The fourth edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber" continues Cao Xueqin's anonymous signature and revises more than 350 articles

One of the most important and popular versions of Dream of the Red Chamber is the brown-red cover version of the People's Literature Publishing House.

This version is based on the early manuscript "The Reappraisal of the Stone Record (Gengchen Ben)" that is closer to the original appearance of Cao Xueqin, and the "Dream of the Red Chamber" reading that is closer to the "historical truth" with cheng Jia ben as the proofreading of the last forty times.

The collation of this edition was initiated in 1975 and lasted seven years, and in March 1982, it was published under the signature "Institute of Dream of the Red Chamber of the Chinese Academy of Arts", so this edition was referred to as "New SchoolBook" and "Red Research Institute Annotation Book". Fourteen years later, the second edition of the new schoolbook Dream of the Red Chamber was published; Twelve years later, in 2008, the third edition was published. Then it was July last year, when the finishing of the fourth edition began and will be launched recently.

The forthcoming fourth edition is exactly forty years after the publication of the first edition in 1982.

According to rough statistics, on average, more than 100 monographs on the study of the dream of the Red Chamber will be launched every year, and there are 800 to 1,000 papers published in various journals. Then, supporting the ever-expanding and huge pavilion of "Dream of the Red Chamber", is a very basic version of the collation and proofreading work, which is unstable, and all research will be absurd.

The fourth edition of the new schoolbook "Dream of the Red Chamber" is about to be released, what are the new adjustments of this version compared to the third edition more than a decade ago? What adjustments over the past four decades are worth noting? What kind of efforts did the annotators of "Dream of the Red Chamber" make throughout the work process? The Paper contacted the People's Literature Publishing House on these issues.

Cao Xueqin? Tall Osprey? John doe? Signatures that are always changing

Today, when mentioning the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the most standard and common answer is Cao Xueqin and Gao Yan.

However, if we pay attention, we will find that the third edition of the new school book "Dream of the Red Chamber" has already adopted the signature method of "Cao Xueqin's Writing, Anonymous Continuation", and the fourth edition that will be listed soon also continues this statement.

The author's signature of "Dream of the Red Chamber" has been changing.

In 1953, the People's Literature Publishing House launched the first "Dream of the Red Chamber" collated version of New China in the name of Cheng Yiben as the base book, in the name of the "Writers Publishing House" of the People's Literature Publishing House at that time, and this edition did not have Gao Hu's signature on it, and the author only had the name of Cao Xueqin.

In 1957, the People's Literature Publishing House published the second school point, the annotated version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and in 1959 and 1964, the second and third editions were revised, respectively, and this edition was signed by "Cao Xueqin and Gao Yan", which was a reflection of the academic research results at that time. The text of this edition is preceded by an article entitled "About the Author of this Book" signed "Editorial Department of the People's Literature Publishing House", which mentions: "For a long time, the average reader thought that the last forty times was indeed the work of Cao Xueqin. Until modern times, after the research of researchers, it was known that it was actually Cheng Weiyuan's friend Gao Hu who completed it. ”

After that, various early manuscripts of "Dream of the Red Chamber" (especially represented by the Commentary On the Point Of Fat Yan Zhai) were continuously discovered and studied, and the academic circles also put forward new requirements for the collation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" - hoping to sort out and popularize the publication work with the early manuscripts that were closer to the original appearance of Cao Xueqin, so there was a proofreaded version published in 1982 in detail later, signed "Institute of Dream of the Red Chamber of the Chinese Academy of Arts" (hereinafter referred to as the "Red Research Institute").

This edition takes the earlier version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", "The Reappraisal of the Stone Record (Gengchen Ben)", as the base of the first eighty times, and the Cheng Jia ben printed by the Cui Shu House as the base of the last forty times, and the rearranged "Dream of the Red Chamber" is printed for the first time. This version ushered in the era in the history of the spread of "Dream of the Red Chamber" that was sorted out as a base for the fat book, and became the most influential version in later generations.

When the new school edition was published in 1982, although the signature was still "Cao Xueqin and Gao Yan", it was pointed out in the preface: "According to recent years of research, Gao Xuzhi's theory is still suspicious, and it is not the original work of Xueqin, and who the continuing author is, it remains to be explored." ”

With the deepening of the research on the authors of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" after forty years, the vast majority of scholars have denied the "Gao Continuation Theory", but it is still uncertain who the sequel is, so the third edition of the 2008 annotated edition of "Dream of the Red Chamber" changed the signature of the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber" to: "(The first eighty times) Cao Xueqin (the last forty times) The anonymous continuation, Cheng Weiyuan and Gao Hu sorted it out."

The Humanities Society believes that this is a manifestation of responsibility to society and readers, and is an objective reflection of the research results of the last forty authors. Research generally believes that Gao Hu is not the author of the last forty continuations of "Dream of the Red Chamber", he and Cheng Weiyuan are the finishers of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" Cheng Jia Ben Cheng B, they have made important contributions to the publication and dissemination of "Dream of the Red Chamber".

The original text is fully respected in the revision

In 1982, Lu Qixiang, a member of the annotation team of the first edition and an important expert in the previous revisions, introduced that he had written an article to explain the revision of the annotations of the second edition, and the article said: "On the basis of maintaining the original characteristics of the annotations, it has made a step forward. This work broadly includes these aspects: the correction of obvious blackmails; Added important missing points; Improved accuracy; And some simplistic assertions and unnecessary comments were removed. The annotation of this book was mainly done in the late seventies, and today it seems that there are traces of that era in the mode of thinking and the use of words. Although only a few words have been changed, it has helped to improve the scientific nature of the annotations. Lu Qixiang believes that this opinion at that time also applies to future revisions.

Regarding the revision of the fourth edition that began to be launched in June and July 2021, Lu Qixiang introduced that this revision refers to Chen Xizhong's book "Seeking Truth in the Red Chamber" and many articles published by him, and also refers to the opinions of some readers. The revision counts more than 150 articles in the main text and punctuation, more than 30 proofreading articles, and more than 200 comments (of which more than 40 articles are added and more than 160 articles are modified).

Lu Qixiang introduced that the first thing to revise is to try to respect the original text and restore the original text.

If you do not use "lack of affection", restore "seeing affection"; Instead of "serving", "ambushing" is still used; Don't use "slow talk", still use "rambling"; Do not use "wine", still use "drain wine"; Different "holding chants", still using "holding praises"; Don't "smell", still use "smell"; Instead of "calling me", still use "teach me"; Don't "live", still use "live"; Don't use "rather", still use "canco"; Instead of "dwelling", still use "dwelling"; Do not "satisfy the heart", still use "take advantage of the heart"; Don't use "easy", still use "easy"; Do not use "mouth", still use "corner mouth"; Don't "gamble on yourself", still use "gamble gas to go"; Don't "can't put it up", still use "can afford to put it"; Wait a minute.

Lu Qixiang said: "Although it is only a word difference, or reversed, the language habits and sense of language are different, they are all vernacular, and there is a difference between the 'May Fourth' period and modern times, not to mention the ancient vernacular of the earlier Cao Xueqin era." Trying to maintain the characteristics of the ancient vernacular at that time is the principle that should be observed when proofreading. ”

Secondly, "Dream of the Red Chamber" quoted a considerable number of literary works, in the previous revision, the proofreaders have been adjusted, this revision, Lu Qixiang introduced, also in line with the purpose of "respecting the original text", and did not "correct" the original text of "Dream of the Red Chamber" according to the current popular collation of these poems.

"'Dream of the Red Chamber' is not an academic treatise, but a novel, and we must fully respect the originality of the writer." Lu Qixiang said.

For example, the lyrics of the song "When Enjoying the Flowers" sung by the Sixty-third Fangguan are "Idle for the Immortals to Sweep Away the Flowers" (page 873 of the fourth edition), and the proofreader corrected it according to the standard compilation book because it did not match Tang Xianzu's original work as "Idle Heaven's Gate Sweeping The Flowers". (3rd edition, p. 869)

Lu Qixiang said: This kind of collation is completely superfluous. The reason is that "idle for the immortals to sweep away the flowers" has its origins, it is quoted in the poem of Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin to a friend, this friend is Cao Yin's respected relics of the volunteer Du Yue, Cao Yin also called himself "Xitang sweeping flower walker", expressing his national feelings. Cao Xueqin is familiar with and understands her grandfather's poetry and its implications. "Idle for the immortals to sweep away the flowers" is not a mistake, but a deliberate rewrite, which accumulates the writer's family memory and traditional inheritance. Some scholars have written a long monograph on this, "From Cao Yin's Poetry Notes to Cao Xueqin's Rewords", pointing out that posterity is incomprehensible and has formed a misreading for more than a hundred years. It can be seen that according to the script, "correction" is self-defeating. According to the original text of the base and briefly annotated, the results of Cao Xue's research were absorbed.

For example, in the forty-ninth edition, the Book of the West Chamber is quoted as "The Child's Mouth Is Not Covered" (Page 662 of the fourth edition). There is no "home" word, the bottom book is not wrong, and a certain revision has compiled the school into "the children's mouth is not covered" according to the present day, Lu Qixiang believes that this is completely redundant and self-defeating. Therefore, in the fourth edition, the original copy was restored, which was in line with the original state that the popular book of the "West Chamber" at that time did not have the word "home".

In addition, in the past forty years, there have been many errors in the annotation process of the new school version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and in this revision, the errors in these original notes have also been modified and some entries have been added.

For example, in the twenty-fifth episode of "The Five Ghosts of the Nightmare Magic Sisters and Brothers" (page 336 of the fourth edition), how many ghosts are there? Five ghosts, or one ghost? According to the "Five Ghosts of the Xieji Dialectic Book", the original note states that "the five ghosts: one of the evil spirits of the old star fortune tellers", but in the novel, Ma Daobo and Aunt Zhao clearly refer to "five ghosts with green face and white hair on paper" (page 343 of the fourth edition), and the original annotation does not correspond to the text. For example, the thirteenth "Beating" (page 173 of the fourth edition) is to invite Taoists instead of monks. The fourteenth time, "Passing the Lamp to the Dead" is for the deceased, not the dying. (Page 183 of the fourth edition)

Some of the original notes are expected to be literary and righteous, such as "Offerings to the Top" (page 844 of the third edition) written as "referring to the top part of the offering", but in fact it should be changed to "referring to the honey offerings." Small strips of flour, fried with honey, stacked in the shape of a tower, are used to worship the gods and Buddhas. Also as a gift to show blessings. "And so on.

In addition, some entries have been added to this revision, such as Lu Qixiang's example:

For example, the fifth time "crime: as a basis, evidence, and case evidence, by extension as an excuse" (note 2 on page 87 of the fourth edition), the forty-first time "still: is, so" "still with nai" is a fake (note 7 on page 555 of the fourth edition), and the sixty-first time is "sending porridge rice: old customs, sending eggs and other food to the homes of newborn children." This custom is found in both the north and the south. (Fourth Edition, p. 836, note 3), Seventy-first "Not Even Half enough: The Meaning of Too Late" (Fourth Edition, p. 984, note 1), and so on.

There is also a situation that Lu Qixiang calls "negation of negation." For example, the seventy-sixth "Cold Moon Burial Flower Soul", the first edition is like this (the first edition of page 1092), later changed to "Cold Moon Burial Poetry Soul" (second and third editions, page 1069), this revision and restore the "Cold Moon Burial Flower Soul" (page 1070 of the fourth edition), because it echoes the "Burial flower yin" and is stable with the previous sentence, plus there is also ancient circumstantial evidence, that is, in the Ming Dynasty Ye ShaoYuan's young daughter Ye Xiaoluan ghost was ordained to answer the Zen master's question, there is a sentence of "drama donation powder box burial flower soul", see Ye Shaoyuan's "Noon Dream Hall Collection Continued Story". Therefore, the school is still "Cold Moon Burial Flower Soul".

From Lin Daiyu's eyebrow description, we can see that if necessary, abandon the base and choose the best

"The annotated version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is still imperfect, but it needs to be updated, and it needs to be continuously developed and improved. From the complexity of the version of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the study of it cannot be said to be in-depth and thorough, and there are many differences. ”

For example, what is the origin and relationship of more than a dozen newly discovered manuscripts in the past few decades, parallel or sequential? There are various controversies about which is true and which is false, which is better or worse. In the process of proofreading, authenticity, precedence, and advantages and disadvantages are the basis for selection, which will vary depending on the different views on each book.

Lu Qixiang said that specifically, the base book selected by the new school is not ideal, and there is room for discussion in the proposed examples.

The advantage of the Gengchen book is that it is earlier and has a large number of surviving replies, but its writing is often not optimal.

For example, Gengchen Ben wrote Lin Daiyu's eyebrows: "Two bays and half goose eyebrows, a pair of amorous apricot eyes", but compared with his original, this is really not good, so the first edition was changed to: "Two bays like a crouching non-crouching eyebrows, a pair of seemingly happy and non-joyful eyes" (according to Jiachen and Heji, the book was changed), and later the Russian-Tibetan version was photocopied and published in China, and according to the Russian-Tibetan version, it was changed to "Two Bays Like a Crouching Non-Crouching Smoke Eyebrow, a Pair of Seemingly Weeping Non-Weeping with Revealing Eyes". "This place is really too important, for the sake of the merit of the text, it violates the style." But more often than not, he gave up his better text in order to keep the original. Lu Qixiang introduced.

In addition to the problem of individual expressions, the bigger problem of Gengchen's original as the base is that there are many errors and changes, especially in the last few times, it is difficult to read, and some researchers have pointed out that it has more than 8,000 changes, and more than half of them are corrected or do not have to be changed. The level of scribes is too low, and some scholars say that thanks to the low level of scribes, it is easy to find out which ones are wrong.

"But then again, after all, it is wrong, a little changed, altered, added, or added to the original word into a new word, such as the word 'also' plus the word "he" on the side. And so on, and so on, in order to distinguish between errors and corrections in the original text, many differences will occur: where is wrong, whether it is advisable to change it, and which book to change it according to, are all problems. Therefore, Mr. Chen Qinghao (French red scholar) once said that taking gengchen ben as the base is 'congenital deficiency'. Therefore, there have been many practices based on Gengchen and Jiashu or based on many lipids. Lu Qixiang thought.

The "Eighty-Two" edition of the Humanities Society is the earliest, that is, in this regard, it has the significance of opening up the atmosphere. Since then, the various school books based on the lipid book have been produced a lot from the 1990s to the 1990s. For example, Cai Yijiangben (which has been revised three times, Zhejiang edition, writer edition, business edition), Liu Shideben, Huang Linben, Zheng Qingshan ben, Zhou Ruchang's "Stone Record Huizhen", Feng Qiyong also published another Guayanlou commentary, as well as Deng Suifu ben, Wu Ming'en ben and so on.

"It is normal to take the strengths of each school, rely on the new results of version research, optimize the examples on this basis, and determine the boundaries of the base according to the actual situation, which is a problem that the school should focus on in the future." Lu Qixiang said.

According to statistics, there are about 76 million middle school students in the country in 2021, what a huge group of young readers, their teachers, coupled with the original readers from all walks of life and the increasing number of silver-haired elderly readers, the readership of "Dream of the Red Chamber" will have hundreds of millions, Lu Qixiang believes, "There are a small number of deep readers and obsessive versions in the middle." Nowadays, the research version is no longer the patent of a few version research experts, as long as you are interested in hobbies and are focused enough. ”

"Half a drop in the face"

As a member of the annotation team of the first edition of 1982, Lu Qixiang still clearly remembers the situation in June 1975, shortly after the establishment of the annotation group, when everyone went to Beijing to report:

"There was a piano building in Prince Gong's mansion at that time, and there were many small rooms on it, which were used for practicing the piano in the Art Normal College at that time, one small room for one person, and each room had a bed, a table, a chair, and a bookshelf, and we would work here."

According to Lu Qixiang, the 12 people initially concentrated were Li Xifan of the People's Daily at that time, Feng Qiyong of Renmin University, Shen Pengnian and Lin Guanfu of the Ministry of Culture, Hu Wenbin of the People's Publishing House, Zhou Lei of Jilin Province, Liu Qingku of Shanxi, Liu Mengxi of Shanxi, Ying Bicheng of Fudan University, Sun Suoshun of Shanghai Normal University, Sun Xun of Sun Yat-sen University, Zeng Yanghua of Sun Yat-sen University, Shen Tianyou of Peking University, and himself of Beijing Normal University.

At that time, the number of fat manuscripts was still very rare, and within the proofreading group, the typeset version of the base copy could be a manual volume, while the other manuscripts had only a small number of copies, only one or several volumes, so they could only be read in turn or read by one person. Today, all kinds of manuscripts are not only wired editions, but also typesets, which are expensive, typesets are much cheaper, and the average person can afford them, and rare versions are no longer a luxury for a few experts.

Proofreading a popular version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" based on the Qianlong codex was unprecedented at that time. "But soon, everyone proofread a large-character draft bound in a sub-book and solicited opinions from Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Hefei and other places. More than a year later, many people in the group returned to their original units, including Feng Qiyong, Lin Guanfu, Ying Bicheng, Zhou Lei, Shen Tianyou, and Lü Qixiang, and then seconded to Zhu Tong of Anhui Normal University, Zhang Jinchi of Harbin Normal University, Cai Yijiang of Hangzhou University, and Zhu Zhaonian of the Central Academy of Drama. ”

Lu Qixiang said: Forty years have passed since the first edition, and most of the members of the annotation group have passed away: Feng Qiyong, Li Xifan, Zhu Tong, Shen Pengnian, Tao Jianji, Xu Yiting, Zhu Zhaonian, Gu Pingdan, Shen Tianyou, Lin Guanfu, Zhang Jinchi, Sun Xun, Zhou Lei, and Hu Wenbin.

"They have contributed to the proofreading work to varying degrees at different times. We deeply miss them and are convinced that the continuous revision of the annotations to this book is in line with the wishes of the late teachers and colleagues, and that whatever the effectiveness of the revisions is, it is a consolation to them and a continuation of the cause. ”

Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Yang Rong Caption Source: Visual China Photo Editor: Zhu Xuan

Source: Author: The Paper