Li Jieren ( zh, c=李劼人, w=Li Chieh-jên, p=Lǐ Jiérén; Sichuanese romanization: ''Li Chie-ren''; June 20, 1891 – December 24, 1962) was a Chinese writer and translator. A native of

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, his works are celebrated for their local flavor and realistic portrayal of Sichuan during the late

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

period.

Life

Born Li Jiaxiang () in Chengdu to a family of humble means, he did not begin formal schooling until the age of 16. He graduated from the secondary school attached to the Sichuan Higher School (a predecessor of

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a public university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. I ...

) in 1911 and published his first work of fiction in 1912. From 1919 to 1924 Li studied in France, first in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and then in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

; he would later become the first to translate the works of French writers such as

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...

Alphonse Daudet Alphonse Daudet (; 13 May 184016 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet. Early life Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the ' ...

, and

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

into Chinese. He is best known for a trilogy of long novels set in his native Sichuan and published during the 1930s. The first and most widely acclaimed of these was translated into English as ''

Ripple on Stagnant Water ''Ripple on Stagnant Water'' (), also translated as ''Ripples Across Stagnant Water'', and ''Ripples on Dead Water'', is a novel by Li Jieren. It was first published in 1935. An updated version appeared in 1955. Plot The work follows the marri ...

'' (). The third and longest volume in the trilogy, ''The Great Wave'' (), chronicles the events of the

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

in Sichuan. In the late 1950s, Li revised ''The Great Wave'' significantly. His fiction is considered among the finest examples of Chinese literary naturalism. Li was active in the literary field of Republican China throughout the 1930s and 40s as a writer, editor, and French-Chinese translator. After the establishment of the PRC in 1949, he held various government positions in Sichuan, including that of vice mayor of Chengdu. From 1958, he chaired the Chengdu Topographical Museum Preparatory Committee, located at Daci Temple, which led to the establishment of Chengdu Museum in 1984 at the temple. He died in Chengdu in 1962. The house he had built on the outskirts of Chengdu during the war with Japan in 1939 now serves as a memorial and museum dedicated to his life and work. Li Jieren's ''Complete Works'', including his translations of French novels, were published in 17 volumes in 2011 by Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House ().

Works

* 同情 (1924; ''Sympathy'') * 好人家 (1925; ''Good People'') * 大河小说三部曲 (''The Great River Trilogy'') ** 死水微澜 (1936; ''

'') ** 暴风雨前 (1936; ''Before the Storm'') ** 大波 (1937; ''Great Wave'') * 天魔舞 (1985; ''Dance of the Demons'')

References

External links

''Ripple on Stagnant Water''
(

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jieren, Li 1891 births 1962 deaths Writers from Chengdu French–Chinese translators 20th-century Chinese translators

Life

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links