The literary review column of the "Literature and Art Newspaper" published this article
The autumn rain is long, just reading. Reading Zhao Yu's "Good Poetry in the World - The Biography of Bai Juyi" (Writers Publishing House, May 2021), it is like discussing poetry with Bai Gong, full of joy. Chinese has always had the tradition of writing historical biographies, Zhao Yu's book is still based on historical biographies, and in simple narratives and concise commentaries, it shows the image of the flesh and blood of the master, and erects a biography for the poet.
As we all know, it is difficult to establish a biography for poets, and it is difficult to establish a biography for great poets. Then, it is even more difficult to establish a biography of bai juyi, a great poet who is in the annals of history. First, many writers and scholars have written commentaries, poems, canonical biographies, and biographies for Bai Juyi, and it is difficult to surpass them; second, Bai Juyi's poetry has a huge amount of stylistic volume, seventy-five volumes of before and after compilations, and the size of poems and pens is 3,840 poems, and it is really difficult to write; third, Zhao Yu is good at documentary themes, with representative works such as "The Dream of a Strong Country", "Ma Jiajun Investigation", and "Searching for Ba Jin's Daili" are widely known to readers, and reportage literature is his strong point, and now he is changing the law in middle age, choosing to write historical figures Isn't it "knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, preferring to go to the tiger mountains"?
By the time I finished reading the biography, all kinds of worries and doubts vanished. In my opinion, Zhao Yu is Zhao Yu, and his "Good Poetry in the World - The Biography of Bai Juyi" restores a real poet and builds a vivid and three-dimensional bronze statue for Bai Juyi. Long hate spring return nowhere to be found, do not know to turn into this. Bai Juyi's destination is here, and I understand Zhao Yu's original literary intention and the world of Bai Juyi's poetry. In the process of narrating bai juyi's life, the author comments while narrating, and the words that comment on the works are not clichés, but are full of the life experience of the master and flash the light of the poet's destiny. Moreover, the tone of the pen is calm, the technique is changeable, and it is full of the aesthetic taste of biographical literature.
The biography is divided into three volumes, totaling 55 sections, with a total of 345,000 words. Zhao Yu respects historical facts, pursues truth, and strives to vividly convey the spirit in his writing, integrating a sense of history with literature to create an image of a poet full of vitality.
Zhao Yu took a group photo with the author
Unlike some biographies of Bai Juyi in the past, Zhao Yu not only wrote a real poet, but even a real Middle And Tang society. Not only is the historical material informative, but also has the author's unique insight. Many biographical texts of Bai Juyi pay attention to Bai Poems, but often ignore the seventy-five articles of the Celin that carry Bai Juyi's main political ideas. Zhao Yu pondered this question and believed that it was necessary to appreciate the various parts of "Celin" with readers, so as to help figure out how the young Bai Juyi viewed the politics and society of the Middle and Tang Dynasties and knew what kind of ideological basis his poetry creation was based on. In this way, the idea is novel and the technique is outstanding, so it attracts the reader to explore up and down and reconstruct the relationship between historical facts and poets.
Zhao Yu carefully sorted out and studied the cultural and political system of the Tang Dynasty, including the complex Tang Dynasty official system, in his writing. Therefore, it is recognized that due to the self-confidence and openness of the tang dynasty's ideology and culture, poets have been created to speak the truth with words and aspirations, so good works have emerged in an endless stream. In the Tang Dynasty, it was not possible to become an official by entering the army and the first, but also to pass the official examination before obtaining an official position, of which "blunt and extreme advice" was the highlight of the scientific expedition. Bai Juyi's courage to speak out in front of the emperor is closely related to the official system and the mission of the poet. For example, in the different styles of Bai Juyi's poetry in the early and late periods, the author did not follow the old-fashioned political labels of the past, and concluded with the indiscretion of what is struggle and people's nature, but instead used the dialectical way of thinking to restore the image of Bai Juyi's consistent civilian poet from the perspective of the changes in the poet's career environment and the tempering of life. Such a biography naturally has a unique character style, but also has a unique personality of the cultural meaning. In particular, after getting rid of the problems of people following the clouds, single evaluation, on-line, and character faces, I feel kind when I read it, and follow the poet's way and go, so I do my best to get poetry and wine, which really benefits a lot.
Zhao Yu poses with author and critic Liu Lusheng
Some of the details in the book are unforgettable, and the image of the master is touching. When Bai Juyi was twenty-six years old, he left his home in Fu and studied non-stop. "Nine Books of Youyuan" Yun: "Twenty has come, day lessons, night lessons, there are lesson poems in between, not to mention sleep." So much so that the mouth and tongue become sores, and the elbows become gizzards. "A young reader, with great ambitions, difficult and enterprising, and far away. In the spring of the twenty-eight-year-old, Bai Juyi returned to Luoyang to visit his mother from the north of the floating beam. Yun of the Wounded YuanxingFu: "In the spring of the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan, my brother was in Fuliang, and he was given a small amount of Lu to return to his hometown, and was ordered to return to his hometown with negative rice. Out of the countryside, the road is vast. It was two thousand five hundred miles away from Poyang and returned to Luoyang. "In the vast wilderness, the figure of the young poet trekking, from the south to the north.
Bai Juyi's poetry has deep roots and a very wide audience, from the imperial family to the people of Li, all of whom are singing and loving. Zhao Yu described in typical details the situation in which Bai Shi was appreciated and infiltrated into all classes. Ge Qing, a literati in Jingzhou, admired white poetry, from the neck down, the body was tattooed with white poetry, and the abdomen and back thorn poems could be memorized in detail, "Where there are more than thirty carvings, the first body has no skin." I also heard that in Chang'an City, the giants recruited kabuki, and the competition was fierce, and some kabuki introduced themselves: "I have recited the white bachelor's "Long Hate Song", will I do the same tricks with him?" Such details are all touching, of course, the poet looks up to Migao, so it is widely spread that Bai Shize was later generations. When Bai Juyi was an official, he crossed the cave court to send affection to control the water, and built a and a well in Suzhou and Hangzhou, which was deeply supported by the people for the benefit of one side. Bai Juyi loves to make friends, values friendship, and leaves good stories. His friendship with Yuan Shu, Liu Yuxi, Pei Du and others almost throughout his life has inherited the ancient style of literati dating.
Zhao Yu with author and poet Xu Honglan
Around March of the 14th year of the Yuan Dynasty, Yuan Shu moved from Sima Of Tongzhou to The Governor of Yu Prefecture and descended along the Yangtze River to Yichang City, on the banks of the Xiling Gorge, where I now live. Bai Juyi and Bai Xingjian and Yuan Shu accidentally met in Yiling Huangniu Gorge. The Bai brothers and Yuan Shu gathered together, swam together in the stone cave on the mountain of Jiaoxi, put wine and poems for three days to say goodbye, Bai Juyi wrote a preface and named this cave as Sanyou Cave. Zhao Yu did not forget to write a stroke in his biography, which made the people of Yichang feel deeply honored. Bai Juyi is seventy-four years old, and he still holds the "Seven Elders' Meeting" in the trail, feasting on guests and friends, and enjoying his old age. The seven elders have been weathered by the wind and frost, but they can still raise a glass and drink, sing poems and songs on the spot, and have a childlike face, and everyone is different. Here, Zhao Yu made another sketch for the "Seven Elders Society". In August of the sixth year of Huichang, Bai Juyi died peacefully in Luoyang, at the age of seventy-five. When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang heard the news, he gave Shangshu the right servant to shoot and personally hanged him with a poem. Bai Juyi's "Epitaph" was completed by Li Shangyin. Since then, the legacy of the White Duke will forever remain in the history of Youth.
Cover up the deep thinking, Bai Juyi's life is vividly remembered. How he reads, how he becomes an official, how he writes poetry, how he makes friends, between the ups and downs of life, there are storms and rainbows, so colorful and colorful, highlighting the charm of literature. In particular, this biography always runs through Bai Juyi's creative position and theoretical direction, that is, Bai Juyi faithfully practiced "articles are written for the times, and songs and poems are written for things." Mr. Chen Yinke praised Bai Juyi's masterpiece and said: "Qualitatively speaking, it is a Tang Dynasty "Book of Poetry". "It's really a high-end review. Therefore, I think that Zhao Yu has made sufficient efforts for this book, and his "Good Poetry in the World - Bai Ju Yi Biography" has better fulfilled the mission of a biographer who Sima Qian said that "at the time of the investigation of heaven and man, through the changes of ancient and modern times, into the words of a family". After reading this book, I got to know the other side of Zhao Yu, I thought that Zhao Yu's talent lies in documentary reportage, but I did not expect that his biography of historical figures was also written so simple, plump, true and brilliant.
About the Author:
About the author: Gan Maohua, Tujia family, born in Enshi, Hubei, settled in Yichang, Hubei. Well-known essayist and lyricist. He is a member of the China Writers Association, the China Financial Writers Association, the China Ethnic Minority Writers Association, the China Prose Literature Society, and the invited writer of the China Prose Network. He has successively served as a director of the Hubei Writers Association, a director of the Hubei Pop Music Art Committee, an executive vice chairman of the Yichang Writers Association, and an honorary president of the Yichang Essay Literature Association. He has published 16 novels, essays and other literary works, and won important awards such as the Hubei Literature Award, the Hubei Ethnic Minority Literature Award, the Hubei Quyuan Literary and Art Award, the National Bingxin Prose Award, the Ministry of Culture Stars Award, and the National "Five Ones Project" Award. Some works have been included in university vocal music textbooks and middle school Chinese vernacular textbooks, and the "History of Three Gorges Literature" has a special section commentary.