Chapter 15 I watched "Jin Ping Mei"

Chinese people living in modern times, especially ordinary readers in mainland China, have generally read it, or even familiarized it.It is generally known that there is a book that preceded it, but it was still difficult to read this book until the 1980s. I personally read it before I read it.There are similarities between these two great works. They break through from the pattern of novels, which are emperors, generals, heroes, gods, Buddhas and immortals. The "extrahistorical" characters in the "Biography" show scenes of secular life, full of subtle descriptions of the lifestyle of "eating men and women" that are rare in the aforementioned "heroic epics".The characters are no longer thick and rough, but fine-grained, like fine brushwork, and pay great attention to the layout of the characters' language. Often through the vigorous and vivid character language, the characters in the book jump off the paper, making the readers unforgettable. Cover up like a neighbor.

But after reading it, on the one hand, I learned that I was deeply influenced by it in terms of artistic techniques, and on the other hand, I deeply realized that there are major differences between these two great works.The main difference is not that the former shows the life style of rich locals, ordinary people and even hooligans, while the latter mainly shows the ups and downs of aristocratic families with bells and lanterns and generations of hairpin tassels.The major difference is that the author is full of anxiety in the narrative text, running through the "metaphysical" pain of trying to sublimate philosophical thinking from the "original state of life", and the whole book is shrouded in strong tragic feelings and romantic colors.Therefore, although we may have some confusions in interpretation during the reading process, we will definitely appreciate the charm of the original ideas contained in the text, such as "daughters are made of water, men are made of mud, flesh and blood", and "obscenity", and so on.The text of the book is completely different. Although it uses some "idea" packaging such as "karma" and "every evil will be rewarded", in fact, it basically has no "metaphysical" pursuit.Therefore, reflected in the narrative style, it is very calm, without anxiety and heaviness, without pain and romance. When it comes to "realism", it is not only far more "qualified" than, but also more "strict" than.Reading, we often have a kind of surprise, I call this kind of surprise "text surprise". The "gold study" of research is no less prosperous than the "red study", and it has already achieved a lot, and I have also dabbled in some.But in my opinion, not many have carefully studied this "textual characteristic".

As for what most people are interested in, it is needless to say that there are quite a few sexual descriptions in it, which are indeed pornographic texts that are explicit to the point of wantonness, and there are also sexual descriptions in it, but the handling is either subtle and beautiful, or even though The vulgarity is to the point, and it is all designed to shape characters, without the intention of showing off and attracting favor.In the era when it was produced (the earliest printed version appeared in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty), because the emperor publicly solicited aphrodisiacs, high-ranking officials and nobles became more shameless, and "fangzhongshu" became the biggest fashion. Not only are sexual behaviors quite "liberated", opera singing, even storytelling in teahouses, including unofficial historical novels, and even popular slang, are also quite "unobstructed" in expressing sexual behavior.The "achievements" in this area are not considered original in such a big background. Therefore, I think that general commentators (except for sexologists) do not have a high evaluation of the pornographic description in this book, and even criticize it a lot. is understandable.

However, it would be wrong to regard all the sexual descriptions in the novel as a "gimmick" for the scholar to attract viewers.The idea is very ingenious. It is derived from the section "Wu Song kills his sister-in-law". Ximen Qing seduces Pan Jinlian through Wang Po Laxian. It was Wu Song who killed Ximen Qing in the Lion Tower, but told us that Wu Song killed someone else by mistake and was sent to marry him. Ximen Qing married Pan Jinlian into his house and became the fifth concubine. A comprehensive description of Ximen Qing, a bully.Among them, the one that takes up the most space is his sex life. Not only did he deal with six wives and concubines, but he also seduced servants and nurses, had affairs with them, stayed in brothels, and even sneaked into the bedrooms of noble ladies to have fun.According to some statistics, Ximen Qing had sexual relations with almost 20 women in the book. In the vivid and delicate description of Ximen Qing's "sexual history", it radiates the rich and specific interpersonal existence and They compete with each other, and there are often excavations of human nature beyond the significance of history, sociology, ethics, psychology, and sexology, which shows the unique aesthetic value of this book as a novel.Perhaps this value is not provided to us consciously by the author, but it exists objectively.

The title of this book can be understood as "plum blossoms in a golden vase", but most readers agree that this title summarizes the explanation of the three heroines in the book, "gold" is Pan Jinlian, "bottle" It's Li Ping'er, and "Mei" is Pang Chunmei.Relatively speaking, Li Ping'er may be a woman who can arouse readers' interest more, because in her relationship with Ximen Qing, there is love beyond carnal desire.Ximen Qing, a sensual maniac, also shows the tenderness, tolerance and kindness of human nature in his love with her, which makes him more flesh and blood and more cognitive connotation.The image of Pan Jinlian, as a "sexual existence" who thinks about lust and indulgence all the time, is inevitably lost in "simpleness", but her character is portrayed most vividly, highlighted on paper, and unforgettable.Pang Chunmei was promoted to the "heavy figure" only in the last one-fifth of the book. This is a more complicated artistic image than Pan Jinlian and Li Ping'er. Even more lecherous than Pan Jinlian.Her means of revenge are either straightforward and extremely cruel, or tortuous and concealed like a soft knife to cut one's heart.Her pursuit of Ximenqing's son-in-law Chen Jingji is weird and persistent, perverted and tolerant, reflecting the blatant contempt and ruthless "deconstruction" of traditional ethics in the "declining world" civil society.

It is mainly about Ximenqing's family's food and sex life, but it is indeed not a "sex-only" novel, especially because it contains pornographic text, it cannot be classified as "erotic novels", "pornographic books", " "Yellow Book", because it has a lot of space, showing the extensive and heterogeneous social life outside Ximen Qing's house.This story under the pretense of the Song Dynasty is actually a novel showing the social life of the Ming Dynasty. It depicts the grand commercial occasions, shopping malls, car spokes, and red dust around the north-south junction of the Grand Canal in a bizarre and vivid way. It describes the grand occasion of the Lantern Festival in Qinghe County, the "shared prosperity" of secular life, showing a kind of joy in the world that transcends personal joys and sorrows.Regardless of whether the author himself has such a meaning or not, thoughtful readers may realize from it that no matter how much suffering, conspiracy, cruelty, licentiousness, depravity, and perdition there are in the world, after all, there is still some kind of something that promotes the development of the world. "The Hand of Law".Therefore, even if the "staged civilization" in the world inevitably contains injustice and even filth, individual life should still cherish life, which includes the active enjoyment of the trivial pleasures of secular life.

The descriptive space of the book has crossed a county and a prefecture, and directly wrote about the capital, about the wealthy, about the court, and about the emperor himself.Some researchers have verified that this book deliberately alludes to the political darkness of the Ming Jiajing Dynasty.Because when this book was written, it was after Jiajing's death, when Jiajing's favorite minister Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan had been expelled and killed, so the author can freely insinuate their power-gathering behavior, showing how they sell officials, accept bribes, accept murderers, and support others. Eagles and dogs, fish and meat of the common people, corrupt the world and create man-made disasters.According to research, the father and son Cai Jing and Cai You in the book are used to allude to Yan Song and Yan Shifan.In fact, the darkness in the officialdom, corruption of tax collectors, collusion between officials and businessmen, and the prevalence of obscenity described in the book are not just "shadows" of the "former dynasty", but also a line description of "now". "Audacious and reckless" "political novels", some commentators affirm the value of this point.However, I think looking at the whole book, this factor can only be regarded as a branch of this big tree after all. As far as the "whole tree" is concerned, the life in the market and the matter of food and sex are still the main branches and leaves, and they are uneven. Lush and lush.

Looking back, I still want to emphasize that amazing text, why in a world where ideals are bleak, political corruption, secret agents are rampant, legal system is ineffective, money worship is crazy, human desires are rampant, moral depravity, interpersonal alienation, coldness is commonplace, and betrayal is commonplace. In a humanistic environment in which everything is priceless, elegant, vulgar, shameless, everything is priced, and everything is unsalable, the author of this book does not adopt narrative modes such as outrage, righteous indignation, "doing justice for the heavens", and "returning to the original", let alone idealism. , romantic feelings, sublimated philosophical thinking, and magical fables, but with an almost completely calm "nothing but nothing" and a relaxed and casual brushwork that is purely "watching from the wall" to show the scenes of the scene. Who is the author of this book?Perhaps many people participated in the writing process of this book. Judging from the style of its "mimicking script", it may also be a fashionable "repertoire" of storytellers in teahouses and restaurants at that time. Many participating creators may They all added some "edmonitions" to their stories.But those far-fetched blunt "admonitions" can't be integrated into the story and characters at all, they are just some "routines", so that they seem "cumbersome" and redundant.Why is there still no "improvement" after "Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng" is engraved? Is it because all the participating creators lack "ideological height", or is it because, as far as the internal laws of novel creation are concerned, it is full of narrative anxiety like that Of course, it is a good way of narration, full of ideal light and romantic feelings, but the "cold narration" is a "pure objective narration" that is versatile, exquisite, vivid, and full of flavor. , is also a narrative strategy that may be of considerable value in aesthetics

We may be more willing to openly express our admiration for reading, and be ashamed of expressing the aesthetic pleasure we get from reading. This may be related to the era we live in and the great humanistic environment.In fact, regardless of other aspects, it is often superior in controlling the language skills of character dialogue.The "red language" we like to talk about, such as "willing to cut the whole body, dare to pull the emperor off the horse", "a long shed is built for thousands of miles, and there is no feast that lasts", "not a family flower", "spinning a mill ", "The predecessors scattered soil and confused the eyes of future generations", etc., have all been used skillfully and precisely in the book.In the second half of the 20th century, in mainland China, it had already received the highest evaluation that can be said to be almost unanimous, but it was not until the end of the 20th century that it could finally be read normally by ordinary adult readers, and it was possible for the academic circle to conduct research more openly.I am here to propose such a topic to the academic circles, and of course to the general readers, that is, please answer, when a writer in an era is really unable to sublimate his ideals and philosophical thinking, he will use traditional texts, subtle However, he vividly described the human scenes and life phenomena he was familiar with, and reached a level of vividness in language attainments. Should we tolerate him, or must we strictly prohibit him, and even wish to "kill his writings?" in the cradle"

Of course, it is a literary treasure that not only belongs to our nation, but also belongs to all mankind.Well, the one that was born about 200 years earlier than I think is also a great literary work that belongs not only to our nation, but also to all mankind.Moreover, in the days to come, we may realize this more deeply, especially, we may realize the deep mechanism of its text composition, as well as the complex and interactive interaction between the era and literature, environment and writers. There are laws that can be found, and thus a sigh of understanding and forgiveness is sincerely issued!