Chapter 30 Make a Chinese "Nora"

As for drama, Hu Shi was also enthusiastic about improving it.When he was a boy, he loved watching Hui opera, and he and his childhood friends played old plays such as "Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin" in the fields.But by the time of the May Fourth Movement, he, like many of his friends in the Literary Revolution, was disgusted with old Chinese operas. In October 1918, New Youth, which was edited by Hu Shi in turn, was published in Volume 5, No. 4, raising the issue of drama improvement and publishing a group of articles on drama improvement.There are: Hu Shi: "Literary Evolution Concept and Drama Improvement" Fu Sinian: "Views of Drama Improvement in Various Aspects" Ouyang Yuqian: "Yu Zhi's View of Drama Improvement" (Appendix 1)

Zhang Houzai: "My View on Old Chinese Opera" (Appendix 2) Fu Sinian: "Further Discussion on Drama Improvement" Song Chunfang: "New Youth" in the issue of "Hundreds of Famous Operas in Modern Times" has become a "special issue on drama improvement". Hu Shi's thesis violently attacked the "reunion superstition" of old Chinese operas and advocated the "tragedy concept", as mentioned earlier.Hu Shi also strongly criticized the form of old operas; he especially opposed the "even script" and the stylization of performances in old operas, saying:

Our Chinese dramas pay the least attention to these economic methods.If the whole play must take at least 40 or 50 o'clock to complete, and the whole work must take 70 or 80 o'clock to finish.Some people say that this kind of opera has never been sung in its entirety; I would like to ask, why bother to compile a whole opera if it is not sung in its entirety? That kind of "new opera" with 10, 20, and 30 episodes in succession is even worse. Needless to say.This is a diseconomy of time. ...Looking at the Chinese stage again, jumping over a table is jumping over a wall; standing on a table is climbing a mountain; A somersault, a few hand gestures, it's a big battle.This kind of clumsy, stupid, unreal, self-deceiving affectation is really disgusting to watch! ① Hu Shi's criticism does have something to do with old and new dramas.He believes that in order to improve Chinese drama, we should study Western drama with humility, learn from Western drama, and "learn from others' strengths and make up for my weaknesses."Only by "adopting new concepts, new methods, and new forms that have continued to develop in the West in the past century, can Chinese theater have the hope of improving and progressing." ②

Hu Shih had indeed done some research on Western literature and drama, and felt that they were sufficient models for our Chinese literature and drama. In April 1918, he wrote in an article: In the past 60 years, European prose dramas have undergone ever-changing changes, far surpassing those of ancient times, and their genres have become more developed. The most important ones, such as "problem drama", specialize in the study of various important issues in society; "symbolie drama" (Symbolie Drama), "Psychological dramas" are designed to describe all kinds of complex moods and make extremely precise dissections; "satire dramas" express the painstaking efforts of cynical and world-saving works with laughing and cursing articles; ... If we really want to study the methods of literature, we must quickly translate Western literary masterpieces and make them our models. ③

Sure enough, the "New Youth" published in June of this year introduced to Chinese readers the first great Western writer, Ibsen, a master of drama, and published a "Special Ibsen Issue".The battle was quite majestic: with Hu Shi's "Ibsenism" as the vanguard; Hu and Luo Jialun's joint translation of "Nara", Tao Lugong's translation of "The Enemy of the Nation", and Wu Ruonan's translation of "Little Lover's Husband" "The three scripts are in the middle army; Yuan Zhenying's "Biography of Ibsen" is in the third place. ④ Such a brave formation is also a serious attack on old Chinese operas.Hu Shi's important article "Ibsenism" introduced a lot of Ibsen's "social problem dramas", such as "Nara" (the current translation of "A Doll's House"), "Ross Horse Village" ("Pillars of Society" ), "Wild Geese" ("Wild Duck"), "Borkman", "An Enemy", "The Lady of the Sea", "Ghosts" and so on; "Ibsenism", that is, Ibsen's realism and individual liberation thought.Later, Hu Shi called it "sound individualism".He said:

Ibsen can best represent the essence of European individualism in the 19th century, so I only write a sound individualistic outlook on life in this article. ...... Only by casting yourself into a tool can you hope to benefit society.The true self is the most beneficial way to be a human being.Casting yourself into a free and independent personality, you will naturally be dissatisfied, dissatisfied with the status quo, dare to speak the truth, dare to attack the corruption in the society, and be a person who "cannot be moved by poverty, rich and noble, and mighty". Doctor Stallman. ... This individualistic outlook on life teaches us to learn from Nora, and strive to forge ourselves into individuals; on the other hand, it teaches us to learn from Dr. Storman, to be independent, dare to speak the truth, and dare to fight against evil forces. ⑤

Hu Shi's praise of Ibsen's individual liberation and individualism had positive significance and impact on the opposition to the traditional forces of patriarchal absolutism at that time; it also had a very profound and extensive influence on the development of Chinese drama.Many of Ibsen's plays have been translated into Chinese one after another; in terms of creation, some playwrights not only transferred the ideas in Ibsen's plays, but even the combination of drama conflicts, the form of storytelling, etc. imitated together.The one-act play "Lifetime Events" written by Hu Shi is the earliest and most prominent example of imitating Ibsen.

"Lifetime Events" was written in 1919 and was originally written in English.One day, some friends who studied in the United States came to Hu Shi and said that the American University Alumni Association in Beijing was going to hold a banquet, and the Chinese members wanted to perform a short play that night, so Hu Shi was asked to write an English script.He wrote this one-act play in one day.But because no female characters could be found, the play was not performed; the script was taken by a friend and published in the English-language "Beijing Herald".Later, a girls' school wanted to rehearse the play, and Hu Shi translated it into Chinese. ⑥ This is the first vernacular prose script in the history of new Chinese literature.

The play obviously draws on the ideas and techniques of Ibsen's social problem plays.The heroine Tian Yamei in the play is simply a Chinese Nora.She and Mr. Chen once studied together in Toyo, and they are friends for many years, and they are passionately and freely in love.Ms. Tian's mother also met Mr. Chen and knew that he was a very reliable person; but she was still not at ease, so she asked the Guanyin Bodhisattva for a "divine lottery" and asked the blind man to count his horoscope. Both the Bodhisattva and the blind man said that this marriage is right no.Ms. Tian's father didn't believe in mud bodhisattvas and blind fortune-telling. He also liked Mr. Chen, but he followed the temple rules set by his ancestors and believed in genealogy. .Ms. Tian bravely broke through the obstruction of these feudal superstitions and traditional customs, and left a note saying: "This is a lifelong event for the child. The child should make up his own mind." Then she left the family and took Mr. Chen's car away.

Hu Shi himself said that this play is a "comedy of games" (Farce, generally translated as "farce").The "character description" of Mrs. Tian and Mr. Tian in the play is somewhat exaggerated and ridiculous.Tian Yamei is a real person in the May Fourth era; what the script reflects is also the issue of marriage autonomy with the characteristics of the times, so it is a social problem drama like Ibsen.Although the content is relatively thin, the performance is still relatively concentrated and interesting, and it writes a positive theme against the patriarchal tradition.The female school that originally planned to rehearse this play thought it was "immoral" because Ms. Tian ran away with someone else in the play, and no female students dared to play Ms. Tian! They grew up in China where the patriarchal tradition is still very strong. , Which woman dares to be the "Nara" who ran away from home? No one dares to play Ms. Tian, ​​which in itself illustrates the social significance of the play "Lifetime Events".

Hu Shi never wrote a script again.However, he has always held an almost total negative attitude towards old Chinese operas.This was also the almost unanimous attitude of the advocates of the Literary Revolution during the May Fourth Movement.As far as Hu Shi is concerned, the situation is naturally very complicated, but it is different from his nihilistic concept of the entire national culture and "total westernization" at that time. claims are also inseparable.When he talked about studying Western drama, he once said: "Oldness" is the most taboo in the culture of a country. "Oldness" is "twilight". Once this fatal disease is committed, there is almost no cure; among a hundred deaths, there is only one way to survive: quickly use injections , Inject some fresh "juvenile blood" into it, or you can expect the effect of rejuvenation.The current Chinese literature has reached the time when it is dying and dying! It is too late to pour down the Western "juvenile blood soup"; unexpectedly, the unworthy descendants of the patient's family want to prohibit the doctor from giving him medicine, saying , "Why should the Chinese take foreign medicines!"...Huh! However, not recognizing or even despising the fine traditions of national culture has gone to another extreme.Perhaps, this is also an important source of Hu Shi's "creative weakness". ① "Literary Evolution Concept and Drama Improvement", see "Hu Shi Wen Cun", Shanghai Yadong Library, August 9, 1926, Volume 1, pp. 210-211. ② Same note as ①, p. 206. ③ "On the Literary Revolution of Construction", see "Hu Shi Wencun", Volume 1, pp. 94-95. ④ "New Youth" "Ibsen" was published in June 1918, Volume 4, No. 6. The full translation of "Nora" includes the first to third acts; "The Enemy of the Nation" and "Little Lover" are only translated and included in one act, and will be continued in the fifth volume. ⑤ "Introducing My Own Thoughts", see "Hu Shi's Recent Works on Studies", Episode 1, Shanghai Commercial Press, April 1937, 3rd Edition, p. 634. ⑥ "The Greatest Event in Life", the English title is "The Greatest Event in Life".It was later translated into Chinese and contained in Volume 6, No. 3 of "New Youth"; it was later included in Volume 4 of "Hu Shi Wen Cun".For its creation and translation process, please refer to the "Preface" and "Postscript" of the play. ⑦ Same note as ①, pp. 213-214.