Why don't we have great writers in modern China? Zhang Ailing or Qian Zhongshu, their works are playful, the wording is very harsh, and some dark things in our hearts should be reconciled, and few are like Hugo, Tolstoy, Chekhov and other world literary heroes, who reflect their broad and generous minds in their works.
--Zhang Rulun
Anyone who has read the Department of Foreign Languages knows that in the history of Western literature, especially in the history of American literature, there is a chapter called "The Beat Generation", which is the name of a literary genre that arose in the United States around 1949 and 1950. The representative writer of this genre is called Alan Ginsburg, and his main masterpiece is "Howl", which is a landmark work of Western modernist literature.
After the reform and opening up, when Alan Ginsburg came to Visit China, he was already a kind old gentleman in his sixties, and it was Mr. Feng Yidai who was responsible for receiving him. During the visit, he said: "You China is a big country of poetry, especially Tang poetry, which is world-famous, can you introduce it to me?" Mr. Feng Yidai originally studied Western literature and spoke Very good English, so he translated three poems for him. The first poem is relatively simple, li Bai's "Quiet Night Thoughts": "The bright moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be the frost on the ground." Look up at the bright moon and look down at your hometown. But after he finished translating, Ginsburg did not react at all. Why? Because the charm of ancient Chinese poetry is related to many common symbols. The symbol of the moon is generally not well understood by foreigners. The image of the moon as the hometown in our country, if foreigners do not understand Chinese culture in depth, they will not be able to experience the hidden meaning of this image. Therefore, when Mr. Feng first read this poem to Ginsburg, Ginsburg would not have felt it.
The second poem is also not well chosen, that is, Du Mu's "Chibi": "Folding the sand and sinking iron has not been sold, and the self-grinding and washing recognize the former dynasty." Dongfeng does not go with Zhou Lang, and Tong Que Chun deep locks Er Qiao. Because this poem requires the other party to have knowledge of the Three Kingdoms, otherwise, he would not know what the poem is about. Ginsburg apparently had no knowledge of this, so he could only stare dryly.
The third first choice is Jia Dao's "The Seeker Does Not Meet": "Panasonic asked the boy, and the teacher took the medicine." Only in this mountain, the clouds are deep and unknown. "To those of us today, this poem of only twenty words is simple, even third-graders can read it, but the translation is dry. But who knows, Mr. Feng just finished translating, Ginsburg rushed to tears, and he also said a sentence: "The cloud is too deep." "If this Tang poem is told to the professor of the department of Chinese, he may not be able to speak very well, he can tell you that this poem reflects Jia Dao's rhetorical style, but he will not tell you why a foreigner who has been separated from the poet for more than a thousand years will burst into tears when he hears this poem, and this poem has been translated, and the original meaning has been greatly reduced." So, what's the truth in that? For this reflects the deepest thing of mankind, and this most profound thing can only be known by those who have a certain philosophical thinking.
So why are there no great writers in modern China? You can go and see what some modern writers have written, and a lot of the content is in-depth. Zhang Ailing or Qian Zhongshu, their works are playful, the wording is very harsh, and some dark things in our hearts should be reconciled, and few are like Hugo, Tolstoy, Chekhov and other world literary heroes, who reflect their broad and generous minds in their works. So if there is no philosophical thing, it is difficult for Chinese to be educated.
If you've read Chekhov's novels, you know what parenting is. He had a short story called "Bet", about a college student in Petersburg during the Tsarist Period, who was so poor that he wanted to get rich, always fantasizing about one day becoming rich. One day, his fantasy was known to a rich man, who was probably too rich to spend anywhere, so he found him and said to him, "Boy, let's make a bet okay?" The college student said, "How to gamble?" The rich man said: "I have a villa in the suburbs, if you can live there for ten years, stay at home, after the ten-year deadline is over, I will give you a check for a million rubles, let you enter our class, why don't you do it?" The young man listened, ecstatic, he thought: "I am now in my twenties, after ten years and only thirty years old, life has just begun, then I can become a rich man, this is simply too cost-effective!" So he cheerfully agreed, but put forward another condition: to ask the rich man to provide him with all kinds of books. So, for the first three years, he passed the day by reading books on romance, martial arts, and detectives, and the time passed quickly. In the second three years, he felt that he was still young, and it would be better if he had some knowledge when he went out in the future, so he began to read books containing all kinds of knowledge. In the last three years, he began to read books about the human realm, to begin to explore the secrets of life, and then he took books on theology, religion, and philosophy. Soon, ten years had passed, and the appointed time had come, and the rich man came in a carriage, ready to give the check to the young man. But the young man took one look at it and tore the check off, and then he smiled lightly and said to the rich man, "Thank you, I don't need it now." ”
I think that chinese writers cannot write such works. Because if you want to write such a work, the author must first have a firm belief in human nature, not through irony, sarcasm and ridicule of people's unbearable and ridiculous, to set off their own detachment, but need a sad and compassionate mind.
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He is a director of the Chinese Society for the History of Philosophy, the vice president of the Shanghai Society for the Comparison of Chinese and Western Philosophy and Culture, a distinguished professor of Fudan University, the director of the Department of Chinese Philosophy in the School of Philosophy, and a doctoral supervisor. He is a special editorial board member of the journal "Social Sciences Abroad" and the editor-in-chief of the "Contemporary Chinese Philosophy Series", and enjoys the special allowance of the State Council. His research interests include German classical philosophy, modern German philosophy, political philosophy, moral philosophy, pre-Qin Zhuzi, Confucian philosophy, etc.
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Editor: Niu Yajie
Review: Gao Qiaoyan
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