Author: Gong Li (Professor of School of Literature, Shandong University, this article is a phased result of "Qilu Young Scholars Project Funding of Shandong University")
The same is to read "Dream of the Red Chamber", different writers will have different feelings. Some people worship it as a treasure. Duanmu Hongliang said to himself: "Among all the novels in ancient and modern China and abroad, I love "Dream of the Red Chamber" the most." Su Tong said: "I like and worship 'Dream of the Red Chamber'" Qian Xuantong also believes that "Dream of the Red Chamber" has "lasting literary value". Some people have a certain critical attitude. Hu Shi believes that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is inferior to "The History of Ru Lin"; in terms of literary technology, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not as good as "The Legend of flowers on the sea", nor is it as good as "The Journey of the Old Remnant". Su Xuelin's attitude towards "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the most extreme, she said: "Originally, "Dream of the Red Chamber" was just an immature literary and artistic work", "The Dream of the Red Chamber is just a bowl of monkey urine, not a elixir of holy water, you love to drink, just try your best, forgive me for not accompanying it."
Baoyu and Daiyu Sun Wen/Painting
Grand View Garden Sun Wen/Painting
"Dream of the Red Chamber" has many characters, but each character has a unique personality. Chinese modern and contemporary writers who feel keenly also have their own love for the characters, and their evaluations are mixed.
In 1955, when Zhao Jingshen opened the "Chinese Novel Studies" class in Fudan, he used voting to test students on the reading of "Dream of the Red Chamber". One of the topics is "Which people do you think the character of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the most successful", Daiyu, Baochao, Fengjie, Baoyu, Liu Grandma, and the raiders have more votes, and Zhao Jingshen himself feels that "the number of votes of Qingwen and You Sanjie is too small, and Madame Xing and Lai Da are not deeply impressed"; the other topic is "Which sections of the book do you think are still deeply impressed?" Dai Yu burned the manuscript, Dai Yu returned to heaven, Dai Yu funeral flowers, and Liu Grandma visited the Grand View Garden with more votes, and Zhao Jingshen himself felt that "Tan Qingwen and The Second Sister of Harm You should get more votes."
Wang Meng had a very low opinion of Jia Baoyu, believing that he was a "chaos demon king", a parasite and a waste, "He will not work or exploit." He won't make money and won't use it. They will not start a business, will not keep their jobs, and will not even use power to fight for power. He cannot truly do good or do evil. He does not understand the career, regardless of whether the family business is needed or worried about the profession, and he will never study", "Whether from the perspective of history, society, and family, from the perspective of practice, action, and practicality", Jia Baoyu is useless. But Wang Meng also believes that Jia Baoyu is also a "model of purity, affection, sorrow, and sorrow that has no precedent in the literary gallery and is extremely difficult to imitate", and he is a "person with his own true spiritual life" and "the most natural, freest and most authentic". Jia Baoyu "can hardly say that there is any evil aspect of his character, especially his private morality", he "can even be regarded as an angel in jia fu who is 'unclean except for two lions'", "although there is no shortage of cunning and even 'deviant' in the fight with the girls, especially the beards, his overall attitude towards women is still relatively pure, and he attaches more importance to spiritual and emotional proximity."
Lin Daiyu has the appearance of falling into the country, but she is also a sentimental and sickly body. In Jia Province, she did not worry about eating and drinking, but she was not comfortable. Her mother died early, and her father, who loved her, was not around, and the great Jia Fu did not bring her real warmth. The appearance of Jia Baoyu brought love and hope to Lin Daiyu, but hope eventually turned into disappointment and despair. "The love between children and daughters is often unreasonable, you see it is trivial, she said that the sky is about to fall" (Han Yu), "a joyful conversation with Jia Baoyu will bring bright sunshine; a misunderstanding with Jia Baoyu will immediately be full of clouds" (Ma Ruifang), Jia Baoyu's words and deeds will "blow a pool of spring water", triggering Lin Daiyu's inner ups and downs. Lin Daiyu "immersed herself in the deep sea of feelings, breathed and chewed everything here, and brewed her own thoughts, character, emotions, hobbies, and her exquisite language and beautiful poetry from it; later, she destroyed herself in it" and "sang a lingering and mournful love song with her entire career" (Wang Kunlun).
He Qifang said: "For the character of Xue Baochao, people who have read "Dream of the Red Chamber" will not forget. But in life, her name is not as popular as Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and it has become a common name. This may be that the characteristics of this personality are not as prominent as Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu. Therefore, her perception was argued and may still be debated. "Xue Baochao is indeed a controversial figure, and some people say that Xue Baochao is a bad person. But in Nie Shuyi's view, Xue Baochao was not only not a bad person, but a "perfect and beautiful woman", she was "beautiful; literate, knowledgeable; not smiling; did not love to rub grease and powder, wore red and green; open-minded and generous, others said that she did not care about anything; good at appreciating the will of the elders, Jia Mu called for a little drama, just point out the drama that Jia Mu loved to watch, in front of Madame Wang, said that Jin Jun'er did not necessarily commit suicide but lost her footing and fell into a well to forgive Madame Wang's heart; gave her own clothes to Jin Jun'er as a funeral coat, nor was she afraid; she was good at avoiding disasters. For example, he is also good at avoiding suspicion, often far away from Baoyu, and when he sees Baoyu entering the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, he will not go in; generous and helpful, sending bird's nest to Daiyu, making needlework for Xiangyun, redeeming clothes for Xiuyan; easy-going, seeing that people's needles and threads are good, he helps embroider a few stitches, and when he sees mosquitoes biting Baoyu, he also rushes; sometimes he also plays, such as fluttering butterflies; He is quiet and quiet, obeying the destiny of marriage, anyway, there will be a person with jade, and there is no need to be anxious." Xue Baochao is the "waves" of love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, "Without her, love is love, Chao also loves, Twilight also loves, there is no contradiction, there is no twist, there is no reason to show their fiery true gold, the sea is rotten, we don't have so many Qiwen Zhiwen to read" "Just because Baochao is perfect, and there are golden locks or something, enough to cause misunderstandings and the like, this is the wave, the wave is magnificent and beautiful."
People who have read "Dream of the Red Chamber" will be deeply impressed by Wang Xifeng's appearance, as Wang Chaowen said: "Before seeing her people, first hear their voices, and everyone is holding their breath, she is alone." In particular, the spirit is active, the decoration is brilliant, and the momentum is higher. However, Wang Zengqi had quite an opinion on Wang Xifeng's "appearance" when he appeared, "'A pair of Danfeng triangular eyes, two curved willow leaves hanging eyebrows', the image is really not beautiful, nor is it accurate, it is because of the influence of the 'praise' of the book, using idioms." Wang Xifeng's language is the most personal, "She is a very vivid character. Wherever she appears, the air comes alive... Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's spicy, sometimes it's witty. Needless to say her name, just read out her words and we know it's her. ”
Wang Xifeng is the phoenix among people, "the appearance is extremely standard, the speech is refreshing, the heart is very deep and detailed", "the man is not one", just to assist Ning Guofu, it shows her outstanding management ability. But she is also a pungent and vicious character, He Qifang said that Wang Xifeng is a "treacherous woman with a sweet smile" and an "extreme egoist", Yu Pingbo said that Wang Xifeng "should be a negative character in the 'Twelve Chao'", "her life is full of bad deeds in the book". "The organs are too clever to calculate Qingqing's life", no one will really like her. However, Wang Xifeng is also a very vivid character described in "Dream of the Red Chamber", and in the first eighty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", there are fifty-two times of writing about her, as Li Xifan said: "In the artistic realm of "Dream of the Red Chamber", if Wang Xifeng's appearance is missing, it will obviously be missing a 'spotlight' that connects the life of Rong Guofu and Daguanyuan."
Zheng Yimei said that Bao Tianxiao "likes to read "Dream of the Red Chamber", and for the characters in the book, the most respected person is The Purple Crane" Wu Mi said, "Those who want to know Mi, please look at the purple crane." And Xiao Hong called herself "idiot" Xiangling. Nie Shuyun recalled a conversation he had with Xiao Hong, when he said to Xiao Hong: "Xiao Hong, you are a talented woman, if you go to the examination of Emperor Wu Zetian, it is difficult to say whether you can pass the exam well, in short, when tang Yuchen (originally the first name, Wu Zetian did not like her name, moved her back ten). Xiao Hong smiled at him and said, "You are completely wrong. I am a person in "Dream of the Red Chamber", not a person in "Mirror Flower Edge". What surprised Nie Xianyi was that Xiao Hong said that she was the "idiot" Xiangling in "Dream of the Red Chamber": "I am like Xiangling in "Dream of the Red Chamber", I also write poetry in dreams, but I have not said it to people, and people don't know it." ”
And Lin Yutang liked the well-trained Tanchun the most, Tanchun "has the beauty of the combined character of Dai Yu and Bao Chao, and later she happily married and became a typical good wife." Lin Yutang also had a good feeling for Liu Grandma, "Although Liu Grandma's speech and demeanor are vulgar, they maintain the true character of a simple and innocent village woman. Cao Xueqin also wrote about Liu Grandma was also the most successful. 'Liu Grandma entered the Grand View Garden' became one of the most widely circulated proverbs, which proved the deep impression that Liu Grandma gave to people. What is more interesting is that in Lin Yutang's view, "Dream of the Red Chamber" also has the function of distinguishing people's tempers, "the easiest way to detect the temper of a Chinese is to ask him whether he rejoices in Daiyu or Baoyu, if he rejoices in Daiyu, then he is an idealist, if he approves of Baochao, then he is a realist." Some rejoice in Qingwen, then he may be a great writer in the future, and some rejoice in Shi Xiangyun, and he should also love Li Bai's poetry."
The characters in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are inexhaustible, and the "Dream of the Red Chamber" is also inexhaustible, it is a big book with a "magnificent structure and rich content" and "can withstand repeated reading, and then read it again and still has charm". Zhou Shuangjuan read "Dream of the Red Chamber" like a mesmerized, and can recite it back. Mao Dun can recite the entire "Dream of the Red Chamber". Zhu Xiang continued to write "Dream of the Red Chamber", and Duanmu Hongliang wrote the historical novel "Cao Xueqin". Ouyang Yuqian, Bai Wei, Gu Zhongyi, Shi Huafu, Duanmu Hongliang, Kong Lingjing, Zhao Qingge and other writers also recreated "Dream of the Red Chamber" and "adapted the "Dream of the Red Chamber" novel into other literary and artistic forms of drama or rap." The author hopes that people with a heart can bring together the long and short texts of modern and contemporary writers on "Dream of the Red Chamber" and conduct in-depth research on the topic of "Modern and Contemporary Writers and "Dream of the Red Chamber"" in depth.
Guangming Daily ( 2022-03-11 16th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily