One of life’s great pleasures is to check out other people’s book collections. Here is an impressive one. (Image above)
I often think, by observing a person’s book collection, we can gain a glimpse of the interest, experiences, pursuits and insights of their life. In this case, the owner of these books is open-minded and has travelled widely. (And that is not saying much, i.e. how can you travel widely without an open mind? Or, how can you not open your mind when you travel widely?)
And one of the great books I found is “Shen Congwen’s Xiangxi”, a photographic journey of the western part of China’s Hunan Province, where the author was born and raised. (Image below)
Shen is one of the great authors from the first half of the 20th century. He led a simple, apolitical life, which is why he suffered so much throughout his life (1902-1988).
And the photos collected in this book were taken by Zhuo Ya in 1979, “trying to capture through her lens the same feel and spirit (of the life and customs of the western Hunan Province) depicted under Shen’s pen”. “It took her 20 years, traversing through a dozen counties, numerous villages, and mountainous areas, taking a total of over 10,000 pictures to achieve this goal.” It was all because the photographer was inspired by the writer.
(Day 21 #WarmWinterRead #WWR25 via @librarieschangelives)
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 