Luyuan said in the preface to the translation of Faust: "Without Goethe, the history of world literature could not be written;" At the same time, it is difficult to understand why Goethe is Goethe without reading Faust. " It is true that Faust is an important masterpiece of Goethe. It, Iliad, Divine Comedy and Hamlet are known as one of the classical European Four Great Classical Novels. It is a work about the world and life, with metaphysical philosophical significance, and it is "a poem of modern philosophy, a philosophy of modern poetry." The creation of Faust lasted for 60 years, during which great historical changes took place, and Goethe's thought also experienced several sublimation. All these are concentrated in this masterpiece, which makes this work full of profound philosophy and infinite interpretation space. Even today, hundreds of years later, people are still constantly interpreting and expounding Faust's image, Faust's spirit and Faust's problems, which shows its great significance and wide influence.
The poetic drama Faust is divided into two parts,1211line. Although the space is not small, it is limited after all. In contrast, its charm and influence are almost limitless. This is inseparable from the rich, complex and unique artistic form and ideological connotation of the works. Yang explained, "As far as art form is concerned, first of all, it is a poetic drama with dramatic and poetic features. Secondly, it spans a huge time dimension, and the plot is very jumping, more interesting and chewy. Finally, it is the universal, bold and talented use of symbols. As far as the ideological connotation is concerned, it is so rich, profound, complex and multifaceted that readers of different times and nationalities can find new things from it, and even generations of researchers can't finish it. " The phrase "endless words, endless words" tells the infinite space and value of Faust's research.
First of all, the image of Faust
One of the characteristics of Goethe's Faust is the use of symbolism, which not only involves archetypes, literary images and story patterns, but also runs through the implementation of the book, almost everywhere. Profound symbols are hazy in nature, and the meaning of the works has also become rich. The multiple meanings of Faust's image are a remarkable example. In the History of Foreign Literature edited by Zheng Kelu, three main meanings are analyzed: "First, Faust is the incarnation of Goethe to a great extent, and his pursuit is similar to Goethe's life experience, and his pursuit of personality characteristics reflects Goethe's own vitality. Secondly, Faust is the symbol of advanced intellectuals in modern western Europe, especially the idealized symbol of German intellectuals. His eccentric personality, up-and-down pursuit, and fear of failure reflect the pursuit of modern thinkers who are not satisfied with reality and want to put theory into practice and make life artistic. Third, Faust is a symbol of the positive spirit of mankind and a symbol of the image of the emerging bourgeois giant. " These three meanings are interlinked. Faust is a projection of Goethe's own world outlook, outlook on life and his own life experience in his works. It is the objectification of personal essential strength and the addition of idealized elements, so it represents a more typical and symbolic positive spiritual image of advanced intellectuals and even all mankind. In a word, Faust condensed Goethe's life experience and ideological experience; Generally speaking, Faust is a symbol of spirit, and this image reveals the truth that the pursuit and development of human existence must be carried out and realized through real social life. Yang put forward the view that "Faust is Goethe" in the article "Magician, Philosopher, Outstanding Representative of Mankind". He quoted Goethe as saying that all his works were "just a fragment of great repentance" and admitted that he often "repented for poetry". And explained that "Faust in the first poem embodies the spirit of Strauss and is Goethe in his youth;" The second part of Faust embodies the spirit of classicism and romanticism, and is Goethe after Weimar; In the last scene of the poetic drama, this old doctor with the vision of all mankind can be said to be an old poet and an old philosopher Goethe. "Yang's explanation can't be wrong, but it is easy to make people fall into qualitative thinking, which directly leads to the theme first and induces readers to sit in the right position when thinking about his works, thus ignoring some potential weaknesses of Faust and limiting the discussion of thinking and the pursuit of deep meaning.
Faust's image is displayed and further highlighted in five pursuits: study, love, politics, art and career. On the one hand, as a symbol, he represents the incarnation of Goethe, the image of advanced intellectuals, and the positive spirit of mankind. This is the obvious "Faust spirit" that we will discuss below, which is an upward force of self-improvement, constant pursuit and never satisfaction; On the other hand, Faust's image is also the representative of ordinary human beings, Goethe's exposure of vulgar citizens and universal human weaknesses. This is Faust's dilemma in his pursuit of life, also known as Faust's confusion or paradox complex of life. It is a hidden performance in the play, but it is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. This explicit Faust spirit and implicit Faust confusion show us a complete and true Faust image, and also show the intellectual's spiritual ideal of self-improvement, constant pursuit and never satisfaction during the rise of the bourgeoisie. At the same time, they also revealed the antinomy between spirit and flesh, sensibility and rationality, individual freedom and social constraints, and in this duality, they constantly realized the process of self-transcendence and perfection.
Second, Faust spirit.
Under Goethe's pen, Faust's exploration is endless, never staying in an experience of thoughts or feelings, but constantly developing and changing. Goethe pointed out in the Prelude to Heaven that it is not man's fault but man's inaction that prevents people from doing good. "The human spirit is always impulsive and always covets absolute peace; Therefore, I want to create demons to inspire people's efforts. " God believes that people will inevitably make some mistakes when they work hard, which does not matter, but he firmly believes that "good people will not lose their way as long as they work hard." Faust changed the first sentence of the Gospel of John from "there was a way at first" to "something happened at first", emphasizing the importance of action. Only action can satisfy Faust's pursuit and make him do good deeds. "Anyone who strives for self-improvement can finally be saved in our generation." Faust, with the action of running all the way and striving for self-improvement, is marching towards happiness and ideals. In the article "On Faust Spirit", Qin Xiaochao analyzed that "Faust's life was spent in constant action, and he experienced study life, love life, political life, artistic life and other professional activities. When Faust looked back on his life, his heart felt sad. He feels that he has taken many detours and often makes mistakes. However, he didn't look up at the sky like a fool, thinking that he had his own kind sitting in the clouds. He is not like a coward, who loves ease and leads a mediocre life; It is constant self-improvement, constant "coveting" and "seeking its realization", which makes his life like a storm. In Faust's life, action is an unchangeable law. This is the main and most fundamental feature of Faust spirit. " Here, Faust denied the "another world" outside the real world, and only believed that his actions and self-improvement could make the "tree of life evergreen", which meant that he began to move towards real life. Action itself also represents a spirit, representing constant pursuit, never satisfaction and self-improvement, but this action is not a single circular process, but positive and enterprising. Goethe said: "Faust's action was an increasingly noble and pure effort until his death." Faust did not act for the sake of action, but for truth, life and freedom. "We should explore life and freedom every day before we can enjoy freedom and life."
From the above analysis, we can read the essence of Faust spirit, one is the explicit spirit of constant pursuit and endless self-improvement, and the other is the implicit humanitarian spirit of pursuing goodness with benevolence as the core. This spirit is interrelated with the Renaissance and Enlightenment accepted and experienced by Goethe, and it is also the dialectical unity and harmony achieved by the contradiction between sensibility and rationality, spirit and flesh. Renaissance is the liberation and rediscovery of human values, and humanism and humanitarianism are publicized, but at the same time, "modern people have lost the harmony between man and the universe in Greek culture and the Christian religious belief beyond God." The human spirit has been liberated and freed; But at the same time, I lost my support, groped, depressed and pursued, trying to find the meaning and value of life in my own efforts. "Enlightenment highlights rationalism, which is an enterprising spirit of self-improvement. Goethe is a great representative of the spirit of this era. " He shows the spirit of self-improvement of western civilization, and at the same time has the quiet and far-reaching wisdom of Oriental Lotte know life. Therefore, Goethe projected this spirit into Faust's pursuit of life in the play. On the one hand, he is proactive, constantly pursuing, never stopping, and pursuing truth, ideals and freedom; On the other hand, the result of constant pursuit ended in tragedy. Although the angels finally saved Faust's soul, it can only be said that justice triumphed over evil. For individuals, what significance and value have they gained in the process of pursuit? This inevitably involves the Faust problem left by this poetic drama.
Third, the Faust problem.
Dr. Chen pointed out in "About: Aesthetic Thinking" that "Faust is by no means an idealized figure, but a strong man who has many weaknesses and is advancing in overcoming them." The opposition between Faust and Mephisto fellers is the opposition between reason and desire in people's inner world. This conflict put Faust in a dilemma: "On my chest, alas! There are two souls, one wants to leave the other; A world obsessed with functional stubbornness in vulgar love; The other is to strive to be free from vulgarity and concentrate on climbing the lofty spiritual realm of our ancestors. " This is the famous Faust puzzle in the west: how to coordinate the free development of personal desires with the necessary control and restraint of society and personal morality-how to seek personal happiness without selling one's soul.
The Faust problem in Goethe's works is not only a personal problem of Faust, but also a common problem in modern western society. It also contains a kind of thinking and answer to the spiritual confusion of modern people. Therefore, the research on the mystery of Faust is still of great significance and value. In the above analysis of Faust's image, we notice that his life of hard exploration is full of contradictions, such as spirit and flesh, sensibility and rationality, freedom of personality and social constraints, good and evil, ideal and reality. But this is an antinomy contradiction, and there is no right or wrong between the two opposites. Desire, humanity and freedom are innate, and morality, rationality and social constraints are important signs of social civilization. They are opposites, and we can't pursue winning or losing in one aspect, which will only lead to binary opposition, while Faust is constantly pursuing the unity of the two. Let's take the relationship between spirit and flesh as an example to discuss Faust's road to unity.
The relationship between soul and flesh runs through the whole Faust, and it is also highlighted in the pursuit of love. In the stage of "knowledge pursuit", Faust, like Kant, indulged in the ocean of knowledge and bowed his head in order to grasp the mysteries of the universe and life through the pursuit of knowledge. However, this state of focusing only on spirit and neglecting practice led to his mental crisis and attempted suicide. Fortunately, his "childhood emotion" saved him, and he made up his mind to go out of the ivory tower and experience the beauty of the world. In the process from "knowledge pursuit" to "career pursuit", Faust experienced setbacks again and again, wandering in one sensory desire after another, but finally pursued spiritual transcendence with amazing perseverance. Does the meaning of life lie in physical pleasure and enjoyment of life, or in the pursuit of spiritual realm? Faust told us his choice with his own actions: on the one hand, he was bored and dissatisfied with the secular world and sought lofty spiritual goals, on the other hand, he could not be completely divorced from real life, and the way to achieve spiritual goals was to rely on down-to-earth life practice and move on under the premise of pursuing the unity of spirit and flesh. The relationship between soul and body is a realistic problem that needs to be paid attention to and solved in Goethe's period. The dark middle ages severely suppressed the pursuit of personal sensory desires and overemphasized spiritual transcendence; Since the Renaissance, people have begun to face up to themselves and their natural desires based on the flesh. Neither the Christian concept of abstinence nor the idea of emancipating the body in the Renaissance can solve the problem of the unity of spirit and body. The creation of Faust's image tells us that man is a combination of spirit and flesh, and it is a paradox that we can't attend to one thing and lose the other, but we still have to move forward in this contradictory unity.
Fourth, find a spiritual home.
Some scholars believe that "because of death, people strive for self-improvement and pass it on from generation to generation-this is the lofty tragic spirit of mankind." Faust spirit is a vivid portrayal of this tragic spirit and human spirit. He also quoted Qiu's view that "the most fundamental spirit of human beings is the tragic spirit". Without the tragic spirit, we lose the meaning of human existence and the value of life. "I think this view is biased. It is true that Faust's pursuit of knowledge, love, politics, art and career has not reached his expected ideal, but it cannot be said that Faust's spirit is a vivid portrayal of this tragic spirit, although both of them show the spirit of self-improvement. This is a superficial similarity and a kind of self-sacrifice of human collectivism, so it covers up the inner meaning of Faust spirit and the deep meaning and value of people and life. Dong Xinxiang pointed out in the article "The Image of Faust and Modern People's Spiritual Puzzlement" that "Faust was confused by" spirit "and" body "and was redeemed by the interaction between them. It can be said that "spirit" and "meat" have reached dialectical unity in Faust. " "Spirit" and "flesh" can be regarded as two aspects of antinomy. The author of this paper discusses the "mystery of Faust" and gives his own answer, which seems to provide some clues for us to solve this difficult problem, and the result is in this process.
Yang Birong's article "Paradox Complex of Life" in On Paradox Complex of Life explains "Faust's dilemma", which means "the paradox of human nature: the continuous expansion of human desires, the conflict and struggle between human beings and their own desires; The paradox of life: the finiteness of the individual cannot surpass the infinity of time and space; Man's social paradox: man is in a group and society, and his personality and freedom are bound to be restricted by various rules and levels in social organizations ",and points out that" Faust spirit "is the best way to reduce the paradox complex of life. This belongs to drawing nutrition from ancient excellent cultural heritage to solve the current spiritual dilemma, but it may not be appropriate to take "Faust spirit" as the answer to "Faust mystery". From the analysis of Faust's image, to the revelation and exposition of Faust's spirit, and then to the connotation of Faust's mystery, we can see that these are interrelated and interrelated. The search for spiritual home mentioned by the author below is also closely related to this. It can be said that there is the shadow of Faust's image, the pursuit of Faust's spirit and the answer to Faust's dilemma.
Goethe's Faust is an artistic expression of human's pursuit and search for spiritual home, and Faust's life is an aesthetic experience of searching for spiritual home. Looking for spiritual home can be said to be the responsibility and pursuit of every intellectual, which is closely related to people's cultural heritage, nostalgic consciousness, historical attitude and the development of spiritual civilization, and is also a main line of literary expression. How many people still miss the etiquette society in the Zhou Dynasty and the Greek city-state era, not to mention a large number of poems and epics. Spiritual home is a kind of spiritual belonging and sustenance, and it is a kind of "land without owner" that is "unreachable and yearning for". As Song Hutang said, "Spiritual home is the pillar of human spiritual life. Since the day it was born, human beings have been looking for it. The desire of modern people seems to be stronger, and the spiritual home will be eternal in the search, and an aesthetic experience will be obtained in the search. " Spiritual home is an aesthetic experience and eternal. The spiritual home of some religious believers is a paradise on the other side, but Goethe is a pantheist, and the process of Faust's constant pursuit of ideals is also a process of constant search for spiritual home.
In the stage of pursuing knowledge, Faust's original spiritual home was his own study, but as a result of poverty, he buried his head in the pile of old paper, and experiencing life became the spiritual home he was looking for. In the pursuit of love, his spiritual home is sweet love; In the stage of political pursuit, his spiritual home is the Forbidden City. In the stage of artistic pursuit, the classical beautification of Helen is his spiritual home; In the stage of career pursuit, the sea became his spiritual home for building great achievements. Step by step, he kept searching for his spiritual home. Before searching, he thought it was the person he was looking for, so he searched hard, and finally the angel took him to heaven and reached his final destination. Everyone has a spiritual home, but everyone's spiritual home is not necessarily the same. Faust, like Sisyphus, who pushed stones up the mountain all day, experienced in pursuit and practiced in exploration all his life, which is an optimistic pursuit of self-improvement. Rather, this pursuit itself is his spiritual home, because his spirit has been sublimated in this pursuit. Nietzsche said, "Man needs a goal. He would rather pursue nothingness than have nothing." Faust is not after nothingness. Although he has been pursuing, he has not yet pursued his spiritual home. Maybe his spiritual home is heaven. If not, it must be a "paradise" in the future. Life is endless and the pursuit is endless.
To sum up, in Goethe's works, Faust is like a prodigal son who pursues a spiritual home. He kept pursuing and striving for self-improvement for home, distance, ideal, truth, freedom and life. "Faust image" is deeply imprinted in every reader's mind, "Faust spirit" flows in every reader's blood, and "Faust puzzle" inspires every reader's thinking and reflection. We analyze the works together.
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