Xiao Hong (1911–1942) was an accomplished writer in the New Literature Period in the first half of the 20th century. The six stories in this collection display her genius in re-creating scenes from her past, as if she were living the lives of her protagonists. This tends to give the best of her writings a sense of personal appeal, inasmuch as the reader is intimately involved with the author herself. She was also adept at depicting the plight of women in a feudalistic society with great feeling and perception.
Howard Goldblatt, the translator, is Research Professor of Chinese at The University of Notre Dame, U.S.A. One of his translated works was named “Translation of the Year” by the American Literary Translators Association in 1999.
