Mao Dun

Mao Dun, bronze bust

Máo Dùn , ( Chinese  茅盾 , actually Shěn Déhóng沈德鸿 / 沈德鴻; born July 4, 1896 in Wuzhen , Tongxiang District , Zhejiang Province ; † March 27, 1981 ) was a Chinese writer , literary critic and journalist . His grave is next to a memorial in the museum village of Wuzhen Xizha .

Shen Dehong decided to use his pseudonym because of the homophony with the word 矛盾 ( máodùn , contradiction), which he saw as indicative of the contradicting revolutionary ideologies and the unstable conditions in China in the 1920s. His friend Ye Shengtao later changed the characters that made up his pseudonym to protect him from political persecution .

Life

childhood and education

Shen Dehong was born in Tongxiang District. His father Shen Yongxi created the curriculum for his son himself and taught him personally, but passed away when he was ten years old. His mother, Chen Aizhu, subsequently took on these responsibilities. Shen Dehong developed a keen interest in literary work from a young age. His literary talent was already evident in elementary school through his choice of words and his style in the exams.

During his time at secondary school, Shen Dehong spent his free time studying numerous classical novels, which would greatly influence his own style and conception of writing, as well as exercising stylistic skills to perfect his expression.

Finally, he was accepted as a student at Peking University in 1913 as part of a three-year course on Chinese and Western literature. Nevertheless, the knowledge he acquired enabled him to advance rapidly within the journalistic and literary scene.

Journalist career

After graduating, Mao Dun took up his first position in the editorial and translation department of the Shanghai branch of Commercial Press newspaper . At 21, he assumed the post of assistant editor-in-chief of the student magazine Xuesheng Zazhi, directed by Commercial Press , which featured numerous articles on the new ideologies that were spreading in China at the time.

During this time Mao Dun began to put his thoughts and criticisms about social developments in writing. To some extent he was influenced by ideas from the youth magazine New Youths , as evidenced by two of his editorials for Xuesheng Zazhi in 1917 and 1918, which raised the political consciousness of many young educated Chinese ( Students and Society and The Students of 1918 ) .

In 1920 he took over the column on new literary trends ( Xiaoshuo Xinchao ) in the literary monthly magazine for storytelling ( Xiaoshuo Yuebao ). In the same year he became editor-in-chief of the magazine and subjected it to a fundamental reform according to the principles of the so-called New Cultural Movement . His younger friends from the Beijing writing scene supported him by making their recent works, translations of Western literature and their views on new literary theories and techniques available to the magazine.

With this in mind , a Society for the Study of Literature ( Wenxue Yanjiuhui ) was founded. The monthly magazine reform turned out to be a resounding success, making it easier for the New Cultural Movement to continue by selling tens of thousands of issues, but even more so by promoting a new, realistic approach to Chinese literature (Literature for Life). During this time Mao Dun developed into a leading figure in the movement in southern parts of China.

Regarding the reforms of the content, there was no agreement between the two wings of the editors of the Commercial Press , the innovation-oriented and the conservatives. In 1923, Mao Dun resigned from his post as editor-in-chief of the monthly literary magazine, but in 1927 he became the main columnist of Minguo Yuebao magazine . In this context, he wrote more than 30 editorials with harsh criticism of Chiang Kai-shek's policies and words of support for the revolutionaries.

Political commitment

Inspired by the Russian October Revolution in 1917, Mao Dun participated in the May Fourth Movement in China. In 1920 he joined the communist community in Shanghai and was instrumental in founding the Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. At first he worked as a press spokesman for the party, and he also wrote articles for the inner-party newspaper.

At the same time Mao Dun took part in the northern campaign under Chiang Kai-shek (1926–1928), whose primary goal was to unify the country, but left the troops when the rift between the Kuomintang and the communists occurred. He fled to Japan in 1928, and when he returned to China two years later, he joined the League of Leftist Writers . Ironically, Mao Dun stood out for his active involvement with the resistance movement when Japan attacked China in 1937 .

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Dun took over the offices of Secretary to Chairman Mao Zedong and Minister of Education . During the Cultural Revolution , however, he was released in 1964 and suffered reprisals . He then became the editor of a children's magazine again and died in 1981.

plant

The reform of the monthly magazine Xiaoshuo Yuebao was Mao Dun's first contribution to the development of Chinese literature. As a result, the magazine has become a forum for the exchange of modern literature and by famous authors such as Lu Xun , Xu Dishan , Bing Xin and Ye Shengtao to introduce new works. Soon Mao Dun began to support these modern forms of literature and ideas. Its aim was to promote Chinese literature worldwide.

The political disputes of the epoch broadened his literary horizons and the content of a large part of his later writings is based on this topic. In 1930 he was fundamentally involved in founding the League of Left-Wing Writers. He then worked alongside Lu Xun for rights in society and the revolutionary movement as a literary current. The period from 1927 to 1937 was most productive for his literary work. In 1927, his first novel Disillusion was published ; his most important work of this genre, Shanghai in Twilight , was published in 1933. It is a novel in a naturalistic style, in which the economic actors of Shanghai are described in detail. In his stories, members of the working class are always portrayed as sympathetic and the idea of ​​a revolution is touted.

Mao Dun's influence on Chinese literature can still be felt today. With his savings he set up a foundation for the purpose of promoting literary creation, the " Mao Duns Literary Foundation ". Further evidence of the impact of Mao Dun's work in promoting literature can be seen in the celebrations on the occasion of his 50th birthday, to which more than 500 guests from all over the world were invited. As a message of appreciation, Wong Rufei wrote an essay on behalf of the CCP on the occasion that records the main areas of influence and achievements of his work in the literary field.

On several occasions he has been elected chairman or vice chairman of the Committee on Arts and Literature of China . In old age, suffering from illness, he wrote his memoir The Path I Took .

The introduction of a literary prize, the Mao Dun Prize , also goes back to his wish to promote communist literature and notable works . It has been awarded to well-known authors of modern literature such as Wei Wei , Liu Baiyu and Zhou Keqin .

Works

Mao Dun's literary extensive interaction with over 100 publications ranged from the short story about stories , essays , plays , translations to work on literary theory .

stories

• 《幻滅》 Huànmiè (Disillusion) 1928 - Disillusion
• 《三人 行》 Sānrénxíng (Three People Walking) 1931
• 《林家舖子》 Línjiā Pùzi (The Shop of the Lin Family) - The Lin family shop
• 《春蚕》 Chūncán (Spring Silkworms) 1933 - silkworms in spring; in: China told , Fischer Bücherei, Frankfurt am Main 1964.
• 《秋收》 Qiūshōu (Autumn Harvest) - Autumn harvest

Novels

• 《虹》 Hóng (Rainbow) 1930 - Rainbow
• 《子夜》 Zǐyè (Midnight) 1933 - Shanghai in twilight
• 《獻給 詩人 節》 Xiàngěi Shīrénjié (Giving to the Poet Festival) 1946

Anthologies

• 《茅盾 近作》 Máo Dùn Jìnzuò (The recent work of Mao Dun) 1980
• 《茅盾 論 創作》 Máo Dùn Lún Chuàngzuò (Mao Dun's Comment on Creativity) 1980

Essays

• 《蘇聯 見聞 錄》 Sūlián Jiànwénlù (Traveling Diary of USSR) 1948
• 《雜談 蘇聯》 Zátán Sūlián (Talks on USSR) 1949

drama

• 《清明 前後》 Qīngmíng Qiánhòu (Front and rear pure Brightness) 1945 - Before and after the Qingming festival

Translations

• Modern drama: Russian Question (《俄羅斯 問題》 Éluósī Wèntí), 1946
• Short novella: Group's Sons (《團 的 兒子》 Tuán de Érzi), 1946
• Stories: The Little Witch Reclam, Leipzig 1959 (translated by Johanna Herzfeldt )

Web links

• Literature by and about Mao Dun in the catalog of the German National Library
• Old Residence of Mao Dun (English)