"Literary Memoirs" Producer: Utopia Author: Mu Xin's narration/ Chen Danqing's notes

Literature is lovely. Life is fun. Art requires sacrifice.

In the late 1980s, when Mu Xin was living in New York, and since he resumed writing and continued to publish books, his colleagues from mainland China and Taiwan in New York, who were trying to make a living in a foreign country, actually encouraged Mu Xin to give lectures on "History of World Literature". This was a "literary expedition" that lasted for five years - from the start of the class on January 15, 1989 to the last class on January 9, 1994. Each attendee took turns offering their own living room. Those present included painters, dancers, historians, sculptors, and so on.

Chen Danqing, a student who attended the class, said, "We had such a fuss back then. Looking back, it was almost absurd: there was no registration, no classroom, no textbooks, no exams or certificates, and no sponsorship or project fees. We just sat together in different apartments in Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn in New York City and listened to Mu Xin's talk."

The menu is open, and everyone can choose. From ancient Greek mythology, the Old and New Testaments, to the Book of Songs and Chuci, from medieval European literature to the 20th century literary world, the East and the West are all taught, and knowledge and inspiration are combined. Among them, those who listen listen, those who talk talk, and "golden sentences" are scattered and burning. "After the lecture, the important thing in a history of literature is my point of view." Mu Xin said. Ancient, medieval, modern, every era can find spiritual lineage and artistic relatives.

He loved the classics of the pre-Qin period just for their literary talent; he thought that Confucius was still alive in all the hypocrites today; he wanted to say to Nietzsche, whom he loved and respected: Get out of philosophy; he admired Byron, Shelley, and Heine, but said that they were actually not very good at writing poetry; he said it was a pity that Tolstoy had "a poor brain", but when he talked about the fact that there would be no cross or tombstone on Tolstoy's grave, his voice suddenly became weak and he said in a trembling voice: "Great!" When talking about Sartre's funeral, Mu Xin's face straightened and he quoted Nietzsche's words: Only actors can arouse great excitement among the masses.

Mu Xin was 62 years old when he gave the lecture. How many books and readers of the Republic of China have been lost. His life was closely accompanied by increasingly severe cultural fault lines. He was unwilling to break off, but he never did. This is the hidden background of the New York World Literature History Lecture: Between, outside, and after the numerous fault lines, Mu Xin always placed himself in the world's literary landscape as much as possible. If he had not left, this tenacious and persistent struggle would have been almost in vain.

Today, Chen Danqing, a student who attended the lectures, sorted out the five volumes of lecture notes from those five years, totaling 85 lectures and more than 400,000 words, and compiled this big book, no longer seeing it as just a "lecture on the history of world literature." As Mu Xin had originally envisioned, this was his own "literary memoir," an "absurd novel," "overcoming this era in oneself."

This is also the gift that Mu Xin left to the world, the gospel of literature.

The precious photos of Mr. Mu Xin and his relatives disclosed for the first time in this book were provided by Mr. Chen Danqing and Mr. Wang Wei, Mu Xin's nephew. The book also includes photos of world literature published in the Republic of China, which is a personal testimony to the publishing history of the Republic of China.