World Book Day
The seventh issue of the album
Author: Chuan Guangming (Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Capital Normal University)
Respondent Li Dongjun (Professor, School of History, Nankai University)
Wei Li (bibliophile)
Jia Yan (Senior media person "Chang'an Yue Reading" public welfare reading founder)
Editor's Note
April day on earth, the most beautiful time to read.
On the occasion of World Book Day on April 23, Beijing Youth Daily Daily Supplement launched the "Questionnaire • Third Season", hoping that in the era of fragmented information, people will not give up paper reading; under the trend of electronics, they still maintain their love for paper books.
Different from the questionnaires of the previous two seasons, this season specially invited Shi Hang, Zheng Yuanjie, Xiao Fuxing, Tang Xiaobing, Fu Guangming, Li Dongjun and Yuan Yidan, seven old friends of the "Daily Supplement" and senior book lovers as the "question writers" of the questionnaire, they put their thoughts on reading into the title, in the high-quality questions and answers, readers can appreciate the joy and power that reading brings to mankind.
Reading is the investment behavior with the highest return rate in the world, and I hope that this version of the questionnaire can enlighten and moisten the hearts of every book lover.
Have you ever had the experience of sniffing the aroma of a paper book before reading it?
Wei Li: Because I love ancient books, I can appreciate what a real book fragrance is: it is not an adjective, but a real existence. There's a movie called Smelling a Woman, and I can borrow it and say it without exaggeration — I can smell where the library of ancient books is 20 meters away. Scientists can't ask scientists about what a book is, because they'll tell you that it's a mixture of camphor and musty smell. But I think it's not so simple, I have seen a lot of handmade paper workshops, can understand how the traditional papermaking techniques produce the aroma of books.
Unfortunately, modern papermaking techniques are already very different from tradition. Today's paper books smell more of the smell of ink, because the ink is good or bad, which also produces the smell of books and paper. Some people say that the paper stinks because the quality of the glue used is too poor, maybe so. But whatever it tastes like, it doesn't affect my penchant for paper books in the slightest. Nowadays, most of the new paper books will be plastic sealed, and at the moment of unpacking, I still can't help but take a deep sniff to judge the quality of the book by smell.
Jia Yan: Spring flowers fall out, and the aroma returns to spring. When a tree becomes a book, the aroma of the wood returns to the texture of the book. Rather than sniffing, I prefer the feeling of touching a paper book, Dowling paper, matte paper, light paper, a good book of paper, like silky baby skin, is a beautiful feeling.
Have you ever thought that e-books will not bring such a "book fragrance"?
Li Dongjun: I think we all had the joy of sniffing the ink fragrance of the new book, but I have not had the experience of reading the e-book, but I think if the content of the e-book attracts me, then imagine the ink fragrance in the experience.
Wei Li: I am a ashes-level paper book party, so I have a natural alienation from e-books. Of course, I also understand, or appreciate what Xun Zi said, "Shouting in the wind, sounding not adding to the disease, and hearing the person to show", gentlemen should be good at faking things, so I will also use the Internet to buy old books and search for information on the Internet. But when I stare at the screen for a while, I feel dizzy, and I have to print out the required information and turn it into paper before I can see it steadily. So, I've never felt anything about e-books. Although it is somewhat utilitarian to say this, it is really my experience.
Jia Yan: The ancients used ink for writing, and the book was sandwiched with brassica vanilla, so that the ink was fragrant and the book was fragrant. Nowadays, writing relies on input without handwriting, and there is no page turning on the reading screen, so naturally there is no such "book fragrance". Just the fragrance of books, but also the ideas of the book, the content of the book. Paper and screen are only carriers and media, and books are related to the soul and spirit, and have nothing to do with the media. Good books, reading Daigo empowerment, suddenly cheerful, teeth and cheeks fragrant, but where reading meets this state, there is a sense of fragrance, like the fragrance of books.
Have you ever thought about the difference between "reading" and "reading"?
Li Dongjun: "Reading" and "reading" are the same for me, so I haven't thought about the difference between them.
Wei Li: When you are young and not more important, you don't know how to distinguish between the two, you will only divide books into two categories: like to read and dislike to read, and feel that books with stories are books to read, and books that teachers let read are books. In short, reading is a sneaky thing, a happy thing, and reading is a kind of forced labor. After the purslane grew up, reading and reading became utilitarian, and I rarely read the novels with strong storylines, and more often looked for some books that were useful to me to read. Of course, what is useful, people see each other. In my opinion, knowing how to read is actually a utilitarian, because he knows how to control books rather than be controlled by books. It's an option, not a treat.
Jia Yan: There is no difference between reading books and reading books, but under careful study, it is interesting.
Reading is the beginning of a person's relationship with a book. Morning reading is the morning lesson for students. Reading orally, hearing it, reciting it with the heart, and imprinting it profoundly, it is like standing on a pile, practicing the Tong Zi Gong.
Reading, whether extensive or intensive, has time to fill it. Good readers, who read for a long time, will gradually enter the state of reading books, and reading books is faster than reading books. But that doesn't mean you can avoid the fun of reading. Writers write with a sense of language, writers Chen Zhongzhong, Jia Pingwa are in dialect, if read in Shaanxi dialect, there will be unexpected scene reproduction, that is simple, open-minded, vivid Qin atmosphere, just like the Qing Han Bangqing in the Subai dialect into the "Tale of flowers on the sea", is a kind to the People of Suzhou and Zhejiang.
Reading books, especially poetry and drama, do you read the sound?
Li Dongjun: Reciting poetry in me is to find the rhythm of the beautiful, occasionally imitating the lines of the drama is to enter the inner character.
Wei Li: I have this problem, especially when reading my favorite ancient poems, I can't help but read them out loud, and at the same time, I will shake my head nervously. Because my artistic accomplishment is so poor, I rarely read drama books. A famous person once said that the lack of aesthetic ability is also a terminal illness. Unfortunately, when I reached an age, I realized that I did not have such an ability.
Jia Yan: The national wind rises, in the poems, it is the crab leaf, and it is white dew as frost. Reading poetry, reading aloud, is the wind rising from the flat ground, or the spring wind blowing the crepe spring water, or the wind blowing the clouds, or the fingers of the wind caressing the green space. Once in no man's land, I read Nietzsche's verses aloud, and my heart was moist. Poetry, read aloud, but not read aloud, just read, like the wind blowing the wind, like a poem back to the original appearance: the national wind.
Drama is the second creation of script performance, which can be read and performed. Shakespeare's plays are the best interpretations, preferring to watch them rather than reading them. Because, I'm just alone, and I haven't encountered a one-man drama book that is interesting enough to want to read aloud.
Have you ever read a particularly favorite book more than three times?
Wei Li: If you count the reading situation in your youth, you should have it. At that time, I preferred to read history books, and some books were read more than 30 times. This situation affected my later reading interest, such as "Water Margin" I have seen many times, and even prided itself on being able to memorize the nickname of 108 heroes and good men, as long as I catch a small friend to show off to him, and also deceive a lot of delicious food. These experiences also made me understand the value of reading, which is a first-class skill in the era of food scarcity.
Unfortunately, later, in order to write books, I stopped reading casually. In order to find information, some of them, as Mr. Fu Sinian said, "Go up to the poor and fall into the Yellow Spring, and use your hands and feet to find things." This seems to increase knowledge, but it no longer feels like enjoyment, and it is even more difficult to repeat it again and again.
Jia Yan: Dream of the Red Chamber. When he first met at the age of eleven, in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, Dai Yu burned the manuscript and wept silently. Revisited at the university, Jia Yucun and Zhen Shiyin knew that there was a mystery in between. Later, when I was idle, I read it, heard the song, read the absurd words, and knew that there was a dream of the Red Chamber in this world, but it was just a bitter tear from the author, which turned into too illusory and led countless people to be obsessed.
What if Lu encounters a book that he can't read?
Li Dongjun: When encountering a book that cannot be read, you must not only read it three times, but also read it until you understand it.
Wei Li: When I was young, I adopted the method of reading books by jumping over when I couldn't read. For example, at that time, I saw some books in traditional vertical layouts, some words were not recognized at all, or even guessed with a blindfold, or ten lines at a glance, and all the attention was on finding and making up for the storyline.
For a while, I felt familiar with any book I saw, and I tried my best to take it down, but after I actually got the book, I realized that some books could not be read at all. For example, the popular "Ulysses", I had to endure reading countless times, each time I could not insist on reading page 30, and finally discouraged, I had to let it stay on the shelf, glancing at it from time to time to show admiration.
After I actually started writing articles, I slowly changed this kind of vulgar way of reading. For example, at one point I wanted to find out what the Han Dynasty classicist He Xiu meant by the "New Zhou And Old Song", because most experts' interpretations are like the English-English Dictionary, and after reading it, they still can't understand the explanation in their interpretation, and always want to find a popular sentence to summarize the subtle meaning of this sentence.
After many days of tossing and turning, I finally figured out the true meaning of this phrase. It was so simple, but it took me so much time, worth it or not, I could only taste it myself. However, to be able to understand the problem, there is still a kind of indescribable pleasure, because at that moment, I can realize that in the three realms of the Kingdom Of Weizhi Studies, "I suddenly look back, but the person is in the middle of the light."
Jia Yan: Books can't be read, there are about two kinds: one is a primary school student who learns arithmetic, can't solve the equations, that really doesn't understand. At this time, it is necessary to shelve the books, supplement the basic knowledge, expand the problem-solving ideas, and after the problem-solving ability is improved, then read the book that cannot be read, and it will suddenly be enlightened.
Of course, you can also stumble and read it over and over again, "familiar with three hundred Tang poems, and if you can't compose poems, you can also chant", which is also about the method of reading, and practice can make perfect.
There is also a kind of incomprehension that is more hidden, that is, you think you understand, but in fact, you do not understand. Myths and symbols, allegories and satires, abstractions and metaphors, too many writers hide their ideas in words, play hide-and-seek with readers, then you may have to collect clues, annotations, and examinations, just like detectives, to find the real main idea, so that it can be called reading.
How can you better engage in immersive reading?
Li Dongjun: Regarding reading, there is very little communication with people, and I always think that reading is a very personal thing, with traces of personality, and it is a spiritual landscape of a person. Just like education, every child, every parent, and every family is different, with a unique atmosphere and their own trajectory, so learning from each other generally has little effect. But it does not deny that human nature is universal, that is, education itself. Education is necessary for a person's growth. Similarly, reading is also a basic spiritual need of people.
On the occasion of World Book Day, although it is not only on Reading Day, it is also a very happy thing to talk about reading things and interact with the reading experience on reading day, adding a sense of ceremony to the reading festival.
Fu Guangming's seventh question touched me, and I recalled carefully that my reading was basically "immersive", so I was eager to answer this question.
In the matter of reading, I think that only immersive reading has a sense of spiritual ritual, and it is in stark contrast to the fragmented reading experience of today's internet browsing and fast food reading and light reading.
Why compare? Because we have realized that "fragmentation" is a disease of the times. Our reading life is slowly being eroded by the disease of this era and showing great "typicality". As a person's completeness, if we do not want to be divided, divided, we must resist the diseases of the times from the perspective of reading, and immersive reading may be the best healing incision.
What is immersive reading? Remember the time we used to read. At four o'clock in the morning, waiting in line in front of the Xinhua Bookstore, waiting for the door to open at eight o'clock, snapping up "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" or the whole "Dream of the Red Chamber", etc., almost all the young people of that era had a reading dream, which was the beginning of my immersive reading.
In fact, the immersive reading landscape is the same all over the world. Holding a book, under the street lamp, on the grass, by the stream, in the downtown, in the field, from the back of the cow to the train, and then from the study to the bed, from the dining table to the balcony, etc., these reading scenery from far and near, from the side to the distance. Fascinated by the contents of the book, I often miss the bus and the sunset, and forget to cook and sleep. Even the reading career of sneaking in the bed and playing a flashlight is almost a common experience of our youth. The frustration of being found snatched of a flashlight by my mother, the dry heat of scratching my ears and scratching my cheeks, the anxiety of not reading a book. If reading is the best haven, then reading in the bed with a flashlight is the best witness to the haven. Now that I think about all of this, it is all immersive reading, all of which are the spiritual gestures of reading.
At that time, there were few books, and basically every book that came out could be read, and the book was used to the fullest, which was also the luck of the author and the book.
So "How can I do better immersive reading?" I agree with Professor Tang Xiaobing's statement: "Reading with a sense of resistance is serious reading." Similar to this formulation is what I once called "reading with a sense of disability." And "obstacle" or "resistance" reading, is a "hard reading" experience, and the popular online browsing and offline fast food reading is different, the latter's sense of speed and ease, can be called "fashion entertainment" reading bar, it makes the reader unable to stop thinking, in the process of "light reading", it will make our minds more and more lazy and lazy to nothingness. And the kind of "Great Leap Forward" reading that reads world history in five minutes or Chinese history has long been answered by history. Of course, here to the Internet celebrity bookstore punch card to take pictures has been excluded from reading.
I advocate "hard reading", that is, "obstructed" reading. The first thing starts with the reader's need to address his or her inner needs, such as the spiritual desire to nourish and the cognitive need to solve unclear or vague questions of thought. For example, the fourth question of the "Eight Questions" I put forward about reading: "In reading, you may encounter many heroes and many greats, but can you find yourself in reading?" ”
I think that reading is first and foremost "discovery of self", and if you "discover yourself", you must find your own questions and return to your answers in the reading of each book.
Secondly, in reading, you often encounter problems that you do not understand or do not understand, which in turn urge you to find another book related to reading in order to solve your confusion, and so on, forming a reading chain, which will become a rope for you to climb the cliffs of life.
Third, this requires us to train ourselves in the ability to "immerse" in reading, such as whether you can read a 100,000-word book to 500,000 words, which is only to read while taking reading notes, there is no other way. Then read a 500,000-word book into a thousand words, requiring you to quickly flip through the preface or preface, table of contents, and afterword to find the part you need to read or the core of the book. According to my personal reading experience, the immersive reading career should be this process from thicker and thicker to thinner and thinner.
The world would be bad without books; without immersive reading, the world would have kept going bad.
Wei Li: Reading books and reading that the world does not exist, my understanding is called immersion. In the past two years, the metacosm has become popular, and I think the metacosm should be the immersion of some people. Although the metacosm is not a book, I don't know, but the concept of reading is already blurred, which is an indisputable fact.
From personal experience, people who read certain books at a certain stage are more self-righteous, because their brain software can only process the results of that period at each time. Therefore, a person who improves the quality and speed of his own software is the fundamental key to reading a book. In my opinion, at a certain time there is no need to force people to understand, when you can not reach the author's level of thinking, this is software incompatibility, your interpretation is problematic. But memory is immutable, the poem you memorized when you were young, and when you have a handful of age, it is still that poem, but by this time your understanding is completely different. Sometimes I think of a poem that has a completely different meaning than I understood when I was younger, and I feel a sense of joy at this moment. In my opinion, one can immerse oneself in something at any moment, and the same is true of reading, without having to ask the ultimate goal, happiness is the harvest.
Jia Yan: Association substitution, synaesthesia empathy, is a two-way way into immersive reading. All writers are constructing a world that marks their own thoughts and characteristics, but they have replaced the bricks and tiles with words. According to the path marked by the author, expand the association, replace the main characters with yourself, and expand the feelings brought about by reading the text into VR, so that after putting yourself into the book, you can perceive the embarrassment of the characters, the joy and fearlessness of the joy, and the same frequency as the story in the book, and resonate with the author's thoughts. Summarizing the above, it means that the mind is not hindered, there is no distraction, concentrate on reading, and immerse yourself in it.
If not, you can do practical training, Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" has been adapted into eight or nine film and television versions, each with its own advantages, after watching the drama and then reading, it is easiest to immerse yourself in. Many of the famous works have been adapted, which can be regarded as a guide, and the comparison of them can be seen in the fashion of the times. This is a beginner's entry, after improving your ability, you can follow the author's philosophical thoughts in the no-story work, dance with the way of nature, walk in the vast universe of knowledge, and get away with it.