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 《京华烟云》是林语堂旅居巴黎时于1938年8月至1939年8月间用英文写就的长篇小说，并题献给“英勇的中国士兵”，英文书名为《Moment in Peking》，《京华烟云》是它转译为中文后的书名，也有译本将本书译为《瞬息京华》。林语堂原本打算将《红楼梦》译作英文介绍给西方读者，因故未能译 成，此后决定仿照《红楼梦》的结构写一部长篇小说，于是写出了《京华烟云》。《京华烟云》讲述了北平曾、姚、牛三大家族从1901年义和团运动到抗日战争 30多年间的悲观离合和恩怨情仇，并在其中安插了袁世凯篡国、张勋复辟、直奉大战、军阀割据、“五四”运动、“三·一八”惨案、“语丝派”与“现代评论 派”笔战、青年“左倾”、二战爆发等历史事件，全景式展现了现代中国社会风云变幻的历史风貌。《京华烟云》自1939年底在美国出版后的短短半年内即行销 5万多册，美国《时代》周刊称其“极有可能成为关于现代中国社会现实的经典作品”。
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A Moment in Peking (Traditional Chinese: 京華煙雲, Simplified Chinese: 京华烟云, Hanyu Pinyin: jīng huá yān yún) is a historical novel originally written in English by the Chinese American author Lin Yutang. The novel covers the turbulent events in China from 1900 to 1938, including the Boxer Rebellion, the Republican Revolution of 1911, the Warlord Era, the rise of nationalism and communism, and the origins of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945.
The author tries not to be overly judgmental of the characters because he recognizes that too many issues were involved in the chaotic years of the early twentieth century China. There are no absolutely right or wrong characters. Each character held a piece of truth and reality and a piece of irrationality. In the preface, Lin writes that "[This novel] is merely a story of... how certain habits of living and ways of thinking are formed and how, above all, [men and women] adjust themselves to the circumstances in this earthly life where men strive but gods rule."
While the author does not display hatred toward the Japanese, he does let events and situations affecting the novel characters to let the reader clearly see the reason the Chinese are still bitter about Japan's military past. The novel ends with a cliffhanger, letting the readers hope that the major characters who fled from the coastal regions to the inland of China would survive the horrible war.
Lin wrote the book English for a U.S. audience. He originally wanted the poet Yu Dafu to do the Chinese translation, but he had only completed the first section when he was killed by the Japanese in World War II. Lin didn't particularly like the first Chinese translation done in 1941.
In 1977 Zhang Zhenyu, a translator from Taiwan, created what is the most popular translation today. It was not available in mainland China until a publisher in Jilin issued a sanitized version in 1987. The current political climate permits Shaanxi Normal University Press to publish the full translation. Lin's son Yu Fei finished his own translation in 1991, but his version is not widely read.
Lin Yutang was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for this book in 1975.
References
* Martinsen, Joel. Beijing Bestsellers: Moment in Peking and other TV hits. Retrieved on 2006-12-23.
External link
* A 1939 Time Magazine review of the novel
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