Narrative
The Lone Swan
斷鴻零雁記
Su Manshu · 1912
Synopsis
Betrothed in childhood to Xuemei, Sanlang sees her family break off the engagement when his own becomes impoverished, and he takes holy orders. The memory of his mother, a Japanese woman who left him in China when he was very small, draws him out of the monastery: guided by his former nurse, he crosses the sea to find her. In Japan, his mother would like him to marry a literate cousin, Shizuko, who loves him; Sanlang remains torn between this love and his vows.
Context
The text appeared in 1912 in the Taipingyang bao, a Shanghai newspaper of which the author was then in charge, according to The Paper; a study by Makiko Mori dates it to 1911 and 1912. Written in classical language, it is held to be one of the first works of the Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies current, and the same source compares it to Le Rêve dans le pavillon rouge. George Kin Leung translated it into English under the title The Lone Swan, from the Commercial Press of Shanghai, in 1929 (in 1924 according to Renditions); a German version appeared in Vienna in 1947.
Who it is for
A short narrative in classical language; it can be read in English in George Kin Leung's translation.
Prizes and reception
Critics credit it, according to Frontiers of Literary Studies in China, with the birth of a new subjectivity in Chinese letters.
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