Hemingway in China

Author: Yang Renjing (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: In 1990, the author had the privilege of reading Mr. Yang Renjing's Hemingway in China. What attracted the author was the section on Hemingway's visit to China. At the time, the author felt that this book was not just a compilation of materials about Hemingway's visit to China, but rather an academic work. When a compilation of materials possesses systematic research content and offers insights, it qualifies as academic. First, the author collected background materials from abroad about Hemingway's visit to China, visited the authoritative writer Carlos Baker, a biographer of Hemingway, and conducted interviews with the Hemingway Collection at the Kennedy Library in Boston, gathering unpublished materials and photographs related to Hemingway's visit to China at the time. Second, the author searched through domestic and foreign newspapers and periodicals during the War of Resistance against Japan for reports and evaluations of Hemingway's visit to China, particularly interviewing Professor Xia Jinxiang, who served as Hemingway's translator at the time. These are all primary sources or credible secondary sources. Based on these materials, the author systematically describes the purpose, itinerary, and reactions of Hemingway and his wife during their visit to China. What is valuable is that the author does not adopt an absolute authoritative stance but instead takes a realistic scientific approach. For example, regarding whether Hemingway met Song Qingling or Song Ailing in Hong Kong, the content of his conversations with Zhou Enlai in Chongqing, or the significance of this visit to China, the author raises questions and insights in a tentative tone, leaving room for readers to reflect. In addition to addressing the central issue of Hemingway's visit to China, this book also reviews the direction of Hemingway studies abroad at the time, systematically introduces materials on the translation and research of Hemingway's works in China, and provides a table of contents. Hemingway in China (Revised Edition) has been supplemented with new materials from domestic and international Hemingway studies from the early 1990s to the early 21st century. The author believes that this work is an indispensable specialized study in China's Hemingway research and provides readers who love Hemingway with a valuable read. This book is not only academic but also quite readable.