The titles of the most famous works of Ba Jin and Mao Dun

Ba Jin (1904～)

Chinese modern writer. His original name was Li Yaotang and his courtesy name was Fu Gan. A native of Chengdu, Sichuan

. Ba Jin was the pen name he used after 1929. There are also pen names such as Pei Gan, Yu Yi, Wang Wenhui, and Ouyang Jingrong.

Life and Creation In his childhood and adolescence, Ba Jin received ideological enlightenment and artistic influence from reading ancient Chinese poems, prose, novels and Chinese-translated foreign novels. After the May Fourth Movement spread to Sichuan, he He read books and periodicals such as "New Youth" eagerly and absorbed various new ideas and theories. While accepting the scientific and democratic ideas of the May Fourth Movement, he also learned from articles by Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, etc. Influenced by anarchism. In May 1920, he was admitted to Chengdu Foreign Languages ??School. At the beginning of the next year, he became a member of Chengdu's "Half Moon" and published his first article "How to build a truly free and equal society" in the magazine. He also participated in organizing the Junshe, a group with anarchism as its guiding ideology. In May 1923, Ba Jin broke out of his feudal family to study in Shanghai and was admitted to Nanyang Middle School. At the end of the year, he went to Nanjing to enter the Middle School Affiliated to Southeast University. After graduating in the summer of 1925, he applied for Peking University, but was unable to enter the examination room because he was diagnosed with lung disease. While returning to Shanghai to recuperate, he translated Kropotkin's "Bread and Freedom" and other works, and continued to engage in anarchist propaganda activities. Driven by the New Literature Movement, from 1922 to 1924, Ba Jin published more than 30 new poems describing scenes and emotions in publications such as "Literature Ten Weekly", which was his first attempt at literary creation.

Ba Jin at home in Shanghai

In February 1927, Ba Jin went to France to study. In the lonely life in a foreign country, he wrote his first novella "Destruction" intermittently, which was serialized in "Novel Monthly" in 1929 and received great attention from the literary world and praise from readers. From returning to China in December 1928 to the end of 1941, he successively wrote 15 novels and nearly 70 short stories (edited into "Revenge", "Light", "The Electric Chair", "General", "Silence", "Gods and Ghosts") "People", "Tower of Eternal Life" and other 10 collections), and also published more than a dozen collections of essays such as "Sea Journey", "Journey Essays", "bits and pieces", "Memories", "Dreams and Drunkenness". The novels he wrote during this period express the intellectual youth's activities of resisting reality and devoting themselves to their ideals as well as their contradictory and depressed thoughts and feelings with fiery emotions, lashing out at the injustice and evil of feudal ethics and the feudal system, and showing their inevitable collapse. two basic themes. The former is represented by "Destruction" and "Fog", "Rain" and "Electricity", which are collectively titled "Love Trilogy", and has a romantic color. The latter is represented by the "Torrent Trilogy" ("Home", "Spring" and "Autumn") based on his own experience in feudal family life, with more realistic depictions. "Home" is not only a monument in his literary career, but also an important novel in the history of modern Chinese literature. Other novels and short stories also describe the suffering life and resistance struggle of workers and farmers from many aspects, as well as the suffering and sorrow of foreigners. His prose has a wide range of themes and diverse styles. Whether it is describing his experiences, expressing his emotions, or discussing matters, he is all fluent, sincere and moving.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Ba Jin successively wrote "The Anti-Japanese War Trilogy" ("Fire"), "The Garden", "The Fourth Ward", and "Home" in his erratic life< /p>

Later, medium-length works such as "Cold Night" represented his highest creative achievements. He has also published five collections of essays, including the short story collection "The Resurrection Grass", "Little People and Little Things", "Dragon, Tiger and Dog", and "Remembering". These works about small people and trivial matters reveal the evils caused by money,

the suffering of patients, the tragedies experienced by families, and the disputes among ordinary people in the city, revealing the various situations at the bottom of society, and indicting the gloomy and cold world. Dark reality.

Ba Jin is also a translator, editor and publisher

. Since the 1920s, he has translated the works of Turgenev, Herzen, Gorky, Wilde and many other foreign writers. Since 1935, he has been in charge of the editorial affairs of Cultural Life Publishing House for a long time, edited various book series such as "Literary Series", and edited literary publications such as "Wen Ji Monthly", "Wen Cong", "Fenghuo", etc., discovering and cultivating many new literary talents.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ba Jin wrote nearly one million words of novels

and essays, and also translated some foreign literary works. In 1952 and 1953, Ba Jin went to the Korean front line twice to experience life. The collection of essays and close-ups "Living among Heroes", the collection of short stories "Li Dahai", etc. reflect the struggle life in the Korean battlefield and the heroes of the Chinese People's Volunteers; the collection of essays "The Happy Days" and "The Collection of Hymns" etc., which praised the earth-shaking changes of the motherland and the wonderful new life and new characters; the essay collections "Festivals in Warsaw" and "Endless Emotions", etc., narrate the stories of the Chinese people and other countries around the world through their experiences of visiting foreign countries. Friendship between people.

Manuscript of Ba Jin's novel "Home"

During the Cultural Revolution, under extremely difficult circumstances, Ba Jin re-translated Turgenev's "Virgin Land" and began to translate Herzen's memoirs " Past Events and Random Thoughts".

After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, Ba Jin continued to engage in writing. His most important work was the essay that recorded his

"true thoughts and sincere feelings"

. In May 1977, Ba Jin published the essay "A Letter". Since then, he has published many creative memoirs and essays

. From the end of 1978 to July 1986, he wrote 150 articles in 5 volumes of "Random Thoughts" and then bid farewell to the literary world. With a strong sense of historical responsibility and a strict self-examination character, he communicated his deep thoughts on the fate of the motherland and people with readers from the bottom of his heart. He also paid great attention to and supported various activities aimed at promoting the cause of socialist literature with great enthusiasm. At the end of 1980, he proposed the establishment of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature and donated huge royalties and a large collection of books, periodicals, and manuscripts. From 1986 to 1993, he edited and published 26 volumes of "The Complete Works of Ba Jin", the largest compilation of works to date, including his novels, essays, essays, poems, prefaces and biographies written since 1921. , as well as letters and diaries.

Some of the works donated by Ba Jin to the Museum of Modern Literature in China

Impact Ba Jin is a world-renowned writer, and his works have been translated into more than 20 foreign languages. Ba Jin won the Italian Dante International Prize in 1982 and the French Legion of Honor in 1983. In 1984, he attended the 47th PEN International Conference as one of the seven "honorary guests" and was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1985. He was awarded the title of Honorary Foreign Academician of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1990, he received the Order of People's Friendship of the Soviet Union and the Special Prize of the First Asian Cultural Award in Fukuoka, Japan. After 1949, Ba Jin was elected as the vice chairman of the Chinese Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association many times. In 1981 and 1984, he was twice elected as the chairman of the Chinese Writers Association. In December 1996, he was re-elected as chairman of the Chinese Writers Association. He is also the vice chairman of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; in addition, he also serves as the president of China PEN Center, the honorary president of the Chinese Esperanto Association, the honorary chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the editor-in-chief of "Harvest".

Mao Dun (1896～1981)

Chinese writer and social activist. His original name was Shen Dehong and his courtesy name was Yan Bing. Mao Dun was one of his commonly used pen names.

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Life: Born in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. My father is a reformer with enlightened ideas. Mao Dun studied in Jiaxing Middle School and loved reading classical novels since he was a child. These novels inspired his literary thoughts. In 1913, Mao Dun was admitted to the preparatory course of Peking University. After graduating from the preparatory course, he went to work at the Shanghai Commercial Press in August 1916. At the beginning of 1920, he began to preside over the editorial work of the novel trend column of "Novel Monthly", and successively wrote articles such as "Declaration of the New Trend of Novels" and "Equal Discussion of Old and New Literature" to express his basic opinions on the development of literature. In November, the "Novel Monthly" was edited and completely renovated. In January 1921, he established a literary research association in Beijing with Zheng Zhenduo, Ye Shengtao and others. From then on, he was mainly engaged in the advocacy and criticism of new literature and the evaluation and introduction of foreign literature. Two years later, due to dissatisfaction with the reforms of the "Novel Monthly" by the conservative party of the Commercial Press, Mao Dun resigned as editor-in-chief and moved to the Department of Chinese Language and Culture. At the same time, he actively committed himself to social revolutionary activities. At the beginning of 1921, he participated in the activities of the Shanghai Communist Group. In July, the Communist Party of China was established and he became one of the earliest members of the party. After 1922, using the editorial staff of "Novel Monthly" as a cover, he worked as a liaison officer for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He taught successively at a civilian girls' school run by the Communist Party of China and Shanghai University. In 1925, when the May 30th Movement broke out, he participated in the mass movement and founded the "Axiom Daily" with Zheng Zhenduo and others, which was soon forced to cease publication. During this period, corresponding changes occurred in literary and artistic thought. In 1925, "On Proletarian Art" was published, which together with the treatises published by Guo Moruo, Yun Daiying and others before and after, formed the prelude to the subsequent revolutionary literary movement. In 1926, he was ordered by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to attend the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang in Guangzhou as a representative of the left-wing Kuomintang. After the meeting, he stayed in Guangzhou and took up the post of secretary of the Propaganda Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee where Mao Zedong was the acting minister. At the end of 1926, the Northern Expeditionary Army occupied Wuhan and established the National Government. Mao Dun went to Wuhan and served as editor-in-chief of Hankou's "Republic of China Daily". In July 1927, Wang Jingwei openly rebelled against the revolution in Wuhan. Mao Dun left Wuhan and returned to Shanghai via Guling. From then on, he began literary creation activities under the pen name of Mao Dun.

Creation From September 1927 to June 1928, Mao Dun completed the creation of the trilogy "Eclipse" - "Disillusionment, Wavering, and Pursuit". The novel depicts the situation and mentality of many intellectual young people (mostly women) during the ups and downs of the first domestic revolutionary war from its inception to its failure. It also reveals the author's thoughts on the reflection on this revolution. At that time, it was the climax of the revolutionary literature debate. Both Mao Dun and this novel were involved in the controversy, which attracted even more attention in the literary world. In July 1928, he left Shanghai for Japan. During his stay in Tokyo and Kyoto, he wrote the novel "The Rainbow" and "Chivalry Literature A B C", "Miscellaneous Essays on Mythology", "General Theory of Western Literature" and a series of works such as "From Guling to Tokyo", "Reading "Ni Huanzhi"" and other papers.

In April 1930, Mao Dun returned to Shanghai from Japan.

Soon, he joined the Chinese Left-wing Writers' Alliance and served as the executive secretary of the Left-wing Writers' Alliance for a time. From then on, Mao Dun and Lu Xun were engaged in revolutionary literary and artistic activities and social struggles. The 1930s was a mature and fruitful period for Mao Dun's creation. At this time, he completed the novella "The Road", "Three's Company" and the excellent rural short story trilogy "Spring Silkworms, Autumn Harvest, Last Winter", "Linjia Shop" and other creations. At the same time, he also wrote in "Declaration·Free Talk", " Taibai" and other newspapers and periodicals published a large number of essays, literary reviews and monographs on writers. In January 1933, the novel "Midnight" was published. The work takes the intrigues, annexation and competition among several capitalists in Shanghai as the main clues. It writes about the workers' movement and peasant riots, the conflicts between imperialism, reactionary regimes and national capitalism, and the melee among warlords. It is a large-scale work. A masterpiece that describes the overall picture of Chinese society. Its publication demonstrated the achievements of left-wing literature and pushed the development of new literature after the May Fourth Movement to a new milestone. Qu Qiubai commented: "This is China's first successful realist novel." In terms of depicting the vast social reality and magnificent historical process of modern China, Mao Dun has achieved outstanding achievements. His artistic vision and creative conception of comprehensively grasping and analyzing social life demonstrated in works such as "Midnight" had a profound impact on subsequent literary creation.

Manuscript of "Midnight"

The Anti-Japanese War broke out, and Mao Dun devoted himself to resisting the enemy and saving the nation. In 1938, he was elected as a director of the All-China Literary and Art Circles Anti-Enemy Association. In April, the "Literary Position" edited by him was launched. At the same time, he edited the supplement "Yanlin" for Hong Kong's "Li Pao". The full-length "Story of the First Stage" was completed at this time. In March 1939, he went to teach at Xinjiang College and was elected chairman of the Xinjiang Cultural Association. In May 1940, he arrived in Yan'an from Xinjiang. Lectured at Yan'an Lu Xun Art Institute and wrote many articles for publications such as "Chinese Culture". In October, arrived in Chongqing. He successively completed the creation of excellent prose pieces such as "Praise to Poplar" and "Talk about Landscape". After the Wannan Incident in 1941, Mao Dun and a large number of progressive cultural figures arrived in Hong Kong. In May, the novel "Corrosion" exposing the rule of Kuomintang agents was serialized in the weekly "Popular Life". In September, he edited the bimonthly issue of "Bi Tan". In December, the Pacific War broke out and the Japanese army captured Hong Kong. Mao Dun moved to Guilin, Chongqing and other places. During this period, there were works such as "Frost Leaves Red Like February Flowers", "Going to Work" and the drama "Before and After the Qingming Festival".

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Dun went to Shanghai to edit the magazine "Federation of Literary and Art Circles" and engage in activities for democracy and peace. From the end of 1946 to the beginning of 1947, he visited the Soviet Union. He is the author of two books: "Records of Experiences in the Soviet Union" and "Miscellaneous Talks on Interviews with the Soviet Union". At the end of 1947, Mao Dun went to Hong Kong again to work for the monthly "Novel" and edited the "Wenhui Po·Literary Weekly" which was resumed in Hong Kong. The novel "Exercise" was serialized in this magazine. At the end of 1948, he went to Peking to participate in the preparatory work for the new CPPCC. In July 1949, he was elected vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the Chinese Literary Workers Association (later renamed the Chinese Writers Association).

In 1949, Mao Dun was elected chairman of the Chinese Writers Association at the 1st Congress of Chinese Literary and Art Workers

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as Minister of Culture for a long time , committed to the construction of socialist culture. He serves as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the 4th and 5th CPPCC, honorary chairman of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Chinese Writers Association. During this period, Mao Dun's literary work focused on literary criticism and literary research, and his works include "Advocacy Collection", "Night Reading Occasionally", "About History and Historical Drama", etc. In his later years, despite the pain of illness, he completed the writing of his memoir "The Road I Traveled". On March 27, 1981, Mao Dun died of illness in Beijing. Before his death, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to restore his membership in the Communist Party of China based on his request.

Collected Works of Mao Dun, including the 10-volume "Collected Works of Mao Dun" published by People's Literature Publishing House. Since 1984, "The Complete Works of Mao Dun" has been published in 40 volumes, with about 12 million words, including all his literary works. In addition, "Selected Translations of Mao Dun" has been published. His works have been translated into many languages.