Chapters From A Floating Life E-Book

Shen Fu

• Herausgeber: Olympia Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Shen Fu, writer and painter, who was a native of Soochow, was born in 1763 and died sometime alter 1809. His father was by profession a secretary to magistrates, and Shen Fu was apprenticed in the same profession. Shen held various posts as a secretary, but he also worked by turns as a teacher and merchant. Although he had a studio in Soochow for a time he found that he could not make a living out of his paintings and for much of his life was miserably poor. He was sustained by his beloved wife Ch'en Yun, who died in 1803 after twenty-three years of marriage, and he movingly commemorates their mutual devotion in his enchanting biography.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Chapters From A Floating Life

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

PART TWO

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

Chapters From A Floating Life

Shen Fu

This page copyright © 2006 Silk Pagoda.

http://www.silkpagoda.com

Translated from the Chinese by Shirley M. Black, Poems by Tu Fu and Li Po Translated by S. M. B.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHINESE ARTIST

Shen Fu, writer and painter, who was a native of Soochow, was born in 1763 and died sometime alter 1809. His father was by profession a secretary to magistrates, and Shen Fu was apprenticed in the same profession. Shen held various posts as a secretary, but he also worked by turns as a teacher and merchant. Although he had a studio in Soochow for a time he found that he could not make a living out of his paintings and for much of his life was miserably poor. He was sustained by his beloved wife Ch'en Yun, who died in 1803 after twenty-three years of marriage, and he movingly commemorates their mutual devotion in his enchanting biography.

Chapters from a Floating Life, now most sympathetically translated by Mrs. Shirley M. Black, has long been a classic in China. The autobiography was originally written in six parts, but the two last were unfortunately lost. Mrs. Black has transposed several incidents, and abridged the whole somewhat, especially the fourth part, in the interest of the general western reader. She has selected the illustrations from paintings which might have influenced Shen Fu, and which reflect the spirit and delicacy of his writing.

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1

*

I WAS born in 1763, at a time of peace and unusual prosperity, in the reign of the Emperor Ch'ien Lung, on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month, in the winter of the year of the sheep. Mine was a full-dress family, one of scholars and gentle-people, who lived near the gardens of the Ts'ang-lang Pavilion, in the city of Soochow.

The gods, I should say, have always been more than generous to me; but, as the poet Su Tung-p'o wrote:

'Life is like a spring dream

which ends—and leaves no traces.'

By setting down this story of my life, then, I hope to show my gratitude for Heaven's many favours.

The first of the three hundred poems in the Classic of Poetry is a wedding song and I too shall begin with memories of my married life, letting other events follow as they may. My only regret is that as a boy I neglected my studies and acquired such a superficial education that now I find it impossible to do more than record the bare facts of my life as I remember them. Examining my work for elegance of style, therefore, would be like expecting brilliance from a tarnished mirror.