Chapter 68 on endless reading

on endless reading A few days ago, I participated in a seminar to discuss Mr. Zhao Shuli's "Li Youcai Banhua".A young man in the audience brought up a fact: he felt good after reading this book, but he didn't want to read it again.We spent some time discussing this fact.Some people express their opinions and say that they don't want to reread it, which does not necessarily reduce the goodness of this book, nor does it necessarily reduce its value.But time was running short, and we did not reach a clear conclusion.On the one hand, no one seems to have re-read the book, and it never seems to occur to them.But the problem is not only with this book, but with all literary and artistic works.Why do some people "never tire of reading" some works, while others don't want to read them a second time?Is it the difference in works?Are people who read it different?If the works are different, is "reading forever" a criterion for evaluating works?These are worth our consideration.

In Su Dongpo's poem "Sending Zhang Dun, a Talented Talent Returning to the West after Losing Understanding", the first two lines are: I never tire of reading old books, Familiar with deep thinking, self-knowledge. The idiom "Never tire of reading" comes from here. "Old books" refer to classics, so you must "read and think carefully". "Three Kingdoms Wei Zhi Wang Su Biography Notes": People have learned from (Dong Yu) scholars, but they are unwilling to teach when they meet, and they say that "you must read it a hundred times first", and say "read it a hundred times and you will see it by yourself".

The classic texts are short but profound in meaning. Only by reading more, familiarizing yourself with it, and pondering carefully can you understand and experience it.The so-called "self-knowledge" and "self-knowledge" emphasize spontaneity, which cannot be rushed.This verse was originally a word of comfort and encouragement to Zhang Dun, who failed the exam, and advised him to go home and read at ease, saying that "old books" are not too much to read, and the more you read, the more interesting you become.Although the classics are worth "reading a hundred times", the emphasis here is on those who are still studying there.Simplified into the idiom "read a hundred times without getting tired", but the focus is on the book or work that is read.This idiom is often combined with another idiom "I can't put it down". When I read it, I can't put it down. After reading it, I can't get tired of reading it a hundred times.This is a kind of praise and comment, and traditionally it is indeed a standard of evaluation.Of course, "hundred reading" just means "rereading", "multiple reading" and "repeated reading", and it does not necessarily mean reading it over and over again.

The classics give people knowledge and teach people how to be a human being. There are many topics in language, history, and self-cultivation, and there are many annotations. It makes sense to read.However, the so-called "never tire of reading a hundred times" often refers not to classics, but to some poems, some essays, and some novels; "Not annoying", and "not tired".Poems and novels are both literary and artistic works, and there are also some language and historical issues, and some annotations and textual research on poetry; as for novels, it was not until modern times that people paid attention to these issues, so there were also various textual researches.But in the past, ordinary readers only paid attention to the annotations of poems and essays, and paid little attention to those topics, especially for novels.They concentrate on reciting or browsing the text.These people recite poetry for appreciation, or even just for entertainment, and browse or read novels just for entertainment. What they want is fun and pleasure.This is not the same as reciting the classics.Reciting the classics is for knowledge and lessons. It has to be read seriously, seriously, and sitting upright, unlike poetry and novels, which can be done carelessly, casually, on the bed, on the train or ship.Doing so can teach people to "never get tired of reading a hundred times", so what are those poems and novels based on?

In my opinion, poetry mainly relies on tone, and novels mainly rely on plot.In the past, ordinary readers probably knew how to recite, and they recited poems, and they got interest or pleasure from the tone of the recitation or the music of the recitation, and the meaning has little to do with it; as long as they understand the words, it doesn’t matter if the meaning of the whole text is unclear of.Mr. Liang Qichao mentioned some of Li Yishan's poems. Although he didn't know what they meant, they were still very interesting to read (roughly).Part of this interest lies in the literal images, and part of it lies in the music of the heptapods.Literal images arouse people's wonderful feeling; this kind of image often expresses rare and gorgeous scenery, which is not easy for ordinary people to touch, so-called "Seven Treasure Towers" and the like.The "gums" that are often seen in folklore and so on also have this function.Popular folk tunes focus on music rather than words and sentences, and appreciation also focuses on music, which is exactly the same as reciting poems.The enjoyment of sensations seems to be direct and instinctive, and even the sensations caused by literal images are more or less like this. As for minor tunes and recitals, it is more obvious that they appeal directly to the sense of hearing, so it is no wonder that they are easy to arouse general interest. and pleasure.As for the appreciation of meaning, it depends on the imagination that synthesizes all senses, which requires long-term education.However, just like Mr. Liang Qichao, who is well-educated, sometimes he still lets the feeling lead him, which shows the power of feeling.

The "never tire of reading" of a novel mainly depends on the story or plot.People love stories from childhood, especially strange ones.Adults still love stories, but the plot is more complicated.These stories are probably always about immortals, martial arts, talented scholars, and beauties. After going through all kinds of joys and sorrows, they end up with a happy ending.The joys and sorrows must always be unusual, and the reunion is amazing.The novel originally started among the people, between peasants and ordinary citizens.In feudal society, peasants and ordinary citizens were severely oppressed. They did not have much freedom, but they had the freedom to daydream.They pin their hopes on surreal immortals, immortalized martial arts, and talented scholars and beautiful ladies from the upper class who look like immortals; they hope that one day they will become such characters.This is of course a miracle that cannot be realized, but it can give them comfort, fun and pleasure.They want a happy reunion, precisely because it is rare for them to have a happy reunion in their whole life, and strange feelings are just normal.They sympathize with the characters in the story, "put themselves in their shoes" and "worry for the ancients", which is also because of the strange things and the strange people.It seems that the novels of the past have not been completely handed over to the hands of scholar-bureaucrats.Scholar-bureaucrats read novels just for leisure, and even writing novels is just a game article, in short, it is just for entertainment.They have to pretend to be ordinary citizens to enjoy and write; in their view, novels are more strange than facts, and are just a kind of entertainment, so they cannot be serious and serious, they are just entertainment.

The feudal society gradually collapsed. During the May Fourth era, the individual and the self emerged, and at the same time a new literature was established.The new literature has raised the status of literature; literature also gives people knowledge, and it also teaches people how to be a human being, not to be someone else's, but to be one's own person.But at this time, the only ones who write and read new literature are the intellectual class, which is a mixture of degraded taxis and degraded peasants and petty bourgeoisie, and no one else is willing or able to participate. .The difference between new literature and the poetry and novels of the past is that it is serious about its mission.Whether it was anti-feudal in the early days or anti-imperialism later, whether it was realistic, romantic or sentimental, literary works always expressed and criticized life in a serious manner.In this way, literature abandons the atmosphere of entertainment and returns to seriousness—such as the literature of ancient aristocrats, it was originally serious.This literature with a serious mission naturally no longer pays attention to "legends", no longer pays attention to fun and pleasure, and you have to sit upright when reading it, similar to reading classics, and you can't be so careless and casual.But after all, it is figurative and appeals to emotion, which is different from the classics, which mainly focus on cold, abstract and intellectual teachings. It is also a modern vernacular, without those linguistic and historical problems, so it can attract many readers to read automatically. .However, the role of teaching people to "never tire of reading" or even to re-read it is indeed very small.

New poetry, or vernacular poetry, and vernacular prose have all departed from the more or less artificial and musical tones, and have adopted tones that are close to speaking.Those who like ancient poems, regulated poems, parallel prose, and ancient prose are disappointed. They are especially opposed to the new vernacular poems that cannot be recited; because poetry comes from songs and has never been completely separated from music, they are unwilling to abandon this tradition.But poetry has finally turned to the stage of the center of meaning.Music in ancient times was a kind of language, the so-called "music language". Later music developed independently and became mainly "good-sounding".Now that poetry has a self-conscious mission, it has to say what everyone wants to say but can't say, so naturally it doesn't pay attention to music but to meaning. ——On the one hand, music is probably also gradually paying attention to meaning, let’s go back to talking? ——The literal image is still useful, but generally speaking, the image itself, whether it is vivid or hazy, can appeal to the senses independently, is not attractive enough; if the image must be used , it is necessary to cooperate with each part of the whole poem to complete the central meaning and say what to say.In these troubled times, people are anxious to speak because there is so much to say.The novel does not pay attention to the story or the plot anymore, its mission is more obvious than that of the poem.It can say what it wants to say, not by description, but by dialogue.Immortals, martial arts, wits, and beauties rarely appear here, and when they appear occasionally, they have to be dressed as ordinary people; yes, the characters in novels at this time are mainly ordinary people, this is the century of common people.As for the text, the long argumentative essay develops instrumentality, allowing people to say their words more voluntarily and with more precision, but this has become appealing to reason.What appeals to emotion is the later-developed short prose, that is, the one that advertises "the art of life" and expresses "the trifles around you".This is going back to the center of interest, trying to teach people to "never tire of reading", and it has indeed become popular for a while.However, the times are too tense, and people are not allowed to be so leisurely; everyone thinks that essays are close to the so-called "softness", and they leave it to find the "hardness".

The quality of the readers of literary and artistic works has changed, and so has the quality of the works themselves. Meaning and mission have suppressed interest, and awareness and action have suppressed pleasure.This may be the so-called "hard" explanation. "Hard" works have to be read seriously, so it is not easy for people to "love it" and "read it a hundred times".Therefore, "reading for a hundred times" is no longer the criterion of evaluation, at least not the main criterion.But literature and art are the object of appreciation. After all, it is visualized and appeals to emotion. No matter how "hard" it is, it cannot be so "hard" as a thesis or a formula.Although poetry does not need to talk about the somewhat mechanical tones, it must also talk about rhythm. Doesn’t the speaking also have weight, height, speed, and slowness?Only when the rhythm is in order can one concentrate and be highly concentrated.The text also has the rhythm of the text, which cooperates with the meaning to make the meaning concentrated.The novel does not pay attention to the story or the plot, but there must always be some opportunities to express life and criticize it; these opportunities must be carefully selected and coordinated, so that the words to be said and the meaning to be conveyed can be fully expressed and conveyed. come out.Only when the meaning is concentrated and complete can people see emotion and make people willing to accept it. "Appreciation" means "willing to accept".Works that can be appreciated in this way are good, and it doesn't matter whether they are "readable for a hundred times".Under such circumstances, the author agrees: Even if no one wants to reread "Li Youcai's Banhua", its value will not be reduced, it is good.

But in our modern literature and art, there are also works that make people "never get tired of reading them a hundred times".For example, Mr. Lu Xun's "The True Story of Ah Q", and Mr. Mao Dun's trilogy, "Shake" and "Pursuit", I have read them more than once. I think there must be many people who have read them more than once.As for the author, probably the humor in "The True Story of Ah Q" and the women in the trilogy attracted me.The goodness of these works has already been concluded, and their meaning and mission are familiar to everyone. What I’m talking about here is only the factors that make the author “never get tired of reading them a hundred times”. The main function of "The True Story of Ah Q" is not to be humorous, and the main function of the trilogy is not to cast a few women, but these may produce interesting things that people "will never get tired of reading".This taste, though not necessary, can add to the force of the work.But the humor here is by no means greasy, boring, and humor for humor's sake, and women are by no means pornographic. This boundary must be clarified.During the Anti-Japanese War period, the readers of literary and artistic works, especially novels, greatly increased.Most of the increase is the readership of the petty bourgeoisie, who demand entertainment, fun and pleasure.It is natural for the expanded audience to have such a requirement.The popularity of novels is a response to this requirement, because the length of the novel is longer, the story is longer, the plot is more, and the interest is richer.This can promote the development of novels, which is very good.However, some authors forget their own boundaries because of such requirements, and indulge in pornography and crude jokes to attract readers. This is just catering to vulgar tastes.And readers who greedily read this kind of low-level soft works are just addicted to it, and it cannot be said that they will never tire of reading. "Never tire of reading" is a compliment or a comment after all. Although it is mainly about fun, it can only be called pure fun.

Made on October 10, 1947. (Originally published in Wenxun Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 5, November 15, 1947)