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Half a century after Chinese-American writer Nieh Hua-ling's monograph Shen Ts'ung-wen was published in the United States, a Chinese version has finally been released domestically. 美籍华人作家聂华苓所写的《沈从文评传》在美国出版近50年后，其中文版首次在国内面市。
Nieh's work, published in 1972, was the first of its kind to introduce Shen Congwen (1903-88), or Shen Ts'ung-wen, to the English-language world. Shen was one of the most influential modern Chinese writers. 沈从文是最具影响力的中国现代作家之一。于1972年出版的《沈从文评传》是第一部向英语世界介绍沈从文的书籍。 Late Swedish Sinologist Goran Malmqvist (1924-2019), of the Swedish Academy and a member of the selection panel of the Nobel Prize for Literature since 1985, once confirmed, despite the 50-year secrecy rule, that Shen was heavily tipped to win in 1988 but passed away before selection. 瑞典文学院院士、已故的瑞典汉学家马悦然（1924-2019）自1985年以来一直是诺贝尔文学奖评选小组成员。虽然诺贝尔奖提名和评选细节有50年保密期，但他曾证实沈从文很有可能获得1988年诺贝尔文学奖，不过在评选之前，沈从文便已经于1988年5月去世了。
In the book, from the New York-based publisher Twayne's World Authors Series, Nieh reviews Shen's early life and paints a larger picture of the backdrop to China's revolution, as well as the literary and political activities of intellectuals at the time. 《沈从文评传》是纽约传文出版社“特怀恩世界作家丛书”之一。书中聂华苓回顾了沈从文的早年生活，介绍了他所处的中国革命时代，以及在该时代背景下知识分子的文学和政治活动。 She highlights the artistic quality of Shen's works and notes that he was a writer 'who waded through mankind's misery to get to its basic humanity', and who 'wrote with classic simplicity, struggling to match the right words to his noble passions'. 聂华苓强调沈从文作品的艺术性，并评价沈从文“是一位跨越人类苦难、走向基本人性的作家”，是“以古典的单纯风格写作，努力为自己的高贵情怀找到最准确的词语”的作家。
Many of Shen's representative works, such as the novelette Border Town and collection of essays Xiangxi, depict the landscape and culture of his hometown in Fenghuang county in Central China's Hunan province. It is located in the west of the province, a mountainous region known as Xiangxi. 沈从文的许多代表作品，如中篇小说《边城》和散文集《湘西》，都描绘了他的家乡凤凰县的风土人情。凤凰县位于中国中部湖南省的西部边缘，那里被称为“湘西”，是个多山的地带。
His home, located in Fenghuang ancient town, has become a travel hot spot with many visitors drawn to it by Shen's words. Fenghuang is a water town with wooden, stilted buildings standing sentinel alongside a meandering river. 凤凰古城如今已成为热门旅游景点，很多游客正是被沈从文书中的描写吸引，慕名至此游玩。凤凰古城是一座水乡，木结构的吊脚楼就立在蜿蜒的河边。
Nieh's words reveal that Shen didn't attend school much and spent a long time in the army in the early years of his life before taking up, almost incongruously considering this background, a position as a literature editor for various newspapers and magazines before becoming a university lecturer on literary history. 根据书中聂华苓对沈从文的记述，沈从文没怎么上学就进入了军营，早年在军队里面待了很长时间，结果后来他却做了和之前经历似乎完全没有联系工作——开始为不同的报纸和杂志做文学编辑，还当了大学教授。 He set up residence in several cities around the country. 他在诸多城市居住过。
In childhood, he liked to play truant, spending time in the fields or lingering on the street, observing people, from all walks of life. 沈从文童年时旷课逃学，在田野里面玩耍或在街上闲逛，观察着各行各业的人们。 Such panoramic observation provided him with abundant material for writing, as his works include people from a comprehensive social milieu. 这种全景式的观察为沈从文的文学创作提供了丰富的素材，在他的作品中经常可以见到社会百态。
Recognizing his connections to rural life, Shen presented delicate writing on the beauty of the countryside and people of virtue and kindness leading a life close to nature. He once wrote that water played an important role in forming his outlook on appreciating beauty and learning just how to think. 沈从文和乡村生活的联系在其作品中有着深刻的体现。他用细腻的笔触描绘了乡村之美，描写了善良淳朴、亲近自然的乡村人。他曾写道，“水”在他学会审美和思考的过程中发挥了重要作用。
He explained that, for many stories, the background pictures, personalities, language styles and the melancholy temperament that he adopted in his writing had been inspired by observations of water. 他解释说，在许多故事中，他所刻画的背景图画、人物性格，采用的语言风格和散发出的忧郁气息，都是在观察水时获得了启发。 In Border Town, a love story about a boatman's granddaughter Cuicui, Shen displays an almost ideal world in the countryside, where the virtues of human nature are presented to the extreme, while giving an 'impressionist'—as Nieh has put it—depiction of the landscape, the town, local customs and the people. 小说《边城》借一个船夫的孙女翠翠的爱情故事，描绘出一个近乎理想的乡村世界，在这里人性的美德已达极致。用聂华苓的话来说，沈从文是个“印象派”，能对当地的自然风光、城镇景色以及人文风情做细致的刻画。
The novelette was first translated into English by journalist and author Emily Haan from the United States and Chinese writer Shao Xunmei as early as in 1936, two years after its publication, followed by several other translated versions over the decades. 《边城》出版两年后，最初由美国记者、作家项美丽和中国作家邵洵美于1936年首次翻译成英文。此后数十年间，又有其它几个翻译版本出版发行。 However, having experienced violence and ideological upheaval during the first half of his life, Shen didn't shy away from showing the dark side of human nature, and also expressed a reluctance to embrace a modernity that he thought had alienated human nature. 尽管沈从文前半生经历了战争和意识形态的动荡，但他并不回避展示人性的阴暗面。在聂华苓看来，沈从文笔下的人物被现代文明所玷污、“异化”，他对现代生活似乎抱持着保留态度。 Shen rarely wrote in the latter half of his life, but devoted himself to researching cultural relics at what is now the National Museum of China, especially ancient silk patterns, bronze mirrors and porcelain. 沈从文后半生很少提笔写作。建国以后，沈从文在历史博物馆（现中国国家博物馆）从事文物研究工作，特别是从事中国古代服饰、铜镜和瓷器的研究。
His Study of Ancient Chinese Clothing and Ornaments, published in 1981 in Hong Kong, was a great contribution to the history of Chinese materials. 他的《中国古代服饰研究》于1981年在香港出版，对中国物质文化史研究做出巨大贡献。 It was not until the 1980s that Shen's literary works were rediscovered and his position in modern Chinese literary history reevaluated. Research on his works has boomed since then. 直到20世纪80年代，沈从文的文学作品才重回视野，人们才重新评价他在中国现代文学史上的地位。从那以后，针对沈从文作品的研究便开始蓬勃发展起来。 Nieh was born in 1925 in Wuhan, Hubei province, and went to Taiwan with her family in 1949 before immigrating to the US to attend the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1964. 聂华苓于1925年生于湖北武汉，1949年随家人迁居台湾。1964年旅居至美国，参加爱荷华大学的“作家工作坊”。
▲ Nieh Hua-ling Apart from her own writings, that have achieved global acclaim, represented by Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China, she was known for co-founding the International Writing Program at the university with her late husband Paul Engle (1908-91). 聂华苓因代表作《桑青与桃红》等闻名世界。不仅如此，她与丈夫保罗·安格尔（1908-1991）共同创办的“国际写作计划”也使其为人熟知。 Over 1,500 writers from more than 150 countries and regions have attended the program over the past five decades. 过去50年间，已有150多个国家和地区的1500多名作家和诗人受邀参与了聂华苓夫妇创办的“国际写作计划”项目。 Dozens of authors active in the Chinese literary scene have joined the program. And, in 1976, around 300 writers nominated the Engles for the Nobel Peace Prize. 数十位活跃在中国文坛的作家也曾加入过这个项目。1976年，安格尔和聂华苓夫妇获来自世界各国三百多名作家的联合提名，成为了和平奖诺贝尔候选人。 In 1964, when Nieh left Taiwan for Iowa City in the US, the only book she took with her was Shen's collection of essays, Sketches of A Trip to Hunan. 1964年离开中国台湾前往美国爱荷华市时，聂华苓只带了一本书，就是沈从文的《湘行散记》。 And, in her book, Nieh recounts the interactions when the Engles finally met Shen in person in Beijing in 1980 and 1984. 此次中文版的《沈从文评传》还收入了聂华苓于1980年、1984年与沈从文相见的印象记。
In Nieh's mind, it takes all the senses－visual, tactile, olfactory and gustatory－to appreciate Shen's words. 在聂华苓看来，要想欣赏沈从文的作品，需要动用所有的感官——视觉、触觉、嗅觉和味觉。 He had a wealth of imagination and different styles of writing. 沈从文充满想象力，并且不断试验和发展多种文学形式，以此拓宽自己的文学之路。 Nieh went to the US in the 1960s and returned to China a handful of times. Her influence in domestic literary circles was not as great as it was overseas, according to Xiao Yao, one of the editors of the Chinese version of Shen Ts'ung-wen. 聂华苓上世纪60年代移居美国后，回国次数屈指可数。据《沈从文评传》中文版编辑之一肖瑶介绍，聂华苓在海外文坛的影响力要比在国内文坛大。 In a time of limited cultural exchanges, the author and the publisher did not vigorously promote the publication of different language versions of the book, and this, Xiao explains, is why it took 50 years to publish a Chinese version. 肖瑶还解释说，在文化交流受限时期，聂华苓和出版商并没有大力推动《沈从文评传》不同语言版本的出版，所以这本在50年前发行的英文版《沈从文评传》至今才被译成中文并在中国出版发行。 'There are not many biographies about Shen in China. I believe this one will help readers know more about his life and personality and trigger a deeper understanding of the beauty and artistry of his work.' “目前国内关于沈从文的传记作品并不多。我相信这本书会帮助读者进一步了解沈从文其人，对沈从文作品的美及其艺术性有更多、更深的体会。”  ☊点击收听音频☊ 编辑：陈月华 记者：方艾青 录音：Stephanie Stone |
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