- Liu Xinwu
Liu Xinwu (Chinese: 刘心武, "Liú Xīnwǔ"; b. 1942) is a Chinese author, and one of the earliest proponents of the post-Maoist wave of Chinese literature.
Biography
Born in the province of
Sichuan , his family moved toBeijing , a city that figures prominently in his work, in 1950. Liu spent most of his life in Beijing, except for a brief period during theCultural Revolution , when he was sent to work in rural China.His short story, "Class counsellor" (also translated as "The Class Teacher", 班主任, "bān zhǔrèn") published in 1977 was one of the earliest examples of prose condemning the excesses of the Chinese government during the Cultural Revolution. His work has sometimes been referred to as
scar literature , though this assessment is disputed. [cite journal|last=Xie|first=Xinhua|journal=The Journal of the Teacher's College, Qingdao University|year=2000|volume=17|number=1|title=《班主任》不是伤痕文学 ("'The Class Teacher' is not scar literature")|url=http://www.wanfangdata.com.cn/qikan/periodical.articles/qddxsfxyxb/qddx2000/0001/000101.htm]Liu filled editorial positions in a number of prominent government-sponsored publications throughout most of the 1980s. In 1987, however, he was removed as editor of the publication "People's Literature" after a story published failed to meet government approval. He left all his government positions after the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 because of continual harassment from the government for his pro-demonstrator stance. Since then, he has devoted himself entirely to his writing.Liu's work, which includes novels, short stories, and children's literature, focuses on the common people of Beijing and people who live on the margins of society.
Redology
Since the early 1990s Liu has also been engaging in
Redology (紅學, hōngxué), also known as studies of the famous 17th-century Chinese novel "Dream of the Red Chamber " (紅樓夢, Hónglóu Mèng). Liu takes on the stance that in studying this famous Qing novel, the researcher's point of departure should be the figure ofQin Keqing , thus authoring the branch ofQin studies (秦學, qínxué) within redology. In 2006 Liu gave a talk atColumbia University introducing this concept. [Chinese wiki, date of access: 03/25/08: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%88%98%E5%BF%83%E6%AD%A6] Liu has also published on "The Dream" with the famous redologistZhou Ruchang . [Joel Martinsen on danwei.org, Dec 8, 2006: http://www.danwei.org/books/conspiracy_of_the_red_mansions.php]Translations
* "Black Walls and Other Stories" (ed. by Don J. Cohn, ISBN 962-7255-06-8)
* "Chinese short stories of the twentieth century: an anthology in English" (ed. by Zhihua Fang, ISBN 0-8153-0532-X) Includes "The Class Teacher".
* "Prize-winning Stories from China, 1978-1979" (by Liu Xinwu, Wang Meng, and others). HC (ISBN 0-253-34620-7) PB (ISBN 0-253-20292-2)
* "The Wounded: new stories of the Cultural Revolution, 77-78" (ed, Hsin-hua Lu, Geremie Barmé, Bennett Lee). HC (ISBN 962-04-0007-0) PB (ISBN 962-04-0008-9) Includes "Class counsellor".References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
