Zweig on Leo Tolstoy Zweig
He was born with a hairy face,
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The thick mustache makes it difficult for people to see clearly his inner world.
The long beard covers the cheeks,
covers the lips,
covers the dark face wrinkled like tree bark,
One root flutters in the wind,
It looks like an elder.
The eyebrows, which are about one finger wide, are like tangled tree roots,
pointing upward. Locks of gray curls lay like foam on his forehead.
No matter from which angle you look, you can see the lush beard and hair like a tropical forest.
Like Michelangelo's Moses, Tolstoy's unforgettable image comes from his father-like image of rolling white waves. Big beard.
People all tried to use their imagination to remove the hair that covered his face, trim his crazy beard, and used the portrait of him with a shaved beard as a reference, hoping to use magic to create a smooth face. . ——This is a signpost leading to the inner world. As a result, we inevitably start to cringe. Because, it is undeniable that this man from a noble family has a rough appearance, with the face of a country boy. The soul of genius is willing to live in a low hut, and the workshop of the soul of genius is not much better than the leather tent set up by the Kyrgyz people. The hut was crudely made by a rural carpenter, while the small one was built by skilled craftsmen from ancient Greece. The beam above the small window--the forehead above the small eyes--looks like firewood chopped haphazardly with a knife. The skin is covered with dirt and lacks luster, and is as rough as the outer wall of a village house made of branches. In the middle of the square face, what we see is a wide lion's nose with two holes pointing upward, as if someone had punched it. It looks like it collapsed. Behind the messy hair, there is no way to hide the ugly pair of striking ears. There are two thick lips in the middle of the sunken cheeks. The overall impression left is one of imbalance, ruggedness, mediocrity, and even vulgarity.
The worried face of this working man is shrouded in a shadow of depression. There is dullness and depression: there is no aura of enthusiasm, no spiritual brilliance, no small success on his face. The extraordinary structure between Dostoevsky's eyebrows that slowly rises like a marble dome. There was no luster in his face. Anyone who does not admit this is not telling the truth. Undoubtedly, this face is plain and unremarkable, with many obstacles and irreparable obstacles. It is not a temple for spreading wisdom, but a prison for imprisoning thoughts; this face is ignorant, gloomy, unhappy, ugly and hateful. From his youth, Tolstoy was deeply aware that his appearance was unlovable. He said he hated any illusions about his appearance. "How can a person like me with a wide nose, thick lips, and small gray eyes still find happiness?" Because of this, he soon let his beard and hair grow all over his face, hiding his lips in the dark The beard like a mink mask didn't turn white until he got older, giving him a somewhat kind and respectable look. It was not until the last ten years of his life that the thick cloud covering his face was lifted; it was not until the late autumn of his life that the light of beauty thawed this desolate place.
The eternally wandering soul of Micai actually found a humble home in a rustic Russian. There is nothing spiritual in this person, lacking poets, dreamers and creations. The person’s temperament. From a boy to a young adult, and even into old age, Tolstoy has always been plain-looking and could not be found among the crowd. To him. There is nothing wrong with wearing this coat or that coat, this hat or that hat. A person with such a face that can be seen everywhere in Russia may be presiding over a meeting of ministers on stage, or hanging out with a group of drunkards in a wine shop; he may be selling bread in the market, or he may be wearing the cassock of an archbishop. The cross was raised and passed over the heads of the kneeling believers. With such a face, no matter what profession you are engaged in, no matter what clothes you wear, or wherever you are in Russia, you will never stand out from the crowd and attract attention. When Tolstoy was a student, he might have been a mixture of his peers; when he was an officer, it was impossible to distinguish him from his comrades; but after returning to country life, he looked like the country squire he usually appeared on the stage. Couldn't be more consistent. If you see a picture of him driving a carriage, and there is a white-bearded attendant sitting beside him, you may have to think for a while before you can judge that the person holding the reins is the coachman, and the person sitting beside him is the driver. It's the count. Looking at another photo, he is talking to some farmers. If you didn't know the truth, you wouldn't have guessed that Lev, sitting among the old farmers, was a man of status and wealth. His family background and identity were very different from those of Gregor, Ivan, Ilya, Peter and everyone else present. . His face is completely featureless and belongs entirely to ordinary Russians. Therefore, we have to call him an ordinary person, and at this moment there will be a feeling that genius does not have any special appearance, but is the general expression of ordinary people. It can be said that Tolstoy does not have his own unique face. He has the face of ordinary people around Russia, because he shares the fate of the entire Russian people.
Those who saw him for the first time were therefore invariably disappointed at first.
Some of them traveled long distances by train, and some drove from Tula, sitting upright in the living room waiting for the master's reception. They have long formed a subjective concept of him, hoping to find something majestic and extraordinary in him, hoping to see a handsome man with a beard who looks like the Father in Heaven, who is noble, majestic, stalwart and genius. Before they were about to see the living person with their own eyes, they bowed their heads and lowered their eyebrows to the image of this literary figure they imagined, with great respect, and their inner expectations expanded to the point of fear. The door finally opened, and what came in was a short, stocky man. His beard was trembling because of his brisk steps. As soon as he entered the door, he almost jogged all the way, then suddenly stopped and looked at a stunned visitor with a friendly smile. With a relaxed and cheerful tone, he spoke words of welcome quickly and casually, and at the same time took the initiative to extend his hand to the guests. The visitor shook his hand with deep confusion and surprise. What? Such a dwarf! Could such a small and exquisite guy really be Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy? The guest raised his eyelids with embarrassment and looked directly at the host's face.
Suddenly, the guest held his breath in surprise. Under the thick bush-like eyebrows of the little man in front of him, a pair of gray eyes shot out a ray of sunlight like a panther. Although everyone saw Anyone who has seen Tolstoy has talked about this sharp gaze, but no picture, no matter how good it is, can reflect it. This gaze was like a sharp steel knife stabbing him, steady and accurate, hitting the vital point. It makes you unable to move or dodge. As if being controlled by hypnotism, you have no choice but to endure this kind of probing gaze. No one can resist it. It penetrated the camouflaged armor like a bullet, and cut through the glass like a diamond knife. Under this kind of scrutiny, no one can hide anything. ——In this regard, hundreds of people including Turgenev and Gorky have given unquestionable descriptions.
This kind of soul-piercing inspection only lasted for a second, and then the sword was sheathed, replaced by soft eyes and a kind smile. Although the corners of his mouth were tightly closed and unchanged, his eyes were full of bright smiles, like magical starlight. And under the influence of beautiful and moving music, they can burst into tears like village women. When they feel spiritually satisfied and at ease, they can sparkle, but in a blink of an eye they are eclipsed by melancholy, cast into clouds, suddenly desolate, and appear insensitive and mysterious. They can become cold and sharp, they can reveal hidden secrets like scalpels and X-rays, and soon they will burst into curiosity with interest. These are the most emotional eyes on the human face. Can express a variety of emotions. Gorky's apt description of them expresses what we are thinking: "There are a hundred eyeballs in Tolstoy's eyes."
Thanks to such a pair of eyes, Tolstoy's There was a burst of talent on his face. All the genius of this man was concentrated in his eyes, just as the rich thoughts of the handsome Dostoevsky were concentrated in the peaks of his eyebrows. The other parts of Tolstoy's face, his beard, eyebrows, and hair, are nothing more than carapaces used to package and protect this pair of shining jewels. This pair of jewels has magic and magnetism, and can absorb the substances in the world, and then Radiating unerring frequency waves into our time. No matter how small a thing is, these eyes can see it clearly, like a falcon swooping down from a high altitude towards a timid mouse. These eyes will not let go of trivial details, but they can also fully reveal the vastness. The infinite universe. They can shine on the highest reaches of the spiritual world, and they can equally successfully shine their searchlight into the darkest depths of the soul. This pair of shimmering crystals has enough heat and purity to be able to gaze at God selflessly; it has enough courage to gaze at the nothingness that destroys everything. This nothingness is like the Gorgon, and anyone who sees her will turn into stone. . Nothing is impossible for these eyes, unless they fall into idle daydreams and enjoy themselves silently in elegant and cheerful dreams. As soon as the eyelids open, these eyes must be unambiguous, pursuing the prey soberly and ruthlessly. They cannot tolerate phantoms and want to tear off every false pretense and tear apart shallow creeds. Everything cannot escape these eyes, and the naked truth must be revealed. It was very scary when this pair of cold daggers were turned towards their Feng Ren, because the blade was ruthless and went straight to the vital point, hitting him right in the heart.
Those who have this kind of sharp vision and can see the truth can have the entire world and its wealth of knowledge at their disposal. As a person who has always been good at observing and seeing through the essence of things, he must be missing one thing, and that is his own happiness.
"Leo Tolstoy" is an independent section in the biography "Three Writers" of the famous Austrian writer Zweig. The author uses his powerful and witty pen to paint a "portrait" of the great writer Tolstoy for us, revealing Tolstoy's profound and outstanding spiritual world. The first half of the article focuses on describing Tolstoy's appearance characteristics, highlighting two characteristics. One is that Tolstoy's appearance is mediocre or even ugly, and the other is that he is like ordinary people and cannot be distinguished in a crowd. Writing about his mediocre appearance is not only a true portrayal of his appearance, but also to show that he is an ordinary member of the Russian people and shares the fate of the entire Russian people.
Reading the full text, we can still feel the extraordinary qualities of this great writer: writing about his mediocre or even ugly appearance is used to contrast the nobility of his soul and the exquisiteness of his eyes - the author has made it clear, " The other parts of Tolstoy's face - beard, eyebrows, hair, are nothing more than a carapace used to package and protect these shining jewels." The full text not only gives a unique and detailed description of Tolstoy's "form" and "spirit", but also permeates the author's admiration and praise for Tolstoy between the lines. In this way, the description in the first half not only does not damage Tolstoy's image in the minds of readers, but also achieves complementary artistic effects and sets off each other, making Tolstoy's appearance, including his eyes, leave a strong impression on people. This article uses words to paint a portrait of a human being. The pen is written in a small space, but it is eloquent and contains thousands of words. In the not-so-short space, the author does not cover everything, but highlights the key points and lays out the details. Sometimes, dozens of sentences or hundreds of words are carefully crafted in a certain part, leaving a deep and strong impression on the readers. In addition, the extensive use of metaphors and exaggerations brings us into the space of infinite imagination, allowing us to play with its taste and figure out its meaning. Metaphor is not about pursuing physical resemblance, but pursuing divine likeness; exaggeration highlights Toon's physical characteristics. The characters are more vivid, with prominent features, profound metaphors and endless charm.
Exquisite rhetorical methods
In this article, the author uses a large number of metaphors, parallelism and other rhetorical methods to describe the appearance, temperament and personality of the characters. There are many sentences in it that leave a deep impression on people. For example, when describing Tolstoy's appearance, he compared his beard and hair to a "tropical forest": his forehead was compared to "firewood chopped randomly with a knife"; his skin was compared to "the outer wall of a village made of branches." Coupled with the "upturned nose" and "wind-catching ears", Thors' popular and approachable "field villager's face" is described in a delicate, vivid and lifelike way. At the same time, the author also uses exaggerated rhetoric. Although it is exaggerated, it is well-measured and not artificial. For example, the description of Tolstoy's gaze is described as "like a bullet penetrating a disguised armor, like a steel knife cutting through glass." This enlarged and exaggerated description makes Tolstoy's keen eyesight , sharp and vivid.
Skilled writing skills
In this article, in addition to using positive description techniques, the author also uses a lot of side descriptions. For example, when describing Tolstoy's figure, the visitor's doubts and surprises were used to indirectly describe Tolstoy's "small and exquisite figure", which not only provided an image, but also gave 7 readers a new perspective on Tolstoy. In addition, the author also highlights Leo Tolstoy's approachable and unpretentious character by comparing his mediocre or even crude appearance with his achievements. Throughout the article
Judging from the above, Zweig not only uses words accurately and appropriately, but also masters various writing techniques with great proficiency, and can show the charming charm of language between the lines.
Structure analysis of the article
This article is a "portrait" of Leo Tolstoy. The author not only shows us Tolstoy's unique appearance characteristics, but also It reveals Tolstoy's profound spiritual world to us. The full text is structurally composed of two parts.
The first part (paragraphs 1-5) describes Tolstoy’s physical characteristics.
The first paragraph mainly writes about the characteristics of Tolstoy’s beard and hair.
Paragraph 2 mainly describes Tolstoy’s facial contours and structure.
Paragraph 3 further describes Tolstoy’s facial features, focusing on his facial expressions.
In paragraph 4, it is written that Tolstoy is mediocre in appearance and a member of the ordinary Russian people.
Paragraph 5 mainly writes that Tolstoy’s appearance will disappoint visitors.
The second part (paragraphs 6-9) describes Tolstoy’s extraordinary eyes.
In paragraph 6, write about Tolstoy’s sharp eyes.
In paragraph 7, it is written that Tolstoy’s eyes contain rich emotions.
Paragraph 8, write about the power of Tolstoy’s eyes.
Paragraph 9 praises Tolstoy’s sharp vision while revealing the misfortune of his life.
The author uses exaggerated rhetorical techniques to describe Tolstoy's appearance. Exaggeration is when describing people or things, deliberately exaggerating and trying to expand or reduce the description. For example, the author's description of Tolstoy's gaze, describing it as "like a bullet penetrating disguised armor, like a diamond knife cutting through glass." This enlarged and exaggerated description makes Tolstoy's keen eyesight and The sharpness is extremely vivid and vivid, and can arouse readers' rich imagination and associations. Try to find sentences from the text that use exaggeration to describe Tolstoy's eyebrows, beard, skin, and nose, and carefully appreciate their expression effects.
Refined analysis:
This question is designed to master the rhetorical technique of exaggeration in combination with the text, and learn to use it.
Answer:
Describe eyebrows: eyebrows about one finger wide are like tangled tree roots, pointing up and down.
Describe the beard and hair: Locks of gray curly hair piled up on the forehead like foam. No matter which angle you look at, you can see the lush beard and hair like a tropical forest. His fatherly beard is like a curling white wave.
Describe the skin: The skin is covered with dirt and lacks luster, and is as rough as the outer wall of a cottage made of branches.
Describe the nose: a wide lion nose with two holes pointing upward, as if it had been knocked flat by a fist.
These exaggerated descriptions not only make Tolstoy's appearance leave a distinct and profound impression on people, but also create endless associations.