Greek Gods and Heroes

Zhou Zuoren was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. He was the younger brother of Lu Xun (Zhou Shuren) and the brother of Zhou Jianren. Famous modern Chinese essayist, literary theorist, critic, poet, translator, thinker, pioneer of Chinese folklore, and outstanding representative of the New Culture Movement. He has successively served as professor and director of the Department of Oriental Literature at National Peking University, and director and visiting professor of the Department of New Literature at Yenching University. Zhou Zuo wrote quite a lot throughout his life. His prose style was gentle and dilute, clear and elegant. He wrote about personal leisure, loneliness and injustice in a gentle and dilute style, and played with the bitterness of life. He wrote more than 30 kinds of works, including "Art and Life", "My Own Garden", "Books on Rainy Days", "Collected Works of Zhitang" and "Talks by Bingzhu". Zhou Zuoren has also made outstanding contributions in translation. He is proficient in Japanese, ancient Greek and English, and has taught himself Old English and Esperanto. His translations include the complete translation of the ancient Greek comedy "God of Wealth", "Greek Mythology", "Aesop's Fables", the ancient Greek tragedy "The Tragedies of Euripides"; Japan's oldest surviving history book "Kojiki", the comedy short "Kyogen Selection", the masterpiece of Heian era essays "Pillow", the comic version of "Ukiyo Bathhouse", etc. [Editor's Recommendation] ★ Among the achievements of modern Chinese prose, Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren are the richest and greatest. My usual preference is also the prose of these two people. ——Yu Dafu★ Zhou Zuoren's prose is the best in China. ——Lu Xun★The only works that can be read in mainland China are Zhou Zuoren's. ——Hu Shi★Mr. Zhou Zuoren's reading notes are the most unattainable. He has extensive knowledge, but does not have his thorough insights, and his thorough mind lacks knowledge. It is rare to have both like Mr. Zhou. ——Zhu Ziqing★ If we say what achievements have been made in Chinese literature since the "May Fourth Movement", we should undoubtedly say that Mr. Lu Xun and he (Zhou Zuoren) are two unbreakable giants; without them, the history of new literature will be eclipsed. ——Zheng Zhenduo★ As for Zhou Zuoren, he may not deny it, and even actively pursues the effect of translation to a certain extent, but he does it more out of his own interest. He engages in translation with an attitude of excitement. He cannot be so serious, and he only wants to live a leisurely life naturally and freely. I don't want to tie myself up with anything external—even a valuable ideological and cultural activity like book translation. ——Qian Liqun