Chapter 46 The Legendary Life of Dai Wangshu

The Legendary Life of Dai Wangshu Wen Wei Po (February 07, 2005) "Rain Lane" made him famous overnight In the autumn of 1923, 18-year-old Dai Wangshu was admitted to Shanghai University.Two years later, he entered the special class of Aurora University organized by the French Church in Shanghai to study French.The French priests taught the classic works of the romantic school such as Hugo, Lamartine, and Musset, but Dai Wangshu had a stronger tendency to pursue the new, and liked the works of the later symbolism school such as Gormont and Yemmer.He later became one of the modern poets who best combined Chinese classical poetic art with the latest Western poetic art in that era, which has a lot to do with his learning experience.His earliest translation of poems was when he was studying in Zhendan, and he translated Hugo's poems into Chinese.Later, Dai Wangshu published the prose poems "Going Out with Tears" and "The Night Song of the Wanderer" in the magazine "Ying Luo" founded by Shi Zhecun and Du Heng, and translated the poems "The Sky on the Tiles" and "Teardrops Falling Down". ".Verlaine, the author of these two poems, is one of the masters of French symbolism.Dai Wangshu translated it in the form of a folk ditty, but the wording is like Song Ci Xiaoling, using classical Chinese.

In April 1929, Dai Wangshu's first collection of poems "My Memory" was published by Shuimo Bookstore, which he presided over.This is the representative work of his early Symbolist poetry.His poems mainly obtained external rhythm and form from Wen Yiduo and Xu Zhimo, and mainly "melancholy mood" from English and French poetry.The traditional tendency in the form of his early poems is also manifested in the paragraph style, such as the use of four-line paragraphs, followed by three-line paragraphs. In August 1928, his metrical poem "Rain Lane" was published in "Novel Monthly".The poem reads: "Holding an oil-paper umbrella, alone / wandering in the long, long / lonely rain lane, / I hope to meet / a girl who is like a lilac / full of sorrow..." Ye Shengtao is compiling and publishing this poem At that time, he was praised for "opening a new jiyuan" for the syllables of the new poems.Thanks to Ye Shengtao's strong recommendation, Dai Wangshu became famous overnight and became known as "The Poet of Rain Lane".Zhu Ziqing also commented on this poem, saying that Dai Wangshu "pays attention to the beauty of neat rhythm, but it is not sonorous but light and clear".

Dai Wangshu became famous through "Rain Lane", but his leading position in the poetry circle was created by "Modern" magazine, or it was due to the publicity and promotion of the editor-in-chief Shi Zhecun.In this magazine, he published a large number of translations of poetry. A unique study abroad career Dai Wangshu and Shi Zhecun were classmates who were admitted to Shanghai University together.Dai Wangshu fell in love with Shi Zhecun's younger sister, Shi Jiangnian. Because of his persistent pursuit, at the turn of spring and summer in 1931, Shi Jiangnian was finally moved and decided to get engaged to Wangshu.But she made a condition: Dai Wangshu will marry him only after he has to study abroad, get a foreign degree and find a decent job.So, on October 8, 1932, Wang Shu traveled from Shanghai to France by cruise ship.At that time, it took a whole month to travel by sea.After arriving in Paris, he studied Spanish at a language school while studying at the University of Paris.But he doesn't seem to have much interest in a degree, or even plans to study.He was busy writing and translating in France, which has a lot to do with his own style of poet.

As a close friend of Wang Shu, Shi Zhe has several positions in China, including his agent, relatives and friends, and chief financial officer.Wang Shu gave Shi a certain number of manuscripts every month, and Shi was responsible for contacting and publishing matters, and remitted a certain amount of money to him every month.But Wang Shu's manuscript fee was not enough to cover his life in Paris, so Shi had to raise money for him in China and help him from time to time.Later, Dai Wangshu entered the relatively low-cost Lyon Sino-French University to study the history of French literature.But he committed the "old problem" in Paris again, rarely went to the classroom to attend lectures, and spent almost all his time on translation.His translations during his stay in France mainly include: "The History of Soviet Literature", which was written by Gao Lili in French. The French original name was "Poets in the Russian Revolution".This book was published by Gallimard Bookstore in Paris in 1934, and Wang Shu finished translating it only one month later.But this translation was not published in Hong Kong until December 1941.Wang Shu spent a considerable amount of pen and ink in the translator's notes, explaining the fate of the book in the tone of accusation: "After sending the translation manuscript to China, it hit a wall everywhere... the title of this small book alone , is enough to scare away those publishers who are dying."

Dai Wangshu also wrote a translator's note for each novel in his translated "Belgian Short Stories Collection", introducing the author and works.For example, Dai Wangshu's evaluation of Maeterlinck's "Baby Killing" is "resembling the famous painting of the early Frante school".His translation of "The Collection of Italian Short Stories" was published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in September 1935, and included a total of 10 Italian short stories, the earliest being "Romeo and Juliet" by Penderlo in the 16th century Romeo and Juliet is based on this).In addition, there are "French Modern Short Stories Collection", "Colomba" by Merimee, France, and "Purple Love" by Goulet.In France, Dai Wangshu not only translated French into Chinese, but also translated Chinese into French.At that time, it was very difficult to translate Chinese literary works into French and publish them in France, not to mention the royalties.He did this work mainly because of his relationship with the French sinologist Aidenbe.Aidenbo was four years younger than him, and he was very sympathetic to the Chinese proletarian revolution. In order to be able to read Chinese literature directly, he learned Chinese and gave himself the Chinese name "Ai Tianpu".Aidenbo introduced Dai Wangshu as a translator to "New France Review" and "Europa" - these are the few magazines that are likely to pay him a contribution fee.Dai Wangshu's translation works include Zhang Tianyi's short story "Hate".He and Aidenbo also cooperated in the translation of Shi Zhecun's "Magic Way" (translated into "Vampire" in French) and so on. In 1957, at the invitation of Zhou Enlai, Aidenberg led a delegation of French Sinologists to visit China, and wrote the influential "Journey to the East" after returning.

But compared with France, Spain seems to be more attractive to Dai Wangshu.As early as 1928, when he was 23 years old, he translated and published the Spanish writer Ibañez's novels "Song of a Good Night" and "Drunk Man and Drunk Woman".Since then, most of his translations have been the works of another Spanish writer, Azorin. In August 1933, Dai Wangshu traveled to Spain by train from Lyon.During that time, apart from traveling, he spent most of his time in libraries, bookstores and book fairs.He bought a lot of books in Spanish, including several editions of Don Quixote alone.He has always regarded the translation of "Don Quixote" as his greatest wish in his life. After returning to China, upon the introduction of Hu Shi, the China-British Culture Education Foundation asked him to directly translate this great work from the original text.According to Shi Zhecun: "This translation work has been done, but because the translated manuscripts are sent to Beijing every month, after the war, the complete manuscripts have not yet been published."

I do not know whereabouts. "Ye Lingfeng also said that shortly after Dai Wangshu translated this book, the Anti-Japanese War broke out; but for more than ten years, he has continued this work. But now we can only see some fragments, such as "Hong Kong Literature" in 1990 Wang Shu's translation of "The Biography of Lord Quixote" was published in the seventh issue. In any case, it is a great pity that Chinese readers have not been able to see Wang Shu's full translation. In Spain, Dai Wangshu also bought the complete works of Ayella, novels and prose collections of modern writers such as Asolin, and poetry collections of contemporary poets such as Lorca.These books played a great role in his translation of Spanish literature after returning to China. In late October, Wang Shu returned to France from Spain.But he couldn't stay - Lyon University expelled him.It was said that the reason for his expulsion was not his absence from school. In the spring of 1934, mass demonstrations broke out in Paris and several major French cities against the increasingly rampant fascist forces in France, and he went to participate.When traveling in Spain, he participated in the anti-fascist demonstrations of the Spanish progressive masses.The Spanish police notified the French police, who expelled him from the school and sent him home.

The Golden Age of Creation and Translation When Wang Shu returns to Shanghai, he realizes that Shi Jiangnian has another love.So the two broke off their engagement in the newspaper.At this time, Wang Shu temporarily lived in the apartment of his best friend Liu Naou.Mu Shiying, Du Heng and others lived together.Mu Shiying saw that Shu could not get rid of the shadow of broken love, so he introduced his younger sister Mu Lijuan to him.Mu Lijuan is just 18 years old and graduated from Shanghai Nanyang Girls' High School. Perhaps because of her brother, she also likes literature, and admires Dai Wangshu, who is quite accomplished in literature.Dai Wangshu asked Mu Lijuan to help him copy the manuscript, and gradually the two developed feelings for each other, which facilitated the wedding in June 1936.After marriage, in addition to writing and translating, Dai Wangshu also went to a nearby church to learn Russian from a Russian priest.Soon he began to translate the works of Russian poets such as Pushkin and Yesenin.

In October 1935, "Modern Poetry Style" edited by Wang Shu and published by Maiwangshe came out.Shi Zhecun, Dai Wangshu, and Du Heng were known as the "Three Musketeers in the literary world" in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s.Due to the author's popularity and the quality of his works, the 1,000 copies of the first issue of "Modern Poetry Style" were sold out quickly.But Dai Wangshu didn't take advantage of this enthusiasm to continue editing the second issue. He had a new idea, and he wanted to cooperate with the "Northern Poetry School" to publish the monthly "New Poetry".In the early 1930s, there was a problem of confrontation between the north and the south in the poetry circles. The northern schools of poetry included the "Crescent School" and the "Later New Moon School". Representative poets included Bian Zhilin, He Qifang, Lin Geng, Cao Baohua and so on.The difference between the north and the south is not just a geographical difference, but a difference in the "spirit" of the works.Dai Wangshu abandoned "Modern Poetry Style" and created "New Poetry" in order to realize his idea of ​​"North-South Unity".At that time, Xu Zhimo, the leading figure of the New Moon School, died in a plane crash, and Zhu Xiang committed suicide by jumping into the river. The leader, Bian Zhilin, wanted to break the situation of confrontation with the Modern School.Maybe Wang Shu saw this trend, stepped up his operation, and founded "New Poetry", which is a concrete manifestation of his promotion of the combination of northern and southern poetry schools.

In October 1936, the first issue of "New Poetry" was born.This is the biggest thing Dai Wangshu has done for Chinese poetry, and he has spent a lot of effort on it. "New Poetry" is located in his own home at No. 30 Yongli Village, Henry Road, Shanghai, and the funds mainly come from his own pocket.He offered 100 yuan, and Xu Chi and Ji Xian each gave 50 yuan. The editorial committee of "New Poetry" is a luxurious lineup, they are: Bian Zhilin, Sun Dayu, Liang Zongdai, Feng Zhi, Dai Wangshu.Although Xu Chi and Ji Xian were funders, they were not included in the editorial committee. They just ran around, doing editorial work such as proofreading, printing, and liaison. "New Poetry" ceased publication in July 1937, and a total of 10 issues were published.Eighty or ninety people have published their works and translations on "New Poetry", including "New Moon", "Post-New Moon" and "Modern Times".

During this period, Wang Shu used his publications to introduce and translate many foreign poems, all of which were works of modern poets.For example, in the first issue of "New Poetry", there are his own prose "Remembering the Poet Xu Baiweier" and his own translations of "Xu Baiweier's White Portrait", "Xu Baiweier's Selected Poems" and "Xu Baiweier's Poems" On Beverly Aire, etc.This album about Xu Baiweier is the first comprehensive introduction of this important contemporary French poet in China. The second issue of "New Poetry" released a relatively small-scale album of the Spanish poet Salinas.In the third issue, there is Dai Wangshu's translation of "Blake's Poetry Copy Three".Blake, now translated as Blake, was an important British poet and printmaker in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.Wang Shu translated Blake's "Song of Wild Flowers" and "Sleepland". In the seventh issue of "New Poetry", Dai Wangshu published "Yesenin's Poems" under the pen name Ai Angfu.Yesenin's works are set in the Russian countryside, and he claims to be the last Russian pastoral poet.The most important thing is the "Literature" of Fan Lexi (now translated as Valéry) translated by Dai Wangshu and published in installments in the seventh and eighth issues.Those are some fragments of Valéry's thoughts on literature, which are extremely profound and refined. Wang Shu originally sympathized with the left-wing trend of thought, but he never echoed the views of the majority. He would rather bear the infamy than insist on his own views.When the left-wing literature and art were arguing about "national defense literature" with great fanfare, because of his dissatisfaction with "national defense poetry", he did not hesitate to stand in the position of opposing the left wing in order to maintain the artistic taste of poetry.He sharply criticized the narrowness and roughness of national defense poetry, and believed that those who commented on national defense poetry "do not understand the sublimity of art, do not know the depth of human nature", and some works "are just a shallow piece of poetry with lines divided and forced rhymes added. And vulgar speeches."Therefore, he also translated many high-quality Spanish anti-Japanese ballads as a reference for Chinese poets. After Dai Wangshu parted ways with the left-wing poets, he basically adopted an attitude of not interfering with them, the only exception being Ai Qing.Ai Qing advocates popularizing poetry, fulfilling responsibilities for the nation, and reflecting current events.But his poetic accomplishment mainly comes from French and Belgian symbolism.However, Ai Qing only regards symbolism as an artistic expression method, and only borrows its meaning on the instrumental level, so he is not called a symbolist poet.Dai Wangshu regards symbolism as the essence and whole of poetry.However, this did not prevent the communication between these two great poets. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Dai Wangshu was invited to participate in the first National Congress of Literary and Artistic Workers of China, and Hu Qiaomu appointed him by name as the section chief of the French and Humanities Section of the International Information Bureau of the General Administration of Press and Publication.But he soon fell ill. On February 28, 1950, he died of an overdose while giving himself an injection at the age of 45.