Details

This volume contains the novelette The Grit Men, and 22 short stories. The Grit Men, written in 1932, depicts the life of workers at an old tin mine in Yunnan Province through the story of Wang Shengyi, who, to save his lover, is tricked into working there, and at last dies miserably.The short stories in this volume are landmark works written by Ba Jin at different historical periods, reflecting Chinese society at those times from different aspects. These stories, spanning the periods both before and after the War of Resistance Against Japan, can be classified into two stages: Those of the early stage mostly vent "unrestrained emotions," and attack the iniquities of the system; while those of the later stage lay emphasis on descriptions of life to "let readers draw their own conclusions," and demonstrating Ba Jin's growing maturity as a writer.