Poetry
畫夢錄
Not translated into English
He Qifang · 1936
Synopsis
The collection brings together poetic prose pieces, seventeen according to Paper Republic, in which first-person narratives, dreams, rewritten ancient myths and small scenes seen from the outside are mingled. It opens with La Tombe, in which a sixteen-year-old girl, Lingling, appears; other texts are titled Monologue, Le Rocher, Les Fourmis, Le Chemin dans le rêve or Avant la pluie. Dream and death recur constantly, and one encounters there Zhuangzi's butterfly dream.
Context
Published in 1936, the book was expurgated by its author in 1939, after he joined the communists at Yan'an, so that the original edition has become rare according to Paper Republic. According to a study by Liu Weiguo, in May 1937 he shared the Dagong bao literary prize with a play by Cao Yu and a collection by Lu Fen. Song Jianhua notes in it a sad, winding beauty and a deep atmosphere. Excerpts have been translated into English by Bonnie McDougall, David Pollard and Canaan Morse, never the whole, and no French translation has been found.
Who it is for
Short prose pieces, to be read separately; only extracts exist in English, nothing yet in French.
Prizes and reception
Awarded in 1937 the literary prize of a major Tianjin daily; Paper Republic places its author in the Beijing school.
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