Cha Yuli
(Ma 'anshan TV University 0 1 Autumn Chinese Language and Literature Major, Ma 'anshan, Anhui 2430 1 1)
Abstract: Humans share a bright moon, and in the process of constantly understanding, transforming and conquering nature, they have created a splendid moon culture. In the East, China people write that the moon is an eternal symbol and an eternal theme, a short lament for the world, and a yearning and loneliness. The Japanese wrote that the moon is a combination of man and the moon. In the west, in the eyes of French people in Europe, "the moon is a sad woman" is different from people. This paper uses the method of parallel research to compare the moon images in eastern and western literature, feel the joy of appreciating the moon literature in eastern and western cultures, deepen the understanding of the moon literature images, summarize the similarities and differences of the moon images in eastern and western literature, and analyze the reasons for this difference. From this, we can find that China's oriental moon literature is feminine, and the image of an american in china's literature embodies a kind of tranquility, yearning, mystery and loneliness, a kind of yearning and desire to break through the closure; The negative and positive duality is obviously influenced by China's traditional Confucian "loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness" and Oriental Buddhism. The image of western moon literature, such as Greek moon literature, embodies the western values of "selfishness" and "taking"; The moon in Baudelaire's eyes is the moon between man and the moon, which reproduces the independence and openness of westerners' personality and the publicity in "sadness" Influenced by Christian culture, westerners' straightforward, exposed, rigid and rigid cultural character makes western moon literature rigid.
Keywords: Comparison of Moon Images in Eastern and Western Literature
Humans live on the same earth, and there is a moon. For hundreds of millions of years, human beings have created splendid moon culture in the process of their own evolution and in the process of constantly transforming and conquering nature. From the myth of primitive people about the moon to the unveiling of the moon by Apollo, the moon literature records the trajectory of human understanding of nature and carries the spiritual experience of human pursuit of harmony with nature, sadness and joy. The same moon, written by ancient people and modern people, shows different understanding; The same moon, in the writings of eastern and western literati, reveals the differences of their inner feelings about the moon. This paper intends to use the method of parallel research to compare the moon images in eastern and western literature, feel the joy of appreciating the moon literature in eastern and western multiculturalism, deepen the understanding of the moon literature images, summarize the similarities and differences of the moon images in eastern and western literature, and analyze the reasons for this difference.
First, the image of the moon in Oriental literature
All the people in the world like to watch the moon. Let's take a look at the moon image in oriental literature:
(1) The moon sends acacia.
People in China attach great importance to the moon, and China's moon literature is particularly rich. Throughout the ages, China wrote many poems about the moon. Most of China's moon poems are full of philosophy. Li Bai, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, combined many philosophies to compare the brevity of life and the eternity of nature through the moon. "Today people can't see Gu Yue, and they took photos of the ancients before this month. If the ancients were flowing today, they would look at the bright moon. " Li Bai's poems are full of emotion. The world has gone through many vicissitudes, but the moon remains the same.
Acacia is the eternal theme of American literature in China. The moon is the nearest star to us, which can be used to entrust us with a lot of flying imagination and feelings of escape. It seems that all the blessings and misfortunes in our life can be realized by comparing the description of the moon. Su Shi chanted in the moon poem: "People have joys and sorrows, and the moon has a sunny and full moon. It was difficult to accomplish this in ancient times. I hope that people will last for a long time and have a good scenery. " Li Bai's famous sentence: "I have a bright line at the foot of my bed. Is there frost?" . Looking up, I found that it was moonlight, sinking again, and I suddenly thought of home. " Show the homesickness of the moon to the fullest. In addition, such as Du Fu's "Remembering Brothers on a Moonlit Night", "Wanderers listen to the drums and the autumn geese sing. He knows that the dew will be frost tonight, and how bright the moonlight is at home! . "； Zhang Jiuling's "Looking at the Moon and Thinking Far" "The moon is full now at sea, and the horizon is * * * at this time. Bring a separated heart, and the night is long and considerate! " It is also to shed the thoughts of loved ones like moonlight.
(2) Lonely Moon
Missing and loneliness are often like twin sisters, and there are more lonely elements in the moon literature of the East and the West.
Let's look at the story of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, China. According to legend, in ancient times, one day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and ask for Taoism. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a pack of elixirs. It is said that after taking this medicine, you will become immortal immediately. Hou Yi loved his wife Chang 'e so much that he didn't want to ascend to heaven alone, so he gave the elixir to Chang 'e for collection. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the dresser's treasure chest, but it was seen by a disciple of Hou Yi, the treacherous and shameless Meng Peng. Three days later, Hou Yi led his disciples out hunting, and Meng Peng, who had ulterior motives, stayed by pretending to be ill. Shortly after Hou Yi left, Meng Peng broke into the back room with a sword and forced Chang 'e to hand over the elixir. In desperation, Chang 'e swallowed the elixir and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew into the sky. Worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.
Another version of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's story says: Chang 'e stole the elixir of life and landed on the moon. Chang 'e is very lonely on the moon. Li Shangyin, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, lamented in a poem that "Chang 'e should regret stealing the elixir, and the sky is blue and the night is black. "Every day and night is the same loneliness. If you want to be different and pursue eternity, you must pay the price of loneliness. No matter which version of the story, it reproduces the lonely image of the moon.
A Dream of Red Mansions, one of China's four famous literary works, is an American representative who expresses loneliness through the moon in China literature. There is a wonderful description of the artistic conception of the moon in A Dream of Red Mansions. In the seventy-sixth time, Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu wrote poems about the moon and expressed their feelings for the scenery. "I saw a bright moon in the sky and a water moon in the pool, winning glory from top to bottom, as if I were in a shark house in the Crystal Palace." Xiangyun sang the first couplet: "Crossing the Cold Pool with a Crane Shadow", because the crane in the pool was flying, and Daiyu sang the lonely and sad second couplet of "Leng Yue Buries Flowers". This is out of keeping with the traditional atmosphere of the full moon in China Mid-Autumn Festival. /kloc-The full moon on 0/5th becomes Leng Yue in Daiyu's eyes and heart. Leng Yue better shows Sister Lin's complicated feelings of being dependent on others, lonely and afraid to express her love. It also implies the emotional ending of Daiyu's later "burying the soul of flowers". In addition, Li Bai's poem "Drinking the Moon Alone" reads: "Since from a pot of wine among the flowers, I have been drinking alone. No one is with me. Until I raised my cup, I asked the bright moon to bring me my shadow and let the three of us. " It also brought the loneliness of an American in China literature to the extreme.
(3) Negative month
Mao Dun, a China writer, put forward his different feelings about the moon in Talking about the Moon. He believes: "Natural phenomena have different reactions to people's emotions, and most of the reactions caused by the moon are negative. And give full play to this, I'm afraid it is China's moon literature. Of course, there are people who don't rely on the moon to complain, people who don't get comfort from self-deception, and people who don't imagine a mysterious fairyland from the moon. " For some reason, the moon in the author's eyes is a big liar! Gentle illusion! In his view, the curved crescent moon "doesn't feel any beauty in this broken hook", the curved crescent moon "looks less and less like a beauty's eyebrows", and "the cold light of this hook is like a steel knife sharp enough to kill people." Moonlight is "putting on airs" and "cheating". Mao Dun concentrated on two things about the moon in Talking about the Moon. First, when I was a child, I discussed the size of the moon with my neighbor's old man. Although the moon may not be "overbearing", it can make people vulnerable. Secondly, it is to write a story about a man and a woman who broke up. The author wrote a friendly letter to both parents. Finally, on the Mid-Autumn Festival night, "it is this bright moon, the cat-like moonlight, which evokes this woman's homesickness and makes her vulnerable." A woman who kept her mouth shut yesterday became fragile under the provocation of moonlight, which surprised the author and made him feel cheated. From this, the author seems to know a little about the "philosophy" of the moon, and thinks that some literary works about the moon seem to be almost full of bitterness, seclusion, or ethereal wandering. "I don't have a good relationship with the moon." Those who have a special relationship with the moon seem to be hermits in the mountains, dissatisfied women in boudoir and Taoist priests seeking immortality. "They complained about the moon and imagined the ethereal mystery of Guanghan Palace from the moon." In his view, primitive people also made "articles" on the moon-that is, myths about the moon. However, the original moon literature is limited to the changes of the moon itself; Primitive people gave unscientific explanations for the rise and fall of the moon, the full moon and the lack of the moon. Imagine at most that the moon is the wife of the sun, or a sister, or a "hero" on the earth, and escapes to the sky. None of these people regard the moon as a painful and illusory object. Mao Dun wrote a passage in Talking about the Moon: "Maybe only we China people can give full play to the' philosophy' of the moon? Not only poets and elegant beauties will send out many thoughts and sorrows when they see the moon, but they will also be tearful. It is the hero of the horse, and it is also written that there is only sorrow and sorrow under the moonlight magic light. " "This kind of' complete' moon education will make people who have escaped from the' narrow cage' want to go back". He suspects that the old neighbor said that "the moon will be bigger when he gets older" may not be his nonsense, but may have a profound "philosophical" basis for the moon! Talking about the moon is full of "the moon is terrible" on the surface, but it actually breaks through the positive perspective of the moon literature in the East and the West. It analyzes the moon from the other side, shows the "negative" side of the moon, and makes the "moon" in the moon literature more humane, more real and rich.
(4) Happy Moon
In China's literature, besides the above, there is also a kind of "happy" image, which is full of joy.
Zhu Ziqing, a famous modern essayist in China, once described the moon in Moonlight on the Lotus Pond as follows: "Moonlight is like running water, quietly pouring on this leaf and flower", "Moonlight penetrates the tree" and "The sparse and beautiful image of curved willows is like painting on a lotus leaf. The moonlight in the pond is uneven; But light and shadow have a harmonious melody, such as a famous song played by Van Gogh.
Similarly, Zhu Guzhong's prose "Moonlit Path" wrote the unique feeling of moonlit night. "In this world, I have walked countless roads. However, as far as the impression is concerned, what I like best are the paths covered with moonlight. The first time I felt this way was in my hometown, around the trunk, where the moonlight was as soft and clear as broken silver everywhere. The path under the moonlight "revealed an irresistible charm, attracted me, tempted me and walked towards the front covered with milk"; The light from the moon contains the greatest motherhood. When I set foot on the moonlight, there was a spark in my heart that could not be extinguished. " The moonlight under my feet is as light as a feather, which makes my whole body gush with unspeakable Shu Tai, joy and joy of flying. "
The moon glows passively, soft, quiet and refreshing, so that everything is shrouded in a vague and hazy night, and all the ugliness is covered with a mysterious coat. Everything looks beautiful, erratic and uncertain in the moonlight. This is the artistic realm pursued by an American in China literature, which is implicit, profound, quiet, ethereal and wonderful.
China's moon literature image embodies a kind of tranquility, yearning, mystery and loneliness, a kind of yearning and longing for breaking through the closure; The duality of negativity and positivity reveals the influence of China's traditional Confucianism "loyalty, filial piety and benevolence" and Oriental Buddhism.
(5) Man and the moon are one.
Japanese writing about the moon is different from that of China and Greeks. Ming Hui, a great Japanese poet with the reputation of "Moon Poet", probably lived in the Song Dynasty. When he writes about the moon, he never involves philosophy, but the emotional expression and the unsuspecting intimacy of the moon. He wrote a poem, which is a short haiku: "I will accompany you when the moon sets on the mountain and sleep with you every night." Sleeping with the moon is beautiful in the eyes of the Japanese, but in the eyes of China, it may be a bit blasphemous, not pious. China poets combine transience and eternity through the moon, while Japanese people combine themselves with the moon itself, which also reflects the differences between Chinese and Japanese moon literature in eastern culture. Master Minghui also wrote in the poem, "Moon thinks I am a toad." The poet of the moon is so pure and bright that he is so close to the moon that even the moon suspects that he is the moon itself! When winning the Nobel Prize, Yasunari Kawabata, a famous Japanese poet, commented that the "Moon Poet" spoke very well. He likes these poems very much and thinks that they represent the aesthetic taste of the Japanese nation. The Japanese are a nation that is good at absorbing, and Japanese culture is a fusion of domestic culture and foreign culture. Early Japan was greatly influenced by China and absorbed Korean culture and Indian culture. 1868 After the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese absorbed a large number of European and American cultures and formed a unique Japanese culture with a great integration of eastern and western cultures. The image of Japanese moon literature-the combination of man and the moon, embodies the blending of eastern and western cultures. The image of Japanese moon literature comes from the image of an american in china literature. Due to the influence of Japan's special geographical environment and western culture, especially the feelings of "dichotomy between man and moon" and "selfishness", the image of "integration of man and moon" appeared.
Second, the image of the moon in Western literature
Let's look at the similarities and differences between the moon image in western literature and the East.
(1) Dichotomy between Man and the Moon
Modern European moon poems reproduce the dichotomy between man and the moon. The description of the moon in western poetry is often endowed with more human flavor. Baudelaire's collection of poems, Flowers of Evil, contains a very famous poem. The title of the poem is "Sadness of the Moon", which is beautifully written. Its characteristic is that the moon is completely separated from people, and the poet completely personifies the moon. In the poet's pen, the moon is a sad woman. The poem wrote:
"Tonight, the moon dreamed that she became more lazy,/like a beautiful woman lying on many cushions./Before going to sleep, she stroked the outline of her breasts with one hand at will and gently ... Sometimes, she was carefree and weak, and she faced the earth,/let a string of tears flow quietly,/a devout poet,/an enemy of sleep, holding this pale tear in her palm,/like a breast. (the flower of evil. Melancholy and ideal)
There are many white clouds around the moon, like feather mats. The poem describes the moon touching itself inadvertently. She felt very sad before going to bed. She faced the earth and let her tears flow quietly to the earth drop by drop. At this time, a devout insomnia poet, facing the moon, held pale tears in his hand, shining like fragments of ivory pearls. He hid it in his heart, where the sun would never shine. This poem is about the dichotomy between man and the moon. It is different from China and Greek moon poems. It is not a description of loneliness and eternity, but a beautiful secular relationship between the moon and people. It is blasphemous for orientals to describe the moon in this way. Baudelaire's moon is not as mysterious as Li Bai's moon, nor is it as harmonious as Master Minghui's moon. In Baudelaire's works, the moon is an independent object, which shed pale tears to the earth and the poet's heart; A poet who imagines and meditates under the moon is an independent subject.
The moon in Baudelaire's eyes is the moon between man and the moon, which embodies the independence and openness of westerners' personality and the publicity of "sadness"
(B) the moon's eternal "possession" of people
Another image of the moon in western literature, such as "the eternal possession of the moon for man" in Greece. It embodies the western values of "selfishness" and "taking"; It is essentially different from the moon image in oriental literature.
The moon viewing in Greek mythology is quite similar to the fairy tale of China and the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon. In Greek mythology, the moon is a very beautiful girl and goddess. This goddess drives several golden carts pulled by white horses from east to west every day. Chang 'e walked around day after day and year after year, feeling very lonely. Later, she fell in love with a secular boy, and she loved him very much. However, mortals will die, unlike the moon, which can last forever. So Chang 'e put this handsome boy in a cave. Every day after passing through the cave, the goddess would kiss him, hug him and drive away. Handsome guys are eternal because of the love of the moon goddess, but they can only stay awake for many years and can't talk, and live in sleep forever. This myth tells people that if you want eternity, you have to pay the price. The price is to leave this world and be lonely forever.
Although the story of China the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon and the fairy tale of Greek the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon are both lonely themes, they are similar in this respect, but they are different in "loneliness". The Greek goddess of the moon yearns for the eternal pursuit of happiness and love, while China's Chang 'e has changed from a human to a fairy, and she still loves human life. Running to the moon originated from an unexpected disaster after the struggle against evil, a spirit of just sacrifice, and a spirit of dedication to make others happy by drinking loneliness. The Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's story praised Chang 'e with bright posture and gorgeous colors. Chang 'e's loneliness is full of thoughts and love. This is essentially different from the Greek moon goddess who sacrificed the health of teenagers for love, and also reflects the cognitive differences between the eastern and western moon cultures.
Thirdly, analyze the negative and positive causes of "moon" in eastern and western literature.
How is the national character of women in China and the moon culture in China formed? It should be said that Confucius and Laozi played the most important role in shaping China's national character. The essence of Confucius' ethical thought is the two-way harmony of loyalty, filial piety and kindness. According to China's concept of Yin and Yang, the husband is Yang and the woman is Yin; The father is yang and the son is yin; The monarch is yang and the minister is yin. Therefore, in front of the monarch's "sun", the people are all the moon, and they must practice the "way of male and female servants." Although Confucianism speaks on the side of "Yang", it is precisely because of the side of "Yang" that the people of the whole country are content with their families, conscientious, honest and gregarious, relying on and grateful for the light of the "sun" from the emperor, but not rigid, not active, not independent and not aggressive. Although Confucianism pays equal attention to "rigidity and benevolence", the post-Confucianism did not elaborate on Confucianism's rigidity. Therefore, on the whole, Confucianism does not attach importance to the rigid extroversion, but advocates the introverted personality of "gentleness, kindness, courtesy, frugality and concession" and regards "gentleness and gentleness" as the ideal personality of a gentleman. This is the reason why Xu Shen interprets Confucianism with softness in Shuowen Jiezi.
Take the route of "Confucianism is moderate". Laozi further shaped the national character of women in China. Just as Confucius regards quietness as the characteristic of benevolence, Lao Tzu keeps people quiet and dynamic, and takes "quietness is the best in the world" as an example to illustrate the beauty of quietness: women often beat men because they live a quiet life. Laozi believes that if you want to stay still, you must naturally retreat without doing anything: "Heaven does not dispute, and you will win by being good at fighting", otherwise "you can't keep it all the time", because "the gun hits the first bird", so only when you are in the valley like a woman can you achieve eternal morality. This is also the truth of "using softness to overcome strength", "using static braking" and "using weakness to overcome strength"
China people are gregarious and dependent, China people are polite and passive, China people are peaceful and quiet, and China people like women to whitewash, save face and pay attention to subtlety, which leads to the flexibility of cultural character, so China's moon literature is feminine.
Westerners have a strong character of being good at conquering since ancient times. The ancient Greeks conquered the Aegean world and established a city-state with warriors. Nobles are warriors, so the Greeks not only admire wisdom, but also admire courage. Sparta's martial spirit constantly inspired Plato and later romantics. Socrates' martyrdom, Plato's admiration for courage and the tradition of medieval knights attaching importance to courage show the prominent position of courage in western personality construction. Christianity especially looks down on "scribes" and praises "people with authority". Therefore, the Christian belief spirit, the martyrdom spirit of Christ atoning for everyone with his life and blood, is a rigid and inflexible cultural character. Anti-traditional romantics put more emphasis on the power of will, thus pushing the cultural character of western men to a peak. Therefore, westerners have personality independence, enterprising initiative, enterprising possessiveness, even enterprising spirit and adventurous spirit of running away from home. Westerners are straightforward, exposed and have a rigid cultural character, which makes western moon literature rigid.
Of course, from a broader perspective of world culture, then femininity and masculinity do not represent the merits of value. Too feminine national character can easily lead to forbearance, introversion, isolation and inability to face external challenges. Too masculine national character can easily lead to endless attacks and occupation, which will lead to hegemonism, bullying and even aggression against other nationalities. Therefore, learning from each other, learning from each other's strengths, and achieving the harmony between Yin and Yang, which is highly praised by China traditional culture, should be the ideal of cultural integration between China and the West and even all ethnic groups.
Looking at the images of the moon literature in the East and the West, they all express the emotional sustenance of human love for the moon. However, due to the different understanding of "gaining love" and "losing love", there are differences between joy and sadness, positive and negative, and the influence of geography, religion, philosophy and society in the East and West, which makes the images of the moon literature in the East and West different. No matter the Americans in China literature or the Japanese, Greek and French moon literature, they all provide rich value appreciation space for human beings and give us beautiful artistic enjoyment. If we can only appreciate the moon in one way, no matter which way is excluded, our artistic interest in appreciating the moon will not be satisfied, and the phenomenon of artistic appreciation in this multicultural context will surely become more and more common with the development of globalization. The future literary theory is bound to break through the closed phenomenon confined to one culture or similar culture and be based on the understanding and appreciation of literature in multiculturalism. Although there are many similarities between eastern and western moon literature, there is a bright moon in the human sky. From the comparison of eastern and western moon literature, we can see the value of multicultural comparison and development, and there is a trend of development. Moon literature has built a bridge between different national cultures.