Yu Dafu
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- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yu.
Yu Ta-fu (郁達夫; pinyin: Yu Dafu) (December 7, 1896, - September 17, 1945). Born in Fuyang, Zhejiang Province. 1920's Chinese short story writer and poet.
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[edit] Early Years
He received his higher education in Japan between 1913 and 1922 where he met other Chinese intellectuals (namely, Guo Moruo, Zhang Ziping and Tian Han). Together, in 1921 they founded the Ch'ang-tsao she ("Creation Society"), which promoted vernacular and modern literature. One of his earlier works Ch'en-lun, also his most famous, published in Japan in 1921. The work had gained immense popularity in China, shocking the world of Chinese literature with its frank dealing with sex, as well as grievances directed at the incompetence of Chinese government at the time.
He returned to China a literary celebrity and worked in the Creation Society editing journals and writing short stories. In 1923, after an attack of tuberculosis, Yu Dafu directed his attention to the welfare of the masses.
In 1927, he worked as an editor of the Hong-shui magazine. He was later in conflict with the Communist political party and had fled to Japan.
[edit] Second Sino-Japanese war
He worked as a writer of anti-Japanese propaganda during the Second Sino-Japanese war. From 1938 to 1942, he worked as a literary editor for the newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh in Singapore.
In 1942 when the Japanese army invaded Singapore, he was forced to flee to Sumatra. Known under a different identity, he settled there among other Chinese and began a brewery business with the help of the locals. Later he was forced to help the Japanese army with translation when they found out he was one of the few who knows Japanese in the area.
In 1944, he was murdered by the Japanese when they finally revealed his true identity.
[edit] Works
- Ch'en-lun "Sinking" (1921)
- Jih-chi chiu-chung “Nine Diaries” (1927)
- Kuo-ch'ü “The Past" (1927)
- his first novel?? (1928) (moderately successful)
- his second novel?? (1932)
- Ch'u-pen "Flight" (1935)
His most popular work, breaking all Chinese sales records, was Jih-chi chiu-chung "Nine Diaries", which detailed his affair with the writer Wang Ying-hsin. The most critically acclaimed work is Kuo-ch'u or "The Past", written in 1927, which is said to have psychological depth.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Yü Ta-fu"