Yu Dafu
Yu Dafu | ||
---|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin Yù Dáfū | | |
Wade–Giles | Yu Ta-fu |
New Culture Movement |
---|
|
Yu Wen, better known by his courtesy name Yu Dafu (December 7, 1896 – September 17, 1945) was a modern Chinese short story writer and poet. He was one of the new literary group initiators, and this new literary group was named the Creation Society. His literary masterpieces include Chenlun (沈淪, Sinking), Chunfeng chenzui de wanshang (春風沈醉的晚上, Intoxicating Spring Nights), Guoqu (過去, The Past), Chuben (出奔, Flight) and so on. Yu Dafu's literary works' writing style and main themes profoundly influenced a group of young writers and formed a spectacular romantic trend in Chinese literature in the 1920s and 1930s. He died in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies, likely executed.
Early years
Yu was born in
In 1912, he entered Hangchow University (later its major part merged into Zhejiang University) preparatory through examination. He was there only for a short period before he was expelled for participation in a student strike.[citation needed]
He then moved to Japan, where he studied
In 1922, he returned to China as a literary celebrity and worked as the editor of Creation Quarterly, editing journals and writing short stories. In 1923, after an attack of tuberculosis, Yu Dafu directed his attention to the welfare of the masses.[citation needed]
In 1927, he worked as an editor of the Hongshui literary magazine. He later came in conflict with the Chinese Communist Party and fled back to Japan.[citation needed]
Second Sino-Japanese War
After the start of the
In 1942 when the
In 1945, he was arrested by the Kempeitai when his true identity was finally discovered. It is believed that the Japanese executed him shortly after the surrender of Japan.
Works
- Yín huīsè de sǐ 银灰色的死 A Silver-Grey Death (1921)
- Chenlun沈淪 ("Sinking", 1921) ("Drowning", in English, Sunny Lou Publishing, ISBN 978-1-95539-217-4, 2021)
- Chunfeng chenzui de wanshang 春風沈醉的晚上 Intoxicating Spring Nights (1924)
- Nine Diaries 日記九種 (1927)
- Guoqu 過去 The Past (1927)
- Chuben 出奔 Flight (1935)
- Boundless Night (1922)
Writing style
Yu Dafu's literary works are principally autobiographical in nature. There are many expressions with personal subjective colors in his works. He expresses his thoughts and feelings through the protagonist in the story. Moreover, the plot in the story is created based on his personal experience.[2] Besides, his relationships with people around him are included in his works, such as his relationship with his mother and wife. It is precise because his works are derived from his own life that contemporary readers are very interested in his literary works.[3]
About Yu Dafu's sentimentalism:Yu Dafu's sentimentalism was born in the decadent social reality of the "May 4th Movement Era". "The decadent ethos once swept through the world under the banner of aestheticism, and caring about morality was seen as something incompatible with emancipating the mind and reflecting the truth, which was 'decadent art'." Yu Dafu had an emotional resonance with this. At this time, Yu Dafu's creations were filled with gloomy and depressing "end-of-the-century emotions", but Yu Dafu's "end-of-the-century emotions" were based on the premise of resisting negative reality.[4]
The story "Sinking" is considered one of the earliest psychological novels in modern Chinese novel history. At the same time, this story is viewed as a representative of romanticism, which satisfies one of the main literature characteristics during the May Fourth period.[1] The protagonist in the "Sinking" quotes from Chinese literature texts, like the verses of Wang Bo 王勃 (Poet of Tang Dynasty) and Huang Zhongze 黄仲则 (Poet of Qing Dynasty). Besides, the protagonist in the story not only quotes from Chinese literature texts, but he also quotes from Western literature texts, like the poems of Wordsworth (British poet) and Heine (German poet).[1]
In the mid-1920s, Yu Dafu changed his writing style. His writing style changed from romantic
Main themes
Yu Dafu's work is considered by leading scholars to be iconoclastic and controversial.[6]: 102–103 His heroes, which supposedly reflect the author[6]: 109 are "By turns voyeur, fetishist, homosexual, masochist, and kleptomaniac."[6]: 109 The sexually repressed heroes cannot relate to women.[7] No matter whether the Chinese literature text or the Western literature text is cited in the "Sinking" short story, the same theme is expressed: loneliness. Yu Dafu believes this is a kind of thoughts and feelings that are not understood by other people.[1] He used this melancholy state of mind to express the degeneration of the characters in the short story. At the same time, Yu Dafu laid the foundation for the criticism and self-reflection of Chinese international students' literature.[8] The alleged 'decadence' of Yu Dafu's novels, whether in a pejorative or in an aesthetic sense (i.e.'Decadence' as an artistic movement) has been considered by some Chinese Marxist critics to be a sign of Yu Dafu's moral corruption,[9]: 111 but Shih argues that Yu Dafu's writings constitute a serious-minded critique of China's political plight and perceived social conformism.[9]: 113–114 Indeed, concern for the person and the nation are intimately linked in his work, and the effeminate and ailing body serves as a metaphor for the weak and sickly nation.[9]: 115–123
References
- ^ JSTOR 495405.
- ISBN 978-0-674-57911-8.
- ISBN 978-0-231-50736-3, retrieved 2020-12-17
- ^ 刘, 楠霞. "论郁达夫小说创作中感伤主义的语言风格". WANFANG DATA. 才智. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55753-330-2.
- ^ a b c C T Hsia 1999: A History of Modern Chinese Fiction
- ^ Wolfgang Kubin: Geschichte der chinesischen Literature: Band 7, p. 60.
- ^ "From the De-Based Literati to the Debased Intellectual: A Chinese Hypochondriac in Japan". MCLC Resource Center. 2014-09-23. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
- ^ a b c Shu-Mei Shih 2001, The Lure of the Modern: Writing Modernism in Semi-Colonial China, 1917-1937
- Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Yü Ta-fu"
- 刘楠霞. “论郁达夫小说创作中感伤主义的语言风格.” 才智 11 (2012): 176–176. Print.
Further reading
- Lee, Leo. (1973). The Romantic Generation of Chinese Writers. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674492776
- Yu, Dafu. (1984). Nights of Spring Fever and Other Writings. Beijing: Panda Books. ISBN 9780835110792
External links
Portrait
- Yu Dafu. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming at Portrait Gallery of Chinese Writers (Hong Kong Baptist University Library).