Chapter 31 The sixth floor of "Red Mansion" (1)

Mencius said: "Recite his poems, read his books, and don't know who he is, is it okay?——This is also an important theory and principle in Chinese culture. As long as it is a work, books and people are inseparable. of.What's more, this is a unique novel with strong "self-narration" and "self-statement" elements.Therefore, if you want to understand "Red Mansion", you should know about Xueqin's personality and the historical environment in which he lived. The poem says: It is said that the author is crazy, what is the author like? There is such a person in the world, who is very different from ordinary people.

Knowing and not knowing have different minds. For example, a cow and a horse should not be confused. "Red Mansion" is self-explanatory, and it is consistent with other people's writing. Where did Baoyu come from?Asked about the Wa system—— The wise go without saying, but the ignorant stare angrily. "Self-statement" Autobiographical literature and autobiographical novels have existed from ancient times to the present, regardless of whether they are Chinese or foreign.No one said that this is not literature or "bad" literature or "low-level" literature, just as no one thinks that only sketches and portraits (drawing others) are not allowed in art galleries, self-portraits should be bad or low-level I have never heard of such a great truth or art theory in this work.Of course, I don't intend to draw inferences from this, saying that all painters in the world should paint themselves.This kind of entanglement has no meaning other than boring. "Literature should be written for the public, and should be written about the public, instead of always thinking about yourself, a small individual" - this is actually another meaning, and there is no need to draw more kudzu here.In fact, the theorists who blindly emphasize writing about the masses have no reason to deny that the "writing" of writing about the masses can only be realized "through" this specific individual writer.Art without individual creation will be a bunch of empty concepts, "calligraphy and painting" without individual characteristics, even mass creations and folk stories that have been accumulated over a long period of time, when they are finalized and published in a universal form, the last one "Procedure" is still a specific creation of an individual writer that determines the character and charm of this novel. To describe this "process" as "processing" is actually unrealistic and unscientific.Therefore, writing about the masses is not "incompatible" with writing about individuals.Cao Xueqin wrote "biographies" for the twelve beauties of Jinling (and many deputy beauties, re-deputies, etc.), doesn't it contain a meaning of "writing to the public"?But this does not lead to the conclusion that "autobiography must be excluded".Can't there be an autobiography, which seems to be about a "self" but is actually about the public?Why did Cao Xueqin write about that large group of unfortunate women?Is it for "surrounded by pearls and emerald greens, rich blessings are not shallow"?Therefore, if we obstinately deny the fact of "autobiography" just because we want to enhance (or fear to belittle) the meaning, wouldn't it be too short-sighted and too self-limiting?

It is said to be "autobiography", does it start with Hu Shi?As far as the May Fourth Movement is concerned, it can be said that it is.But in fact, people in the Qianlong period knew that the essence of this novel was the author's own, so Lu Xun said that the appearance of "self-legendary" was actually the earliest (and the affirmation was confirmed at the end).He only saw Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Poetry Talk" at that time, so he made this conclusion with extremely sharp eyes.Later, all 20 capitals of the original poem quoted by him have been discovered, which is the work of Fucha Mingyi. It corresponds to the sentence in Dun Min's "Giving Celery Garden" poem "Qinhuai Fengyue Recalls the Prosperity").We test that Ming Xueqin has a close relationship with Fucha's Mingyi's family, and they know each other well, which is not the same as hearsay.Another example is the postscript of Shi Yunyu's "Red Mansion" written by Wu Yun (style name Yusong, native of Wu County, official censor. Wu Yun, who is on the same level as the late Qing Dynasty), is also said to be "the monster of novels." This matter came from Cao Shijun's family."These are the documents that best illustrate the problem.If we look back to a later era, in 1903 Xia Zengyou pointed out in "The Principles of Fiction": "It is easy to write about the poor and the humble, but it is difficult to write about the rich and the noble. Therefore, most of the people who write books with anger are poor people, and those who have come here can't understand it: view It's self-evident." It can be seen that Xia Shi has seen that the author Xueqin is the person who experienced it first-hand, that is to say, this book is a self-narration.Two years later, in 1905, Wang Guowei began to write "A Commentary on A Dream of Red Mansions", in which he said:

Looking at the opinions of those who commented on this book, there are about two kinds: one is to describe other people's affairs, and the other is to say that the author wrote his own life. (Chapter Five "Remaining Comments") This is enough to show that the theory of "autobiography" existed in the 20 years before Mr. Hu Shizhi's research on "Red Mansion", and it has not been interrupted or extinct.For example, in the 22nd year of Daoguang (1842), Tu Ying, who published "On Praise of a Dream of Red Mansions", was a very early and excellent critic of the family. His opening chapter is the big book:

(Zhen Baoyu in the above book is probably Jia Baoyu's friend. The two originally had the same interests. Later, Zhen followed the truth and changed it into an economic article.) Jia Baoyu hurt him, so he concealed the real story and used it to borrow False language and village language performed this book to ridicule himself, and also cried for his friends... But the meaning of writing a book is definitely recognizable.But people in the world say that they ridiculed Jia Baoyu.Fu Baoyu is ridiculed, but it took such a lion's power to write a unique article for the people of Sri Lanka, so that the people of Sri Lanka are also the unique people who pioneered the world. ——It is "ridiculous", but it is actually life.Who doesn't want to ridicule Yuzi! ?What I know is the work of Baoyu himself.

Now everyone in the world knows that there is a "Zi Kuang Shuo", but it is unclear that there was a "Zi Kuang Shuo" at least 80 years earlier than it!Isn't it interesting? If things need to be verified again, naturally Tu Ying is not the earliest such advocate among the critics.For example, in the 17th year of Jiaqing (1812), the "Dream of Red Mansions Talking about Dreams" written by "Two Zhiren" has already revealed: The books of Blind Zuo, Ban, and Ma express the spirit of the truth; the books of Xueqin express the spirit of the fiction.However, in his mind, there are real facts; the flowers and karma of sins are hard to say, and he has to rely on the ears of castles in the air.

This is clear enough.In the first year of Daoguang (1821), Zhu Lian's "Red Mansion Commentary", which had already been published, also said: In all the novels of barnyard officials, the name, residence, age, and resume of the person are all accurately recorded.It is attributed to nothingness.The book is half vague.Those who take the other to be true are all false, and those who know this false must be real. This is how people with discerning eyes see things and tell the truth.He added: When Bao and Dai meet each other, all kinds of soft intestines and thousands of bitter emotions are cut out one by one to vomit blood, and they are as clear as a rhinoceros.If there are castles and castles in the sky, I don't believe it—even if the cloud is a person who keeps track of things, I don't believe it either!

What a truth, what a convincing "logical language"! From these examples, it can be seen that the people of the Qianjia generation always felt and spoke truthfully about Xueqin's books. As for the books written by Xiantong in the same period, Jiang Shunyi's "Miscellaneous Notes on Reading a Dream of Red Mansions" can be cited.His words said: Or it can be said that it was made by Xiangguo of the Pearl, and "Baoyu" is to the "Pearl"—that is, (Nalan) Rong Ruoye.In the episode "Drinking Water" of the theft case, its talent is ten times that of precious jade. Gou replaces the pearl with precious jade, and replaces the father with the son!In "Drinking Water Ci", there are few happy words and many sad words, which is not the same as Baoyu's temperament.The things that Gai recorded are all about the author's own life, and he has nothing to point to—books such as "The Golden Ping" are intended to avenge and vent anger.After decades of experience, I have no time for repentance, self-pity and self-pity, self-repentance and self-repentance, but the time is as good as others! ?The so-called precious jade is the stubborn stone ear.

His reasons for refuting "Nalan's Theory" all hit the mark, and it is difficult to compare them with the most obvious reasoning.He said that the author used this book to describe his own life. With decades of rich experience, he was worried that he would write endlessly, so how could he still have time to write about other people's affairs?These words are very straightforward, but they can also best tell the truth of the matter-the Qing Dynasty and those who have eyes are like this. Then, why did we have to wait until Hu Shi came out and put forward the "autobiography" as late as the early 1920s?For this reason, Lu Xun has already pointed out that "it is precisely because of realism that it becomes fresh, but the world ignores this statement, and every time it wants to find a deeper meaning, there are more and more speculations." In order to get rid of those speculations, Hu Shi proposed ——restored the original facts: "Autobiography".This one.