The Complete Works of Fu Lei: Literary Volume

Author: Fu Lei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Fu Lei is renowned as a translator, excelling in conveying the beauty of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance in his translations, earning widespread acclaim in the translation world. His translated works are all world-class classics, meticulously selected, and have had a profound impact. Fu Lei possesses profound academic knowledge, particularly in the theory and appreciation of art and music, yet his expertise is often overshadowed by his fame as a translator. What is particularly important is his integrity and upright character, his unyielding principles, his meticulousness, and his embodiment of the traditional virtues of Chinese intellectuals combined with modern spirit, making him a model. He perished during the Cultural Revolution and is revered worldwide. This book comprehensively collects Fu Lei's life's writings, including fiction and prose, literary and art criticism (literature, art, music, drama, etc.), prefaces and postfaces to his translations, political commentary, "Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art," art theory, and music theory. Examining this book not only allows one to understand Fu Lei as a whole person but also provides insights into the world, recognizing the contradictions and harmonies between the inner and outer worlds of a generation of elite intellectuals. Its cultural and historical value cannot be underestimated.
This book comprehensively collects Fu Lei's life's writings, including fiction and prose, literary and art criticism (literature, art, music, drama, etc.), prefaces and postfaces to his translations, political commentary, "Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art," art theory, and music theory. Examining this book not only allows one to understand Fu Lei as a whole person but also provides insights into the world, recognizing the contradictions and harmonies between the inner and outer worlds of a generation of elite intellectuals. Its cultural and historical value cannot be underestimated.
Brief Autobiography: I was born in March 1908 in Yutan Village, Putuo County, Shanghai Prefecture. My family was of landlord status. At the age of four, my father passed away. During the Xinhai Revolution, he was wronged by local tyrants and landlords, imprisoned for three months, and died in depression after his release, unable to clear his name, at the age of twenty-four. My second brother and younger sister died because their mother had to travel outside the home, leaving no one to care for them. My mother, a widow at a young age (also twenty-four), often taught me to avenge our wrongs. Due to her constant grief and tears, and my strict upbringing, I rarely heard laughter in my childhood. At the age of seven, I was taught the "Four Books" and "Five Classics" by an elderly scholar at home, and English and arithmetic teachers were also hired for me. At the age of eleven, I entered the second grade of Zhoupu Town Primary School, and at twelve, I moved to Shanghai and entered the fourth grade of Nanyang Affiliated Primary School (then known as the Shanghai Industrial Special School Affiliated Primary School). After one year, I was expelled for being unruly. I then transferred to Xuhui Public School for the first year of middle school (under the old system) but was expelled for opposing religion. At sixteen, I strongly opposed superstition and all religions, with radical views. At home, I once had a major conflict with my mother over opposing the holding of a religious ceremony to honor ancestors. After the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War, I entered the affiliated middle school of Datong University and participated in the May Fourth Movement, giving speeches and parading in the streets. During the Northern Expedition, I joined the movement to expel the academic tyrant Hu Dunfu, writing big-character posters in opposition to the pro-school faction. Later, I heard that Wu Zhihui (one of the school trustees of Datong University) said I was a Communist and wanted to arrest me, so my mother came from the countryside to bring me back. In the autumn, I entered the first year of Chízhì University but found the academic atmosphere unsatisfactory and decided to go to France on my own in the winter of that year (1927).
In France for four years: On one hand, I attended classes at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Paris; on the other hand, I took classes at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. However, I did not study diligently. In the summer of 1929, I went to Switzerland for three months, and in the spring of 1930, I made a short trip to Belgium. In the spring of 1931, I went to Italy for two months and, in Rome, gave a lecture on the significance of the Northern Expedition of the National Army and the struggle against the Beiyang Warlord clique at the invitation of the "Italian Royal Geographical Society." During my time in France, I interacted more with foreigners, including university professors, critics, sinologists, musicians, the head of the Paris Fine Arts School, and other elderly painters; I had less contact with fellow Chinese students. In 1928, I met Liu Haosu and other art students in Paris and often served as an interpreter for Liu Haosu, helping him lobby the French Ministry of Education's art department, which eventually led to the French government purchasing one of Liu's works. In 1929, Teng Gu fled overseas and studied in Germany, passing through Paris, where we met. I returned to China in the autumn of 1931, arriving in Shanghai just as the September 18th Incident occurred. In the winter of 1931, I joined the Shanghai Fine Arts College to teach art history and French. In January 1932, I married in Shanghai. On January 28, 1932, the incident occurred, and the fine arts college closed. The Havas News Agency (the predecessor of France Presse) was established, and I was introduced by a fellow French student, Wang Ziguan, to work as a translator, but I left after six months. At the time, I worked alongside Li Liewen; after I left, Hu Yuzhi and Fei Yiming joined the agency one after another, but I returned to teaching at the fine arts college. In September 1933, my mother passed away, and I resigned from my position at the fine arts college. The reasons were: (1) I felt unqualified to teach due to my lack of formal education, and my mother, who was still alive, would have been even more heartbroken if I didn't work while studying abroad; and at the time, I was financially independent, but my mother could only provide me with a few tens of yuan per month, so I had to support myself; (2) Liu Haosu treated me very well personally but was harsh to others, and the school's operations were purely commercial.