Chekhov's Rose
By Gu Chunfang
Published by Yilin Publishing House
Chekhov's biographies are numerous, and it is not easy for latecomers to find room to stretch, but Professor Gu Chunfang's book "Chekhov's Roses" (published by Yilin Publishing House) by Professor Gu Chunfang of the School of Arts of Peking University is still unique. The language of this biography is warm and gorgeous, showing the talent of the biographer as a poet; the views and materials on Chekhov's later plays are new, relying on the insight and education of theater scholars; this well-made book also provides a large number of newly taken photographs, showing the appearance of Chekhov's former residence and garden in many ways, showing the feelings of aesthetic professors and aesthetic educators. After 25 years of study of theatrical art and Russian literature, the author regarded this spiritual biography as a lyrical preface to the later published theatrical monograph Interpreting Chekhov.
One in particular: distinguish between old and new, and vaguely extend
Among the Russian writers Chinese familiar, Chekhov was such a special one. On the one hand, he is the spokesman of critical realism, and his writing supports our imagination of Russian society before and after the abolition of serfdom, and the people and things he reproduces have a strong symbolic power and have long become the boundary monuments that distinguish the old and new society; but on the other hand, the group of characters he has created hovering between the old and the new have dragged out longer and longer figures, which still affect the way literature perceives the world.
The characters in Chekhov's plays still speak in a dramatic tone, but the power of action has long since dissipated into the tide of irony; and the characters in his novels, driven by instinct, want to create stories for themselves, but the plot that once belonged to them has long been unsustainable. The real theme of Chekhov's work is not the conflict in life but life itself, and immersing yourself in that life is like immersing yourself in a river where the water level is constantly falling, and it is immutable until the last moment.
Gardens and Seagulls: A Beautiful World and A Tribute to the Golden Age
In Chekhov's Rose, truth and fiction not only form a reproduction relationship, but also constitute subtle innuendos, and a work often becomes a metaphor or prophecy of Chekhov's life. This is a fact that Chekhov's biographers are concerned with, but Chekhov's Rose is more concerned with the connection with the present garden. The garden features a variety of trees and shrubs, birds and poultry, vibrant close-ups and vistas, and of course, roses of all colors. In Melichov, Chekhov built himself a hut dedicated to writing.
▲Chekhov (Visual China)
Chekhov's Rose believes that this log cabin in Melichov is both Chekhov's spiritual melting pot and the "little cradle" of modern Russian theatre, and it is here that Chekhov wrote the far-reaching four-act play "Seagull". Nina, who has the dream of an actress, falls in love with a middle-aged literati who has always been chaotic and abandoned, and her daughter has unfortunately died, thus falling to the bottom of her life. But she did not give up her dream of being an actor, and tirelessly rushed to perform. The middle-aged literati Tribleev, who wanted to become a writer, was also deeply involved in the crisis of writing, and when the old lovers reunited, he realized that the two could not go back to the past and shot themselves without warning.
Why write such a sad story in this bright garden? Chekhov's Rose gives a layered explanation. It first reminds us that although the garden is always reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, Chekhov's garden is not really a fairy tale, but more pastoral. In Uncle Vanya, Chekhov borrows the words of the characters in the play to praise the ruined garden with Turgenev flavor. If the garden is "a refuge for mankind to escape from the hustle and bustle of history and mania, and the ultimate imagination of mankind for a beautiful other world", then the back of this escape and imagination is the mourning of the irreparable golden age.
▲ Stills from the movie "Uncle Vanya"
Second, Chekhov did not have the innate sense of nobility of Turgenev, for whom owning a garden was a luxury that required a lifetime of diligent work. When he finally got the property, he was already a middle-aged man who was plagued by troubles. His garden is home to "attachment and reverence for the earth," which it sees as "a symbol of the value and meaning of all life on earth." However, the grandeur of life sometimes ends, and the day of farewell always comes earlier than imagined.
Love and Freedom: A garden to guard the return of seagulls
Restlessness. Chekhov's Rose brilliantly writes that Nina in Seagull is Chekhov's Eve who fled the Garden of Eden. Indeed, the protagonists of Chekhov's works are always expelled or even voluntarily walked out of the Garden of Eden. What pained Triblev the most was that his love could not give Nina shelter, but exposed his mediocrity. Chekhov and his friend Leviathan once killed a beautiful bird while hunting, and the scene of the bird's death was heart-wrenching, and "Chekhov's Rose" believes that "this matter was deeply imprinted in Chekhov's heart and became the core of the later play "Seagull". If the rose and the seagull are both symbols of the love relationship, then how much intolerance there is in this relationship, how much helplessness.
▲ Stills from the movie "Seagull"
As a biography, Chekhov's Rose has a secret resonance with the great Russian writer with variations of roses and seagulls: he blessed the women he loved to be glorious people, but he was afraid that they would really be such people; he loved their independent spirit but often felt tired of it; he feared their suffering and sorrow, but also prayed that this suffering and sorrow would make them grow. He sometimes seemed harsh, even too harsh, and he sincerely believed that happiness must be allied with morality, and Chekhov's Rose aptly quotes from the novel Gooseberry: "Happiness is not, and should not be." If life has meaning and purpose, then that meaning and purpose is definitely not our happiness, but something more reasonable and greater than that. Chekhov had an ascetic temperament, and even in a lonely cabin he was always neatly dressed and meticulous, as if ready to be questioned by the more exalted. However, he was too kind to be morally condescending.
The author of Chekhov's Rose believes, "Man is born of happiness, like a bird flying for the sky." Chekhov's gardens and literature record his entire love for the world. "Even if everything is subject to a great cause higher than happiness, we can say that the greatest cause is composed no more than human love. Between the wings that opened for the sky and the small body that fell in the sound of gunfire, there was Chekhov's expectation, anxiety and boundless kindness. He guarded a garden, waiting for the seagull-like people to return, but even if they did not return, as a writer, he had no reason to blame them. This is a kind of love and tolerance that was nurtured in the morning light of the new century, and our literature and life still benefit from it.
Author: Tang Yonghua
Edit: Jin Jiuchao
Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Zifen