Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t30: Mulk Raj Anand
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t30
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Mulk Raj Anand
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Mulk Raj Anand (December 12, 1905 - September 28, 2004), was an Indian writer of English, and is one of the three great English men of letters in India, art critic and social activist. He was born in Peshawar, Pakistan.
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In 1924, he graduated from Khalsa College in Amritsar and obtained the BA degree of Punjab University. He went to University College London to study in the same year and obtained his PhD in 1929.
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Mulk Raj Anand
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Mulk Raj Anand started to write theories of literature, art and novels after graduation. He founded the All-India Progressive Writers’ Association in London in 1934. In 1945, he went back to India and settled in Mumbai. In 1951, he was elected as a member of the World Peace Council. He was awarded the International Peace Prize in 1952 and was conferred with the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 1967. His full-length novel *Morning Face* (1968) won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972.
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He began to publish his works since 1930s and did so till late 1990s. He wrote altogether 19 full-length novels including ‘*The Big Heart*’ (1945), ‘*Seven Summers*’ (1951) and ‘*The Private Life of an Indian Prince*’ (1953) and 10 collections of short stories such as ‘*The Lost Child and Other Stories*’ (1934), as well as a large number of articles. His full-length novels, ‘*Untouchable*’ (1935) and ‘*Coolie*’ (1936) described the miserable life of lower-class people in India. The long novel, ‘*Two Leaves and a Bud*’ (1937) tells the story about a tea worker (Gan Gu) whose family is ruined due to oppression of British imperialism. The ‘*Lalu Trilogy*’ comprised '*The Village*' (1939), '*Across the Black Waters*' (1939) and '*The Sword and the Sickle*' (1942) describes the whole life of Lalu, a young farmer in Punjab and reflects the political awakening of Indian farmers before and after the First World War.
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'Collection of Stories' by Mulk Raj Anand
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In 1954, his short stories including ‘*The Barber’s Trade Union and Other Stories*’ (1944), ‘*Reflections on the Golden Bed and Other Stories*’ (1953) and ‘*Untouchable*’ were translated and published in China. ‘*Coolie, Two Leaves and a Bud*’ and ‘*Indian Fairy Tales*’ (1946) were translated into Chinese and published in 1955. The ‘trilogy’ was translated by Wang Huaiting who was from South Asia Research Institute and the Asia-Pacific Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and was published in 1983, 1985 and 2011 respectively. The ‘preface of translator’ of the Chinese version of the
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'The Village', front cover of the Chinese edition
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trilogy introduced the lifetime and creation of Anand and the creation background and process of the ‘trilogy’ and also gives a brief comment of the characters, idea content and writing skills of the novel.
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Anand’s relationship with his Chinese friends can be traced back to the time when he studied in Britain. He made friends with Ye Junjian, Xiao Qian and several other Chinese writers. In 1951, he visited China as a member of the ‘Indian goodwill mission’, attended the National Day ceremony and was received & entertained by Chinese leaders. In 1952, he delivered a speech at the symposium on commemorating the 10ᵗʰ anniversary of the publication of Mao Zedong’s ‘*Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art*’ held by Indian progressive writers and artists. In 1953, he gave his ‘*Indian Fairy Tales*’ to Bing Xin, a member of the visiting India-China friendship delegation in India, and entrusted her to translate the book into Chinese. Later, the book was translated by Bing Xin and was published in China. He began to communicate with Wang Huaiting by letter in 1982 to discuss problems in translation. In 1986, he received Wang Huaiting in India as a distinguished guest and introduced him to his life and works, writing background, process and intention of the ‘trilogy’. He also gave 14 of his novels to Wang Huaiting to thank him for introducing his works to Chinese readers. He visited China again at the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China in 1992, during which he in the company of Wang Huaiting visited his Chinese friends and had academic exchanges with the Institute of Foreign Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Science. He also visited Dunhuang and praised the Feitian murals by saying, “Feitian indicates that the Chinese are more brilliant than Europeans. Angel can be called Feitian in Europe, but she has to be painted with two wings; while Chinese Feitian features dynamics, ribbons, lines and colors and it’s very beautiful.” He gave a eulogy before he left, stating, “Exquisite drawing skills make me lose myself in the
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Feitian goddess.”
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(*Wang Jing*)