Celebrity Stories: Yuwen Suo'an
In recent years, the works of sinologists such as Fairbank, Gao Luopui, Ku Bin, Kong Feili, Wei Feide, Shi Jingqian, Wang Sifu, Cui Ruide and others have become common. , Yu Wensuo'an suddenly emerged, especially the Tang poetry he spread was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, including "The Generation of Early Chinese Classical Poetry" and "Late Tang: Chinese Poetry in the Mid-9th Century" published by Sanlian Bookstore in 2012, and connoisseurs also praised him.
A person's life arrangement may be derived from an unforgettable "encounter". In the eyes of foreigners, it is a divine revelation that cleanses the muscles and bones. Yu Wensuoan was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1946, and grew up in a small town in the south of the United States. The charm of classical poetry from China came to him in his childhood reading time, and he has been unable to stop and indulged in it ever since, so much so that his father worried that his research hobby would Make him hungry. But Yuwen is very smart. He has gradually become a famous person from a reader of Chinese classical literature. This cannot but be attributed to his high sensitivity. He is good at discovering strange emotions in paradigms and extracting extraordinary insights from ordinary insights. . This means that Yuwen is not only sensitive, he also has the classical feelings of perceiving the fate, joys and sorrows, ups and downs of the poet in the distant mountains, rivers, vegetation. In my opinion, Yuwen has been painted with golden hooks and silver, which is the Chinese Yuwen. This can easily make us blur the distant Stephen Owen.
Since Yuwen published his doctoral thesis "The Poems of Han Yu and Meng Jiao" in 1973, his research field has expanded from the study of writers to the history of poetry, poetry theory, literary history, and literary theory. At the same time, we began to comprehensively consider the deep structure of Chinese literature. As his "Reminiscences", "Lost House", "Poems of the Early Tang Dynasty", "Poems of the Prosperous Tang Dynasty", "The End of the Middle Ages in China" and his self-selected collection "Story of Stones from Other Mountains" have been translated and published in mainland China, in addition to praising them, we have discovered The most significant change in his academic focus was the shift from "history of poetry" to "poetics". His turn in the midst of classical music also made people in the academic world realize that, in addition to diligence and enlightenment, the most important basic qualities of an outstanding scholar are the ability to constantly reflect on one's own work and to always be aware of Be aware of your own limitations? Limitations in both the type of research and your own abilities, and be highly alert to successful patterns and be ready to get rid of them at any time. ?
The poet is the namer of the world. Therefore, to speak is to illuminate. Due to the ineffability of reality, today's poets are losing the ability to name, but there are always people trying to restore the poet's past glory. I remember that the first work I read by Yu Wen was "The Lost House". The title of the book is an evocative one. As its subtitle "The Labyrinth of Poetry and Desire" shows, it is the presentation of desire in poetry. Poetry is the language of desire, and desire is almost the context of poetry. The use of labyrinth to refer to Western poetry and the use of maze to refer to Chinese classical poetry complement each other. The preference and even obsession with such a naming style is a fundamental part of Yuwen Suo'an's life.
Things in the maze are always given a surreal aura. Contemporary Chinese people's fascination with labyrinths mainly stems from Borges' exposure to huge libraries and the depths of time. Borges believed that there is no way out of the maze at all. Those intricate "false paths" provide us with countless possibilities, but the world is in the maze. In fact, in Greek mythology, the Minoan labyrinth became an extremely complex metaphor. Theseus arrived at the palace of Minos, and the princess Ariadne fell in love with him at first sight. The princess gave him a ball of thread and a magic sword, and asked him to tie the thread at the entrance and let it go into the labyrinth. Theseus The Minotaur was found deep in the maze, and after a desperate struggle, the Minotaur was finally killed. It can be seen that this is a maze with a solution and a way out. The wisdom of rationalism can understand everything and the maze is not confusing. We might as well call it a "linear maze".
So, is there a solution to the Chinese-style maze? The Lost Tower? Or for some people, the Lost Tower is a super fortress to protect themselves.
"Milou" originally refers to a palace built by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty in the early 7th century for his indulgence. Its original meaning is "a palace that makes people get lost." No matter who you are, as long as you enter the mysterious building, you will be fascinated and forget to return. In my opinion, there are actually two situations, one is that you are unable to get out of the maze, and the other is that you are not willing to get out at all. So, whether it is a lost building that is entangled in time or a spatial loop, the author seems to have ignored another saying about the lost building: Yan Shigu's "Daye Supplementary Notes" of the Tang Dynasty records: "The emperor Changzai Zhaoming selected the building, Che Chai Before arriving, thousands of palace maids were ordered to go up to the tower to greet them. A breeze came from the east, and the palace maiden's clothes were blown by the wind, and lay straight on her shoulders. When the emperor saw it, his color became more and more desolate, so he built a mysterious tower. ?This is the ?maze of the five colors of eyes and eyes, and the color is enchanting, which more reflects the erotic space nature of the enchanting building. Nonetheless, the flashlight Yuwen uses to look at the lost building is a metaphor.
As Mr. Cheng Zhangcan, the translator of "The Lost House", pointed out, Yuwen has a special liking for two series of metaphors: one is about metaphors about walking, roads, forks, and getting lost, such as " The prelude to dancing mentioned in the "Introduction", the departure from Ireland, entering and exiting the dance circle in the first chapter, attracting people to go astray and forked paths, the encounter between the shepherdess and the silkworm girl on the way in the second chapter, the stranger's prodigal, " "Epilogue" finally goes elsewhere, etc.; the other is various metaphors about architecture, such as "Mallarmé's Chamber" in Chapter 1, "Adjacent Secret Chamber" in Chapter 3, "Rilke's Room". , the "corridor" in Chapter 4, the "front hall" in Chapter 5, the "false exit" in "Epilogue", "this road is blocked", etc. It can be seen that the maze and maze in the title of the book not only metaphor the object of discussion of the book, but also the structural characteristics and discussion method of the book. It is a metaphor with dual orientations of object and subject. The author's subtle and profound intentions are condensed here.
So, using metaphors to illuminate metaphors and using rhetorical metaphors to clarify cognitive metaphors may make things further confusing. Classical Chinese poetry expresses much more than a life/writing experience. Not only does it have aesthetic value, poetry also reveals something more important. It helps an individual determine his place in the world. Of course, as the architect of the lost building on paper, Yuwen may know one purpose better than the readers: he is walking in poetry with "metaphorical hermeneutics", and his figure left in the poetry alley is also a metaphor. This is like a restorer of antiquities. His restorationist efforts may also have a lot of whitewashing elements. This naturally gave me the following conjecture: Are the ancient poems really so complicated?
Yuwen Suoan gave a lively explanation, which means that he gave his understanding . This is tentatively called "bringing light to others," but he is obviously not satisfied with this. Instead, he tries to "put aside fixed expectations" and often gives completely opposite explanations, which is quite enlightening. Yu Wensuo'an actually reduced the writers in classical literature to ordinary people with universal humanity? The exploration of Li Qingzhao's latent resentment in "The Lure of Memories" pushed this reduction to the extreme. Therefore, the success of "The Lost House" does not lie in the conceptual structure it proposes, but in the fact that these poems have brought us new pleasure through his restoration.
Yu Wensuo'an's works are written in a relaxed style and can be opened and closed freely. The so-called expressions that understand the essence of things are unique in the academic discourse dominated by grand narratives. His preferred "text reading", the most harmonious way of speaking, should be classified as an essay rather than a prose as far as modern Chinese is concerned.
The so-called real fragments are small objects and pets of time. ?Yuwen Suoan believes that "The Analects" stores a large number of fragments, and the unsaid words are far more than the spoken words. ?When you can get the indication of the work from places that only experienced eyes can barely identify, refuse to provide it to When you have that kind of intelligence and deep feeling, you get the prize for being reserved. ?In fact, fragments are one of the most prominent features of Chinese essays.
Fragments are not fragments, let alone fragments of the whole. Fragments are deep plows into the mind. Viewed from a high point, fragments are a tightrope for individual thinkers to transcend the chasm and grand narrative. Common sense tells us that ideas must be expressed through their most "counterpoint" style. Changes in style are as important as weapons to skills. Obviously, stylistic awareness is determined by the text's own function in the reading and writing process. It is mainly reflected in two aspects: it provides an encoding program for writing; it suggests a decoding method for reading. Let me remind you of the following statement: Thoughts often come to the thinker when they are unprepared. They always appear in a slow manner, allowing the thinker to relax and prepare a vessel to receive it. It uses an image, a rebuttal, and a fragmentary presentation to restore the image we long for. Time has been persuaded, the space is soft and round, and thoughts can be opened, making the darkness darker and brighter; thoughts make the light further pure, just like the fine snow drifting on the edge of a knife?
Yuwen Suo'an The language and profundity beyond ordinary research have opened up a new horizon for Chinese literature. This means that not all scholars can call themselves "readers". They must use the word "reminiscence" as Yuwen An said before they can be called "readers among readers." The ancients who retreated into the depths of writing, their writing was actually bitter tea prepared for people like Yuwen Suo'an.
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