|
 |
|
 |
|
Summary: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CHINESE ARTIST
Shen Fu, writer and painter, who was a native of Soochow, was born in 1763 and died sometime alter 1809. His father was by profession a secretary to magistrates, and Shen Fu was apprenticed in the same profession. Shen held various posts as a secretary, but he also worked by turns as a teacher and merchant. Although he had a studio in Soochow for a time he found that he could not make a living out of his paintings and for much of his life was miserably poor. He was sustained by his beloved wife Ch'en Yun, who died in 1803 after twenty-three years of marriage, and he movingly commemorates their mutual devotion in his enchanting biography.
Chapters from a Floating Life, now most sympathetically translated by Mrs. Shirley M. Black, has long been a classic in China. The autobiography was originally written in six parts, but the two last were unfortunately lost. Mrs. Black has transposed several incidents, and abridged the whole somewhat, especially the fourth part, in the interest of the general western reader. She has selected the illustrations from paintings which might have influenced Shen Fu, and which reflect the spirit and delicacy of his writing. |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Download free sample for this eBook
(Mobipocket Reader format)
|
