Shen Congwen

Shen Congwen 沈從文 and Zhang Zhaohe 張兆和.




Shen Congwen, ca. 1931?

So I'm reading the Panda books edition Recollections of West Hunan. An interesting question comes up: what Chinese texts are these English translations made from?

You'd think that would be printed somewhere on the book, but it isn't. Clearly, Foreign Languages Press never viewed these books as pathways back to Chinese texts. All the prefatory note says is

This volume of his [Shen Congwen's] early essays comprises eleven chosen from four collections written between 1931 and 1937.

Great. Let's just track those down. Here's the 11 stories' English titles, matched against Chinese titles I've found on the internet in places like here:

I Study a Small Book and at the Same Time a Big Book
While Continuing My Schooling I Stick to That Big Book
A Night at Mallard-Nest Village
An Amorous Boatman and an Amorous Woman
Chest Precipice
Five Army Officers and a Miner
The People of Yuanling
Fenghuang 凤凰
After Snow
Qiaoxiu and Dongsheng
Truth is Stranger than Fiction


Fenghuang, Hunan Province, Shen Congwen's hometown