Text/Pan Yihe Source/Zhejiang Academic Journal
Jostan Judd, a contemporary Norwegian world-class writer, said in his 1991 book The World of Sophie that Kierkegaard's ideas were "a reaction to the idealism of the Romantics." But it also includes the worldview of a Dane of the same period as Kierkegaard. He is the famous fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen. He also has a keen sense of all kinds of incredible subtleties in nature. This statement reminds us of what Hans Christian Andersen once said to a friend: "I write fairy tales with all my feelings and thoughts, but at the same time I have not forgotten adults." When I write a story for a child, I always remember that their parents will also be around to listen. So I had to write something for them and make them think about it. "When we read Andersen's fairy tales as adults, in addition to the background of the times and the personal experiences and aspirations of writers, Kierkegaard's philosophical thought and worldview are a reference worthy of attention.
First, the world on the pea
Andersen's keen observation of the incredible nuances can be glimpsed in The Princess on the Pea. "The Princess on the Pea" says that a prince wants to find a real princess to marry and travels the world to find it, but because of the various princesses everywhere, he is difficult to distinguish, "they always have something wrong." So he went home unhappily. The old queen came up with a way to investigate, she put a pea on the bed, took twenty mattresses and twenty duck down quilts and pressed them on them, and then let a princess who had been "beaten by the wind and rain" sleep on these things. The next day the princess said she hadn't slept well all night because something hard under the mattress had made her blue and purple. "Now you can see that this is a real princess." For adults, the truth or falsity of the princess is not because "no one but a real princess will have such tender skin", although this is indeed a seemingly point in the story; nor is it to expose "the fainting, decay, hypocrisy and ugliness of the ruling class," because this girl who took the initiative to say that she was a princess on a stormy night was not necessarily a nobleman, and the prince who was looking for a real princess all over the world was not necessarily a rich prince. Rather, the story tells that many of the most delicate feelings that a person gradually accumulates in life are actually extremely important, and these subtle feelings distinguish and combine people from each other; these incredible subtle feelings make people really distinguish between the truth of the surface and the truth of the feeling, the truth of the words and the truth of the reality, and feel that the gap between them is so large, although it "looks" so small. “...... Note that this is a true story. Andersen's epilogue really wanted adults to think about it.
"The Flowers of Little Itida" further shows how the incredible little things in nature can carry out their own vigorous short life carnival in the unconscious of the adult world and the silence of the passage of time. A "happy college student" told Little Itida, who was grieving about the flowers, that it was because the flowers were tired when they went to the dance last night. So a world of flowers unknown to ordinary people, even the king and queen, sent out the message of nature to the outside world in the fantasy of Little Itida. The flowers were running, talking, dancing, smiling, and they held a grand ball every night, inviting friends from all walks of life to join, and the precious flowers in the palace were especially willing to participate. Little Ita woke up from her dream for the first time and saw the flower party, the sound of the piano sounded in her ears, the toys in the drawer and the flowers on the balcony changed their positions, the floor was crowded with flowers dancing in different shapes, and even a small wax man had to jump up... The flowers were very polite and caring for each other, and no party attendee would be without a dance partner. Finally the flowers said goodnight to each other and kissed each other goodbye, although they all lived only one day. An old man in charge of the palace could smell only the flowers, and the key in his hand stopped communicating as soon as the sound of flowers stopped communicating; a professor of botany could not see the expression of flowers and green branches, his fingers were stinged by nettle leaves; a privy counsellor was very unaccustomed to college students, because "such a strange thought was poured into the mind of a child!" It's all inexplicable fantasies." He turned out to be little wax man forced to dance with the flowers; only the college student, who liked to tell stories and fantasize all day, taught little Itachi how to understand the physical language of the flower world.
Mr. Liu Xiaofeng believes that Kierkegaard's philosophy describes three basic concepts: existence, subjective truth and belief. Kierkegaard proposes that the most interesting problem for a person stabbed by a poisoned arrow is to pull out the arrow and heal, which is the only thing that is crucial to his existence. This understanding of life is exactly as Hans Christian Andersen showed, everyone's world is nothing more than a "world on a pea", and each person's feeling, although insignificant to the world, is the most important feeling of existence for the person himself. The prince who has not found the Pea Princess has his own real pain, the ugly duckling will issue a "please kill me" plea in the life situation of constant ridicule by others, and if little Ita learns to "see" the life and revelry of the flowers for a day, she will think that the flowers have no feelings and moods. Kierkegaard was skeptical of romantic idealism and the "view of history" in Hegel's theory, arguing that each of us is not only a product of the times, but also a unique individual. Everyone can only live once in this world. Many great objective truths may have nothing to do with the life of the individual, and the idealism of the times that actively allows the individual to dedicate himself to the flood of time is likely to obscure the responsibility of the individual for his own life. From this he introduced the concept of "subjective truth", emphasizing that the truths that really matter belong only to individuals, and that the question of "God" is discussed with the most enthusiasm and sincerity only when it is regarded as a matter of life and death. After witnessing the flowers' only one day of life, Little Yida felt the rhythm of their night dance and the beautiful life, and believed what the flowers said to her: "Bury us in the garden... Next summer, we can wake up and live a more beautiful life. This belief, like the "Daughter of the Sea" belief in the life of the human soul, is judging and believing with the illusion of crossing the boundary between life and death. Kierkegaard's question of "God" also refers to all major propositions, and only when they are connected to the individual's "survival or destruction" will the individual take it as the truth in his own mind and pay attention to it with a serious attitude. The little sister in "Wild Swan" wants to weave eleven linen clothes to save her brothers, but this is also to save herself, so she will have great courage and perseverance to persevere to the end and be saved. This belief came from the promise of a "fairy" that only she heard, like the ghost language that Hamlet heard alone, and they could not make the people around them, including relatives and lovers, understand themselves in the process of their own efforts, because they had no way to rationally prove the existence of the thing they believed in with objective facts. In Kierkegaard's words, "I believe because it is irrational." ”
Second, the difficulty of speaking
When Hans Christian Andersen heard and understood the language of nature, he also had an unusual understanding of human language. Many of Andersen's fairy tales are written in which the protagonist is unable to speak and confess his heart. The "Daughter of the Sea" allowed her voice to be taken away by the witch; the "staunch tin soldier" could not speak at all; no one heard the prayer of the "little girl who sold matches" all night, and the fairy instructions received by the "wild swan" were: "From the moment you begin this work, until you complete it, even if the whole process takes a year, you cannot say a word." The first word you utter will be like a sharp short sword piercing into the hearts of your brothers. Their lives are hanging on the tip of your tongue. The "ugly duckling" who later became a beautiful swan was able to speak throughout his upbringing, but he was unable to confide his intentions to people, or rather, they simply could not understand his confession, and said more to him and to others than himself.
"You don't know me," duckling said.
"We don't know you? So who knows you? You are never smarter than the cat and the mistress, I will not mention myself. Boy, don't think you're not great! You should thank the Creator for the care you are receiving now. Haven't you come to a warm room now, have some friends, and learn a lot from them? But you're a piece of crap, and it's not a pleasure to be with you. You can trust me that I'm saying these bad things to you, just to help you. (Hen said)
In Andersen's fairy tales, there are many paradoxes and tensions between the talking and the unspoken, the bad, or the unspeakable. Adult readers must "think" about what is said and what is not said.
Speech and the difficulty of speech are also one of the key topics in Kierkegaard's philosophy. In Fear and Trepidation, Kierkegaard gives his own account of the biblical story of Abraham offering his parent Isaac to God, which says that God wanted to see if Abraham could love himself at all costs, and on a dark night instructed Abraham to offer his parent Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Abraham could not understand how God could have wanted to take back his only son, whom God Himself had given him and foreshadowed to be the head of the extended family. But he told his son, supported by his faith, that he would take him on a trip. Finally, in Abraham's silent and determined act, God confirmed that he loved himself more than anyone else, and once again came forward to save the life of his beloved Son. Kierkegaard believed that Abraham was neither an aesthetic hero nor an ethical saint, but a man of religion. He contrasted Euripites's tragedy Evechen Blaham of Auris to "make a discussion." In the tragedy of Euripides, Agamemnon prepared to sacrifice his daughter Evechenia to god to ensure the victory of his allied Greek army against Troy. He ran away with his daughter in secret from his wife, and told her of his decision at the last minute, encouraging her to bravely accept the test. In this way, it can also be said that Agamemnon endured the tears of his wife and daughter and the spiritual torture and test brought to him by them, and made an amazing dedication to the collective. But Abraham, who never told his wife the truth from the beginning and did not tell his son the truth later, remained thought-provokingly silent.
Kierkegaard believed that Abraham's silence was not to preserve his son Isaac, nor was it a sacrifice for the cause of all, his purpose was hidden. "His human foresight kept him silent," and any prophetic foresight of man "is only an illusion." Therefore, Abraham's sacrifice of his Son for himself and For God is an affront to aesthetics, because sacrificing oneself is understandable, while sacrificing others for oneself is incomprehensible. At the same time, ethics is to make its own judgment for Abraham's inexplanatory of his intentions. In the tragedy of Euripites, Agamemnon did not tell his wife the truth about the consecration of his daughter, but to make himself more miserable by silence, in line with the standards of an aesthetic hero; he later told his daughter that his purpose was to hope that her daughter would agree to sacrifice for the collective good as himself, in the noble sense of ethics; his daughter also understood her father's ambition and voluntarily sacrificed. These two men are now in line with the expectations of the heroes of ethics. As Kierkegaard said, the hero of aesthetics can speak, but speaking will disintegrate the beauty of the character; the tragic hero in the ethical sense should open his mouth to confess that he is a man who sacrifices everything for universality and the whole, his feelings and actions belong to universality, and he must open his heart. Kierkegaard also uses socrates's death to illustrate this difference, saying that as an ordinary hero, Socrates will be asked to be calm and at ease; but as a thoughtful tragic hero, he is required to have enough mental strength to make himself famous at the last moment. He can't focus on self-control before dying, like the average tragic hero. He must act as soon as possible, that is, to speak, to state, to confess and to spread his thoughts, to use words "quickly and consciously to transcend the ordinary struggle of reality and affirm himself." ”
If we compare kierkegaard's "daughter of the sea" with what Kierkegaard called Abraham and Hans Christian Andersen, we will find the connection between their worldviews and the connection of the spiritual realm. Similarly, the act of devotion of the little mermaid, like Abraham's, does not apply aesthetic and ethical explanations, she is also silent, and her purpose is hidden for quite some time. The Daughter of the Sea says that the youngest sea princess was "an eccentric child, not very talkative, always quietly thinking about something." Of the six princesses, only she would ask her grandmother: Living under the sea can live for three hundred years, living on land can have a soul, whose life is better? The little mermaid thinks life on the shore is better, which is the truth she discovers, the truth in her "mind". At first, this discovery was an aesthetic and ethical activity, for the little mermaid, who had just turned fifteen, could travel alone, met the prince on a ship, and rescued him from drowning in a sudden storm that followed. Although the prince does not know the truth of the matter, for the little mermaid, this is an extension of her dream, but also the reality of her experience. She embodies her yearning for beauty by sacrificing her life to save the people she loves, and because of her silence, she is recognized by readers as an ethical act of goodness. But if she wanted to go one step further, she entered the Abrahamic mystic realm.
The sea witch once told the little mermaid, "This matter will give you a tragic ending." ...... Your heart will break and you will become a bubble on the water. The little mermaid said that he could bear it, "with this kind of mental accuracy." So she began to suffer in order to obtain a soul and love that was actually impossible to get. She must suffer both physically (feet) and spiritual suffering (dumbness) for love and soul. Every step she took was as if she were walking on a sharp knife, she could not explain to the prince and the crowd who she was, and the self she expressed with her eyes, expressions, and dance posture could only be understood by the prince in a small part. She chose a hidden path because she could not speak, and although she seemed to make the reader feel that she was also in love with mankind because of her deep love for the prince, the purpose of her actions was no longer for herself nor for others, but for an impossible wish; she would soon lose everything for it: neither to return to life under the sea, nor to the love of the prince and the soul that a landman must have. But the most painful thing was that she could not pour out the double pain of body and mind, and had nowhere to pour out her inner fear and trembling. She had had the opportunity to escape and had the help of her sisters, but what she really wanted to do—through love, to get an immortal soul—was something that no one could replace, no one could help her do. So without any promise, her renunciation of other methods (renouncing the sharp knife given to her by her sisters), her continued to endure suffering (insisting on dancing at the wedding) and waiting for the last moment to come had a sense of faith, reflecting her unique free choice.
Third, the realm of faith
Like Abraham, the little mermaid finally attained spiritual fulfillment. What she ended up with was not the love she had hoped, but she became an elf, creating an immortal soul for herself through her good work, making the children love and make the children laugh. She began to help humanity, and thus entered a "paradise" that she did not know about before. From the daughter of the sea to the daughter of the sky, the life course of the little mermaid is a process from nothingness to nothingness for us humans on land. What she pursues seems to be the impossible of nothingness, she also dissolves into the foam of the sea of nothingness, and rises into the sky in the form of steam in the sun, but in three hundred years she will get "being" in heaven, get the soul. After the rise, the little mermaids have a sound, a kind of ethereal sound that is inaudible to human beings, and they spread the fragrance of flowers in the cool wind, spreading healthy and pleasant emotions, and this sound and flow are benefiting not only mankind, but also the whole universe and space full of all kinds of life. This should be said to be a description of the spiritual realm with religious connotations. Leading to this realm is what Kierkegaard called "human foresight" or "hallucination." The pursuit of fantasy, illusion and dreams gives meaning and purpose to the little mermaid's life, and she gradually understands the meaning of the soul in the pursuit, or Hans Christian Andersen gradually understands the meaning of the soul through her pursuit. We initially understand her love at first sight for the prince from the perspective of mortal love, and then admire her dedication to love from the way she acts of sacrificing herself, from an ethical point of view, but in the end, we awaken through the understanding of the little mermaid and enter the realm of faith: "The daughters of the sky do not have eternal souls, but they can create a soul through good deeds."
Kierkegaard discovered that Abraham could not speak. There are troubles and uneasiness here, and he can explain everything, that is, there is one thing that cannot be said. And if he can't say it in an understandable way, then he didn't say it. He argues that the relief that "speech" provides us is that it translates our actions into universality. For example, Abraham could describe his love for his parent Isaac in the most beautiful words of any language. But it was not what he had in mind, and some things were more profound, that is, he was ready to give his son, because it was a test. No one can understand His devotion, and everyone can understand His Father's love. Hans Christian Andersen, the narrator of the story, also said this for the little mermaid: "For him, she left her people and family, she handed over her beautiful voice, she endured endless pain every day, and yet he knew nothing." But what the little mermaid wanted to say to the prince was certainly not these things, and Andersen made it impossible for her to speak herself, also because she could not be allowed to confess herself, or that she could not explain everything. Kierkegaard believed that tragic heroes do not have such troubles. Agamemnon can quickly stabilize his mood to do his things, and even have time to comfort and encourage others. Abraham couldn't. When he was touched, when his words could be comforting to the whole world, he did not dare to offer relief, because his wife and son would say to him: Why do you want to do that? After all, you can give up doing that. If he tries to remove the burden in the midst of his troubles, if he wants to have all his relatives, the terrible consequence may be that his relatives will offend him and think that he is a hypocrite. "He can't say anything, he can't speak the language of mankind, even if the people he loves speak that language, he still can't say—he speaks a language of the gods, and he speaks with his tongue." Similarly, if the little mermaid fulfills her dream of love for the prince, everything she does is for herself; if she gives up halfway, then her wish really becomes a dream. The words she said after becoming an elf were also the dialogue of the clouds, the words of the gods, not the language spoken with the human tongue. Because of the difference between fairy tales and the Bible, Andersen "spoke" the wishes and dreams of the clouds in the sky, and he said to the children, hoping that they would hear some of the heroic words in life as soon as possible and understand the hints left by the heroic deeds. But for adults, Hans Christian Andersen "spoke" only a tiny fraction of the meaning of the story.
Fourth, the proof of imagination
Speaking about his gap with Abraham, Kierkegaard said, "I can't understand Abraham, but I just admire him." I understand very well the annoyance that he can't speak. I admire Abraham. I'm not afraid that anyone who reads this story will be tempted to be that kind of person. I also admit that I don't have the courage to let go of further expectations, although I should probably go that far if possible. This statement, like Andersen's choice of "fairy tales" to express himself, emphasizes that there is a gap between the spiritual realm and real life that people try to narrow but cannot completely eliminate, and perhaps we can only feel the existence of hope and the necessity of effort through "imagination".
Kierkegaard said: Abraham did two movements, the movement of infinite renunciation and the movement of faith. Agamemnon's daughter obeyed her father's decision, she made the movement of infinite renunciation, and a mutual understanding was reached between them, because the daughter believed that her father's decision showed a certain universality. If Agamemnon said to his daughter that although God asked for your sacrifice, he might not want you out of absurdity, then the daughter would immediately be confused by her father. If he says that this is just man's speculation, then he may get his daughter's understanding, but he did not do the movement that will never be abandoned, so he is not a hero, and the whole thing becomes a comedy. Abraham had only one word left, and his son Isaac asked: Where is the lamb used to grill the sacrifice, and Abraham replied, "God Himself prepared the lamb for the sacrifice, my son." He said what he had to say, but it was ironic because he didn't say anything. After this movement, he went on to do a movement that relied on absurd faith. Kierkegaard repeatedly emphasized that there is a paradox between what Abraham believed in and Abraham personally: Abraham was either in an absolute relationship with the absolute as the individual, and as a result, the ethical thing was not the highest; or he was lost, that is, he was neither a tragic hero nor an aesthetic hero. ...... The reason why people may understand Abraham is in that paradoxical way. ...... Yet I can say that anyone who believes in this is not a knight of faith, and that annoyance and insecurity are the only conceivable proofs; and that if nothing is imaginable, the paradox ceases to exist. Understanding "The Daughter of the Sea" with this idea will also feel the same way, unless you firmly believe that the little mermaid's wish to persevere to the end is absolutely necessary, you will really accept the hint of this story to you, otherwise you will see this story as an interesting fairy tale because her wish is just a fantasy, and the writer's writing is just an imagination.
Of course, there is a difference between Kierkegaard and Abraham and Hans Christian Andersen and the little mermaid, especially the "complete renunciation movement" that Abraham wants to do includes his son and another life, which is different from the "singing voice" and "fish tail" that the little mermaid must sacrifice. But this difference, the difference between religion and fairy tales, enabled Andersen to write an alternative story about the "difficulty of speech" in "The Emperor's New Clothes" as the free narrator of the story who appeared directly. In this story, a child's "innocent voice" clashes with all kinds of "lies" and all kinds of "insincere words" and inflammatory tendencies. But its ending is not only that the emperor's ugliness is ridiculed by everyone, but only the subjective bias in the narrative of the story to give the reader, especially to the impression of the young reader, a "proof of imagination" and a triumph of the spirit; if you read the text carefully, you will see that in the end neither the common people nor the emperor have stopped or interrupted their approved lives because of different opinions. When the emperor heard the laughter of the crowd, he "put on a more proud look." His courtiers followed him, holding a non-existent back skirt in their hands. "The truth of the last thing remains in life in two ways of understanding. Both voices have made different insistences. The truth is both revealed and invisible. The truth seen by the common people and the truth pursued by the emperor are two things. For the original deceivers had told the Emperor that they could weave the most beautiful cloth imaginable to man, with the characteristic that "no one who is incompetent or irredeemably stupid can see this garment." When the emperor heard this, he thought to himself, "This is really the most ideal dress!" When I wear such clothes, I can see who in my kingdom is not commensurate with their positions. So in the end the emperor's wish came true, and his courtiers were still the most "wise men" he could confirm. The truth is not only difficult to say, but once it is spoken, it does not mean that lies and misunderstandings are broken, and many lies and disguises in reality do not look stupid and ridiculous, and they are often forced and extenuating in different expectations in specific scenes.
Fifth, each has its own happiness
In the time of Hans Christian Andersen and Kierkegaard, Denmark was still an absolutist society, and social life has been rarely touched since the Middle Ages. After entering the nineteenth century, there were a series of major historical changes, the waste of national strength caused by the Napoleonic Wars, the defeat in the Norwegian question, the economic recession in the 1920s, the king's shift from a royalist position to dictatorship in the 1930s, and the middle class being cautious and cautious and seeking perfection, all of which basically put society in a state of political oppression and cultural ignorance. Kierkegaard once dismissively called it "an era without enthusiasm," and in Andersen's work we also feel the grayness and repression of this era everywhere. However, Hans Christian Andersen did not directly engage in political activities and social controversies like Kierkegaard, he created fairy tales as a modern expression, and he borrowed the "child" perspective of fairy tales to see the complex life of modern people. Andersen made fairy tales transcend the legendary imagination of folk literature and become a distinct individual writing and modern technique exploration. His writing is witty and soft, flexible and light, but full of deep sorrow and sorrow. Many of his techniques are refined without mannerism, and the themes are deep and not stereotypical. He can make the romantic, ancient, affectionate and weak elements of the literary tradition connect and generate magnetic fields with those modern, rapid, indifferent and casual emotions, such as "Thumbelina" and "The Old Man Always Does The Right Thing", so that the simple heart, simple ideas, and ancient principles of life can exude the joy and sadness of nostalgia in the atmosphere of modern life.
In the story of "Firm Tin Soldier", there is a one-legged tin soldier toy standing firmly on his only leg, carrying his gun. But his heart has a crush on a dancing lady made of paper and also standing on one leg. There was a goblin who, just because the tin soldier ignored her, so he fell from the third floor to the ground, and was sent into the ditch by two children's boat made of newspaper, the rats in the ditch wanted to buy road money, but they could not catch up with the rushing groundwater, the tin soldier's paper boat was washed into the canal, and he heard the words before sinking to the bottom: "Rush, rush, you warrior, your way out is only one death." He fell into the belly of the fish under the water, followed the fish to the market and table, was cut out for the diners to admire, and then returned to the original house to see the girl he never forgot. But he was soon thrown into the fire by another child, and Miss Dance was there, because the jealous goblin blew her into the furnace with a gust of wind... The next day the maid saw a small tin heart in the ashes. This is a touching story, the life of The Tin Soldier is simply a disaster, survival is so fragile, vulnerable, handless, even destruction can be constantly used as an object of appreciation. But who hid so much courage in his heart that he was always reluctant to cry out for help? Who left such a beautiful impression in his eyes that he felt that love was with him?" Rush, rush, you warrior, your way out is only one death!" Who is saying this, making him sound completely from the heart? When he finally melted in the furnace, his whole body lit up and emitted a hot breath. "All his brilliance is gone now. Whether it was something he had lost on the road or whether it was the result of sorrow, no one could tell. In the "modern" life, which is increasingly complex and mixed, Andersen insists on confronting complexity with a simple confrontation with concrete feelings against ready-made rationality, just as Kierkegaard insisted on confronting the "system" with the individual, with the truth belonging to the individual against the truth belonging to the times, and does not want those vague words, those things that many people flock to, to replace people's deep feelings about these things themselves.
It is from this simplicity, individuality and feelings that Andersen's basic attitude towards life and the times is at the same time optimistic and full of expectations, because he believes that not only everyone has their own destiny, but also their own happiness. In "The Neighbors," he borrows beautiful, modest roses and says, "Living and blossoming, meeting old friends, seeing kind faces every day—how blissful it is!" It's like a festival every day!" In the story of the Divine Fang, a prince and princess seek the Divine Fang in order to preserve the happiness they already feel, and a wise man makes them travel the world and asks a perfectly happy couple for a piece of clothing to wear closely. When they finally found the happy shepherd's family, they didn't even have a torn coat. So the prince found that "satisfaction" was a rare treasure in the world, and the princess felt: "There is no other way for a person to feel satisfied--just be satisfied!" The wise men blessed them, saying, "You have found the true 'Divine Solution' in your own hearts, keep it, so that the 'unsatisfied' demon will always be powerless against you." In "Who is the Luckiest", the roses have their own destinies, some are picked by their mothers and placed in the cemetery to commemorate their dead daughters, some are collected by peasant women to "keep it forever with salt", some are painted by painters on canvases that will not be broken for two or three hundred years, some are written by poets to love songs that have been passed down for thousands of years, some are thrown on the stage to offer courtesy to dancers and shine in countless lights, and some hear nightingales sing for themselves at night... Every rose believes, and at the same time thinks that it is the luckiest, and this faith also makes them happy.