Author Ceng Pu, whose initial words were too simple, was later changed to Meng Pu, whose pen names were Sick Man of East Asia, Sick Man of the Country, etc. People from Changshu, Jiangsu. Born in 1872, died in 1935. He lived in an era when China society was full of turbulence and changes. Ceng Pu is a sensitive and enthusiastic person, so he rises and falls with the agitation of the times. /kloc-at the age of 0/9, he was admitted as a scholar, and he was selected as a scholar in the following year. It can be said that he was successful as a teenager and was famous in his hometown. The next year, I went to Beijing to take an exam, but I lost my name in Sun Shan because of the ink on the test paper. Then donate official cabinet books and stay in Beijing. Two years later, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 broke out. China suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to sign the treaty of shimonoseki with Japan. The news shocked the people of China. Ceng Pu has the ambition of worrying about the country and the people, and can't stand the idleness and emptiness of books in the bookcase. He decided to enter the diplomatic circle in order to realize his life ideal of "promoting and serving the country". To this end, I entered the Wentong Museum to study French. At 1896, Zhang Jing was hired by the yamen, the prime minister in charge of foreign affairs. Although Ceng Pu is famous as a "gifted scholar", he is not qualified to take the exam because he didn't recommend himself to the Cabinet Office. His ambition was unbearable and he left Beijing in great anger. The following year, he set up an industry in Shanghai, which coincided with the gathering of Tan Sitong, Xu Lin and other reformists in Shanghai to plan political reform and reform. Deeply moved, I got along with Tan, morning and night, and planned the New Deal. 1808, under the call of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, Tan and Lin went north to the capital. Ceng Pu stayed in Shanghai because the details of his father's funeral had not been made clear. Soon, the reform failed, and Tan and Lin were martyred one after another. Ceng Pu was frightened after hearing the news and immediately returned home from Luzhou. During his stay in the countryside, he advocated new education together with enlightened gentlemen Ding Zuyin, Xu Nianci and Zhang Hong. Despite being obstructed by diehard forces, I finally broke through all kinds of obstacles and founded the first primary school in Changshu. He also organized his own Japanese workshop and hired Japanese teachers to teach. 1903, I went to Shanghai to run the cocoon and silk industry again, but I lost money because of the impact of foreign silk dumping. The following year, he transferred to the publishing industry, founded "Xiao Shuo Lin She" and published Chinese and foreign novels. 1907, Xiaoshuolin was founded again. 1908, the publishing house was forced to close down due to poor capital turnover. In other words, when he was engaged in publishing in Ceng Pu, he never stopped his political activities. He participated in the preparation of constitutional conference centered on Zhang Jian and Meng, and actively advocated constitutional monarchy. In 1909, the Qing government was under siege, but Ceng Pu was hired by a big bureaucrat into the governor's office of Liangjiang and became an aide. The following year, due to Duan's recommendation, he was appointed as an alternate magistrate in Hangzhou and Ningbo. After the Revolution of 1911, he was elected as a member of Jiangsu Province, and served as Director of Official Property Agency, Director of Finance Department and Director of Home Affairs. It was not until the National Revolutionary Army's northern expedition to Jiangsu that its official career was terminated. 1927 resumed his old job, founded a bookstore of truth, goodness and beauty, and published a magazine of truth, goodness and beauty. By 193 1, the company went bankrupt because the funds could not be transferred. Then I returned to my hometown from Shandong, and ended my tortuous life course four years later. What needs to be explained here is that throughout his life, he has always been keen on academic research and literary creation, with as many as 10 kinds of works, especially "Nie Hai Hua", which is well-known at home and abroad and has enduring artistic charm.
The writing process of Evil Sea Flower is as complicated and tortuous as its author's life. The first and second editions were published in 1904, the eighth issue of Jiangsu Magazine, which was founded by young people studying in Japan in Tokyo. The author was not Ceng Pu, but Jin Songcen. After being published twice under the pseudonym of "Free Lover", Kim wrote four more times, so he sent six manuscripts to his friends for discussion. Ceng Pu thinks the theme is good, but the model is too narrow. He suggested a major revision to make it "as long as possible to accommodate 30 years of history." Jin thinks that writing novels is not his strong point, so he does it and lets the revision continue. I buried my desk for more than 3 months and got 20 times (including 6 times of completely rewriting gold). 1905 was published by Japan Xiangluan Society in two episodes. I continued to write 35 times on 1930, of which the first 20 times were reprinted by Zhenshanmei Bookstore on 1928, still divided into two episodes. After 15, it was released by Zhenshanmei. 193 1 Ben 15 before the episode 10 was collected and published by Zhenshanmei Bookstore, and this is the third episode. Then, three volumes were collected and one was published. In short, the published version is 30 times, not including the last 5 times. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the edition of Baowentang published by 1955, the edition of Shanghai Culture Publishing House published by 1956 and the edition of Shanghai Zhonghua Bookstore published by 1959 were all 30 times. It was not until 1962 that Zhonghua Book Company published the last five chapters as an appendix.
"Evil Sea Flower" is rich in content and has a long time span. How to grasp its essential characteristics as a whole? The author's explanation of his creative intention is quite enlightening to us. Ceng Yun: "The main significance of this book is to let me look at these 30 years, which is a great turning point for China from the old to the new. On the one hand, the passage of culture, on the other hand, the political changes, which are surprising and gratifying, are all carried out during this period. I just want to take pictures of these phenomena, close their silhouettes or visions and some related details, and shoot them on my camera, so that it can be naturally displayed scene by scene. The impression is like witnessing the panorama of major events. " From this point of view, the author tries to include the essence of 30 years' history in this novel and show its development trend. In essence, it is necessary to write "Evil Sea Flower" as a historical novel. The so-called historical novel is different from the traditional "historical romance novel" in China, that is, the popularization of history; The historical novel mentioned here is a new concept with modern significance. Its basic characteristics are: "combining surprise with truth", shaping "people who are more closely combined with social and historical destiny", expressing the essence and trend of history, and finally "elevating the novel to the position of historical philosophy" (quotation marks are Luacs's remarks). It should be said that "Evil Sea Flower" has reached such a state, and it can be called a historical novel with modern significance. This is naturally related to the author's careful study of French literature, especially the historical novels of Dumas and Hugo.
The 30-year-old historical content displayed in "Evil Sea Flower" is a history of political and cultural changes in this specific historical stage from the middle period of Tongzhi to the late Guangxu period.
As far as political evolution is concerned, the novel takes the middle and late Tongzhi as the background, or implicitly or explicitly shows the development process of a series of major events before and after Guangxu: from the Sino-French war to the Sino-Russian territorial dispute; From the Sino-Japanese War to the resistance and aggression of the soldiers and civilians in Taiwan Province Province; From the Westernization Movement to the rise of the Reformists, and even the failure of the Guangzhou Uprising led by the bourgeois revolution. At the same time, the author pays more attention to the internal relations and development trends of many political events. As the author said: "This writing about politics and the demise of the Qing Dynasty focuses on the discord between Dezong and the Empress Dowager. Therefore, writing the history of royal marriage, buying officials in Yu and Yu Min, and fighting for power and profit in the East and West palaces are the roots of the 1898 coup and the Boxer Movement. " Emperor Guangxu in the novel was cowardly by nature and was completely held hostage by Empress Dowager Cixi. Even if the queen is appointed, she doesn't have any decision. Cixi gave her niece to Guangxu as the queen, thinking that she was the eyes and ears, and Guangxu's favorite girl had to retreat to the position of imperial concubine. Since then, the farce of the East-West Palace competing for the male has intensified. The struggle between the East Palace and the West Palace is essentially a manifestation of Guangxu and Cixi's struggle for power and profit. Later, it was rumored that Yu bribed the imperial concubine to get a well-paid job in Shanghai. Cixi took the opportunity to fight and immediately courted the imperial concubine and reduced her to a noble person. So it caused the discord between the emperor and the queen. Since then, the coup of 1898, the Boxer Rebellion and the downfall of the Qing Dynasty have all been related to the disharmony after the emperor. However, the coup in 1898 and subsequent events were planned and not implemented.
How does the novel show the ideological and cultural changes in the past 30 years? The author also clearly reveals this point in "A few words to be said after revision": "Writing (gathering) gardens, including English clubs, English clubs, gardens, strong clubs and Soviet newspapers, are all the footprints of a temporary cultural process." From the description of Yajuyuan, we can see the mental outlook of ordinary scholars in Tongzhi period. The national situation is in jeopardy, but they are insensitive to it and know almost nothing about the world trend. Their only interest is to study the tricks of writing eight-part essay, and Lu is a typical representative. However, the agitation of the times has, after all, led to the division of the scholar class. Some smart people began to look at the world with wide eyes, pay attention to the knowledge of classics and history of hundreds of scholars, and show strong interest in western learning. Just after the second paragraph of the description of Agile Garden, it was mentioned that the champion returned to his hometown with golden clothes and stayed in Shanghai by boat. Feng Guifen, a well-known figure of the Westernization School, visited us. After greeting, he encouraged Wen Qing in the tone of his elders, saying, "Now it is a transportation era with five continents and four seas, and the knowledge of textual research in the past is inexhaustible ... I think it is best to learn foreign languages and characters now, knowing that he is so rich and powerful, and all the knowledge of sound, light, culture and electricity, as well as the manufacture of ships and guns, should be learned one by one. Later, Jin invited Yipin Xiang as a guest. During the dinner, he listened to Xue (alluding to Xue Fucheng), Wang (alluding to Huang Zunxian) and others, all talking about western politics. He couldn't help feeling ashamed of himself, thinking, "Although I am the top scholar and think I am famous all over the world, I don't know that I am here and have heard a lot of overseas knowledge. I really never dreamed of it! From now on, the name Ding Jia is not reliable. You have to learn some western methods and know something about westernization, and you can make a difference by sending it to the prime minister's yamen! "From this meaningful psychological analysis, it can be seen that in an open city like Shanghai, it has become a fashion for intellectuals to learn western laws and things. After all, with the progress of the times, the traditional textual research on Ci Zhang is far from enough. Westernization thought came into being and prevailed in the world, and the trace of ideological and cultural evolution is very clear. However, westernization has its inherent shortcomings. It only recognizes the scientific and technological progress of western countries, but ignores the progress and superiority of its political system relative to feudal autocracy. With the passage of time, this fatal weakness of attaching importance to the foundation and ending has been more and more recognized by people. Instead, it is the ideological trend of reform and change with the political system reform as its substantive content. By 18, the description of Talking about Ying Hui clearly shows the footprint of this ideological and cultural change. It took more than twenty years for Wei and Jin to return to their hometown via Shanghai to listen to Xue and Wang's opinions on westernization, and to 18 and Jin to return home from Russia via Shanghai to participate in Tan. During this period, profound changes have taken place in the ideological and cultural circles. Kang Youwei's thought of reform and reform began to spread in the society, and at the same time, a number of reformist ideas were differentiated from the Westernization School. Xue and Wang are still a group of people in Tan, and their political views have made great progress compared with 20 years ago. The central topic of "Talking about Ying Hui" is: "What is the first way for me to strengthen myself today? "Around this topic, express your opinions. Or that it is urgent to fight for diplomatic rights; Or think that training should be the first; Still based on economic development; The most convincing argument is that regime change must come first. In fact, this theory eventually became the knowledge of celebrities. Undoubtedly, it belongs to the new trend of thought of reformism.
The novel has been written for 29 times, reflecting the background of the times and the situation after the Sino-Japanese War at the end of 19. Beiyang Navy is the product of Westernization Movement. A fierce battle at sea did not hit the island country of Japan, and almost all the troops were wiped out. This painful lesson gave a great shock to the ideological and cultural circles, and people with consciousness suddenly woke up. They are clearly aware that it is difficult to save the declining motherland only by doing westernization without changing the political system. This reform thought, with the political system reform as its core content, was quite popular after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.
At the same time, some radical intellectuals think that the Qing government has been extremely corrupt, the die-hards have an absolute advantage in the imperial court, and peaceful regime change is only a romantic fantasy, which is difficult to put into practice in the end. So, what about their political views? The 29th recitation and the speech of revolutionary leader Qu (alluding to Yang) clearly revealed the essence of revolutionary political proposition: "There are many revolutions in China now! But we can't use the barbaric revolution and ignorant revolution of the past. The previous revolution saved an authoritarian government and added an authoritarian government. Now, the revolution should organize the government of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor. " Obviously, this political proposition centered on "overthrowing autocracy and establishing * * * harmony" is more intense and practical than the reform idea! However, in the specific era described in the novel, the revolutionary trend of thought has not yet swept the society. When returning to Syria on the 29th, Chen and Chen, the backbone of the revolution, went to Shanghai alone, trying to contact comrades and develop revolutionary forces, but the result made him disappointed. In such a big Shanghai, it is difficult to find a bosom friend. Whether it is a drunkard, a drunken prodigal son, or a timid peddler who only knows how to buy and sell, even "Wang, a respected reform diplomat, only advocates abolishing the imperial examination and promoting the school; Everyone was surprised by the restructuring of the Protestant King Tang (alluding to Kang Youwei), but when it comes to the founding of the country, a constitution is about to be formulated. They are all political theories that help the wall to hit the wall, and there are no wizards who return to Japan. " Chen's worry and anger not only expressed his sincere criticism of reformists, but also reflected the characteristics of the times when revolutionary thoughts lacked bosom friends. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, revolutionary thoughts began to be popular in the world. However, the flower of evil ended in a hurry before this.
In short, following the author's brush strokes, it is not difficult to find the evolution history of political culture in the past 30 years, thus making the novel have the meaning and realm of "historical philosophy". Although there was no lack of exposure and condemnation of corruption in the Qing Dynasty, it was only an incidental phenomenon in the historical process of political and cultural changes. So "Evil Sea Flower" is a historical novel after all. Only by grasping this essential feature can we have a deeper understanding of this novel.
Of course, historical novels are not history textbooks. Even based on real materials, people can be vividly tested (according to research, there are more than 270 people with life prototypes in novels), but they can never be equated with historical life itself. After all, this is an excellent literary work that combines surprise and truth. The author takes the marriage story of the top scholar Lang Jin Wenqing (alluding to Hong Jun) and the famous prostitute Fu (alluding to Zhao) as the plot line, and cuts out the general situation of important historical events in the past 30 years and related anecdotes, which are integrated into the article.
The structure of Evil Sea Flower is quite innovative. The author made a very vivid and accurate metaphor for this. "For example, wearing beads," The Scholars "and the like are straight-through. Holding a thread, wearing one counts as one, and wearing it all the time is the practice of beads; I wear it round and round, and I will put it when I receive it. Things are intertwined and not far from the center. This is a pearl flower. For example, inflorescences in botany, scholars, etc. Whether it is an ascending inflorescence or a descending inflorescence, start from the beginning, thank one and open another until the last one. I am an umbel, pushing up the various images of the central cadres layer by layer and connecting them to form a big flower like a ball. " ("A few words to be said after revision")
As a historical novel, Evil Sea Flower has shaped the characters and absorbed the spirit of "good history" in ancient China. At the same time, drawing lessons from the irony in The Scholars, he insisted on putting public interests above everything else and criticized the shortcomings of the times, and commented on the events and weighed the characters with realistic brushstrokes. Even for a character like Wei Yibo (alluding to Li Hongzhang), it is by no means a complete curse. It is written that he had the historical responsibility of "sitting wrong" in the Sino-Japanese War, not the whole responsibility of failure. After the Western Pacific, he misappropriated naval funds "the lifeblood of a country". What can Wei Yibo do? He not only wrote about his fear of going to war, but also wrote about his self-knowledge and self-caution. It was written that he signed the treaty of shimonoseki, which humiliated the country and humiliated the country, and was reviled by Chinese people. It was written that the root of signing the contract was the poverty of the country. In short, in the author's works, Wei Yibo is not a simplified and faceless figure, but an artistic image with historical realism.
"Evil Sea Flower" also has many shortcomings in art. Although its structure is ingenious and its originality is obvious, it is inevitable that it is far-fetched to link the major historical events in the past 30 years with the story of Jin and Fu's marriage life. However, all this is only a small flaw in white jade after all.