Chapter 86 Your Book Touches My Heart——A Brief Review of Wang Xianghao's "A New Exploration of A Dream of Red Mansions"

[Title Poem] Who understands the taste?Your book touches my heart.At the same time, I don't know each other, and I cherish every word. I struggled to finish reading "A New Detective of a Dream of Red Mansions" by Professor Wang Xianghao. This volume is not big, there are only six compiled papers, and the main text is only 108 pages. However, among the monographs on red studies in recent years, this is a heart-wrenching book with high academic character and strong thinking ability. Deep writing.Its appearance is of great significance, and it will gradually be recognized and evaluated by the academic and cultural circles.

Why is it important?As far as I can see, just a few words—— First, why is the author Wang Xianghao like a human being?He is an outstanding natural scientist: an expert and professor in algebra and computer science, a Ph.D. in the Department of Mathematics of Princeton University, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a national degree judge.He once overthrew Grenwall's theorem, which shocked the mathematicians of the world (because that theorem is the basis of the theory of rational simple algebra).Such a scholar is obviously different from the general "red scholars". It is impressive for him to study "red" and discuss "red".

Second, from the perspective of the branch of Hongxue, the nature of the content of this book should be attributed to the large scope of Exploration of Lost Studies. It is the case of the lost manuscripts of Xueqin's original book after 80 chapters: the most important The truth and purpose of the characters and the most critical events.This kind of exploration is usually regarded as the "textual research school", and it is quite critical; but Mr. Wang Xianghao's book can completely make those who despise textual research and exploration of lost things not dare to look at things so superficially, at least to re-evaluate. Is there no important reason and significance in the "textual research" work done by scientists of this level?How does this phenomenon illustrate a question worthy of deep thought and detail? ——This is obviously not a trivial detail of "reading novels" and "leisure" issues, but a huge and profound spiritual issue related to Chinese culture, and it is also a matter of speculation, contemplation, comprehension, and sublimation of right and wrong Verification of the spiritual world and cultural attainments.

Thirdly, Mr. Wang not only understands Xueqin's unique genius and ingenuity, but also infers the changes and developments of the plot after 80 episodes that echo these ingenuity, which is highly persuasive.In other words, he not only has a pair of "big eyes", but also has a spiritual heart and wisdom.In the six articles, he made surprising inferences and associations about the role of important characters and the structure of the plot structure in the second half of the original book. It is fast to break through the bamboo.For example, the fate and ending of female protagonists such as Shi Xiangyun, Qiaojie, Xue Baoqin, Xing Xiuyan, and Li Wan, as well as the deeds and situations of male characters such as Liu Xianglian, Xue Pan, Wei Ruolan, Jia Lan, Jia Zhu, and Yucun, etc. All the conjectures can make readers refreshed and enlightened.He can even single-handedly point out the general context and outline of all the vicissitudes and vicissitudes of Jia and Xue after 80 episodes.And many of these points are key problems that previous researchers have failed to see through.

Fourth, if only from the above-mentioned achievements, the contribution to the study of red studies is already very huge; but I think the important value of this book needs to be judged and evaluated from a higher level.The author's greatest merit is:— (a) He dared to speak the truth against the world; (B) He dared to violate authority and defend the truth; (c) He dared to overthrow the "iron" case that has been commented on all the time, complaining for the characters in the book, and opposing it; The realm of the original spiritual purpose can be revealed to the world.

In appearance, Mr. Wang's book is mainly based on exploring lost studies, and his argumentation method is to respect Xueqin's brushwork (underlines, hints) and Zhiyan's comments (disclosure, awakening), and use them as a solid basis. Based on the basis, he deduces his insights and conclusions step by step from the complicated structural relationships, so he never tires of citing books in advance-but there is also a side to discuss.On the latter side, he is the opposite of the detailed quotation: he always uses only small words to express the righteousness, and he does not bother with words, "cherishing ink like gold".This is probably because the objective conditions when he wrote the pen made him unwilling to make more comments and avoid entanglements. The second reason is that he is engaged in the research of literature, history and philosophy in the spirit of a natural scientist after all, and he is strict in seeking truth and refuses to write. Make more empty talk.

But because of this, some readers will only pay attention to the novelty of the plot story of "Exploring the Lost" and ignore the author's few words but far-reaching comments, so I especially emphasize this point in this short introduction. Hope to attract everyone's attention. For example, he defended Xiangyun and Baochai openly and openly—contrary to the vision of criticizing them for persuading people to study and ridiculing them as "feudal defenders".This category is easy to understand.There is another category, his words are very euphemistic and reserved - I try to sum it up, roughly as follows, his views are clear and straightforward, but his words are indeed intentionally not revealing up.These points are: (1) He saw that the nature of Xueqin's book is different from that of ordinary novels, and has its great particularity; although it is not equivalent to "history", it must be researched and treated with the method of "history" it.He emphasizes the particularity of things and cannot be generalized. (2) The purpose of Xueqin's book is to write "Zhufang", to write a book for them, to write about the group of women who cannot be wiped out [Ruchang Note: That is, "a thousand reds cry (cave), ten thousand The general meaning of Yan Tong Bei (cup)".However, Cheng Gao's pseudo-continuation "only wrote about Daiyu" [Ru Chang's Note: It also made the most serious distortion]; he humorously ridiculed Gao Xu and said: "(Other women) really are all 'together' It's gone!" [Ru Chang's Note: There are still those who regard the pseudo-continuation as the most precious thing, I hope they can read this book, or it will be beneficial. ](3) He does not think that Xueqin's book is the out-of-the-world thought of "the concept of color and emptiness". (4) He pointed out that Xueqin's book contained his own life experience and thoughts [Ru Chang's Note: In fact, it is not absurd to say "self-legendary" euphemistically. ] Mr. Wang's diction is graceful and restrained, and his meaning is clear. (5) Xueqin's book is not to write a "tragedy" or "comedy", but to write one.That is to say, if you want to truly understand his book, you must not go beyond the general concepts of "tragedy" and "comedy", and you will never be able to jump out of the usual cognition. Once you put it into a general literary concept frame, you will Lost its true face with this article. (6) He emphasized that hypotheses are a way of thinking that is inseparable from academics. In the field of natural sciences, there are many examples of hypotheses first and then confirmed. [Ru Chang’s Note: Assumptions seem to be “conjectures”. In fact, the researcher’s ability to reach a hypothesis that you can put forward is actually his “preliminary conclusion” after accumulating a lot of research—it’s just that more evidence is needed to confirm it. You can't just ignore it and ridicule it. ]

All of the above, when the author was writing, were all true opinions bravely expressed in spite of the dissatisfaction of the world.I admire this book very much, and I affirm it as a whole - if you want to boast, there are minor flaws in the white jade. At the end of the first article on Xiangyun, two quatrains involving forged Xueqin materials are quoted, although the intention is to It explains Xueqin's character and spiritual realm, but it also invisibly expands the influence of the false information.It is recommended to reprint it in the future, and it is better to delete these few lines, so as not to leave any regrets.The other one or two are trivial, so I don't need to go into details.

I said at the beginning that "everything comes from a sense of sorrow and happiness", what is the meaning of this?Gai and Mr. Wang Xianghao were born in the same age, but we met only once[Note]; now I have to read his anthology, he is already an ancient man.I learned from his daughter's letter that he came to Beijing to attend the National People's Congress, and knowing that I was also in a meeting of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, he specially brought materials and manuscripts to discuss important issues with me, but because the phone didn't work, he unexpectedly This extremely important opportunity was lost!Mr. Wang's book is only a part of the occasional posthumous work. He originally had a grand plan of exploring (recovering) the lost. A misfortune and hate!How can I fully express my feelings and sorrows and joys in this short review?

Mr. Wang Xianghao has passed away, this loss is too great, it is too great! Written in Donggao, Yanjing ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Note] Mr. Wang once sent me the already published essay on Xiangyun, and later sent me the manuscript to solve ten riddles of Baoqin's poems.Afterwards, the contact was interrupted.Now it is his wife, Ms. Wang Kunjian, who sends the book, so I can read it.Mr. Wang also quoted my article, but he seems to have missed many of my subsequent papers, which also affected our in-depth discussions on many issues.