Fu Lei

Fu Lei (Fou Lei; Chinese: 傅雷; courtesy name Nu'an 怒安, pseudonym Nu'an 怒庵; 1908–1966) is known as China's most respected translator of French literature. He was known for his renowned renditions of Balzac and Romain Rolland.

For the Taiwanese actor, see Fu Lei (actor).
Fu Lei (Fou Lei)
Fu Lei and Zhu Meifu
Born(1908-04-07)7 April 1908
Nanhui County, Jiangsu, Qing China
Died3 September 1966(1966-09-03) (aged 58)
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
Alma materSt. Ignatius High School
University of Paris
Spouse(s)Zhu Meifu (朱梅馥, m.1932)
ChildrenFou Ts'ong (1934 - 2020)
Fou Min (b. 1937)
Parent(s)Fu Peng (d.1912)
Li Yuzhen (d. 1933)
In this Chinese name, the family name is Fu or Fou in French romanisation.

Born in Nanhui, today a district of Shanghai, Fu was raised by his mother. Between 1928 and 1931 he read literature and art history in Paris, befriending, amongst others, Jacques Maritain and Jean Daniélou.[1] Between 1932 and 1934 he taught art history at Shanghai Art Academy. An occasional critic and curator, for the most part of his working life, Fu Lei translated full-time.[2]

In 1958 Fu was labelled a rightist in the Anti-Rightist Movement. In 1966, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he and his wife Zhu Meifu committed suicide. His letters to his son, the pianist Fou Ts'ong, were published in 1981. Fu Lei's Family Letters is a long-standing best-seller.

Scholarship

Fu's close relationship with the artist Huang Binhong is the subject of the 2009 monograph, Friendship in Art: Fou Lei and Huang Binhong, by the Australian scholar Claire Roberts.

Fu's life and work is the subject of the 2017 monograph, Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth, by the Chinese-British scholar Mingyuan Hu. It chronicles the hitherto unknown Parisian milieu and intellectual formation of Fu Lei through archival documents unearthed in France.[3] Reviewing Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth, the sinologist and literary scholar John Minford wrote: “Here this absorbing book breaks new and fascinating ground, offering crucial evidence of the growth of a great translator’s mind.”[4]

Legacy

The Fu Lei Translation and Publishing Award was created in 2009 by the French Embassy in China to recognize the works of Chinese translators and publishers translated from French publications.[5]

Works

Translations

Letters

  • Fu Lei's family letters (Chinese:傅雷家书)

See also
  • Fu Lei's residence in Shanghai opened as a museum in 2019.
  • Death 死 by Chen Cun 陈村, short story in which the narrator visits the old home of Fu Lei, a dialogue with Fu Lei's ghost on the meaning of life.[6]

References
  1. Mingyuan Hu: Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth (Leiden: Brill, 2017), chapters 2-6, for Fu Lei's Parisian milieu and his intellectual formation in Europe.
  2. Claire Roberts, Friendship in Art: Fou Lei and Huang Binhong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010), for Fu Lei as an art critic and curator, and his friendship with Huang Binhong. Mingyuan Hu: Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth (Leiden: Brill, 2017), chapters 7-8, for Fu Lei as an art and literary critic, political commentator, translator, letter writer, and his friendship with Étiemble.
  3. "Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth". Brill. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  4. "John Minford. "A Matter of Life and Death: The Translator Fou Lei."". China Review International. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  5. Fu Lei translation awards announce 10 finalists By Li Wenrui | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-11-03. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2017-11/03/content_34072734.htm Retrieved 9 April 2018
  6. Harman, Nicky. "Nicky Harman on The Book of Shanghai: some exciting writing talent and excellent translators". Retrieved 2020-07-15.


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