Shen Congwen

Shen Congwen
/shun" tsawng"wun"/
born 1902, Chinese author.
Also, Wade-Giles, Shen Ts'ung-wen /shun" tsoong"wun"/.

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▪ Chinese author
Wade-Giles romanization  Shen Ts'ung-wen , original name  Shen Yuehuan 
born December 28, 1902, Fenghuang, Hunan province, China
died May 10, 1988, Beijing

      author of fiction and prose who is commonly considered the greatest lyric novelist in modern China.

      Shen was a member of the Miao ethnic minority. At age 16 he joined a regiment in Yuanling, where he spent the next few years adding to his scanty education and observing the border fighting and the lives of the local Miao people. These early experiences later became the subject matter of many of his successful stories. Shen arrived in Beijing in 1923, and, while there, he began attending classes at Peking University and writing intensely. He also became closely associated with the writer Ding Ling and her leftist companion Hu Yepin. The threesome moved to Shanghai in 1928 to begin a publishing venture, but both the venture and the friendship ultimately failed, and Shen began a teaching career. He continued to write fiction prolifically until 1949, producing a tremendous number of short stories, essays, and novellas of varying quality.

      Shen was greatly influenced by the works of Western authors that he had read in translation; the influence was apparent in his loose, vernacular style. His techniques, however, were derived from both classical Chinese literature and Miao oral traditions. In stories such as "Xiaoxiao" (written 1929, revised and published 1935; filmed as Xiangnu Xiaoxiao in 1986), Shen examines rural values and practicality. Of Shen's longer works of fiction, Biancheng (1934; The Border Town; filmed 1984) is generally considered his best; in it he combines his doubts about modern civilization with an idealized view of the beauty of rural life. Collections of his stories published in English include The Chinese Earth (1947; reprinted 1982), Recollections of West Hunan (1992), and Imperfect Paradise (1995).

      During the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Shen, out of economic necessity, taught Chinese literature at a number of universities. After the communists triumphed in 1949, the basically apolitical writer came under attack and suffered a breakdown from the pressure of “thought reform”; from that point on he produced no fiction. He managed a recovery by 1955 and was placed on the staff of the Palace Museum in Beijing, about which he wrote a work of nonfiction in 1957. He also became an authority on ancient Chinese costume. In the 1980s there was a revival of interest in his work.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Shen Congwen — and his wife Zhang Zhaohe Born 28 December 1902(1902 12 28) Died 10 May 1988 …   Wikipedia

  • Shen Congwen — (chinesisch 沈从文; * 28. Dezember 1902 im Kreis Fenghuang des Autonomen Bezirks Xiangxi in der Provinz Hunan; † 10. Mai 1988 in Peking) war ein chinesischer Schriftsteller. Seine Großmutter väterlicherseits gehörte zur Nationalität der Miao,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shen Congwen —   [ʃɛn tsɔȖ ], Shen Ts ungwen, chinesischer Schriftsteller, * Fenhuang (Provinz Hunan) 29. 11. 1903, ✝ Peking 10. 5. 1988; aus einer der nichtchinesischen Minoritätengruppe der Tujia zugehörigen Offiziersfamilie stammend, besaß er in seiner… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Shen Congwen — Este es un nombre chino; el apellido es Shen. Shen Congwen (chino tradicional: 沈從文, chino simplificado: 沈从文, pinyin: Shěn Cóngwén, Wade Giles: Shen Ts ung wen) (Fenghuang, China; 28 de diciembre de 1902 Pekín; 10 de mayo de 1988) fue un escritor… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Shen Congwen — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Shen (homonymie). Dans ce nom chinois, le nom de famille, Shen, précède le prénom. 沈從文 Shen Congwen (28 décembre 1902 10 mai 1988) est un écrivain chinois de la période moderne. Écrivain indépendant, ses romans… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shen Congwen — Éste es un nombre chino; el apellido es Shen. Shen Congwen (chino tradicional: 沈從文, chino simplificado: 沈从文, pinyin: Shěn Cóngwén, Wade Giles: Shen Ts ung wen) (Fenghuang, China; 28 de diciembre de 1902 Pekín; …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Shen Congwen — /shun tsawng wun / born 1902, Chinese author. Also, Wade Giles, Shen Ts ung wen /shun tsoong wun / …   Useful english dictionary

  • Shen Congweng — Shen Congwen (chin. 沈从文; * 28. Dezember 1902 im Kreis Fenghuang des Autonomen Bezirks Xiangxi in der Provinz Hunan; † 10. Mai 1988 in Peking) war ein chinesischer Schriftsteller. Seine Großmutter väterlicherseits gehörte zur Nationalität der Miao …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Shen — (homonymie) Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Echuu Shen Jon, personnage de l univers étendu de la Guerre des étoiles, Kool Shen, rappeur français du groupe NTM, Shen (參宿 cān xiù) est une… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Shen — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Shen Congwen (1902–1988), chinesischer Schriftsteller Shen Buhai ( 385–337 v. Chr.), chinesischer Philosoph aus der Zeit der Streitenden Reiche, aus dem Reich Zheng Shen Dao, ein chinesischer Philosoph aus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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