Fumiko Hayashi, whose original name was Fumiko Miyata, was born in the 36th year of Meiji (i.e., 1903) and died in the 26th year of Showa (i.e., 1951). She is a well-known female poet and novelist in modern Japan. He is one of the representative writers of "private fiction". It is known as the "Xiao Hong of Japan". Along with Yuriko Miyamoto and Yasuko Hirabayashi, she is known as one of the three most prominent female writers of the Showa period. Her unique female perspective and delicate emotions are her own in the Japanese literary world, and she is also the favorite writer of director Naruse Mikio, who has put her works "Late Chrysanthemum" and "Libertine" and other 6 novels on the big screen. In 1928, he became famous in Japan for his diary-style private novel "The Book of The Wave".
Fumiko Hayashi
The writer who can compete with him in the same period is Xiao Hong, who was born in Heilongjiang. Together with Lü Bicheng, Shi Pingmei and Zhang Ailing, she is known as the four talented women of the Republic of China. Lu Xun called Xiao Hong "the most promising female writer of contemporary China." Her works are straightforward and natural, and her characters are refined through life and experience, which can resonate with readers to the greatest extent. Xiao Hong is therefore also known as the "Literary Roselle of the 1930s".
Compared with Xiao Hong, Lin Fumiko's works are simple in language description, true in content, and have positive vitality. Her works are close to life, as if they are describing themselves, but also like a perception of life, so her works are more easily accepted by the public. "Late Chrysanthemum" is one of the masterpieces of Hayashi Fumiko's heyday. The novel uses large sections of documentary descriptions and dialogues to show Fumiko Hayashi's profound writing skills. "Late Chrysanthemum" also reflects the real situation of women in Japan after World War II.
"Late Chrysanthemum" depicts the story of the geisha Ah Xin. From being sought after in his youth to being unpopular in his old age. Even the old love that I had been obsessing about before was only used as a tool that could be used. The article shows the hardships and hardships of women's lives at that time. As Yasukino Kawabata wrote in the movie: The life of the flower is short, but the suffering of the world is long.
The author of "Late Chrysanthemum" reflects the central idea of the theme of this article from the title. The late chrysanthemum is also yesterday's yellow flower, the flowers have fallen, and the rest is waiting to wither. Expressed regret for the loss of youth and fear of future life.
However, almost all of Hayashi's works have a common theme, that is, lamenting the sadness of women. In "Evening Chrysanthemum", the "I" written by Fumiko Hayashi is almost from the beginning to the end, lamenting for the Japanese women at that time.
"Late Chrysanthemum"
1. The fear of the passing of the face
"No one has a thousand days to be good, and no flowers have a hundred days to be red." When he was young, Ah Xin was sought after by many people with a beautiful face alone. In particular, an old French gentleman called Ashin the Margaret of the East. Gautier. But after the war, Ah Xin was over fifty years old, no longer had the gorgeous face on the postcard, and few people were willing to come to Ah Xin.
Although she had reached the age of knowing her destiny, Ah Xin did not want people to see her old state. She pays attention to dressing and skin care, but in the end she can't withstand the erosion brought about by the years. The loss of youth meant the sadness she would face in her old age, something she had been reluctant to admit. As the book reads, "She didn't want others to see her old appearance in broad daylight."
The bright sun mercilessly exposes the misery of the old woman, and even the most luxurious costume will look pale and weak in the sun. ”
2. Fear of whether money will be able to pay for future lives
In post-war Japan, the economy needs to be restored. Ah Xin, who is over fifty years old, no longer has the earning power of his youth. The only thing that reassured her was that she still had a property to live in. This was the only "lucky" thing the war had left her. Now the house, far from the city, is inhabited only by Ashin and a mute maid. "People go viral that Ashin has accumulated a lot of wealth.
But Ashin's life was simpler than people thought. "Food, clothing, shelter and transportation all need the support of money, and without money, we will only face death." Ah Xin's "greed for money" is also reflected in the men she chooses to associate. "She never deals with men who don't have money, and poor men are the least attractive."
Women living at the bottom of society are running for survival every day, and in order to be able to eat enough, they can do any "non-mainstream" work. Just like Ayu in "Oysters", she is a drinking girl for life. Boyfriend Zhou Ji became schizophrenic because of the pressure of life. In the novel, Ayu once said to Zhou Ji: "It is said that worrying is also a kind of fun, but it is not a pleasure to always eat a meal without eating." ”
This also reflects the material powerlessness and spiritual scarcity of Japanese women after World War II.
geisha
3. Fear of an unknown life in old age
Ah Xin was married once, but divorced three years later, and she was childless and childless, with only a mute maid to live with her. Ashin's life is lonely and lonely, and the future is fearful of the unknown. She has no friends and no relatives, and all the hardships of life need to be borne by herself. Although she has always resented the idea that she should adopt a child, the fear of a lonely person has always followed her.
"Ashin sometimes has an illusion that he is brutally killed. Sometimes holding her breath, the silent whole house also made Ah Xin feel uneasy. ”
Hayashi fumiko uses Ahin to refer to herself, they have different names, but they have similar lives. "Late Chrysanthemum" is both a novel and a description of her own experience by Fumiko Hayashi. Fumiko Hayashi's upbringing, social environment, and her own experience have shaped this style of writing.
After World War II, the world pattern underwent great changes, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and Europe and Japan suffered heavy losses. Politically, Japan was the initiator of the war and was ostracized by various countries; economically, because the war was costly and left many people homeless. At that time, the survival state in Japan was extremely poor. At this time, there is a shortage of materials and food, and men cannot guarantee that they have no worries about food and clothing, let alone women who are weaker than men. In order to survive, they have to work as geisha, escorts, and other unpopular jobs.
And Fumiko Hayashi is a person who has experienced war, witnessed the devastation after the war, and the more difficult life of women, and she worries about the women at the bottom. Through the novel, Hayashi Fumiko let everyone see their sadness, hoping to awaken the self-help consciousness of "Ashin" and hope that they have a better future. "Late Chrysanthemum" is such a work.
Still
1. Growing up creates the tone of a person's life
Childhood experiences influenced Hayashi Fumiko's life. In her short life, Fumiko Hayashi has experienced ups and downs and a difficult life, which is also doomed to the tone of her works to lament the sadness of women. Hayashi Fumiko is an illegitimate daughter who was abandoned by her father when she was 7 years old, and she and her mother have lived a turbulent and displaced life ever since.
She has worked as a short-term worker in a newspaper, a maid, a stall, and a female worker in the home of the writer Jinsong Qiujiang. The experience of struggling life at the bottom has given her a steady stream of inspiration for writing, and her works are natural and close to reality. As described in "Late Juju", "Ashin had no parents, was adopted by the Aizawa family in Tokyo at the age of 5, and then her adoptive father Xiang zekujiro ran to Dalian to do construction, and there was no more news, she could only live with her adoptive mother."
This is very similar to Fumiko Hayashi's upbringing.
2. The social environment creates a person's way of doing things
Japan's deep-seated idea of male superiority over female inferiority has influenced generations of people. To this day, there is still a certain phenomenon of male superiority over female inferiority in Japan. Many girls get married and want to be "full-time wives". This is not a derogatory term, on the contrary, in a family that can be a full-time wife, the husband's income is to be able to meet the family expenses. It is the same as the Chinese "male outside, female inside" is a meaning. Men earn money to support their families, and women depend on men for their lives.
"Late Chrysanthemum" wrote: "As she grew older, especially after experiencing a tragic war, she felt that the days without men were empty and helpless. "It's the truest portrayal.
3. Bumpy emotional experiences create a bohemian personality
At the age of 19, Fumiko Hayashi fell in love with a rich second generation, and because of the disparity in family and status, they eventually parted ways. In 1923, he married the actor Wakao Tanabe, but after marriage, he found that the man was selfish and hypocritical, and he was ambiguous with others during the marriage, so he hastily ended the marriage of only two months. The next year, he married Nomura Yoshiya, and after the marriage, he also had the same misfortune, and her husband would also commit domestic violence, and this marriage ended in divorce after only one and a half years.
The unfortunate emotional experience has caused Hayashi Fumiko to have a great sense of distrust of men. This distrust indirectly affects The character of Fumiko Hayashi: indifferent and uninhibited. As she once wrote: "Whether it is family or love, as far as I am concerned, it is dispensable." Presumably, it is precisely because of this "different" perception that Fumiko Hayashi will have an ambiguous relationship with Japanese officers during World War II. Some later generations even speculated that the child adopted by Fumiko Hayashi was actually her illegitimate son.
Xiao Hong once said: "The sky is full of stars, the house is full of moons, how is life, why is it so sad?" ”
Fumiko Hayashi integrates the life perception of a short life into the text, and the feeling of the characters in the work is actually an emotion of her own life. Through "Evening Chrysanthemum", Hayashi Fumiko exposes the harm caused by the war to ordinary people: there is no place to live, there is no place to live, there is no food and clothing. She lives at the bottom and can best see the hardships of the people at the bottom.
Fumiko Hayashi also tells us through "Evening Chrysanthemum" that only by suffering can we have the power to live. Fumiko Hayashi's description of poverty is the most direct. Her characters face the ugly and strange psychology of poverty, and in order to survive the unscrupulous way of survival, under the background of suffering, a hope of life is born. As she once wrote in the Writer's Notebook: "Those who have a warm heart, the holy poor, the smiling, their symphony is the flame of the earth."
Since ancient times, Japan has been heavily influenced by Confucianism, and the idea of male power is also deeply rooted. In the Japanese view, men can live as they please, while women can only live the way men want, in short, women are appendages of men. Women at this time are repressed. They want to get out of this life, but there is nothing they can do.
Just like Yukiko in "Floating Clouds", although she shows extreme disappointment in men, she can only live like this, and end up with a fragrant death.
Before the Meiji Restoration, there were very few female writers in the Japanese literary world. Men gain absolute control. The emergence of Fumiko Hayashi has also given hope to women living in torment and hardship. Through novels, Fumiko Hayashi brought Western liberal thought to readers, and feminist consciousness began to rise. As it is written in the Book of Poverty: "If you really want to fight, then I... I'll have to leave you. ”
Fumiko Hayashi's novels touch the heart the most. She can best understand the hardships faced by women living at the bottom. Just like her works seem desolate, they are actually full of yearning for a new world. In Fumiko Hayashi's work, the woman is the protagonist and the man is the accessory. Women are lonely and fragile, but they will not be easily broken. As Fumiko Hayashi says in the book: When you come to the end of all disillusionment, from there again comes hope.
Hayashi Fumiko's novels are simple in language, the content is close to life, and there has never been "no human fireworks". Her memorable writing style is also unique in the Japanese literary world. Yu Dafu, Xie Bingying, And Natsuo Kirino all admired the works of Fumiko Hayashi. "Late Chrysanthemum" writes about the suffering and hardships of Japanese women who want to break free, but have been unable to break free. The novel seems to lament Ashin's misery and desolation, but in fact, it is also writing about the life of Hayashi Fumiko's suffering.
No wonder Yasunari Kawabata once said, "The only person who can lament a woman's sadness like this is Fumiko Hayashi."