Xu Zhenya

Xu Zhenya

Xu Zhenya (1889-1937), a modern novelist. The name Jue, the word pillow Asia, do not Department slowly, cry Zhusheng, donghaisanlang, Jiangsu Changshu people. Member of Nanshe. In his early years, he studied in Yunan Normal School in Changshu and was a classmate with Wu Shuangre in Tongyi.

Writers and works

The author's life

From 1909 to 1911, he applied to teach at Hongxi primary school in Xicang Town, Wuxi. During this period, Xu Zhenya was keen on writing old style love poems, wrote more than 800 old style poems, contributed to Nanshe series founded by Liu Yazi in Wujiang, and was introduced to Nanshe by his elder brother Xu Tianxiao.

At this time, Changshu was located in the triangle center of Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi, a commercial and pleasure city. Its idyllic scenery and soft culture were welcomed by the public. The so-called beauty of heaven and earth lies in the beautiful stories of boudoirs, the so-called virtuous ladies, famous prostitutes, beautiful, gentle, romantic and elegant, and all kinds of old and new stories that make ordinary people chat after dinner, which constitute the framework of the novel form of Yuanyang butterfly school. Generally speaking, the artistic spirit implied in the novels of this school does not fit in with the contemporary politics. It is full of self appreciation and self intoxication. When Xu Zhenya was in his hometown, he had no love life, and the love life he yearned for was suppressed. However, during the three years of teaching in Wuxi rural primary school, he fell in love with a beautiful widow surnamed Chen in the rented place. He had an unforgettable love with her. His love story ended in tragedy. In 1912, with this silent ending, he left Wuxi and went to Shanghai to help his brother run the civil rights newspaper. At this time, the Republic of China was just beginning to take shape, warlords were busy competing in the north, and the Shanghai concession was peaceful for the time being. As a scholar of the old school, Xu Zhenya naturally used newspapers as a form of mass communication to write romantic novels.

historical background

In his early years, he studied in Yunan Normal School in Changshu and was a classmate with Wu Shuangre in Tongyi. He had a solid foundation in his old studies. He was able to write poems and lyrics when he was 10 years old. He had accumulated more than 800 poems in school and tried to write short stories and essays. He will teach locally after graduation. At the beginning of 1912, at the appointment of Zhou Hao, the leader of the Liberal Party, he went to Shanghai with Wu Shuangre and his brother Xu Tianxiao, and published civil rights newspaper. So he wrote the novel "soul of jade pear" and published it in the literary supplement of the newspaper. It was published in a single line, reprinted 30 or 40 times before and after, and became popular at home and abroad, and was moved to the screen, thus becoming the most influential representative work of the mandarin duck and butterfly school. Xu Zhenya also became a famous writer. After the civil rights newspaper was forced to stop publication by Yuan Shikai's government, Xu Zhenya became a member of Zhonghua Book Company and wrote "College Students' letters". In 1914, he was appointed as the chief editor of novel series. Because of its popularity, Yuli soul was changed into diary style and named Xuehong's history of tears. It was serially published in this magazine. Unexpectedly, it was no less popular than Yuli soul. Since then, the two books have kept pace with each other and have been handed down for a long time. After that, Xu Zhenya broke away from the magazine in 1918 and set up his own Tsinghua book company, and founded the novel quarterly. His middle-aged family suffered misfortune and his wife died twice. In addition, Tsinghua book company's business was very poor, and Pepsi was out of business. His talent was exhausted, and he drowned his worries with wine. His works became increasingly rare. Finally, he closed the bookstore, returned to his hometown, and died of poverty. Xu Zhen is good at calligraphy, especially parallel prose, and is famous for his novels. His novels are not only famous for their melancholy, but also characterized by the parallel style of four Li and six Liu, which had a great influence on the formation and development of the school of mandarin duck and butterfly, thus making Xu Zhenya a banner of the school.

work

In addition to the above-mentioned works, there are more than ten novels, such as Yu's wife, double servant girl, let son-in-law, LAN guihen, acacia, the soul of autumn and so on. In addition, there are four miscellaneous works: zhenyalangmo, wuliaozhai shuoyui, guide to love sea, guide to elegiac couplets, a short history of modern novelists, 100 mourning poems, 30 reminiscences, and gupen Yihen collection. In addition, he also compiled poems of unknown women, Grand View of Xiewen, guangxieduo, jinnang, etc.

Death of illness

Summarizing Xu Zhenya's novel and publishing career, he first took refuge in the civil rights newspaper and serialized the novel the soul of jade pear. After becoming famous, he founded novel series, novel quarterly and Tsinghua book company. After the creation of "the soul of jade pear" and "the history of Xue Hong's tears", there are also works such as "Yu's wife", "double servant girl", "Lan guihen" and "deep love". Because of the family love, Xu Zhenya was depressed, and his behavior tended to be decadent. The publishing house went bankrupt, and it was difficult to maintain. So in 1934, he sold the Shanghai Publishing House to a friend and returned to Changshu. In Changshu, he opened an antique shop to sell his calligraphy and seal cutting works, called "lezhenlu". At that time, Xu Zhenya, who was only in his forties, had a serious lung disease and was not as energetic as before. He had to write books and carve chapters for a living. It is said that when he was in Shanghai, his calligraphy was very famous. The Communist Party's "guide" magazine asked him to write its title. In November 1937, after the Japanese captured Changshu, Xu Zhenya fled to the countryside of Yangyuan in Changshu. He died at the age of 49.

Calligraphy

Famous works

Famous works

In his melancholy, he wrote a serial novel the soul of jade pear, one paragraph a day, which made the sales of newspapers soar. The novel has not been finished, and has caused a sensation among Shanghai citizens, especially a large number of female readers. Among them is Liu, the daughter of Liu Chunlin, the last number one scholar of the Qing Dynasty. Because she loved Xu Zhenya's novels, she became his infatuated reader. Like today's online love, she found her way from Beijing to Shanghai and wanted to marry Xu Zhenya.

As a matter of principle, the soul of jade pear is a epistolary novel with parallel style. Without certain ancient culture and leisure, it is hard to understand. At least the workers and peasants can't understand it. The soul of jade pear belongs to the aristocratic group. However, its era promotes its wide spread. During the period of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, boudoir women were not willing to read only a dream of Red Mansions and the romance of the west chamber. With the help of newspapers, they had to read modern love stories, which included young men and women in modern costume and modern consciousness, western dress and Qipao, and love affairs and elopement. The new wine in the old bottle just meets the needs of boudoir girls in Shanghai, Beijing and other places. With the development of newspapers in big cities, moreover, it has been edited as a drama and made a film, which objectively makes the spread of the novel further and its influence grows with each passing day.

Thus, Xu Zhenya became the founder of Yuanyang butterfly school. Five tiger generals of mandarin duck and Butterfly School

A brief introduction to famous works

In the novel, the hero is he Mengxia, and the heroine is a beautiful widow named bailiying, who can write erotic words and sighs at the moon in the cold night. The tutor, who lives in a wall away from her, is reading and correcting the composition at night. During the day, they were under the surveillance of the public and restrained themselves. But in the evening, Acacia became ill, and letters came and went secretly. This kind of "underground struggle" is not only the traditional bitterness of waiting for the moon, but also the overt provocation of feudal ethics. The letter of love between them was passed on by Peng Lang, the son of Bai Liying, a student of he Mengxia. Under the pressure of feudal ethics, widows could not remarry. He Mengxia is so sad and haggard that Li Ying introduces her sister-in-law junqian to her engagement. But he Mengxia is still secretly in love with the pear shadow, which is not available, and Yun Qing dies because of this. In the end, Li Ying was also infected with the epidemic disease. He Mengxia went to Japan to study military science, returned to China during the revolution of 1911, and died in the battle against Wuchang.

Because Xu Zhenya once worked as a teacher in the squire's family of Cai family in Xicang Town, Wuxi, and the young widow was a real person, the novel is very sad and moving, and the plot is also tortuous and changeable. Xu Zhenya also named his study "Zhenxia Pavilion" and "wanghong Pavilion". It is said that the Liu family, Xu Zhenya's stepmother, was the daughter of Liu Chunlin, the last top scholar in the Qing Dynasty. Living in Beijing, Liu read "the soul of jade pear" in her boudoir. She admired Xu's literary talent very much. When she got to know Xu's recent situation, she entrusted her father's friend as a matchmaker and married Xu as her stepwife. After Xu Zhenya became the son-in-law of the number one scholar, he and his wife were deeply attached to each other, adding fragrance to their sleeves, and their creative thoughts were endless. They not only founded Tsinghua publishing house, but also compiled novel series, and wrote a sequel to the soul of jade pear, the history of Xue Hong's tears, with the same theme, which was no less popular than the previous book. Xu's mother was an old-fashioned and ferocious feudal woman who often abused the Liu family. In addition, Xu worked in Shanghai all the year round, so the relationship between her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could not be reconciled. Liu soon died of depression. From then on, Xu Zhenya drowned his worries by drinking and no longer had interest in writing. In 1934, Shanghai Minxing stage rehearsed "the soul of jade pear", Xu Zhenya later wrote "six poems after the disaster of love day", with tears in his eyes. He was deeply affectionate: "it's not the writing of books to create evils, it's a mistake for people to guess, suddenly seeing you again is like a flower shadow, and his tears are withered. I always wear it in my life, but it's been four years since I died. After all, I've been lying for love, but now I can't comfort Chongquan. Today, we are all in front of us. We will not meet the stage. The world is desolate still has me, pitiful jade bone early ashes! A tragedy began again. I remember that I was heartbroken when I heard the ghost from Mawei slope and scolded Li Sanlang. At a glance of the electric light, poor spring looks like a real girl. It's as if I don't know who I am in the play. If I can find the old world now, I will feel pain at every level. If I can achieve my dream, I am ashamed to live secretly until now. "

Chinese PinYin : Xu Zhen Ya