Fu Lei (Fou Lei) | |
|---|---|
 Fu Lei and Zhu Meifu in 1932 | |
| Born | 7 April 1908 |
| Died | 3 September 1966 (aged 58) |
| Other names | Nu'an |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Spouse(s) | Zhu Meifu (朱梅馥, m.1932) |
| Children | Fou Ts'ong (1934 - 2020) Fou Min (b. 1937) |
| Parent(s) | Fu Peng (d.1912) Li Yuzhen (d. 1933) |
Fu Lei (Fou Lei; Chinese: 傅雷; courtesy name Nu'an 怒安, pseudonym Nu'an 怒庵; 1908–1966) was a Chinese translator and critic. His translation theory was dubbed the most influential in French-Chinese translation. He was known for his renowned renditions of Balzac and Romain Rolland.
Born in Nanhui, today a district of Shanghai, Fu was raised by his mother. Between 1928 and 1931 he read literature and art history in Paris, befriending, amongst others, Jacques Maritain and Jean Daniélou.[1] Between 1932 and 1934 he taught art history at Shanghai Art Academy. An occasional critic and curator, for the most part of his working life, Fu Lei translated full-time.[2]
In 1958 Fu was labelled a rightist in the Anti-Rightist Movement, and was politically persecuted. In 1966, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, he and his wife Zhu Meifu committed suicide. His letters to his son, the pianist Fou Ts'ong, were published in 1981. Fu Lei's Family Letters is a long-standing best-seller.
- ^ Mingyuan Hu: Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth (Leiden: Brill, 2017), chapters 2-6, for Fu Lei's Parisian milieu and his intellectual formation in Europe.
- ^ Claire Roberts, Friendship in Art: Fou Lei and Huang Binhong (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010), for Fu Lei as an art critic and curator, and his friendship with Huang Binhong. Mingyuan Hu: Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth (Leiden: Brill, 2017), chapters 7-8, for Fu Lei as an art and literary critic, political commentator, translator, letter writer, and his friendship with Étiemble.