Chapter 62 The word is bigger than the bucket (2)

That kind of experience and feeling does not come from an old-fashioned, old-fashioned, stubborn or "retired old man", but from a woman who was born in Shanghai and lived in the United States for a long time, and "English is better than Chinese" (in the words of her family members)!Can you think and believe it? Therefore, just cursing ancient prose, I am afraid that I only know one part, and only hold on to one end. My knowledge is not as comprehensive and profound as that of Ms. Zhang. The great characteristics of Chinese characters and Chinese are unnecessary, what is needed is "vernacular writing" that is "on par" with foreign writing, and "ancient writing" should be completely overthrown.The consequence of this is that the characters no longer look like "Big Dou Da". What I read and read every day is the "wordy" that Eileen Chang fears the most throughout the universe. She understands that "it is good to save a word". This kind of wise comprehension language makes us blush—because it is precisely because most of the articles make people feel that "one more word is good"—the "vernacular literature" is really "white" enough to be accepted and satisfied. The article is full of waste words and sentences, with superfluous words and ink, stretching and twisting, so as to fill up the space.

Some foreign critics say that Cao Xueqin is too "wordy", while Zhiyanzhai emphasizes that Xueqin "cherishes ink like gold". Whose "opinion" do you think we should listen to? If Cao Xueqin is wordy, would Zhang Ailing, who is most afraid of wordy, be so proficient in this "masterpiece of wordyness" that she can recite it?It probably doesn't make sense. Some people think that Cheng and Gaoben are "better" than Zhiben.Even Mr. Hu Shi also gave a special reward to "Cheng Yi's version" (twice tampered with, the writing is the worst).The reason is that "it is more vernacular, and the description is more delicate."

However, Zhang Ailing's view is not the case. Ms. Zhang Ailing left a deep heartfelt voice in this preface. She deeply understood the tragedy of the book "Red Mansion" itself by Cao Xueqin and him. She understood Xueqin's situation and mood, and the encounter and fate of his book under various historical and cultural reasons and conditions. In this depressing environment, Cao Xueqin relies on the second and third confidants in his family to cheer him up. He seems to be a warm and emotional person. In the song that singer Barbra Streisand sang popular ", it is understandable to rely on Zhiyan and Wuhu psychologically...

He is completely isolated. (At that time, he had nothing to refer to at home or abroad.) Chinese novels like this "woke up early and caught up with the evening episode" happened to be at the peak of development①, and when they were frustrated, they were blocked back.Trends tend to be like this. The scolding novels in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China still inherited the previous ones.It doesn't matter if it's not finished, it's bad enough that the end of the dog has become a gangrene-please forgive my mixed metaphor. After analyzing and summarizing the historical "features", she uttered the words of a whale roaring bell——

Vulgarized! Zhang Ailing, as a "powder hero" (Xueqin's language), uttered this loud voice that alerted the whole world to ignorance. This is the voice of a female writer, which should be different from the understanding of ordinary readers. She is a person of the times who is proficient in ancient and modern Chinese and foreign cultures and has a profound cultural upbringing. . She said this lightly, not knowing whether it was because it was normal and not weird enough, or she deliberately used her voice to cover up her painful emotions. who is it?what is itWhat led to this pathetic vulgarity?

The answer was posed by her - Necrosis of the Bone! I don't think the analogy is "mixed".She said it clearly: Xueqin's book, even if it is not finished, will not be the real reason for the most serious consequences. The worst thing is that the dog's tail is attached to a treasure like a gangrene, and it is difficult to remove it. This metaphor reveals that vulgarization is not a "frivolous" trivial matter. She gave examples.Overseas, among the American college students she knew, the men "concerned" about Baoyu's "feminine character" and "homosexuality", while the women were puzzled, at best they thought it was the "love" of cousins ​​in the old-fashioned big family, and Pretty much the West.All the papers she saw by young Chinese graduate students regarded Cheng Ben as the original work—this also reflected the attitude of the professor.I know she means that this is the greatest vulgarity.

The above is the vulgarization of the essence of Xueqin's book.As for the style of writing, she didn't mention it directly, but she cited the 53rd to 57th chapters. At first she suddenly felt that something was wrong, but later she realized that it was added by another hand, not the original work - she read it After going through this big section, one to fifty-eight times, my eyes light up, just like coming out of a dark tunnel! This is what Chinese literary critics refer to as "eyes" people, who have a keen sense of the true and false superiority of literature and art, and their sensitivity is as great as the difference between water, fire, ice and coal-but ordinary people think indifferently that "all are good" or "all are good" Integral", and ridiculed and even scolded those who distinguish between the original mink and the continued tail.

Zhang Ailing's prose is also artistic and ink-loving, she only talks about "like going out of a tunnel".I am a person who can't think about it, and I always want to add things to the snake: she read "The Golden Vase" after all, she still has the feeling of happiness and joy when she reads "Red Mansion", and she reads "Red Mansion" for a total of 120 chapters. It has been dark to the end, and there is no such thing as the blessing of "coming out". I said this with confidence, because she said this again—— These two books② are the source of everything for me, especially.Some "five or six drafts" of posthumous manuscripts were lost by borrowers. I always wished I could fly away in a time machine and go to the family's house to find them and snatch them back.Now my heart is calmer, because part of my curiosity has been satisfied to some extent.

This witty remark fully shows how eager she is to see the full picture of Xueqin's original book. The "curiosity" part of her satisfaction probably refers to the outline of part of the truth she studied about Xueqin's manuscript.Of course, "curiosity" is an intentionally "low-key" colloquialism, researching and searching the whole of the original work has established a "learning to explore" and made achievements.This is a very important cultural issue, which cannot be labeled by "curiosity". Zhang Ailing was originally a writer, but for this reason she devoted herself to being a "textual research school" and wrote a "Dream of Red Mansions" after suffering "ten years of hard work".

Only Zhang Ailing can be called Xueqin's confidant.In my opinion, this is much more important than that she has written a lot of works. I still have one regret: she did not use English translation.I am convinced that she is the most qualified person to translate Qinshu from English to English. ——She didn't do this big thing, why?This is another great regret! 〔Note〕 Zhang Ailing once translated it in English. She thinks that the three-pointed spirit is like Qinbi.This meaning and this phrase fit me perfectly. I said exactly this in the first edition of "A Dream of Red Mansions" and no third person has ever seen it.

① pointed out. ② refers to and.