This is my first impression of the cover of this book. The first time I read Wilde, I thought I was reading it, but it turned out that I had read his Happy Prince many years ago. Some memories are not forgotten long ago, but whenever there is a trace of intersection and touch, they will inadvertently come to mind and stir up waves. Reading, like eating, has become a part of the body.
During three and a half hours of reading, I couldn't help wondering how wonderful the world was in Wilde's eyes. Flowers and birds, old trees in the night sky, snowflakes and bright moons, statues and dreams all have souls and emotions. They have their own ideas about everything in the world, and they are talking enthusiastically in a world that our ears can't decipher. Nature, flowers, birds, fish and insects, which we neglected in a hurry, are trying to live, feeling the sunshine and rain, the spring breeze and the autumn moon. They will cry for infatuation, be moved by kindness and cheer for beauty.
Let's briefly understand Wilde: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), born in Dublin, Ireland, is famous for his plays, poems, fairy tales and novels, a representative figure of aestheticism, the main force of aestheticism movement in 1980s and the pioneer of decadent movement in 1990s.
He likes flowers, sunsets and Greek literature since he was a child. As an adult, he is witty, charming in tone, brilliant, avant-garde, maverick, good at self-promotion, colorful in works, novel in conception and distinct in viewpoint. In the real world, he is the creator of stories and the master of many legendary stories. In the eyes of many people, he is a master of narcissism and a bohemian hedonist. He has a strong fan base, and his tombstone is always covered with lipstick marks of people who love him.
Wilde in this book seems to be another self, compassionate, gentle, kind and sober. His countless beautiful and cruel fairy tales hide his loyalty to love and art, and countless heartbreaking endings reflect his own broken ending. In those fluent, naive and poetic languages and stories, his choices and persistence are vaguely understood by readers. Between gorgeous and disillusioned, he loves and is kind.
Many authors often unconsciously use their world view to guide their own creation. Miyazaki Hayao, the master of animation, uses his works to convey his worldview: you are simple, and the world is a fairy tale; You are complex and the world is a maze. Miyazaki Hayao explained his longing for a better world with simplicity, lightness, kindness and courage. When we watch My Neighbor Totoro's Jin Yuji on the Cliff, we will enjoy a fairytale-like beautiful and simple world. Explained by the law of attraction, it is "birds of a feather flock together, and people are divided into groups". What kind of person you are, you attract almost the same as you-you are simple, and the world is like a clear water; If you are complicated, the world will turn around and kill you.
Wilde, who was in his prime when he was young, why was he poor when he was old, and his fate was so dangerous? What kind of worldview would such Wilde have? How is his world outlook reflected in his works? Is his work beautiful or sad? Unfortunately, there is no conclusion in the book. This book only contains nine fairy tales and some prose poems by Wilde, and the author has left enough space for readers to ponder. The fairy tales in the book are more like those written for adults. It belongs to Wilde's ethereal world, and has the beauty and sorrow of life-the love for the ordinary world and the beauty of the spiritual world, and the great impact and sorrow brought about by their destruction, which highlights the redemption and destination of divinity.
Wilde tells the tragedy in an extraordinary style, and with the help of the interlaced perspective of characters, readers can see that the happy prince is from handsome to incomplete, and then burned to ashes; See how selfish giants open their narrow minds; Seeing that the young king wants to be himself, he is still imprisoned as the king in the eyes of others; Hear the sad song of the nightingale's last life; He also let readers witness the pain of the fisherman's soul and body stripping ... He repeatedly asked questions with imperfect fairy tales, and the contradictions and paradoxes everywhere in his life reflected the difficulties and complexity of the real society, showing his pure pursuit of art, love and perfect life in a tortuous way.
The Happy Prince, the Nightingale and the Rose, the selfish giant, the loyal friend, the young king, the fisherman and his soul ... Every story is full of affection and profound meaning. In The Nightingale and the Rose, the nightingale was pierced by a rose and devoted her life and effort to love. In pain and ecstasy, she bloomed a moment of beauty-a red rose. Who knows, the red rose that was painstakingly watered was thrown away by young students after courtship, scattered into mud and ground into ashes, leaving only a few wisps of fragrance, which was heartbreaking. In "Faithful Friends", little Hans gave his time, energy and flowers that he needed to sell to maintain his food and clothing to his "friends". Finally, he threw his life in the swamp for his friends. Little Hans was happy all his life because he thought he had many "friends". In The Fisherman and His Soul, Wilde pulled the soul away from the fisherman, so that the fisherman who lost his soul had pure love, while the lonely soul experienced suffering, pain, panic, degeneration and became dark. The soul wants to drill back into the fisherman's body, but the fisherman's complete heart makes him integrated. He tried his best to lure fishermen away from love. When the fisherman ran away from the little mermaid, he missed love again. He rushed back to the seaside, only to find that the little mermaid had already lost interest. The fisherman's full love for the little mermaid shattered his desperate heart, and his soul took the opportunity to merge with him. A black rough wave came and swallowed the fisherman mercilessly.
Wilde's story has profound and extensive connotations. Every reader can interpret his own version because of his different experiences, which may be one of the reasons for his popularity. My ability is limited, too profound, and my favorite readers can't feel it themselves. I tried to analyze my favorite Happy Prince:
The cold approached quietly, and the affectionate little swallow suddenly realized an absurd unrequited love, and began to spread its wings and fly to warm Egypt with its partners.
The Happy Prince lived in Worry-Free Palace when he was alive. He sings during the day and dances at night. If happiness is happiness, he is very happy. He lived happily and died happily. The statue of the Happy Prince was placed high. He saw the ugliness of the city and countless pains, and his heart could not help crying. Tears of sadness hit the swallow resting at his feet.
Some encounters seem destined.
The prince asked the swallow to give rubies to poor embroidery workers and sapphires to poor writers and little match girls.
Xiaoyan, who was flying in the air, saw the rich people having fun in the mansion, the beggars crowded at the door of the mansion, the dark alleys and the pale children who were hungry and cold. ...
The swallow pecked Jin Yezi from the prince and gave it to the poor. The happy prince became gloomy and ugly, and the children became rosy because of bread.
Cold, like ice skates whipping a thin swallow with snow, died at the feet of the happy prince.
The statue of the Happy Prince was knocked down, and the mayor and city councilor quarreled and tried to erect their statues high.
They threw the unmelted lead heart of the Happy Prince on the garbage, and the swallow's body lay there.
God said to the angel: Bring me the two most precious things in this city.
……
This short story is full of twists and turns. After reading it, I can't calm down for a long time. For the original happy and carefree prince, for the suffering of the world, I completely dedicated myself; For the kind and affectionate little swallow, she gave up the opportunity to fly to the warm pyramid again and again, and gave her most precious life for others in the cold winter; For the endless poverty and hardship in the world, for the exclusive happiness of the rich, for the vanity, cold blood and ruthlessness of politicians; Because only God is a wise man, but has he changed anything?
Wilde's words are exquisite and bright, with strange fragrance, but quiet and quiet; His expression style is diverse, plain narration, metaphor, analogy, symbol, gorgeous and complex, circuitous and brilliant; The language is meaningful, concise, vivid and flowing, as if without any personal feelings, but the pursuit of aestheticism and love is reflected everywhere in the story. One after another, the torn beauty, broken heart, humanity, love, life and soul are either violently impacted or saddened in the story. It is a magnificent and complicated world, and it is also a world that would rather give up soul or life.
Wilde left, his uniqueness disappeared, but his golden sentence was widely circulated in the world:
The heart is used to break.
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
What are the main reasons for divorce? Get married.
The essence of romance is that it is full of possibilities.
Don't be depressed, even if you lose everything, you still have a future.
Society only exists as a spiritual concept, and only individuals exist in the real world.
Ordinary treasures will be stolen, but real wealth will not. You can't take away the infinitely precious things in your soul.
……
What kind of person was Wilde? Is his real world and literary world consistent or separate? We are not of the same age as him, and no one is himself. We can only get a glimpse of him through his words, actions and works.
Just like the story of The Fisherman and His Soul, the fisherman is willing to give up his soul and God for love, but he is not loyal to Satan because he knows kindness. But with the deepening of love, good and evil, temptation and ethics are trampled again.
He himself, isn't that it? In the conservative Victorian era, homosexuality was a felony. In order to satisfy Posey, he did not hesitate to take his reputation, identity, status, and even his family and health to fight a lawsuit with little chance of winning, and finally he was in jail and was in a mess. The prison environment is bad. Does he have any resentment, regret or pain? Who knows! But we see him, even though he knows that love will only lead him to extinction, he still wants to love. He is not a frivolous man without morality. He wrote passionately about the fisherman and his heartbreaking ending.
Jiang Xun said that Wilde and Li Shangyin are very similar, and their literary foundation is enthusiasm, even passion. Because you have passion, you have a great sense of disillusionment. Because you love the world too much, you are not afraid of being hurt to hug.
One in Britain, one in China, one in19th century and one in 9th century. Their concerns are so similar that they all like to write about moonlight, nightingale, glory and disillusionment, which seems to have their own providence.
Because of that lawsuit, Wilde finally stepped off the altar, alienated from others and walked towards loneliness.
Percy, his gay man, said: If you are no longer the high-flying Wilde, then everything is no longer interesting.
Oscar Wilde at that time, who could really understand and understand?
Maybe he doesn't want to be understood at all. He is just being himself. He just tries to love when he is in love.
He said: we are all in the gutter, but there are still people looking up at the stars.
He will be heartbroken, but he will never despair.