Autumn in the Old Capital

From an editorial perspective, the book’s reading value lies first in its superlative language art. With concise, richly colored prose, Yu Dafu constructs an autumn Beiping full of imagery and rhythm. “The reed flowers of Taoranting, the willow shadows of Diaoyutai, the insect songs of the Western Hills, the night moon over Yuquan, the bells of Tanzhe Temple”—the juxtaposition of these images not only depicts scenery but lays out a distinctive cultural mood and aesthetic taste. Second, the essay achieves a delicate balance between personal melancholy and concern for country and home. The immersion in the clear, quiet, sorrowful autumn of the old capital is in fact a search for a spiritual homeland of traditional culture; against the special background of the 1930s, this feeling appears all the more weighty and complex.

In addition, this selected volume usually includes other representative essays by Yu Dafu, such as “Intoxicated in the Spring Breeze” and “Late Osmanthus,” offering a fuller view of his creative style and intellectual trajectory. His writing is sincere and sensitive, daring to expose inner conflict and anguish; this “autobiographical” approach deeply influenced later literary creation. Reading this book is both a high-level literary aesthetic experience and an opportunity to converse across time with the soul of a sincere, melancholy man of letters.