Gentlemen and Ladies Figure

Author: Dongfang Shideng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features: Some say Zhang Ailing's writing belongs to the "New Yuehu School" because she possesses a unique refined and delicate sensibility. Those who followed and imitated her grew in number, and many felt that Dongfang Shideng most closely resembled Zhang Ailing, as if he were her disciple. The small details in his "Zhang-style" writing were all imitated so well. — Lan'er: Ever Since Zhang Ailing (1946)
A writer who combines popular and avant-garde qualities, especially Dongfang Shideng, achieved this in just one book, The Gents and Ladies. With rich and elegant prose, he depicted the decline of old aristocratic families on the bustling Shanghai streets and the difficulty of finding a new spiritual home. His style blends sophistication and accessibility, closely resembling Zhang Ailing, yet it carries a sense of desolation amidst prosperity. — Wu Fuhui: Thirty Years of Modern Chinese Literature (1998)
Dongfang Shideng is only two years younger than Zhang Ailing. It is more accurate to say that his novel writing shares the same spirit as Zhang Ailing rather than calling him her "disciple," inheriting her style. His novels are as much a parallel to Zhang Ailing's as they are distinct. Writers like Dongfang Shideng, who are labeled "Zhang-style," deserve to be reevaluated. Dongfang Shideng's novels are also among the "most beautiful achievements" of the Shanghai literary scene in the 1940s and the history of modern Chinese literature. — Chen Zishan: Don’t Forget Dongfang Meilian
Dongfang Shideng's short story collection, The Gents and Ladies, is a significant contribution to the Shanghai School of Literature in the mid-to-late 1940s. The novel portrays the fate of traditional Chinese family structures in modern urban life and the diverse emotions of its people; the freedom of urban women's desires and sexuality in an increasingly crumbling male-dominated society; and the "dilemma" of the "urban youth," who possess a deep aesthetic transcendence and critical awareness of modern urban life, torn between tradition and modernity. The novel is a quintessential example of the elegant literary style of the Shanghai School of Literature in the mid-to-late 1940s.