The literary characteristics of Anglo-Saxon period and the characteristics of knight literature

Five hundred years later, if the professors of China Literature Department of Fudan University in Shanghai put the current "new literature" novels-those girls who are always described as neurotic and like to fall in love, stubborn fathers who don't know why, peasants who just want the only thrill, revolutionaries who only know slogans forever, and martyrs who die peacefully as usual-such new literature, new literature, or so-called "revolutionary literature". Just like when we read novels five hundred years ago, we always feel a little out of tune. The beauty of literature is so fickle. Because literature reflects the thoughts and life of the times, when the times have passed, the literature of that era has also become the past, which is only discussed by literary historians.

Situations like this, whether in the East or the West, are no exception. The literary works that prevailed in Europe 500 years ago are definitely not the current popular realism, neo-romanticism or neo-realism literature. European literature 500 years ago, just as we once had "the degenerate son was the top scholar, and the good girl privately booked the lifelong back garden", was equally unreasonable and ridiculous. The difference between them is that they are not talking about the thousands of miles of marriage of "gifted scholars and beautiful women", but the love life of samurai. These warriors were a special class at that time, called knights; Therefore, today's literary historians also call the literature of Europe at that time, that is, the literature of the Middle Ages "knight literature".

Reporter: Now let's see, aren't all these junk fantasy novels and low-level fantasy novels created by China people popular on the Internet? Martial arts literature can remain in people's memory for 500 years, but can these rubbish on the internet exist for even five years now? I'm afraid many novels won't last five months or even five weeks! Sometimes I can't help but wonder what future generations will say when they see these fantasies and low-level fantasies-if these things can still be preserved until then? Indeed, "literature reflects the thoughts and life of the times"; Now these "one thousand articles and one case, unreasonable and disgusting" online fantasy literature may reflect the psychology of netizens in the early days of the internet age! -probably, for future generations, these works have only so much value. ...

Chivalry was a special organization of feudal vassal States at that time. Although it is based on the creed of "loyalty to the monarch, protection of religion and Ren Xia", it seems to be a first-class ranger of Zhu State in China. But in fact, those "knights" were just drunken and lecherous military men, who became the minions of feudal princes and killed people at will in the name of "protecting the Orthodox Church". During the Crusade, knights were in the limelight, and the real knight literature was also produced at that time.

At that time, all kinds of barbarian dialects (barbarians were indeed the emerging nations at that time and the ancestors of powerful western civilized nations now) combined with degenerate irregular Latin called "vulgar Latin" or "lower Latin" to form the so-called "Roman" characters. "Love" is love, which was originally a proper noun of this writing. Scholars at that time used this "Rome" to write the adventures and love stories of knights, so these works were also called "romance novels"; This name has been used for a long time. Until modern times, literary historians often said that "medieval romance" or "chivalrous romance" could be translated into "knight literature". Now we use the translation of "knight literature" because "romance" and literary romanticism are easily confused.

In the history of European literature, knight literature is the literature representing the feudal system. In other words, chivalrous literature is a cultural level that corresponds to the feudal system politically or becomes a tool of feudal monarchs. Now, naturally, no one will imitate or appreciate knight literature (of course, knight literature should also be in decline), but from the standpoint of literary history, knight literature is a continuation of myths and legends and a modern novel, so the study of knight literature is not necessarily an eventful autumn. Chivalrous literature The famous Don Quixote is the funeral of chivalrous literature. Don Quixote, the master, loves chivalrous literature, is fascinated by chivalrous literature, and stubbornly goes everywhere to eliminate disasters and punish evil, so he hits a lot of nails, makes a lot of jokes and finally loses his life. However, the real knight in the real chivalrous literature is not such a knight, so he won't be so unlucky. At the beginning, the poet of string songs only wanted to do his duty faithfully at his master's banquet, so he dragged the anecdotes of your master's minions around. He (the poet of string songs) described the knights as heroic and chivalrous, and their lovers as "gorgeous as peaches and plums, cold as frost", which was nothing more than talking about their last skill of good prayer. They never imagined that a Don Quixote would suffer a big loss. Now let's introduce knight literature. I dare to predict that there may not be a second Don Quixote fooled again.

When the Romans overthrew the rule of Gaul, the mixture of dialects formed two schools. In the south, the more Latin Oak language is popular. This is the writing used by the troubadours in Provence, whose tone is closer to lyricism than epic. In the north, there is the so-called Langue d'Oil Oyi language, which is a tool used by trouvères (northern bards). They use the materials at hand and the historical materials of the place to create those "romances" (naturally, this is the romance of the original poem).

As mentioned earlier, knight literature describes the knight's career. So these stories are all about knights. At that time, it was not easy for a boy of noble birth to get the title of "knight" How many adventurous chivalrous acts he must have had (naturally just "chivalrous" in the spleen and stomach of the medieval feudal class) and how many pagan "Arab dogs" he must have killed. He must be famous in the Jianghu before he can be called a "knight". The screenwriter of Romance is not only a knight's profession, but also a knight's adventurer. So "adventure" is the main theme of knight literature. The early Romance also talked about the knight's affair. But the knights won the favor of beautiful women because of his chivalrous behavior. Those beautiful and proud medieval beauties are those who can make fun of the men who pursue her. They also like to see a man bleed for her love, in the name of Ren Xia's adventure. Therefore, even when describing the knight's love affair, the early romance is not "the handle under the moon" or "the words before the flowers", but an adventurous "chivalrous act" to kill the lion, the tiger and the dragon. Knights must have had countless adventures. The author of Romance described them one by one, but there was no connection. As usual, these adventures must be in a mysterious environment, an ancient dark forest, a lost fortress, or a demon cave. Opponents are not ordinary people, but tigers, lions, poisonous dragons, man-eating demons, wizards for thousands of years and so on. Sometimes there are evil warriors, the so-called black knights, but they also have superhuman abilities and are no longer mortal. For all these fierce opponents, our hero knight must be extremely brave to attack and win. He will not fail; With a magic helmet, ring or sword, he can win forever. We see him coming and going every day, minding other people's business; Just like this, "running around the rivers and lakes" and "killing people", and finally going back there to marry the beautiful woman he expected or expected. This is the rigid structure of early romance. ……RPG……

History and geography are also intertwined in the early romance. According to an author of Romance, the time when Charlemagne ascended the throne was 103. ..... If 103, where is Trajan? . Another theory is that the Roman emperor Lucius, who fought against King Arthur, had kings of Ethiopia and Egypt in his barracks. It is also said that the Sudan with Surrey is also at war, which makes us think that this so-called Surrey probably refers to Syria. The word Saracen, a medieval literati, is a general term for Arabs. The original meaning of this word is "people who live in tents"; However, it was later said that the emperor would lead Ceylon natives to fight. Scotland is also often said to be ruled by Saracens; Because the author of Romance can't tell the difference between Saxon and Muslim. Constantine, it is said that because he was not elected Pope, he later converted to Islam. On the other hand, Constantinople lies between Ireland and England. Denmark is said to be close to Lombardy. The Danish princess is going to England, but she got on the boat in Scotland. Alexander the Great sailed somewhere from the East to meet the Temple of Venus, but he broke on the boat halfway and drowned. The ancient emperor, in the Romance, became a knight who wandered the rivers and lakes and felt wronged, and was as idle as Don Quixote. The characters in the Bible and ancient legends were also dressed as knights by the author of Romance, doing some customs that were not even in the days of King Arthur and Charlemagne. In short, history and geography, in knight literature, are upside down and confused to the point where I don't know why.

Now let's talk about morality. Knight's morality is not brilliant. Feudalism and religious fanaticism are their ideological bones. Knights roam the rivers and lakes all the year round, naturally without productivity, and their life is to exploit others; If it is not direct plunder, it is at least indirect plunder. Are supported by some small governors and feudal nobles; So they naturally have to support these feudal privileged classes, which has become their creed of "loyalty to the monarch." The religious fanaticism of the people in the Middle Ages was also dominated by feudal nobles in order to divert people's attention. Note: this view may not be correct, but power is a reference; At that time, the feudal princes exploited the peasants in the name of the Crusades, and brutally plundered the people in the East and the "pagans" in the West in the name of eliminating pagans. At that time, it was popular to plunder the property of others in the name of "protecting the Orthodox Church"; Knights' creed of "protecting orthodox religion" is also based on plundering pagans. As for the creed of "Ren Xia", it's just a sentence. Romance tells that when the son of Tristram (a famous knight in Arthur's time) accepted the title of knight on the tomb of Lancelot (one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table), he received such instructions: "Knight, be cruel to your enemies, be kind to your friends, be humble to the weak, and always remember to help justice and punish those who bully widows, orphans and the poor. And always try to love the poor and the holy church. " This is the so-called Ren Xia. But as a matter of fact, the early Chansons de Geste and Martial Arts Poems have shown that this motto or oath is just a sentence. In the later Romance, knights were described as noble, complete and polite. However, the knights in the early Romance were definitely not noble or polite. Their so-called "rangers" are actually plundering in disguise. The "heroes" of water margin looted their homes and claimed to uphold justice for heaven; The chivalrous behavior of European knights in the Middle Ages was similar. The difference is that the plunder of knights was chartered or recognized by feudal society (or feudal system).

Being cruel to the enemy is also a necessary morality for a knight. "Romance" praises the bravery and loyalty of the knight, often based on how many "Arab dogs" he killed. "To kill more pagans is to declare a border for the Orthodox Church", which is a medieval religious view, because knights are executioners who kill people without blinking an eye. These nosy "chivalrous men" often forced their hated Arab dogs to convert to orthodox religion because they refused to let them go to hell after death, and even killed hundreds of people with one sword.

Note: Calvino's novel The Non-existent Knight (the third part of our ancestors) has a pungent spoof and satire on these things, which is highly recommended.

In the early "romance", monsters were also common. Knights not only have magic swords or magic armor (that is, the enemy can't see him or hurt him), but also often fight dragons, giants, demons, wizards and other supernatural things. The result is always that the knight wins. Because the "good" wins, the "evil" dies, the "good" is all good, and the "evil" is all evil, which is also a feature of knight literature. ..... third-rate RPG…… ... ...

As mentioned above, the "romance" in the early life of medieval knights was actually just some vulgar works. Of course, this evaluation is equally applicable to fantasy in thought and technology. But the only source of literature after the Middle Ages is these "romance novels". Later "romance", such as Spanish works (which we will talk about in detail later), has been able to get rid of the moral concept of killing people without blinking an eye and the cloak of mysterious ghosts, developed into a series of adventure stories describing the world (in the lightest sense of the word), and has degenerated into the predecessor of "modern novels"

On the other hand, chivalrous literature in the Middle Ages has become an old fact in the history of European literature, and it has become an indispensable common sense for literary researchers as well as myths.