From Duras's "Lover", to Juskind's "Perfume", to Goldin's "Lord of the Flies", and then to Gibbon Banana's "Kitchen", the four works can be called the leaders of the classics of English, French, German and Japanese Chinese, and they have a far-reaching influence and have been highly respected by generations of Chinese literary and artistic youth.
Recently, the new book sharing meeting of "Classic Foreign Literature Popular in China on the Occasion of the Millennium" was held in Beijing. Writer Miao Wei and book designer Xi He, together with Song Ling, English editor of Shanghai Translation Publishing House, and Yao Dongmin, Japanese editor, began a dialogue around the four novels of "Lover", "Perfume", "Lord of the Flies" and "Kitchen", sharing with readers the classic literature that has influenced them and is popular today at the time of China's millennium.
The event site
Lord of the Flies and The Kitchen: The Evil of Human Nature and the Cure of the World
The sharing session mainly focused on the four "classics on canvas" recently launched by the translation agency, "Lover", "Lord of the Flies", "Perfume" and "Kitchen". Song Ling and Miao Wei first discussed the Nobel Prize writer William Golding's masterpiece "Lord of the Flies". When talking about his views on the book "Lord of the Flies", Miao Wei combined the plot of the novel with his own experience: "In the process of raising children, I learned a word, called 'pecking order', that is, the order and order of chicken pecking, in a group of chickens, there are always one or two chickens that they eat first, and after they finish eating, other chickens begin to eat, establishing a pecking order. Children generally establish a pecking order at the beginning of kindergarten. ”
Writer Miao Wei
"So I watched Lord of the Flies, a group of kids who were stranded on a desert island in the sea, and they wanted to establish order on this desert island, which was actually a process of pecking order. One of them is the Ralph faction, who speaks of rules. He had a conch in his hand, and he always felt that whoever got the conch had the right to speak. The other is Jack's faction, Jack completely relies on his own violence to build his own team, his task is to hunt, to kill wild boar, to bleed, is to stimulate the aggressive instinct of such a child. The end result was that Jack's gang had the upper hand and dominated. ”
Song Ling, the responsible editor of the new version of "Lord of the Flies"
Song Ling, the editor-in-charge of the new edition of Lord of the Flies, shared cold knowledge about the title of the book, "The children led by Jack advocate hunting, and they once killed a wild boar in the mountains, and Jack said that the head of the wild boar was cut off and inserted on a bamboo skewer as a sacrifice to the beast - in fact, this proves that they are going backwards, and the sacrifice is a form of primitive human existence." The pig's head was gradually rotting on the bamboo stick, attracting many, many flies. Simon had the illusion that the pig's head had spoken to him and said something very mysterious. This pig's head is actually the 'Lord of the Flies', which is called the Lord of the flies in English. In the English-speaking world, 'Lord of the Flies' means the source of all evil; in the novels, we think of 'Lord of the Flies' as the sin in everyone's heart, the original sin that people are born with. ”
Both agree that the experience of World War II had a great influence on Goldin's writing of Lord of the Flies and other works. Song Ling introduced: "His next few novels are actually related to the theme of water army and ocean, including "The Heir", "Pincher Martin" and "The Journey of Enlightenment", which will be published by the Translation Agency. "Pincher Martin" is about a very bad naval officer who destroys a ship in an instant, followed by his imagination of escaping to a desert island to survive himself. ”
The event site
Contrary to the display of "The Evil of Human Nature" in "Lord of the Flies", "The Kitchen" is described by Miao Wei as a warm work; Teacher Yao Dongmin, the responsible editor of the new version of "Kitchen", talked about the relationship between "kitchen" and "healing": "The kitchen is actually a place for cooking and cooking, a place with fireworks, and a space for you to get comfort. Psychologically, when you come home from work and see a light at home and see the fireworks burning in the kitchen, you can make your soul feel like you have returned to the harbor of the soul. Psychologically, it also gives people a sense of belonging and stability. ”
Yao Dongmin, the responsible editor of the new version of "Kitchen"
Yao Dongmin also shared the warm story between the readers of "The Kitchen" and the book, showing the unceasing power of this classic work: "One of the readers, after he knew that we had produced the special edition, he told me in the group, Teacher Yao, I saw this work ten years ago, and I wanted to see this work when I was depressed some time ago. He showed the circle of friends he had posted about "The Kitchen" a few years ago, and I saw that he wrote very sincerely in it, and he would want to see this work when he felt physically and mentally exhausted, and this book had accompanied him for ten years and healed him for ten years. At that time, I thought that making books would still get happy feedback, so I sent him a new edition, which I felt quite moved, hoping to give our readers a perfect closed loop. This is just an example I have learned, this "Kitchen" can be called a representative work of the healing department, and it has also healed thousands of people, and everyone is different moved. ”
"Perfume" and "Lover": olfactory stimulation and visual enjoyment
When talking about "Perfume" and "Lover", Song Ling made a brief introduction to the two novels: "Smell is the most difficult to capture and quantify with words, but "Perfume" creates a huge church of this sense in the novel, which is full of all kinds of smells, and it is a very large, very complex image-rich novel.
"'Lover' is the love story of a 15-year-old girl and a Chinese young master. Even now it is also shocking, not to mention that in the Mekong River case in the last century, it is very earth-shattering, Duras faced the impact of family affection and love, she did not deny that their family was poor, she needed money, her mother valued money more, this impact is very strong. ”
The event site
Miao Wei believes that "Perfume" is a "smell novel", while "Lover" is a "visual novel". "The novel "Perfume" feels that there are many elements of the sense of smell, because there are a lot of smells written in it, including the smell of old men, dust, and sweat. In Paris in the 18th century, the protagonist first worked in a tannery, which is also a place of great stench; This guy was called by the boss to send a high-grade leather to the perfume dealer, and only here did he discover his olfactory expertise. This kind of sensory disgust seems to be often found in our daily lives, but it seems to be difficult to become a fiction theme. What is particularly interesting about this novel is that it writes about something that is sensual disgust and extreme irritation. ”
As a visual novel, "Lover" has two meanings: "[The Lover'" was actually written by Duras in her later years, and she had already achieved fame at that time, and the publishing house wanted to give her a photo album, which is a collection of pictures of past images." Duras wrote a text to the picture book saying I don't want to make that picture, I'm going to turn the annotation of the picture into a novel. So, I think this book is very visual. ”
"I always think of this novel as a visual image. The earliest images appeared to fight death, and the earliest portraits were all against death. [Duras] is also an old man, and she wants to reminisce about 15 years old, and she wants to stay there, to fight death with that image, the image of a young girl. ”
The beauty of the binding of the "Classics on Canvas" book series
Song Ling revealed at the sharing meeting that the covers and illustrations of the four "classic works on canvas" mentioned in this sharing meeting were drawn by well-known illustrators at home and abroad according to the content and tone of the novel, and the book designer Xi He designed the four illustrations as a whole. "The cover of 'Perfume' is a side face, and this side face is the protagonist of our novel, Grenouille; A very complex picture also highlights the complex imagery of this novel. "Lord of the Flies" We chose a white camouflage to highlight the theme of the novel, and everyone saw that this was a little boy who alluded to the protagonist in the novel. The watercolor painting of "Lover" has a feeling of blending, a rich and hazy beauty, and there is an oriental beauty in it. The cover of "The Kitchen" was painted by the Beijing illustrator Ten Fingers, and the style of her paintings is more healing, fresh, and more in line with the tone of this work. ”
Book designer Shiowa
Shiokawa also shared his thoughts and feelings when designing this set of book bindings on the spot: "At the beginning, I thought it was difficult, four responsible editors, find different illustrators, and finally make a set of books, I think it is embarrassing me, right? ”
"My requirements for cover illustration are impactful, and unlike ordinary illustration, there must be something decorative, not a simple painting, but a propaganda role." I received this picture at the time, and I think this is the picture I wanted, because there are publicity effects, decorative effects, and it is also good-looking, but it is not a simple good-looking illustration work, and I have a little confidence at that time. ”
The event site
In addition to the narration, the two also invited the audience to feel the texture of the cloth cover used in this set of books. "I don't know if you know anything about the printing industry, there is a very well-known company in China called Artron. The four hardcover works on canvas were all undertaken by Artron Art Printing Co., Ltd. At that time, I ran to Artron several times to print these four books, and the proofing of the covers of the four books began to choose several kinds of fabrics. Don't think that cloth light can be used for clothes and can also be used in books. Song Ling's introduction reflects the ingenuity and meticulousness of this set of "classic on canvas" works in the binding design.
Nandu reporter Huang Qian