A Pragmatist and His Free Spirit portrays the unconventional love of
Hu Shi, a Chinese social reformer and civil rights pioneer, and Edith
Clifford Williams, an American avant-garde artist of the early twentieth
century. Hu studied at Cornell University, where he first met Williams,
and Columbia University, where he worked with the famous pragmatist John
Dewey. At the time of his death in 1962, he and Williams had exchanged
more than 300 letters that, along with poems and excerpts from Hu's
diaries and documents (some of which have never before been translated
into English) form the center of this book.
In Williams, Hu found his intellectual match, a woman and fellow scholar
who helped the reformer reconcile his independent scholarship with
cultural tradition. Williams counciled Hu on the acceptance of an
arranged marriage, and she influenced his pursuit of experimental
vernacular poetry through an exposure to avant-garde art. In 1933, the
two became lovers, although their romance would eventually dwindle.
Nevertheless, Williams maintained a devoted and honest correspondence
with Hu throughout his tumultuous life.
Hu's work touched on virtually every crucial aspect of twentieth-century
Chinese society, particularly Chinese liberalism and the use of
vernacular Chinese. A Pragmatist and His Free Spirit explores the
lesser-known side of this major philosopher while reconstructing his
romance with Williams. Not only does the volume place Hu within the
larger social, economic, and political context of his time, but it also
provides readers with a multifaceted portrait of China's dramatic modern
history.
Hu Shi: Father of the Modern Chinese Renaissance-1891: Born in a
suburb of Shanghai; 1962: Died in Taipei.- Married with three children.-
Possibly the most documented life in modern China.- Earned a B.A. and
M.A. at Cornell University; Earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University, where
he studied with the famous pragmatist John Dewey.- Became a leading
figure of the Chinese Literary Revolution of 1919, advocating the use of
vernacular Chinese and the importance of intellectual individualism.-
Become a civil rights advocate who promoted the empowerment of women.-
Served as the Republic of China's Ambassador to the United States from
1938 to 1942.- Installed as president of Peking University from 1946 to
1948.- Worked as curator of Princeton University's Gest Library from
1950 to 1952.- Became the target in absentia of a massive political
denunciation campaign launched by the Chinese government between 1954
and 1955.- Served as president of Academica Sinica, Taipei, from 1958 to
1962.- Quoted as saying: "Be bold in your hypothesis; be meticulous in
your verification."
Edith Clifford Williams: A Woman Ahead of Her Time- 1885: Born in
Ithaca, New York; 1971: Died in Barbados.- Claims to have followed her
father's advice: "Don't marry unless you can't help it."- Studied at
Yale University School of Art and the Académie Julian in Paris.- Became
a pioneer of abstract art and a member of Alfred Stieglitz's inner
circle.- Worked as the first full-time librarian of Cornell University's
Veterinary Library from 1923 to 1946.- Completed two modernist works of
monumental importance: Two Rhythms (1916), a painting now housed at
the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Plâtre à toucher chez de Zayas
(1916), a sculpture made for touching that was featured in Marcel
Duchamp's 1917 journal, Rongwrong, and used as the subject of a
lecture by Guillaume Apollinaire in Paris.
