Reflections on the course of beauty
If you want to read a book and instinctively perceive the essence of China's traditional aesthetics as a whole, or if you have a real desire to understand the spiritual characteristics of China in different times, then A Course of Beauty can be read, but you must read it.
About a good book, you can feel a kind of power vaguely, directly or strongly, or both. This force is nothing else. It can only be the author's unique talent, which generates the realm of "cultivation" and the quality of "accumulation". It touched you at that time and then gave you endless "meaning". Similarly, "The Course of Beauty" will also make you linger in the above aspects:
"Those who are clear are unclear, and those who disturb them are not turbid"-the momentum is magnificent. It seems that it is not a temporary dumping of beautiful language, nor a blind attraction to maverick ideas, but its magnificent momentum gives people the first impression. The History of Beauty has more than 100,000 words, from prehistoric culture to modern Ming and Qing Dynasties, from totem singing and dancing to bronze pottery, extending classics, poems, calligraphy and painting, grasping China's literature, art, philosophy, social outlook and spirit of the times from a bird's eye view, and explaining it with some original concepts such as pre-Qin rational spirit, Chu-Han romanticism, Wei-Jin demeanor and Buddha's world outlook.
"How deep is the courtyard" —— A keen and profound thinking. Although the momentum can be as fascinating as it wishes, the theoretical castles in the air and the empty shell games of concepts can also take place here, so the momentum must also be strongly supported by the actual content to be firm. The Course of Beauty accurately and profoundly refines the unique aesthetic theme and spiritual characteristics of each era, such as Romanticism in Chu and Han Dynasties, which is a keen grasp and unique summary of the literary characteristics of Chu and Han Dynasties (Chu and Han culture), such as the Tang Dynasty, Song and Yuan Dynasties and Ming and Qing Dynasties. Through the complicated appearance and dazzling presentation of the times, it refines the unique spiritual essence and aesthetic problems that the author understands for you, and makes you unconsciously enter the "deep courtyard" of the past times.
"Humming, whispering-and then mixing together, like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade"-Zhu Yu's mellow language. If momentum stimulates people's desire for thinking and thoughts arouse people's spirit, then language often mobilizes people's sensory actions. After reading The Course of Beauty, he couldn't help reading, writing and reciting, and he wanted to follow and refused to leave, which was enough to show his language charm. No, the language of poetry is better than poetry. Here you can clearly see that it is round as pearls and jade, connected like flowing water, without the rigidity of deliberate pursuit, without the wrinkling of words, and without the acidity like a book bag. Language has achieved its outstanding function here.
Of course, the above is just my thoughts after reading, and it is also my real recommendation. As for the theoretical research and academic feelings of the contents in the book, I can't say clearly here. Various factions have already achieved considerable results. I don't want to repeat, extract or redo She's Married.
As a perfect fantasy in the history of China's aesthetics, The Course of Beauty has become an immortal work of art, an extremely difficult peak to surpass and a unique beauty of Li Aesthetics. However, its significance goes far beyond this. We are more concerned about how to construct a new morality full of aesthetic spirit and personality in theory-"aesthetic morality": how to rediscover the aesthetic spirit and psychological structure hidden in the tradition of monks found in this book and creatively transform the positive and positive factors of western and Indian civilization, and the most important thing is moral absorption and transformation, which is "superficial and impetuous" with the current era. Inject it into the construction of "aesthetic morality", detoxify and redeem the post-modern life with anxiety and absurdity, establish an "emotional ontology" that shines with the perceptual brilliance of life and accumulates the value of historical rationality, and endow the morality of "individuals of the times and human beings as a whole" with fresh, powerful and Chu Qing-like aesthetic character. This is the meaning to be completed after The Course of Beauty, that is, Li's aesthetics, and it is something that I and later we may be able to do.
A few words are far from enough. I look forward to working hard in the future.
Article 2:
Personally, I think "A Beautiful Course" and Li Zehou's other works at the same time have made me understand a big truth, that is, why do people want academic research and why do they want to study? Not for fame and fortune (in that case, we must "keep pace with the times"), but for life. In other words, lifelong learning. Therefore,
A humanist should combine academic research with life experience, regard historical heritage as a vivid object, and turn learning, writing articles and publishing works into his own life process. This is what A Beautiful Journey did. For example, in the section "The Significance of Su Wu", when Su Dongpo wrote "The boat will die today, and Jiang Hai will send him the rest of his life", he didn't go home to sleep, nor did he "roar by boat". Li Zehou said, "Originally, why? Because I can't escape the big net of the world. " If you have no life experience, how can you say such brilliant things?
Once the historical heritage is regarded as a living object, combined with one's own life experience, it becomes a living thing, and there will be no corpse odor. The articles taught by some scholars and experts in the past (including now) are rigid, boring and boring, and they are too tasteless to read. It's not entirely a question of writing ability. After all, I still don't regard my research object as a living body. They turned themselves into mummies while studying mummies. Sadness is more terrible than heart death. Heart is dead, can words still live?
Another reason why academic works become mummies is that these scholars are always talking about other people's words, at least always talking in the way others talk. Because they don't study for a living, but for some practical benefits. Therefore, we must pay special attention to whether it conforms to the recognized "academic norms" and "quantitative standards" and not to violate the "rules" of the academic community. At this time, everyone follows the trend, and I will say what others say, and I will say what others say, which is undoubtedly the safest. When the so-called "academic norms" are actually just "stereotyped writing" and the so-called "quantitative standards" only talk about quantity rather than quality, it is not surprising that a large number of stereotyped writing articles and even academic bubbles have been produced.
It can be seen that style is not just a matter of expression. For lifelong learning, you should speak your own words, go your own way and think with your own head, no matter what others say or think. In short, you don't have to worry about any stereotypes, you don't have to stick to a certain model, you can follow the lead and find another way, depending on whether you have enough talent and knowledge to prepare.
Li Zehou has. So Li Zehou gave us a good demonstration with his successful practice.
One phone call and a hundred phone calls. Since then, our minds have been liberated, our horizons have been broadened, our eyes have been sharp, our thinking has been agile, and even our writing has become fluent. Thanks to Li Zehou. Without him, we might still be groping in the dark.
This is an enlightenment of wisdom. Many people even began to find their own way from Li Zehou.
But at the same time, Li Zehou's history is over.
If you forget to sign the fish, you have to forget your hoof, kick down the bridge and kill the donkey. Now that we have crossed the river, Mr. Li Zehou can finish class. We will remember his bridge.
Article 3:
The course of beauty is an aesthetic work of Mr. Li Zehou, a famous modern philosopher and aesthetician in China. It has made a "hasty trip" to China's classical literature and art for thousands of years from a macro perspective. The book is divided into ten chapters. The first chapter discusses the primitive witchcraft etiquette activities in the ancient totem era and the meaningful decorative modeling form of pottery, which is a mixture of songs, dances, plays, paintings and myths of later generations. The second chapter is written from the bronze age full of ugly beauty to the bronze age when art was liberated from witchcraft religion. At the same time, graceful Chinese characters have also opened the artistic position of calligraphy. The third chapter discusses the rational spirit of pre-Qin from three aspects: the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism, and the principle of prosperity in poetry and architectural art, among which the most important complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism is a basic clue of China's more than 2,000 years of ideological history. The fourth chapter "Romanticism in Chu and Han Dynasties" discusses Chu culture full of mysterious totem myths, and Qu Yuan, the earliest and greatest poet in China, is its representative. Han inherited the Qin system, which seems to be divorced from the rationality of the pre-Qin period in the field of literature and art, but it maintains the romanticism of the southern Chu culture full of whimsy and passion, showing the basic aesthetic characteristics of "imposing manner and Gu Zhuo". The fifth chapter discusses that China officially entered the period of great changes in feudal society-Wei and Jin Dynasties. People freed themselves from the Confucian classics of the Han Dynasty, broke through the old tradition and value system, and changed their world outlook and outlook on life greatly, rethinking and pursuing their own life, meaning and destiny. Literature has also entered the stage of self-awareness. Literature is independent from broad knowledge, which distinguishes various genres and styles of literature in detail, and the most important thing is the conscious pursuit of aesthetic characteristics. Ruan Ji and Tao Qian are very individual figures in this period. The sixth chapter discusses the "world of Buddhism" in three sections, from the "tragic world" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the "illusory ode" in the period of the unification of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and then to the secularization on the verge of extinction. Chapter VII The Voice of the Prosperous Tang Dynasty consists of young Li Bai, musical beauty and Du Shiyan's Korean characters. Li Bai's poems and songs played the strongest sound of the art in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Brewmaster, with the beauty of genius, despised the powerful and secular, drank and wrote poems to indulge in life, and spit out half of the prosperous Tang Dynasty at once, which made the art of the prosperous Tang Dynasty full of youthful vitality. His poems reflect the unrestrained mentality of intellectuals in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, reaching the peak of China's classical romantic symphonic poems. The eighth chapter is "the reason beyond rhyme", which discusses the internal contradiction between the content and form of literature, art and aesthetics in the middle Tang Dynasty and the significance of Su Shi. Chapter 9 "The Artistic Conception of Mountains and Waters in Song and Yuan Dynasties" experienced a beautiful course from "the realm without me" to "the faithful pursuit of details and poetry" and then to "the realm with me". Chapter 10, "Thoughts of Literature and Art in Ming and Qing Dynasties", discusses four aspects: civic literature and art in the embryonic period of capitalism, the flood of romanticism, from sentimental literature to A Dream of Red Mansions, and painting and crafts in Ming and Qing Dynasties. The literature and art of Ming and Qing Dynasties, represented by traditional operas, described social contradictions and secular human feelings of joys and sorrows, while the traditional literature and art of upper-class society was shrouded in romanticism and became sentimental literature such as Peach Blossom Fan and Palace of Eternal Life. Although this kind of bird's-eye view can't describe every problem in detail, it gives us an unambiguous impression.
Wandering in this book is not only a journey of culture and art, but also a baptism of spirit, mind and thought. Not only the word "shock" is enough to express its weight. What this book wants to bring to readers is inherently more colorful than the author expected. It is true that, as we all know, the development of everything will be accompanied by the development of productive forces, economic development and the gradual improvement of human consciousness, and the society will be more and more progressive, or more and more exciting and advanced. But there are exceptions to everything. After reading this book, you can feel that even if time passes and society is rich, a thing will not devalue its original value with time. On the contrary, the accumulation of time will increase its charm. And the charm it exudes. It will tread lightly at any time and dress itself up with more gorgeous and temperament clothes. It will not fade with time, but will be fresher. It is the product of art, culture and human civilization. It is through the artistic course of historical beauty that the author of this book lets readers taste his freshness and beauty, and let us read the magnificent essence of historical artistic beauty.
Primitive society, slave society and even feudal society all have the same primitive art that always goes hand in hand with art and culture, and it always endures with the times. Unique in the garden of literature and art, it is witchcraft and religious etiquette. We can't deny the dependence of human beings on these "traditions", and all the kings and people put them in reverence. Most of the early primitive art has the shadow of religion and witchcraft, and people have always kept it in the spiritual field. But for us, this phenomenon can only be learned from the perspective of pure art and culture, and we should not be stubborn. After all, feudal superstition has been abandoned in the scientific society, or it has increasingly penetrated into all fields of ideology, such as totem culture with strange imagination and fiery emotions, poetry and dance. It also represents a deep-rooted cultural system. For this kind of culture, "aestheticians" have always held the attitude of "doing something and not doing something". The attitude of learning from absorption.
What the author wrote in this book is concrete and profound, which is of great significance to the origin, course and evaluation of art. We can only read simple arts and sciences from books and study them repeatedly if we have time. On the contrary, with our shallow artistic comprehension ability, it is difficult to understand its essence, and it can only be that different people have different opinions.
After reading this book, I completely subverted my original naive and stupid understanding. Swim in the dazzling world of culture and art, taste the paradise of the ancient philosophers' thoughts, and make our "aesthetic feeling" rich and heavy. I haven't finished reading this book, but the romantic momentum of Chu and Han, the theme of Gu Zhuo, the graceful people in Wei and Jin Dynasties, the consciousness of writing, Ruan Ji and Tao Qian's articles, the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the youth, Li Bai, the beauty of music, Du Shi's articles in North Korea and so on. China's trip to classical literature and art has taught us to examine the identity or universality of art and the objective development law of literature and art from a rational perspective, closely link the elegance of social times with literature and art, and observe literary phenomena from a unique evaluation perspective. This book has high skills in both content and language, and is worth reading again and again.
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