豹变

Growth of a Leopard written by Mu Xin is a short circulatory novel rather than a collection of short stories. It is a special full-length novel rooted in the avant-garde of modernism in Europe and America. Growth of a Leopard tells the stories of an individual, from which we can generally see the life stages of childhood, adolescence, youth and middle age. The personal experience also corresponds to the stages like before World War II, World War II, after World War II, after the foundation of China, and Opening-up, and the thinking under these historical backgrounds is needed. And, of course, there is another important stage: the western world after going abroad. The title is derived from I Ching: ''the virtuous and powerful people grow like a tiger, the vile people follow the former while the virtuous grow like a leopard.'' The growth of a leopard is a process from weak to strong and it implies the spiritual growth of an artist.