In the study of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Cao Xue is an important branch. The story of Jia Fu implies the fact of the Cao family, which has long been common knowledge. Nine of the ten readers of Dream of the Red Chamber will say; Jia Baoyu is the embodiment of Cao Xueqin. As everyone knows, this answer is not entirely correct.
With the popularity of the "Dream of the Red Chamber" novel and TV series, some viewers can't help but wonder: Is Jia Baoyu's prototype really Cao Xueqin? The Jia family in the book is the Cao family in reality? Where did Cao Xueqin's inspiration for writing this tome come from?
In fact, to solve many of the puzzles of "Dream of the Red Chamber", you need to start from a correct perspective. That is, the first thing to find out is who the creator of the story of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is?
As we all know, the cao family fell in the sixth year of Yongzheng (1729). According to scholars, Cao Xueqin was no more than thirteen years old at most, and the impression left on him by the prosperity of the weaving house should be limited, and it seems premature to talk about love at this age. Therefore, the dancing prince in the Grand View Garden is at least not a personal portrayal of Cao Xueqin.
In fact, the creator of the story of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not Cao Xueqin, who is generally believed, but someone else!!
Red scholars also noticed that Li Yanzhai, who was familiar with the creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber", had hinted more than once in the comments of The Fat Book: he himself was Baoyu's model.
Yu Rui, a Qing dynasty, also wrote in the "Jujube Window Idle Pen": "The so-called baoyu who hears him (referring to Cao Xueqin - the introducer) is still his uncle, not his own portrayal." ”
Yu Rui's "senior in-laws" once had Xueqin befriended, and his words were not empty. In addition, according to Yu Rui's retelling, Cao Xueqin was born with a "fat head and a wide head and black color", although this is the image of Xueqin in middle age, presumably her youth will not be how "face like the mid-autumn moon, color like the flower of spring dawn".
Yu Rui also said: "I also heard it as a joke cloud: 'If anyone wants to see my book quickly, it is not difficult, but the sun is south of the wine roast duck to enjoy me, I will write a book for it' Cloud. Listening to his words and wanting to see him as a person is not like the cold look of going to renunciation.
All in all, jia baoyu, the protagonist of "Dream of the Red Chamber", is not (or not exactly) Cao Xueqin, and there can be no equal sign between the two.
Understanding this is crucial, because it determines the perspective of the study of "Dream of the Red Chamber": is it limited to the historical data of one family and one surname, and continue to delve into the examination, or do you open your eyes and explore and think in a broader historical and cultural background? This article prefers the latter option and intends to explore this area a little tentatively.
In the past, some people pushed back on Cao Xueqin's personality from Jia Baoyu's temperament and demeanor, thinking that they already had a considerable understanding of Cao Xueqin. However, once the inevitable connection between Baoyu and Cao Xueqin is severed, people will find that there is actually little knowledge about Cao Xueqin's situation.
Is Cao Xueqin the grandson of the Cao family? What was the exact date of his birth and death? What was his life experience? Is his ideological personality really exactly the same as Jia Baoyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber"? Almost everything about Cao Xueqin had to end with a question mark.
All we know is that Cao Xueqin was born in a rich family and suffered changes when he was a teenager; we also know that he was rich in literary talent, liked to write poetry and drink, and was quite a bit of a celebrity; in his later years, he was very poor and benefited, and immersed himself in writing books in Xishan, Beijing; he died of poverty in his fifties. That's all. For a generation of great writers, these indirectly obtained sporadic materials are really disproportionately few.
Take this bit of material to match Jia Baoyu, and only the origin experience is slightly closer. However, how could this not be the case with Li Yanzhai's birth experience? Broadly speaking, it is not only the cao family's children who have turned over the tendons throughout the ages, who can guarantee that there is no shadow of some of them in the image of Baoyu?
Yes, when Cao Xueqin first composed "Dream of the Red Chamber", I am afraid that she did not have the idea of establishing a legend for the Cao family. Some of the character plots in "Dream of the Red Chamber" are indeed based on the real people and real events of the Cao family.
However, novel creation has its own laws, and once the idea is opened, the pen cannot tolerate the constraints of real materials. Suddenly, the author's personal experience, the family's truth, the jokes of his peers, the articles of his predecessors, and even novels and operas, street talks, old dream news, imaginary fiction, all came to the bottom of the wrist, and an author picked and selected and entered his story.
At that time, the author was really like an old monk who was settled and went into the fire, where did he still have the calmness to examine the "historical materials" and distinguish between the false and the real? This is the unique law of literary creation, and it is also an important point that distinguishes the poet from Shi Zhu. Knowing this, let's explore the prototype of Jia Baoyu again, and we will no longer be bound and bound by the "self-legend".
In fact, as the male protagonist of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Jia Baoyu's image is difficult to get rid of the author's shadow. As for Li Yanzhai's self-styled jia baoyu, his words were not open-ended. However, Baoyu's influence was by no means limited to these two people.
The rebellious sons and traitors of the past and the present, the high-ranking strangers, the clumsy children, and the amorous teenagers may have had an impact on the image of Baoyu. Among these people, I think there is a remnant of the late Ming Dynasty who had a great influence on Cao Xueqin's shaping of Baoyu and even the creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber". But his enlightenment has not received the attention it deserves so far. This person is zhang dai, a famous sketch saint and historian at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Dai, died about the nineteenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1680 AD), about thirty-five years after his death (it is still calculated here that Xueqin was thirteen years old when he raided his home), Cao Xueqin fell to the ground in the Jiangning Weaving Mansion.
For Xueqin, Zhang Dai is a modern person. After his death in the Ming Dynasty, he lived in seclusion in Yuezhong and wrote books to entertain himself. During his lifetime, he was quite famous, and there were more than a dozen anthologies.
Comparing the story of Baoyu with the life of Zhang Dai, it is easy to find that the common ground between them is far more than that between Baoyu and Cao Xueqin.
Zhang Daizi Zongzi (張岱字宗子), a Shi Gong (石公), a native of Tao'an, Shanyin (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang). He was born in the twenty-fifth year of the Ming Dynasty (1597 AD) and lived to be at least eighty-four years old.
Zhang Dai was born in a family of eunuchs who had been known for generations. His ancestor Tianfu, great-grandfather Yuan, and grandfather Ru Lin were all jinshi; Yuan Fu was still the leader of Longqing for five years. His father, Zhang Yaofang, was not smooth on the road to advancement, but at the age of fifty-three, he was elected as a deputy leader and awarded Lu Pan the Right Long History, but still did not lose the lu position.
Zhang Dai, who grew up in this family of valve readers, did not have much interest in becoming an official. He "did not want to be named after all beings" (Preface to the Yan Yunjia Compilation of Tao'an Dream Memories). Relying on the shadow of his father and grandfather, he has been living a luxurious life in the Ariake generation. He has used all the material and spiritual pleasures that the traditional scholar-doctor culture can provide, and he has gained the three ambiguities. This luxurious and delicate life has accompanied him through nearly fifty spring and autumn seasons.
However, Jia Shennian's change of dynasty and change of the Linggu Completely changed Zhang Dai's fate. The tragic disaster of the destruction of the country and the death of the family gave him a double blow spiritually and materially. When there was "no end", he resolutely "put his hair into the mountains" and lived a secluded life of "savages" ("Dream Remembrance from The Order").
A person who has spent most of his life in a land of wealth and nobility, once he falls into the poverty of "the bottle of corn is repeatedly exhausted, and he cannot lift the fire" (ibid.), the depth of his feelings can be imagined. In "Dream Remembrance", he makes an almost dramatic contrast between two life situations that resemble the earth. He said:
Hungry, good pen and ink, because the people of the past grew wang Xie, quite luxurious, today this result. Repay the skull with the skull, repay the heel with the straw, and revenge with the bow; repay the qiu with the qi, repay the thin with the ramie, and revenge is light and warm; the meat is repaid with the grass, the rice is repaid with the grain, and the qiu gan is also the purpose; the bed is reported with recommendation, the pillow is repaid with the stone, and the vengeance is gentle; the pivot is repaid with the rope, the urn is repaid with the mule, and the qiu shuang is also repaid; the eye is repaid with smoke, the nose is repaid with feces, and the qiu xiangyan is also; the foot is repaid with the way, the shoulder is repaid with the bag, and the enemy obeys the public opinion. All kinds of crimes are seen in all kinds of results.
Faced with the cold reality of life, Zhang Dai could only seek solace in religion. However, the Buddha's theory of karma did not soothe the deep wounds in his heart. Every time I go to sleep, the pain of home and country buried deep in my heart comes to mind in the form of recreating the scenes of old life. Zhang Dai said in "The Dream of the West Lake":
Twenty-eight years after a long absence from the West Lake, but the West Lake has not entered my dream every day, and the West Lake in the dream has not tasted a day to leave.
For Zhang Dai, the West Lake, the former place of excellent wandering, has actually become a symbol, a symbol of the mountains and rivers of the homeland and the old days. Zhang Dai dreams every day and writes dreams every day. Dreaming and writing dreams became the only need and pleasure of life for the rest of his life.
Probably only by indulging in the memories of the prosperity of the old days can Zhang Dai's heart get a moment of peace and warmth. He "wrote more than ten kinds of books, and his rate was named after his dreams" ("Shaoxing Fu Zhi Zhang Dai Biography"). "West Lake Dream Search" and "Tao An Dream Memory" are famous books that record "dreams". In his later years, he simply changed his name to Butterfly An; this old man whose soul was immersed in the dreams of the past, probably couldn't tell the difference between "butterfly dreaming of me" or "I dreaming of butterflies".
Summarizing Zhang Dai's life, there are several points that are worth noting:
(1) Zhang Dai grew up in a family of valve readers, the environment is rich and expensive, and the literary atmosphere is permeated;
(2) Zhang Dai's heart of merit and fame was very indifferent, and he did not become an official in his life;
(3) Zhang Dai suffered changes in the world in middle age, his material life plummeted, and his inner world was extremely depressed;
(4) In his later years, Zhang Dai firmly believed in Buddhism, and Shitu used the power of religion to seek spiritual liberation;
(5) Zhang Dai wrote a large number of reminiscence articles in the second half of his life, and the collected essays were named after the word "dream".
It is not difficult for us to see that the brief summary of Zhang Dai's life is almost the outline of the writing of Baoyu's story. Is this a coincidence, or is there something else?
The records of Zhang Dai's life are mainly concentrated in the preface to Zhang Dai's "Self-made Epitaph" and "Tao An Dream Memories". With their unique form of "confessional" and witty and self-deprecating style, these two articles are very different from ordinary self-described articles, giving people a refreshing feeling. Before Zhang Dai, no one was happy to write "My Fetish" into an autobiography in the hope of passing on the future generations; Zhang Dai opened this head. And Cao Xueqin just put such a style throughout the "Dream of the Red Chamber", which can not but be said to be a testimony that Xueqin borrowed from Zhang Dai.
All in all, when studying the relationship between Cao Xueqin and Zhang Dai, one thing should be particularly pointed out: more than half a century before the advent of "Dream of the Red Chamber", the story of a person who came to himself and "ugly" had been shown to the world by Zhang Dai.
Decades later, when Cao Xueqin was brewing the writing of "Dream of the Red Chamber" at the foot of Beijing's West Mountain, he was at least not the first literary artist to touch such a subject. We have not yet grasped the tangible materials that can prove that Cao Xueqin must have received inspiration from Zhang Dai. However, it should be emphasized that Cao Xueqin was fully qualified to read Zhang Dai's works. And if you have read it, as a person with a similar life experience, he will definitely be more strongly infected and shocked than others.
In addition, Zhang Dai wrote "Family Biography", "Family Biography" and "Biography of the Five Different People", describing the deeds of his father and brothers, and those articles were included in his "Lang Huan Anthology". I wonder if these articles inspired Cao Xueqin to have the original intention of writing a "family biography"?
Of course, the premise is still that Xueqin must have read these words.