In order to truly understand the "History of Ru Lin", we must first understand the author Wu Jingzi, understand his life experience, ideological pursuit and creative intentions, and these questions can actually be found in the book.
From the time he began to create at the age of 30 to complete the revision at the age of 49, the most important 20 years of his life, Wu Jingzi almost devoted himself to the creation of "Ru Lin Wai Shi", and you can imagine how important this work is to him. The questions about Wu Jingzi that we do not know can certainly be answered in the book, because the "History of Ru Linwai" carries Wu Jingzi's thoughts and souls.
If a literary work wants to impress readers, it must do enough work in the opening chapter, and the opening can arouse the reader's interest, which is a common feature of any successful literary work. As the most successful satirical novel in the history of Chinese literature, "Ru Lin Wai Shi" has a wonderful beginning, but also a large amount of information, and the author's thoughts, pursuits and creative intentions are implicit in it. Wu Jingzi's main life experience is written in the story of Du Shaoqing later, and is not mentioned at the beginning.
The first time in the "History of Ru Linwai", "say that the wedge is covered with Chen Dayi, borrowing celebrities to cover the whole text", it is written about the story of Wang Mian, a famous painter and poet in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, in fact, it can also be said that Wu Jingzi made a small biography to Wang Mian. On the surface, the first time is a separate story, and there is no connection with the fifty or so times in the following article, but if the first time is really a completely independent chapter, wouldn't it be better to delete this time?
Wu Jingzi's work, which took twenty years to complete, can be said to be a pearl of words, and each word must have been carefully considered, and how could there be any superfluous and useless review? If this is the case, then the first time the crown was written by the author, it was deliberately done by the author, and it has a very important role. Combined with the role of Du Shaoqing in the following text, it is almost certain that the crown in the opening chapter has a similar role.
Since Du Shaoqing's life experience is the same as Wu Jingzi's own, wang mian's thoughts and pursuits are most likely Wu Jingzi's thoughts and pursuits. Wu Jingzi also integrated himself into the "History of Ru Lin", and it was reasonable to use two important characters as the carrier of his own character image.
Wang Mian was born in a poor rural family, and his main duty in his youth was to herd cattle, and then he read and paint, and there was no way to enter the school, all relying on self-taught talent. Wang Mian's family wealth cannot be compared with Wu Jingzi, who was born in a family of officials and eunuchs, because his ancestors created excellent material living conditions for him, and "the family is anointed, sexual prodigal" is the epitome of his juvenile life.
After reaching adulthood, Wang Mian and Wu Jingzi began to have something in common, and both of them were well-known talents, so they both had nobles come to invite them to become officials. The attitude of the two towards the name of merit is also quite consistent, yearning for a free and free life, calling the merit dung, in order to avoid becoming an official, one prefers to pretend to be ill, and the other prefers to hide in the mountains. In the feudal society where "everything is inferior, only the reading is high", both readers refused to enter the official position, which is an extremely rare situation in itself.
There are two sentences in the text that point out the great talent of the crown and the attitude toward the name of merit: "This crown is naturally intelligent, and he is less than twenty years old, so he has all the astronomy, geography, and the history of the university. But he had a different temperament, neither seeking an official nor making friends, and studying in closed doors all day. ”
The Wu Jingzi we can learn today is also a talented man who has only known people. When he was young, he had a literary name, he read books before he could see, he could recite, his learning attitude was serious and hardworking, his mind was clever, and he quickly laid a good foundation of knowledge and revealed a very good endowment and talent.
Wu Jingzi's attitude toward being an official is also quite similar to that of Wang Guan. Even to the point of "three days of rain at the White Gate, and no money in the stove", Wu Jingzi still refused to take the Fu Xuehong Dictionary Examination, and still made good friends.
In the old days, his father's colleague, Zhao Guoyuan, who was in a high position as an inspector, wanted to recommend Wu Jingzi as an official, but at that time, Wu Jingzi was already poor and destitute, often unable to eat enough to eat, and his clothes were not warm, but he also had to pretend to be sick and refused to be an official, which shows how he had attitude toward being an official.
Wang Guan in the "History of Ru Linwai" did not have the conditions to go to school, so he completely relied on self-study, and eventually became a famous painter and poet; he did not participate in the imperial examination, but he was able to get zhu Yuanzhang's appreciation, intending to attract him. However, in the chaotic world at that time, there was a competition for talents between the separatist forces, and there was more than one scholar who was personally visited by Zhu Yuanzhang, and it could not be said that Wang Mian was better than others.
What is the biggest difference between Wang Tian and other readers? Let Wu Jingzi only choose him, and shape him into a yardstick for measuring, praising and disparaging characters in the whole book. Perhaps it is because of Wang Mian's attitude toward being an official in the imperial examination, a Confucian who has learned to be rich and five cars, does not participate in the imperial examination, refuses to become an official, and pursues a free and comfortable life.
What Wu Jingzi appreciates is such an attitude toward life, and it is such a type of person that "Ru Lin Wai Shi" wants to praise and praise, and those who are eager to achieve meritorious fame and those who have already achieved meritorious fame have become the objects of Wu Jingzi's criticism and satire. Therefore, there are a large number of ridiculous, pathetic, and hateful characters such as Fan Jin, Yan Jiansheng, Du Shenqing, kuang Chaoren, etc., but the only people who are really praised and praised are the jianghu chivalrous guests such as Feng Mingqi and Xiao Yunxian, as well as Mr. Ma Er after completely abandoning the idea of imperial examination and becoming an official.