A well-known writer in modern China, Ba Jin (1904-2005), began his writing career in 1927. His novels and prose have been collected in fourteen volumes, which fully demonstrate his achievement as a prolific writer. He has also translated many foreign literary works.
This volume contains his novel The Family, completed in 1931, and his novelette Autumn in Spring in 1932.
The Family is the first novel of the author's trilogy entitled Current, other two being Spring, completed in 1938, and Autumn in 1940. Through his personal experience and his deep understanding of the feudal family, Ba Jin honestly and realistically delineates the various characters of the Gao family. To the outsider, the Gao family appeared to be flourishing in the rich tradition of culture which lent it the prestige and respect of a highly educated class. Behind the veil of respectability, however, were the power struggles, intrigues, corruption, obscenity and the shameless pursuit of decadence. Through the portrayal of the decline of the Gao family, a typical product of feudal ideas, the author clearly indicated that the total collapse of the feudal system was inevitable.
Autumn in Spring is the tragic love story of two young people. Its literary values apart, the work is a cry for an end to the unreasonable social system, the deprivation of choice in marriage, the fetters of outmoded ideas and the tyranny of the family.
The volume opens with the author's Foreword, and it also contains many illustrations.
