曾朴

曾朴（1872年—1935年），原名曾朴华，字太朴，又字小木、孟朴，号铭珊，笔名东亚病夫，江苏常熟人，清朝至中华民国作家，其代表作为小说《孽海花》。

生平

来自常熟曾氏家族，父亲曾之撰（原名令章）为光绪元年（1875年）乙亥科江南乡试举人。曾朴为光绪十七年（1891年）举人，1892年入京应试，试卷被污而落第。父亲为其曾捐官内阁中书，也因为岳父汪鸣銮的缘故，常出入当时户部尚书翁同龢之门，也是洪钧的座上客，有文名。其人生性敏感、热心国事，认为法文为外交必用，故1894年入同文馆学法文。1897年赴上海办实业，与维新派的谭嗣同、林旭、杨深秀等人往来，参与变法筹措活动。戊戌事败，因回乡办理父亲墓葬之事不在京，未受牵连。

光绪三十年（1904年），到上海编辑《女子世界》，光绪三十一年（1905年）与徐念慈等人创立小说林书社，成为介绍法国文学之先驱，翻译雨果、左拉、福楼拜等人的名著；同年接金松岑原作六卷，开始续撰《孽海花》。光绪三十三年（1907年），小说林社发行《小说林月刊》，同年清廷将残杀秋瑾的浙江巡抚张曾扬调任江苏主政，曾朴带头驱张，迫使清廷收回成命，改调张赴陕西。宣统元年（1909年），进入两江总督端方府为幕僚。

辛亥革命爆发，江苏宣告独立，被选为江苏临时议会议员，袁世凯称帝后，与蔡锷等人密切往来，资助陈其美反袁活动，曾任省官产处长，财政厅长，政务厅长。1927年与长子曾虚白在上海开设“法式沙龙”的真美善书店，创办《真美善》杂志，续写《孽海花》，主张反封建，同情革命，被认为是晚清四大谴责小说中成就最高的一部。1931年，《真美善》杂志停刊。居常熟虚廓园，种花为遣。1935年病逝。

曾朴共育有五子，分别为曾虚白、曾耀仲、曾光叔、曾叔懋与曾熹。

主要作品

《孽海花》

《鲁男子》

《补《后汉书·艺文志》》

《补《后汉书·艺文志》考证》

Zeng Pu (simplified Chinese: 曾朴; traditional Chinese: 曾樸; pinyin: Zēng Pǔ; Wade–Giles: Tseng P'u; 1872–1935) was a Chinese novelist.

Zeng Pu published a scholarly work on the later Han dynasty in 1895. He later enrolled in the College of Foreign Languages in Beijing to learn the French language. Zeng Pu returned to Jiangsu in 1898 and built a school. In 1903 he began a business in Shanghai, which failed. He returned to his focus in literature. Zeng Pu was a Francophile.

Writing style

The language in Zeng Pu's novels borrowed allusions and images from classical Chinese literature and Zeng Pu used symbolism in his novels. Therefore, his works appealed to readers who had a classical education and were considered sophisticated in their society.

Zeng Pu knew the French language. David Der-wei Wang, author of Fin-de-siècle Splendor: Repressed Modernities of Late Qing Fiction, 1849-1911, wrote that Zeng Pu was "probably" the sole late Qing novelist who knew a foreign language. David Wang explained that since Zeng Pu knew French he had "direct access to European literature without the mediation of distorted translations."

The First Sino-Japanese War had a large effect on Zeng Pu.

Works

Jin Tianhe (Jin Songcen) started A Flower in a Sinful Sea as a political novel criticizing Russian advances into China. Zeng Pu, writing under the pseudonym "Sick man of Asia", took control of the novel in 1904. He completed it as a historical novel.