as a professor of liberal arts at Peking University, and The History of European Literature was originally his lecture notes. In Zhi Tang Recollections·Before May Fourth, Zhou Zuoren wrote: "According to the curriculum, the European Literature course I taught was worth three units, and the history of Greek and Roman literature was also worth three units, totaling six hours of class time per week. However, I had to prepare lecture notes for at least six hours in advance, which required writing at least twenty pages of manuscript, plus time for reviewing reference materials. It was quite busy. I would draft the notes during the day and have them corrected by Lu Xun in the evening, then revise and draft again the next day. This process continued for six days, allowing me to complete the required materials and have them mimeographed for use at the university."
Checking Zhou Zuoren's diary, on September 22, 1917, it is recorded: "Morning: Drafting lecture notes." This marked the beginning of writing the first volume. On September 24, it is recorded: "Afternoon: Drafting lecture notes." This marked the beginning of writing the third volume. The second volume was started on January 7, 1918: "Evening: Drafting the history of Roman literature." The entire book was completed on June 7 of that year: "Evening: Compiled and organized the lecture notes. The three volumes covering Greek, Roman, medieval, and eighteenth-century European literature were combined into The History of European Literature." This was the first book published by Zhou Zuoren after he came to Beijing. Many years later, the author's self-assessment of the book was: "It was a hodgepodge of materials compiled from English-language histories of world literature, biographies of writers, literary critiques, and miscellaneous works. It was not well-structured, but it sufficed for the time being" (Zhi Tang Recollections·Before May Fourth). By today's standards, it could be considered "compilation." In Zhou Zuoren's diary and contemporaneous book catalogues, records of some reference books can be found. The book may not have been entirely devoid of the author's own insights. For example, when discussing the mock epics by Herodas, he wrote: "The chapter on the midwife in the first volume and the chapter on the tutor in the third volume are full of vitality. Although they were written over two thousand years apart, readers still feel that the human emotions of ancient and modern times are not so distant." One year before writing The History of European Literature, the author had already translated these two pieces into Chinese, and in the preface, he wrote: "Translating these two pieces, the descriptions of teachers and students in the school and the behavior of the midwife are vivid as if they happened today. The human emotions of ancient and modern times are not very different, which is amusing." This was the same sentiment. Although Wei Baidu had also commented similarly on Herodas in The Collected Essays of Looking at Clouds·Ancient Greek Mock Epics, he was not specifically referring to these two pieces.
Today, looking at The History of European Literature, what it primarily reveals is the author's broad cultural perspective, which aligns well with his extensive translation and commentary work over the preceding decade. Among his peers (including his colleagues at Peking University), this stood out particularly. Later, the author became a representative of the May Fourth New Culture Movement by advocating "human literature" and "ideological revolution," which can be seen as one of the important foundations. Zhou Zuoren was deeply influenced by ancient Greek culture in his thinking, and later, his discussions on this topic were summarized in this book. He also dedicated his life to introducing ancient Greek literature, and the works he translated and published were all detailed in this book. Additionally, Zhi Tang Recollections states: "However, one distinctive feature of this book is that names and places are not transliterated but written in Roman letters, and book titles are also written in the original language." This seems like a minor issue, but it relates to one of his fundamental views on the West (and not just literature). Later, he explicitly proposed the principle of "following the master," which originated from this perspective, and he wrote numerous articles on the subject. The fate of this book was also related to this stance: "Later, the Commercial Press wanted to publish a series of university textbooks and wanted to include this history of literature. I had also compiled the history of 19th-century literature and was preparing to add it, but when I received the opinions of their expert reviewers, I had to politely decline. They said the book contained errors in dates, which might have been due to differences in authoritative sources, but they insisted that all book titles should be changed to English. This orthodox view of English was common among those scholars, but it contradicted the original purpose of the book, so it had to be excluded from the gentleman's series."
When discussing Western culture, Zhou Zuoren repeatedly stated: "I always thought it was somewhat general to base arguments solely on the current situations of England and America" (Miscellaneous Notes on Bamboo Shoots·The Branch Road of Peking University). Perhaps this was the "purpose" he referred to. From this, we can also learn that this The History of European Literature is incomplete, with a portion (likely the third chapter of the third volume) written but never published and now lost.