Chapter 71 Reading Notes Practice in a Desperate Situation

Practice in a desperate situation (one) For many years, in the exploration of pure literature, there is a question that has puzzled me, that is: whether there is a pure literature, a kind of literature that is independent of other things, has its own special laws, and follows these laws. Evolving literature? Such literature is similar to high-level music and painting, and also similar to philosophy.In the long-term literary practice and reading of the classics of the predecessors, the answer to this question has gradually emerged. In my opinion, pure literature is a special spiritual product, its tentacles stretch into the soul, and what it describes is the most universal human nature.Not only does it go deep into the spiritual realm and level completely contrary to what is described in our textbooks, but it does form a long hidden history.This discovery is very exciting to me, it is like the light in the abyss of the soul, and it is like the pulse in the chaotic realm of desire.Driven by a nameless impulse, I set out to decipher my favorite classics.The hardships and joys of this kind of work are indescribable.

A great pure literature is before you, it is an impenetrable castle, a mystery of life full of infinite mysteries.Its attitude towards readers is just like what Kafka wrote in the novel: "When you come, it will receive you; if you go, it will let you go." What do readers do when they come in? This law forces out the impulse of life to join this extraordinary creation.Why, then, should a reader break into that castle, into that mystery of mysteries? Why? By the beat of your pulse, by the quickening of your blood.It is a matter of life and death for me as a reader to figure out the various graphs of the life structure and uncover the answers.

Reading the poet Dante's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a key part of my Belle Literary Explorations series.The great poet built a bridge between the old "biblical" stories and literature, thereby opening up a territory that could be infinitely extended for the independent development of pure literature.His in-depth understanding of the genius of the spiritual kingdom and the career accomplished by his ambition have become monuments in the history of art. What is "The Divine Comedy"? I finally understand, it is Kafka's castle, Borges' labyrinth, the devil in "Faust", Shakespeare's "Julis • Caesar" Roman borders.The various parts of the soul that were split by the methods of defamiliarization and objectification by later artists tend to be more integrated under the pen of this early artist.However, the conflict was not covered up. On the contrary, because of the close confrontation between the two sides, it was extremely tense, terrifying, and even murderous.This is the truth of human nature. Artists who have the courage to stare at this truth, put themselves in a desperate situation, and never stop practicing their souls provide humans with a channel to understand themselves. The structure of "Divine Comedy" is the spiritual structure of the artist.In the spiritual exploration from "hell" to "purgatory" and then to "heaven", the artist showed readers again and again how thrilling the drill in the desperate situation is; how great the tension of the soul is; how the mechanism of the soul is How simple is the complexity; how the humbleness of life and the nobility of spirit together contributed to that special rhythm.After reading this spiritual epic, I deeply feel that all the elements of modern art have been included in it; and the self-awareness in artistic creation it embodies is no less than that of modern masters of pure literature.This is why, with the development of the times, the meaning of this great epic has been revealed more and more deeply.

(two) "Hell" is a record that puts the subject in the desperate situation of "death" and tortures it repeatedly. What is real creation? Creation is the rebellion and uprising of the devil in the soul.This incomprehensible rebellion is very special, and its peculiarity lies in the fact that it is a rebellion under restraint.And the shackles used to restrain the devils are also made of special materials-the shackled prisoners can still move wildly, as if the restrictions do not exist.When a person voluntarily condemns himself, then voluntarily goes to hell and becomes a lifelong prisoner, his artistic career begins, which is a landscape composed of a series of creations.The libido suppressed by reason does not die, but burns more violently because of this suppression.So in the dark hell, there are wolves everywhere, a scene of doomsday.

Strange tongues, terrible cries, Painful words, angry tones, A low, hoarse voice, and clapping, synthesized a tumult, endlessly Turning in the ever-dark sky, Like flying sand and rocks in a whirlwind. "Divine Comedy", translated by Zhu Weiji, 17 pages, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1995 The driving force for all artistic creations is here, and the power to rebound after the brutal suppression is an infinitely precious wealth.The so-called "irrational writing" is that the devil uses the fearless tone of the hell dweller to tell the disaster he has experienced. Of course, the whole telling process is carried out under the supervision of God (the highest idea).The presence of God makes the narration a very ambiguous matter—whether the prisoner wants to despise God and rebel to the end, or does he have other motives? Simple rebellion does not need to be told over and over again.Out of instinctive struggle and blasphemy, what kind of wonderful changes have taken place after the prisoner has experienced the baptism of God's omniscient gaze? In the hell where all hope is lost, the prisoner does not know that he will be saved, he just uses his body movements To show his immortal soul.He is angry, brutal, mischievous, and desperate! But the answer is in the physical movement.

"In the fresh air of broad daylight, We are sullen, with dark clouds in our hearts, Now we lie sullen in a black mire. They cluck in their throats like this, For they cannot speak with perfect words. "The Divine Comedy, p. 49. This vague, allusive primitive language is exactly that high belles-letter language.It is regression and evolution.It is impossible for a writer who has not experienced a violent inner revolution to speak out like a criminal.Who in this dark, thousand-year-old dungeon is still planning one good show of resistance after another? Just try to find out, and no one can extinguish the anger in their hearts! They will either be beaten by violent wind and hailstones; or Submerged in dung water; or boiled in a boiling river of blood; or naked in the fire and rain; There are ups and downs, and there are evil ghosts with steel forks on the shore to supervise them... And their attitude towards this kind of torture can be represented by a bold statement from Cabanius: "I am what I am alive, and I am what I am when I am dead." "Divine Comedy", 93 pages.The humble ghost has a noble heart, and he will not allow God to "take his vengeance with pleasure" on him.Even if they become human snakes or minotaurs, even if their whole bodies are sealed in flames and cannot be revealed, they still have only one answer to God's punishment.Such an answer has formed an eternal artistic form, which is also the form that God desires to see in the bottom of his heart.The figure of Satan, the demon king who was planted into the ground, is such a classic shape.

When a person has completely lost the possibility of resistance due to his miserable experience in the secular world, when evil and injustice completely suppress his body and soul, making him unable to move (just like Ugolino and his sons were killed. Locked in the tower to starve to death, like Franzeska who died unjustly under the knife for love), God left a possibility for the poet, that is, to pay attention to everything he has experienced in artistic activities.So there is Ugolino's thrilling narrative.Artistic creation is a way to vent pain by reenacting pain, just as Ugolino experienced God's mysterious will in the performance of biting the head of his enemy.The revenge in poetry is exactly the opposite of the secular one. It is a deep understanding of the psychology of enemies. It can be said that he uses this kind of comprehension performance to finally achieve the identity with the object of hatred, and at the same time improve his understanding of human nature. understanding.This kind of performance is also a cruel self-punishment. Franzeska revisited her first love stained by blood, and Ugolino revived the memory of torture that ordinary people dare not touch.They unleashed the energy of their souls with superhuman courage.Pure literature is to revive those emotional memories that have died on the surface and sneaked into the deep layer of memory.This kind of creation is like a kind of magic, which completely turns common sense upside down.

"The name of the tower that starved because of me, And the others will be imprisoned inside. The prison, with a narrow hole, After I saw the full moon through the hole a few times, I had a nightmare, It opened the curtain on the future for me. "The Divine Comedy, p. 230. What the artist imprisoning himself sees through the hole in the tower is exactly God's arrangement.God punished him with the most terrible tortures of mind and body, killed him with that torture, and then raised him again to tell the story of his death.The artist's future is made up of many impasses, and the death and resurrection test the will to live again and again.Ugolino in the tower is doing that kind of extreme exercise.How amazing is the original human desire to survive! When you are shrouded in a pain that is close to death, and you can no longer live no matter what, returning to and chewing on that pain over and over again becomes your only life.What a cruel spiritual way out, and what kind of endurance is needed!

(three) After going through the experience of hell, the original impulse in the artist gradually acquires a sense of direction.This sense of direction is continuously strengthened in purgatory, people's sensory intuition is repeatedly purified, self-awareness is highlighted, and love is also revived.In this second stage of practice, the artist begins his pursuit of freedom.The driving force of pursuit is still the desire of life, but this desire is gradually becoming the desire of love.Only those who have practiced death like a poet can love this secular world and human beings like a lover.

Volgil replied to the gatekeeper of the free passage in this way: "I didn't come by myself. A lady descended from heaven, at her request, I came to rescue this man, and to be with him. ………… Now only would you grant his coming: He seeks freedom, how precious is freedom, Anyone who has laid down their life for it knows it. "The Divine Comedy, pp. 248-249. The reason for introspection is love ("a lady"), and the unwillingness to perish spiritually.So how will the "I" as the subject understand and pursue this freedom from now on? Next, readers see a more gloomy and soul-stirring scene than before.What is implemented here is an airtight inner sanction, the body language is transformed into confession, the heart is crying in the torment, without any support, people can only continue the movement of self-reliance in the void.However, in the dark, powerful rationality was realized.Reason is like a sharp sword hanging high, driving people who have become ghosts to death and forcing them to live quickly.And life is all about squeezing greater passion out of your body with harsh self-examination.Everything here has been internalized, and all the tortures are designed and endured by myself.It was in such an atmosphere that "I" came into contact with painful ghosts one after another. Most of them committed heinous crimes during their lifetime (regardless of whether the subjective reason for the crime was evil or good), but without exception, they all passed a special kind of repentance (that is, knowing sin) was punished to the point of purgatory.

Human incorruptibility is rare from the branches of the blood Descending: Such is the will of God, So that we may ask him for this gift. The Divine Comedy, p. 296. To obtain free will, man can only continue to know his sinful body.Sin cannot be abandoned or surpassed, and it is destined to be entangled with others until death.But it is in the struggle against the evil that suffocates man, in the eternal punishment, that man experiences God's will, and this will is man's free will.So every pursuit is an active spiritual punishment and a complete suppression of carnal desire.Ghosts return to the mundane world to reveal their most shady events, to realize how impossible it is to continue living in the face of such obstacles, and how unrealistic it is to still hope.After doing this, they do not fall into decadence, but bear their sins with dignity, and start a new round of soul war without losing the opportunity, in order to show that this is their only life, and this way of living itself is hope. The drill on Purgatory Mountain is extremely difficult.Through this exercise, one will achieve immortality from death to death.This is also a rough exercise, and the weak heart cannot bear such torture.Its brutality consists in tearing the heart in two, and then using the two parts of this drop of blood to realize the same will.This is another kind of gloomy exercise, because the eternal pain in the heart cannot be eliminated, and people can only strengthen their endurance in the exercise. All the time they were burned with fire, I guess this style suits their needs: To finally heal the wounds of sin, This kind of treatment, this kind of diet is necessary. The Divine Comedy, p. 430. Never leave the smelting of the raging fire, let one's body undergo qualitative changes in the smelting, is the goal that every ghost strives for.The "I" as the subject also completed the baptism of the soul in this ensuing grief performance.The pain of the ghosts who have been deprived of their bodies is purely spiritual, and every performance of "painful" is a simulated performance of "death". Before Volgier bid farewell to "I" and "I" arrived at Purgatory Mountaintop Paradise, "I" had a dream.This dream based on the two women in the "Old Testament" is actually the prototype of the answer to the mystery of human nature.Leah, who walks about, weaves garlands, and adorns herself in front of a mirror, is the embodiment of the vigor and beauty of life; and Rachel, who watches silently, never leaving the mirror for a single step, is the rational spirit that shapes human nature.After going through unbearable trials and tribulations, the ugliness is finally transformed into beauty, the two split parts are unified, and free will is sublimated from it.So Virgil says: "Your will is free, just and sound, It is a mistake not to act on its instructions; I crown you now to reign. "The Divine Comedy, p. 444. The allegorical scene at the end of "Purgatory" reveals the mystery of human nature more deeply, and it is also the epitome of the entire pursuit process.The chariot of rationality driving towards the light is loaded with ugly things like the Minotaur, and the chariot is destroyed by the ugly things, and people's hearts are bleeding.There is no more brutal exercise in self-examination.This kind of battle is also an ugly copulation between spirit and body, and the great determination of man is realized in "seeing".The director Biedlich is both sad and full of expectations for "me".And "I" already understand what I have undertaken and what I will bear more, no matter what kind of cruel blows, I can't frighten "I". From the hell of the senses to the purgatory of the spirit, there are also two stages of artistic experience, and the two are indispensable in artistic activities.Sensual acuity and spiritual fortitude are prerequisites for creation, and both are brought into play in poetry to the acme of genius. (Four) The Paradise is the most difficult to understand of the Divine Comedy, not only because of the complex relationship between the parts and levels of the soul at this stage, but also because the direct discussion of epistemology makes the description both abstract and esoteric.But as long as the readers can stick to the core experience of human nature and block out external interference, they can still enter the poet's spiritual kingdom. Greed, you sink mortals so deep, No one has the strength to lift up his head, No longer indulge in your turbid waves! The Divine Comedy, p. 702. Lamentations of this kind fill the whole of the Paradise, and the speakers are those sublime phantoms who have become bodies of light.These laments imply that the ambivalence of the spirit is actually growing more dire.The rapid rotation of the extraordinary beauty of the light body is caused by the fatal contradiction within.Even if a person ascends to heaven, he still carries the black shadow behind him—a black shadow that can both fulfill him and destroy him.So the drill in heaven is a tightrope walk. God keeps torturing people: should they take off or fall? The artist neither takes off nor falls, but performs an incredible dance on the tightrope in heaven.His body was the bearer of that great light, and this body gained life only in union with that light.So once again, the unity of body and soul was realized in this strange dance.Shrouded by the glory of the highest heaven, the artist once again looks back at the former abode of his body, and the emotion of contempt boils in his heart-how far is the distance between the soul and the body! How meaningless is the worldly desire! "Now, the power of that bowstring is pulling us Sent there, as if to the appointed place, Its arrows are always aimed at the goal of joy... The Divine Comedy, p. 499. The essence of the spirit is a movement towards joy and ascension to the divine.All the terrible exercises to extract the spirit from the body before this were all for this sacred moment.This moment is everything the artist is human, and with it all else is bearable.The celestial bodies made up of different versions of contradictions adorn the heavens with their own beauty, but the fundamental contradiction remains one.So the pure and beautiful world also hides terror and murderous intentions, and the breath of death permeates the air.In order to keep the spiritual movement going, "I" started to explore the high-level contradictions. "I" discusses the contradictions in the spiritual structure of light and darkness, spirit and flesh, virtue and original sin, faith and proof, absolute will and choice, oath and violation, etc.This kind of discussion in the extreme realm constantly gives "I" more motivation, making "I" rise higher and higher in heaven, until finally reaching the culmination.Of course, this ending is not the real ending (the real ending is equal to death), but a bright and broad mind, an experience similar to obtaining a god. "I" has finally become one of the light bodies, and the structure here is: the Virgin makes the angels shine, and the angels make "I" shine.In the joy of creation, "I" entered the mystical amphitheater, the seat of the spirit, from which love and freedom flow.It is also an independent and unreliable kingdom of necessity, no secular emotion can change its order, and luck is completely eliminated by it.Only those ghosts who are completely obedient and insist on self-conscious suffering will obtain the highest happiness here.And "I", after so many death drills, finally became a visitor to this place. (Fives) When I finished reading "Divine Comedy", the spiritual structure was clearly presented in my mind.Every song in the epic is a reproduction of that structure, and the whole poem is a process from spontaneous momentum to conscious exploration and then to conscious creation.This kind of inner secret journey is so close to the secular world and so far away, it tells the story of each of us, but readers who have not reached a certain level of mental strength cannot enter this pure time story.Therefore, the interpretation of our literary world for decades has only been farther and farther away from the soul of the poet.The castle is hidden in thick fog and never appears to readers, and people can only see a certain section of the wall occasionally.I think that the continuation of this situation is consistent with the traditional literary view of our nation.Since ancient times, we have not had a literature about the stories of people themselves. Even some bright spots that occasionally flash in the literature of the new era have never been taken seriously by the literary world.Not only is no one able to interpret them, but they are dragged down and vulgarized by the habitual inertia of the literary world, which seems to be an inevitable fate.In a society with ancient and profound cultural traditions like ours, pure literature is extremely difficult to produce. It not only requires the writer to persist in a rebellious personality to the end, but also requires the writer to practice the self-examination that is missing in our culture day by day. Practice it and never pamper yourself. Pure literature is not a new thing for a long time. In the past, its continuation relied on the succession of individual geniuses. However, in the past hundred years, it has gradually developed, and readers' discernment has also been greatly improved.This literature, which is just beginning in our country, is not hopeless.As far as my experience is concerned, although our readers cannot fully understand this kind of literature, some readers have already learned to recognize fakes.This is a very gratifying progress, and I believe that a group of high-level readers is growing. 2002.12.6 Peony Garden