Chapter 25 Fans and bosom friends

With the frequent exchanges between mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, new Chinese words are also increasing day by day."Showing off" in Taiwan, "paying the bill" in Hong Kong, and "fighting" in mainland China have long been popular everywhere.This new slang term has been very active in Taiwan's newspapers recently, and even has big headlines.Some of them are quite vulgar, such as "bullet", "tucao", "split", "hey", etc., which can be seen everywhere suddenly, and the one that is especially unbearable is "home party", which is actually a transliteration from English home party Come here, the evil shape is really unpleasant.Of course, there are more gratifying ones, such as "fans".

"Fan" comes from the English word fan, and many English-Chinese dictionaries, including Oxford and Longman, still translate it as "fan"; examples of actual collocations include "drama fans", "fans", and "Zhang fans" , "Golden fans" and so on. "Fan" is still different from "fan": "Fan" can only treat people, not objects, and you cannot say "he is a fan of bridge" or "he is a fan of dogs". Fan is a word, which originated from fanatic, which is its abbreviation, but after being slimmed down, it has been reborn and become much lighter. Fanatic also has the meaning of fetishism and envy, but its other meaning is extremists, fanatics, and diehards. "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English), the seventh edition, defines fanatic with this meaning as: a person of extreme or dangerous opinions, think how terrible it is!

But the fan character with its poisonous tail removed is only kind and lovely.What's even more lovely is that the person who translated it into "fans" at the beginning was so lucky that he brought the plural together with his magical pen, which is much easier to use.Using the word "fen" alone is not only abrupt, but also does not show the momentum of followers coming in like a cloud. "Fans" are of course the majority, there are only three or five or even thirty or fifty people, how can they be called fans?Of course it is to say "I am your fan" to an idol, how can you say "I am your fan"?Powder, extremely thin and light, accumulates little and becomes more, erratic and uncertain.Silk, although it is thin, is long, entangled and good at clinging, so it is beneficial to control the silk, and the desire is still chaotic.

This kind of fanatical admirer was called "fan" in the past, and it was called "starchaser" in mainland China. In the hippie era, girls who followed famous singers or bands were called "groupie", and in Western society they were called "lion hunting". "(lion hunter).None of these names are as light and fun as "fans."As for "faithful readers" or "faithful listeners", they also think it is too literary, too heavy, and too formal. As a group of fans, fans must drill every crack, penetrate all holes, float in all directions, gather at a moment, come when they hear the wind, and sink when the wind passes.This phenomenon has existed since ancient times, and it is especially strong today.Song Yu's "Ask the King of Chu" said: "The guests have songs in the middle of Ying, the beginning of which is "Xiali" and "Baren". "Bai Xue", there are dozens of people who belong to the middle school." How many people do you have to attract to be called a fan?Scholars and writers can call hundreds or even thousands of listeners, even if they have fans.If it is an artist, it must at least attract thousands of people.Modern media communication is both fast and wide, and the technological equipment on the scene is not worrying about the large number of adults. Performing masters from Pavarotti to Elvis Presley can easily fill a stadium with crowds.In 1969, the three-day and three-night open-air rock concert in Woodstack, New York, attracted 450,000 young people, a record that has not yet been broken.On the other hand, poets’ speeches should not be underestimated: Eliot gave a speech at the University of Minnesota, and the audience exceeded 13,000 people; Frost also had fans in his later years. The audience was two thousand.

The opposite of fans is bosom friend.Fans are the icing on the cake for fame; bosom friends are helping the lonely.Although Du Fu said: "The article is a matter of ages, and the gains and losses are known with an inch." But if a bosom friend really appeared to affirm his own value, this lonely inch is still gratified.In fact, if there are few friends, or even a long time to see each other, Cun Xin's self-confidence will inevitably be shaken.The so-called confidantes are actually "echoes from the future", advances in old age and even applause behind them.More than a month before Van Gogh's death, he wrote to his sister Vermina, saying that the portraits he painted for Dr. Gachet were "sad and gentle, yet clear and agile-many portraits should be painted like this. Maybe a hundred years later someone will grieve for it."The painter knows very well that he has painted a good painting, but how good is it? Because there is no bosom friend to confirm and confirm, he can only hope for a hundred years later. "Maybe in a hundred years there will be someone..." The tone was really self-effacing. "Doctor Gachet" is of course a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation, and art historians, critics, audiences, and auction houses in future generations all affirm it.Van Gogh had only two bosom friends during his lifetime: his younger brother Theo and the critic Aurier, and only one in ten years after his death: his younger sister-in-law Johanna.Although Gauguin was his old friend and a great painter himself, he failed to truly recognize Van Gogh's genius.

The bosom friend appeared, mostly before the genius became famous.Schopenhauer's mother was a best-selling novelist, and the mother and son were at odds, but Goethe told the mother early in the morning that her child would one day be famous all over the world.Goethe's prophecy would take a long time to come true: the lonely Schopenhauer had to wait until he was sixty-six years old before he received the opera "The Ring of the Nibelungen" sent to him by Wagner. appreciate. Emerson, the master of American literature, received the first edition sent by Whitman and wrote back: "Your thoughts are free and brave, which makes me cheer for you... In your book, I found that the treatment of the subject matter is very bold. Reassuring, and only a broad sense can reveal this technique. I congratulate you on the beginning of your great career." Whitman was only thirty-six years old at the time, and he was attacked by commentators.Su Shi was only 21 years old when he was a Jinshi in the Ministry of Rites. Ouyang Xiu read his "On Punishments and Rewards to Loyalty" and admired it very much. After hearing these words, he was in an uproar, and it took a long time to feel relieved.

Some bosom friends don't appear until after the genius dies.Seven years after Shakespeare's death, Ben Jiangsheng, who had been competing with him during his lifetime and was unavoidably degraded, wrote a long poem to mourn him, affirming that he is the treasure of Britain: "All European theater circles should pay tribute. / He is not only popular One time, but it should be passed on to a hundred generations!" Another seven years later, another great poet, Milton, in his earliest poem "Shakespeare in Praise", asserted that Shakespeare's lines are comparable to those Delphic lines. , and the reverence for him by later generations makes the emperor's mausoleum pale in comparison.People today take the greatness of Shakespeare for granted. In fact, the coffin was not necessarily finalized at that time. It still needs the affirmation of generations of literati and scholars, especially the admiration of bosom friends such as Ben Jiangsheng and Milton. ) of the code.Sometimes this kind of ceremony has to wait for hundreds of years to be held. For example, John Deng's status has been mixed since the seventeenth century.

Here I have to mention Xia Zhiqing in particular, explaining that the value of a bosom friend lies not only in his unique insight to see geniuses, but also in his extraordinary courage and courage to speak freely about what he sees.Forty-five years ago, Xia Zhiqing's "History of Modern Chinese Fiction" was published in the United States. Qian Zhongshu and Zhang Ailing each constituted a chapter, and they stood up to Lu Xun and Mao Dun, which made readers feel refreshed.The old view of the literary world has always believed that Qian Zhongshu is just a person in an academy, occasionally involved in creation, neither the "progressive" writer affirmed by the leftists, nor the "avant-garde" newcomer advertised by the modernists; Zhang Ailing is even less "progressive" or "Avant-Garde" is just a romance novel author in Shanghai Yangchang.Xia Zhiqing not only saw the original achievements of Qian Zhongshu, Zhang Ailing, and Shen Congwen outside the "mainstream", but also unequivocally expressed his views in the adversity of the "Left" trend in American critics 40 years ago. Telling the world is really a combination of wisdom and courage.The real history of literature is written by these bosom friends.If you have a bosom friend, you don’t have to worry about not having fans. Colorful fans come flying like butterflies.

Friends and fans are both lovely, but it is not easy to have both.An artist must be able to understand the profound in a simple way, and appreciate both the refined and the common, in order to have both these two kinds of people.If his art is too elegant, he may win a few bosom friends, but it is difficult to attract thousands of fans.If his art is vulgar, then besides attracting fans, he probably won't be able to win any bosom friends, right?A bosom friend will not go to a place where the bosom friend is high-spirited, self-respecting, where fans are crowded or even screaming.Bosom friend always walks alone, understands heartily, hides his book and meditates, even bows his head from generation to generation, meditating on the stele.The belief of bosom friend comes from profound experience and full understanding.The relationship between a bosom friend and a genius is like a believer and a god, and there is no need for "on-site" because Cunxin is a temple.

Not so with fans.This kind of high-speed mobile group must have a scene, and they are excited because of the large number of people, crowded and hysterical.So I once translated teenager as "listen to love squeeze".Fans' worship of idols is often manifested as "fetishism" due to lack of closeness, which is manifested in autographs, handshakes, group photos, and even asking for and seizing "body-sized" souvenirs.Fans of the Beatles tore the sheets of the Beatles as souvenirs; Tom Jones' audience even gave him a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, and took back the sweaty handkerchief for collection.It is said that the audience of Paganini, the master violinist, also reached out to touch his body to verify whether he was really the incarnation of the devil as the legend said.In fact, even religion, which is supposed to transcend the mortal body, cannot completely get rid of the worship of "sacred relics".Buddhist bones and relics, and the Holy Grail of Christ are all examples, and Orthodox icons are even more of a science.

The word "confidant" began in the Spring and Autumn Period: Yu Boya of Chu State was good at playing the piano, but only his confidant Zhong Ziqi knew whether he meant high mountains or flowing water.After Ziqi's death, Boya hated the world for having no bosom friend, so he broke the strings of the qin and never played the drum again.Confucius was very particular about music. He once warned Yan Hui that Zheng's voice should not be listened to, and he should listen to the dance music Shao made by Shun.But he also said: "Zi was in Qi Wenshao, and he didn't know the taste of meat in March, so he said: "I don't want to be happy here!" From this point of view, Confucius is really a bosom friend, but he didn't know the taste of meat in March. What Hong Kong people call "enthusiasts"?Confucius may be the earliest fan.Today's music fans, you might as well use the sage as your confidant, and read the seventh chapter "Shu Er". There are already enough fans, and we are waiting for more bosom friends.