Chen Quan, Borrowed Mirrors from Foreign Lands

Author: Ji Jin, Zeng Yiguo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: "The world is a stage, life is a drama, no one can avoid taking the stage, and no one can rest behind the scenes." This is a line from the four-act romantic tragedy Blue Butterfly by Chen Quan. Using this seemingly unoriginal metaphor to summarize the life of this representative figure of the "War State Strategy" school, who was not particularly dramatic, we might sigh at the brevity of his "stage time" and the length of his "resting time behind the scenes." As an intellectual unwilling to be left behind in the turbulent waves of the era, Chen Quan's early intellectual interests may have been more about playing a role in guiding the "War State." However, even though his works and ideas had a significant impact on the Chinese intellectual circles in the early 1940s, what remained behind him was a long period of silence. This book systematically organizes Chen Quan's life and creative works, presenting his complex intellectual development and summarizing his contributions to bridging German culture and drawing on German philosophy. Thus, it restores Chen Quan's unique position in the history of modern Chinese literature and cultural history.