Literature and the Pictorial Magazine

Chapter 1 Literature and the Pictorial Magazine An Introduction to Writers and Writings in Wenyi and Wanxiang The short-lived magazines Wenyi and Wanxiang were just two of many dedicated to the latest movements in art and literature that appeared in 1934, an unprecedented year for the Shanghai magazine publishing industry that became known as The Year of the Magazine.1 The magazines included essays on art and literature from Europe, America, and Japan, with short stories by Chinese writers and translations into Chinese of writings by foreign authors. Ye Lingfeng 葉靈鳳 (1905–1975) and Mu Shiying, both associated with the New-sensationist group of writers (Mu as a central figure and Ye on its fringes) were the chief editors of Wenyi, a magazine described by their col- league Hei Ying in later years as a ‘pure art and literature publication’, in other words a magazine dedicated to ‘art for art’s sake’.2 The products of the writers associated with this group consciously adopted traits of the writing of the Shinkankaku-ha, the Japanese New-sensationists, whose work had been introduced to China by Liu Na’ou in the 1920s, as well as aspects of the writings of the French modernist Paul Morand (1888–1976), who had already been such an inspiration to the Japanese group in the early part of that decade.3 In common with many other writers and artists in Shanghai during the 1930s, one of the aims of these Chinese writers was to break down barriers that were seen to exist between ‘high’ and ‘low’ cultures, with the result that their work takes on many of the trappings of popular cultural imagery, while at the same time retaining what might be described as its ‘avant-garde’, modernist nature. This modern literary phenomenon has its counterpart in the visual arts and a mixture of popular and modernist features can also be found in the 1 Lin Yutang, A History of the Press and Public Opinion in China (London: Oxford University Press, 1937), p. 152. Ye Lingfeng 葉靈鳳 and Mu Shiying 穆時英 (eds.), Wenyi huabao (Art and Literature Pictorial) (Shanghai: Shanghai zazhi gongsi, 1934–35). The four issues are: Wenyi huabao vol. 1 no. 1 (10 October 1934); Wenyi huabao vol. 1 no. 2 (15 December 1934); Wenyi huabao vol. 1 no. 3 (15 February 1935); Wenyi huabao vol. 1 no. 4 (15 April 1935). 2 Hei Ying appears to use this term disparagingly when looking back at the time from the 1980s. Hei Ying, ‘Wo jiandao de Mu Shiying’ 我见到的穆时英 (The Mu Shiying I Met) in Xin wenxue shiliao 新文学史料 (New Materials on the History of Literature) no. 3 (1989), p. 144. 3 For more on this see Peng, Dandyism and Transcultural Modernity; and Shih, The Lure of the Modern. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004428737_003 24 Chapter 1 work of many Shanghai artists during the 1920s and 1930s. The latter will be discussed in detail in the following chapter but for now some of the literary figures relevant to this study will be introduced. The Writers and Their Publications Liu Na’ou Liu Na’ou was born in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to an affluent family. Following his English studies in Tokyo, he went to Shanghai in 1924 to read French at Zhendan daxue 震旦大學 (‘Université Aurore’), where Du Heng, Dai Wangshu 戴望舒 (1905–1950) and Shi Zhecun 施蟄存 (1905–2003) also studied.4 After graduation from university in Shanghai, Liu went on to open two publishing houses. The first, in 1928, Di-yi xian shudian 第一線書店 (Frontline Bookshop), situated on North Szechuan Road, was run in collaboration with Dai as manager and Shi as front of house staff.5 Wugui lieche 無軌列車 (Trackless Train (1928)) was the first magazine published by Liu and it ran for eight issues. This was a purely literary magazine and his own writings appeared in it together with those of his colleagues plus translations of an eclectic selection of writings by foreign authors.6 This lasted for just three months, and was forced to close, apparently due to problems with the formal registration of the business and accusations by the authorities that communist propaganda was being distributed from the premises.7 Liu and his colleagues then launched their second venture – the Shuimo shudian 水沫書店 (‘Librairie Sue Mo’, The Waterfoam Bookshop). This time the emphasis was on publishing and the retail aspect was toned down. It was from here that the greater part of their work was published.8 At the same time they continued to publish the work of other writers, both foreign and Chinese, 4 Shih, The Lure of the Modern, p. 276 and p. 285. 5 For more on Liu Na’ou see Ibid., pp. 276–301. 6 Foreign authors whose writings appeared in the magazine include: Paul Morand, Paul Fort (1872–1960) (a favourite of Dai Wangshu), the Russian journalist and critic Lev Sosnovsky (1886–1937), the controversial Spanish writer Azorin (José Augusto Trinidad Martínez Ruiz) (1873–1967), and the American left-wing activist, journalist and poet John Reed. 7 Shi Zhecun 施蟄存, ‘Women jingyingguo san ge shudian’ 我們經營過三個書店 (We Ran Three Bookshops) (1984) in Sha shang de jiaoji 沙上的脚跡 (Footprints in the Sand) (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe, 1996), pp. 13–14. 8 A series promoting the work of members of the group included: Shang yuan deng 上元鐙 (Festival Lantern) (1929) a short story collection by Shi Zhecun; the poems of Dai Wangshu; and Liu Na’ou’s collection of short stories Dushi fengjing xian 都市風景線 (Scène; ‘City Scenes’)..

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