Xu Zhimo

Author: Fang Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Xu Zhimo (1897—1931), modern poet and essayist. His given name was Zhang Xu, courtesy name Nanhu, and pen names included Yunzhonghe, etc. He was born in Xianshi Town, Haining County, Zhejiang Province. He graduated from Hangzhou First High School in 1915 and married Zhang Youyi. Later, he studied at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tianjin Beiyang University, and Peking University. In 1918, he went to the United States at his own expense to study banking. He graduated from Clark University in 1919 and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1920. That year, he met Lin Huiyin and her daughter. In 1921, he went to London, England, for studies, enrolling as a special student at the University of Cambridge to study political economy. During his two years at Cambridge, he was deeply influenced by Western education, as well as by the romanticism and aestheticism of Western poets, and began to write new poetry. In March 1922, he divorced his wife Zhang Youyi, and in August, he left Cambridge and returned to China. In 1924, he participated in the founding of the Crescent Society. When the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore visited China, Xu Zhimo served as his translator and was appointed as a professor at Peking University. During the activities of the Crescent Society, he met Lu Xiaoman and began a passionate romance with her. In 1925, he traveled to Europe, visiting countries such as Russia, Germany, Italy, and France, and wrote the poem "A Night in." In August, after returning to China, he published his first poetry collection, Poems of Xu Zhimo. In 1926, he edited the literary supplement Poetry for the Morning News and published his first prose collection, Fallen Leaves. In 1927, he participated in the founding of the Crescent Bookstore. In 1928, he launched the monthly magazine The Crescent. In early 1931, he co-founded the quarterly Poetry magazine with Chen Mengjia and others. On November 19 of the same year, he took a plane from Nanjing to Peking but crashed into a mountain near Jinan, killing himself. His works include poetry collections such as Poems of Xu Zhimo, A Night in, The Tiger Collection, and Cloud Journey, prose collections such as Fallen Leaves, Fragments of Paris, Self-Analysis, and Autumn, a collection of short stories and essays The Wheel, the play Bian Kun Gang (co-written with Lu Xiaoman), diaries such as Notes on Love with Mei and Diary of Xu Zhimo, and translations such as The Complete Works of George Eliot. This book attempts to interpret Xu Zhimo's thoughts and emotional activities from the perspective of his family and in close connection with the specific era, presenting a novel and unique angle. At the same time, it strives to be "well-supported by evidence" while drawing on the strengths of others, blending authenticity with readability.