4 - Boundaries of the Real in Xu Xu's Fiction

Summary

By the late 1930s, the New Sensationist authors had left creative writing behind. On the whole, the 1940s was a very different period for the production of Chinese literature and art. Wumingshi 無名氏 and Xu Xu 徐訏, who wrote during this period, worked under different conditions from those prevailing when Mu Shiying 穆時英 and Shi Zhecun 施蟄存 were active, and this is reflected in their writings. Both Wumingshi and Xu borrowed various elements from the New Sensationist style, but the different cultural milieu changed the way in which their works were written as well as how they were received.

Xu Xu was the pen name of Xu Boxu 徐伯訏. He was born in Cixi 慈溪 in Zhejiang province in 1908. In 1931, he graduated from Peking University (Beijing daxue 北京大學) in philosophy. He continued studying psychology for two years, but in 1933 he moved from Beijing to Shanghai. In April 1934, Xu was hired as an editor for Lin Yutang's 林語堂 new journal, This Human World (Renjianshi? 間世, 1934–1935). The Lin Yutang journals, such as The Analects (Lunyu 論語, 1932–1937), gained a wide readership in Shanghai and many prominent authors wrote short stories and articles in their pages, including Yu Dafu 郁達夫, Hu Shi 胡適 (1891–1962), Liu Bannong 劉半農 (1891–1934), Shen Congwen 沈從文 and others. This Human World carried articles on both foreign and Chinese literature as well as fiction, poetry, cultural news and essays. The articles were generally shorter than those found in Shi Zhecun's Les Contemporains (Xiandai 現代) and, in comparison, they were less concerned with cultural developments abroad. Xu Xu frequently contributed poems and essays to the journal. His writings covered a wide range of topics, from a discussion of the New Life Movement (xin shenghuo yundong 新生活運動) in 1934 to current fashions.

Xu Xu also started writing fiction and plays in this period, and he published two short stories in Les Contemporains in 1933 and 1934, respectively. Details are scant about their connection, but we know that he met with Shi Zhecun and Mu Shiying, and considered Shi a friend.