Quick Facts
Biography
Fu Lei (Chinese: 傅雷; courtesy name Nu'an 怒安, pseudonym Nu'an 怒庵; 1908–1966) was a famous Chinese translator and art critic.
He was born in Nanhui County near Shanghai, and raised by his mother. He studied art and art theory in France from 1928–1932. Upon his return to China, he taught in Shanghai and worked as a journalist and art critic until he took up translating. His translations, which remain highly regarded, include Voltaire, Balzac and Romain Rolland. He developed his own style, the "Fu Lei style," and his own translation theory. He advocated the transfer of the original spirit of a literary work. A good translation should be "alike in spirit and appearance" but if the translator struggles with transmitting both the grammatical appearance and the literary spirit, he should try to save the latter.
In 1957 he was labelled a rightist. In 1966, at the start of the Cultural Revolution, he and his wife committed suicide. His family letters to his son Fou Ts'ong, a world-renowned pianist, were published posthumously and became a bestseller in China.
Fu's family
- Elder son: Fu Cong (傅聰)
- Younger son: Fu Min (傅敏)
- Father-in-law: Zhu Hong
- Mother-in-law: Yang Xiuquan
- Wife: Zhu Meifu (朱梅馥), born on 20 February 1913, died on 3 September 1966 (aged 53)
Selected works
- 1932: Rodin L'Art by Paul Gsell
- 1933: Chalot by Soupault
- 1934: 20 Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art
- 1934: Vie de Tolstoi by Rolland
- 1934: Vie de Michel-Ange by Rolland
- 1935: Voltaire by Maurois
- 1942: Vie de Beethoven by Rolland
- 1949: Eugénie Grandet by Balzac
- 1950: Le Père Goriot by Balzac
- 1953: Colomba by Mérimée
- 1953: Jean-Christophe by Rolland
- 1963: Philosophie de l'art by Taine