Shen fu

About the writer know little. The facts of his biography are more likely to be found in his work. Shen Fu lived at the turn of the XVIII and XIX centuries. In addition to writing, he was engaged in art, or rather, he was first an artist, and only then a writer. He painted traditional Chinese ink paintings . He was educated in the Taoist - Buddhist worldview, rather than the traditional Confucian .

Descended from a family of civil servants. Born in the city of Changzhou . Since 1777, together with his parents, lives in Shaoxing , where he completed his studies.

He received his education from a private teacher who taught him traditional Chinese subjects: philosophy, history, genres of official papers and was brought up on the Confucian Five Canons . From the age of 14, Shen Fu studied at a private school, where he learned the hieroglyphs from the books “Trilogy”, “Thousands of Words”, “One Hundred Surnames”, “Four Book” and “Five Canons”. The father assumed that he would pass the exams and become an official, just like him. But it is not known whether Shen Fu passed the exams or not. From the age of 16, he began his career as an official under the auspices of his father's friend. In 1784, he took part in the inspection of Emperor Qianlong . C 25 years decided not to engage in bureaucratic activities.

In the 1790s, engaged in trade, opening a wine shop. At the same time engaged in literary activities. After a scandal with his father, he left his home and began to travel.

Known for his work "Six Notes on Fleeting Life." This work can be equated to the “Letter to the Descendants” of Petrarch , “The Lives of Benvenuto, the Son of Maestro Giovanni Chellini, the Florentine, written by him in Florence”, “Memoirs” by François de La Rochefoucauld .

Chinese literature did not know of another work in which it would be told with such sincerity about its life. Written in the form of diary entries, it tells about the personal experiences of the hero, his memories, descriptions of areas, thoughts. "Six Notes" is the story of the life of a married couple, Shen Fu and his young wife, Chen Yun.

The work is four notebooks, and the other two are considered lost. But there is a theory that they did not exist at all. The manuscript was published in 1877 , but its popularity came after its reprint in 1924 . According to genre features, the novel is unique, since it cannot be attributed either to common narrative prose, nor to narrative prose - tuna xiaosho, nor to the medieval urban story - huaben . It can rather be attributed to the biji genre. This is a kind of frontier literature between official genres and professional narrative prose. Shen Fu rather depicts the world through aesthetic perception, but at the same time strives to correctly convey the psychological images of the characters.

The main conflict of the work is the clash of the individual with the authoritarian will of the race. Through various oversights in the traditional attitude towards the family, the protagonists fall out of favor with the heads of the clan and were forced to leave their father’s house and live in poverty. But the author himself, at the same time, considers his personal bad luck or fate more to blame for this attitude. The reason for the family’s dislike for the spouses was their love, which they could not hide in society, and what was condemned in an environment where marriages were only by calculation.

In addition, the novel can also be interesting in terms of cultural studies. The reader can learn a lot about the rites and traditions of the holidays. Before him passes the life of a wealthy class of Chinese society at that time. And this life is bright and unique without any days spent aimlessly.

The work of Shen Fu is also rich in proverbs , sayings and poetry of classical poets.

• The history of world literature: In 8 volumes / USSR Academy of Sciences; Institute of World Literature them. A. M. Gorky. - M .: Science, 1983-1994. - T. 5. - 1988. - p. 603.
• KI Golygin. Preface. Six Notes on Fleet Life, "Science," M. 1979, pp. 3-22.