Reading Notes

When I bought this book, I thought there was only one novel, Rashomon, but I didn't expect it to be a collection of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's novels. The translator introduced Ryunosuke Akutagawa's life, creative inspiration, artistic expression and exploration of human nature in 2 1 page, which greatly stimulated my reading interest. When reading this book, I read the preface of the translator over and over again, which deepened my understanding of some articles that I didn't understand very well.

The name "Rashomon" is no stranger. Kurosawa's Oscar-winning film is well known, but in fact, I have never seen this film, and it is the first time that I know that it is based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa's novel, and of course it is the first time that I know the author of Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Rashomon tells an ironic story about pursuing morality or facing death in Rashomon. How can a dismissed person survive in the law of the jungle society? After the earthquake, typhoon, fire and famine, Rashomon was in chaos and desolation, with corpses everywhere. Who has nowhere to go, at the critical moment of life and death, is to be a robber or starve to death? After hesitation, he chose the former. When he entered a building, he found an old woman pulling out the dead man's hair and selling it as a wig. Who played a joke on the old woman with a righteous face, and then stripped her of her clothes and ran away. Is it really moral to face life and death?

The article used a lot of space to describe the environment, setting off the miserable scene of streets and abandoned houses in famine years. The psychological activities and actions of the characters are also vividly portrayed, such as describing the fear and curiosity of the old woman who just found her, and then the hatred and contempt.

This is an absurd story.

There is a nose five or six inches long in it, which brings great inconvenience to his life: someone needs to lift his nose with the opposite lath when eating; It also hurts his self-esteem: it affects his appearance. He is very concerned about his long nose. He always wanted to make it shorter, or he could find someone with a nose similar to his own, but he couldn't do it, so he was very upset. Later, I found a folk prescription: soak your nose in hot water, then let others step on it, and use tweezers to find something like spilled millet, because it is fatter. This process is very painful and humiliating, but fortunately, the nose has really become smaller, probably the size of a normal person, and it has not grown back. But the inner confession gradually felt that others were pointing at his nose. There is a passage in the article that says: "There are two contradictory feelings in people's hearts. No one can avoid the misfortune of lovers. However, this unfortunate person, once something happens, somehow makes people feel lost. " Unfortunately, I don't understand the mystery, and I always feel unhappy and in a bad mood. I regret shortening my nose. Then, one night, my nose grew again and I thought to myself, See which of them is still happy.

People are really strange creatures. For unfortunate people, there will be sympathy, even more than ridicule. Once the original misfortune disappears, your sympathy seems to turn into a joke and your heart is unbalanced. As an unfortunate person, it is not easy to be yourself.

Mr. Maori is an elderly English teacher. Because the young English teacher who was in class before suddenly fell ill and died, he was asked to take over for a while. In the first class, he addressed his classmates with such polite address as "gentlemen", but his classmates didn't seem to appreciate him or respect him very much. They always laugh at his clothes and his mother tongue's lack of vocabulary. One day, when Mr. Maori was speaking English and reading Ode to Life, he discussed life problems with everyone, but he was mercilessly refuted and ridiculed by his classmates. At that time, "I" also thought that Mr. Maori was forced to teach in order not to lose his job, instead of being interested in teaching, criticizing him and despising his clothes, knowledge and even personality. Mr. Maori only taught for one semester, and no one felt sorry for it. After graduating from college, I met Mr. Maori, who was teaching English to the clerk in a coffee shop. I thought he taught English to make money, but I learned from the conversation of the clerk that he came to teach English for free every night. At that moment, I understood Mr. Maori's personality and realized that he was a born educator.

Teachers are not only a profession, but also a job of bringing home the bacon. It is also a lofty ideal and a career that is willing to devote its life to it. Once, I heard an old professor in his 90 s say that he was also a national first-class meritorious service winner. I was shocked to see that he needed help to get on the platform, but he was full of energy and gave us a lecture with a loud voice. At that moment, I silently told myself in my heart that I also want to be a teacher like an old professor. As long as I have a little strength, I will stand on the podium and continue my lecture.

Magic master magic is ever-changing and incredible. "I" really want to learn. The magic master said that anyone can learn it as easy as blowing off dust, but greed can't. If you want to learn magic, you must get rid of all desires. "I" readily promised.

A month later, "I" learned magic. I can't refuse their request at the party with my friends. I took out the coals from the fire and made countless dazzling gold coins. My friends advised me to keep these gold coins for myself, but I was unmoved. Friends came up with a way to play cards and persuaded them again and again. In desperation, "I" agreed. I was lucky that night. Finally, a man said he would bet all his property. At this moment, "I" raised my desire and won all the bets with magic.

But when I suddenly woke up, I found that it was a dream made by the magician to determine whether I could get rid of all my desires. Obviously, if I don't do this, I won't learn magic.

A very absurd little story reveals to us the deepest desire in human nature, which can not be eliminated by casual talk. It's really hard not to want anything. Money, house, beauty, freedom and happiness ... everyone will have what they want, but there is really no desire. Maybe only those who escape into an empty door can do it.

Is it necessarily wrong to have desires? I don't think so. It is precisely because we have desires that we will strive hard, but we should use proper means to get what we want. Just like the "I" in the article, he wants to deceive others with magic, thus gaining countless wealth. In the end, he got nothing.

This is a beautiful love story. Qiu Zi went to the dance of Minglu Concert Hall. That night, big chrysanthemums surrounded the ballroom. At the dance, Akiko and the naval officer fell in love and danced and chatted all the time. Qiu Zi is not confident, can't believe the love of the official, and can't accept it. After the dance, the two separated and never met again.

More than 30 years later, Qiu Zi saw a young novelist holding a bunch of chrysanthemums on the train, recalling the past and telling him about the scene of the dance. The novelist asked her the name of the naval officer, and she said it was Julian Viod. The novelist said it was Lottie.

It turned out that Lottie, a French writer, was a naval officer and wrote a novel called Lady Agatha. This story was born out of Lady Agatha.

I have to say that the author has a unique perspective. Based on the novel, he imagined the scene when they met, and described it extremely delicately, as if he had personally experienced the dance and witnessed the feelings between two young people. Finally, Qiu Zi firmly said that his name was Julien Viaud, which came to an abrupt end, making people sigh that a love is like missing oxygen.

Christophe, meaning a man who bears Christ and a saint who saves disaster. So this novel should be a story about redemption and martyrdom from the name.

Christophe, formerly known as Lei Probao, is a giant in the mountains. He is kind by nature, not only does he not bully passers-by, but also helps people knock down cut trees and always helps others. When mountain people see him, they often take out cakes and other entertainments and have intimate conversations.

One day, he wants to make contributions and become a general. When he heard that the king was a world hero, he went to see the king. It was successfully incorporated by the king and won the battle easily. The king rewarded his merits and made him a vassal. At the celebration dinner, I saw that the king was scared and angry when he heard the word devil. He thinks the king's hero is coming, but he doesn't want the king to bow to the devil. Then he might as well work for the devil. So, he was locked up for treason, and was rescued by the devil and joined the devil. The devil met a hermit, lost in the magic of the Lord Jesus, and fled.

Seeing this scene, he decided that the Lord Jesus was the one he was looking for and wanted to be the servant of the Lord Jesus. However, because he was with the devil, he couldn't meet the Lord Jesus, read the Bible, practice in the valley or stay up all night, so he couldn't be the servant of the Lord Jesus. The hermit, because he was tall, let him cross the river where people were very sad and named him Christophe. Rain or shine, it took him three years to cross the river. On a stormy night, he sent a boy across the river. The boy is getting heavier and heavier, but he still goes through hardships to send the boy across the river. It turned out that the boy was the Lord Jesus, and Christophe finally followed the Lord Jesus.

At every turning point in Christophe's life, there will be an important person. The knowledge, virtue and purpose of these characters are the key to where Christophe points.

When he decided to make a contribution, he met a woodcutter. The woodcutter had limited knowledge and only knew that the king was the best, so he guided Christophe to find the king. This character is very much like the person who appeared around us to give us advice when we were preparing for the college entrance examination to fill in our volunteers or looking for a job after graduation. This man may not know much about himself, but he is always there, much better than those of us who have never seen the world. As for whether he is pointing in the right direction, only experience will tell.

The king, who looks brave on the surface, is actually as timid as a mouse. He is scared to death when he hears the devil's name. Christophe was naturally disappointed. Just like when we went to college or went to the company, we found that the school/job was not as good as we thought, and we were disappointed. We wanted to escape, but we couldn't escape. Instead, we were imprisoned.

At this moment, the devil appeared. The devil freed Christophe from imprisonment and gave him a better way out. Isn't it just like when we are in trouble, even if the person who pulled us is the devil, we will have no choice but to accept his help and let ourselves go astray?

Fortunately, Christophe met a hermit. The hermit defeated the devil, guided Christophe to cross the river to atone, and finally met the Lord Jesus. Hermit is a real aristocrat in our life. This man pointed us in the right direction and guided us to the right path, which is the key to our ultimate success. This person may be a teacher, a close friend, a stranger or ourselves.

There is a small detail in the article. When Christophe was going to leave the mountain to make contributions, many little tits left on his head flew away. When he decided to go to the river as a ferry, the little tits flew back to his head. These little tits should be a metaphor for his true nature. When he decided to make contributions, these little tits knew that he would lose himself and his true colors, so they didn't want to stay with him or leave him. When he decided to be a duke, these little tits knew that he had finally found himself, and the giant they liked was back, so they all returned to him.

Every one of us, like Christophe, sometimes loses ourselves and goes astray in the pursuit of life, but if we can wake up in time, pull back from the edge of the cliff and adjust our direction, we can finally find what we want and reach our original destination.

Doubt is a short article in Akutagawa Ryunosuke's collection of short stories Rashomon, which tells a story about ethics and human nature as a master of ethics.

That year, "I" was invited to talk about practical ethics and lived in a quiet villa. One night, a person who attended my lecture came to visit and told me his personal experience and asked if his behavior and judgment of good and evil were correct. The incident was simple and complicated: during the earthquake, his wife was pinned down by the beam and could not be saved, but a fire broke out. He couldn't bear to see his wife burned alive in the fire. He killed her and ran away by himself. He didn't tell anyone about it, but he always hung on his mind, so he was timid and tortured himself mentally, thinking that he couldn't lead a normal life and delayed his marriage. Finally, I decided to get married, but I saw an earthquake scene in a pictorial, and there was a photo of my wife being pinned down by a beam. He decided that it was his wife and began to imagine that he had a complaint about his wife and hated her until he killed her. I finally excused myself: in that case, if he didn't kill his wife, she would burn to death, but I learned another thing in the earthquake: the proprietress of a pub was crushed under the beam, and the beam was broken by fire, and she saved her life. Therefore, he felt that he killed his wife on purpose, and wanted to tell his fiancee about it, but he was ashamed to speak. On the wedding day, I finally couldn't help but feel the pain inside and shouted, "I am a murderer!" " "Of course, the wedding can't go on, others thought he was crazy.

As far as the incident itself is concerned, if he doesn't kill his wife, he will also blame himself for thinking that his wife was burned alive and he didn't help her escape in advance. He killed his wife, which has been tormenting him even if no one knows, and it is difficult for both sides. From an ethical point of view, it is really difficult to tell whether he is right or wrong in this way. Even the ethical master "I" in the text is just silent after listening. From the perspective of human nature, people are selfish. In that case, knowing that his wife was hopeless, he had to leave quickly to save his life. His remorse actually reflects that he still has some conscience and humanity, and he didn't take the initiative to kill his wife.

After reading it, I remembered an article I saw in the newspaper. It's a tweet from Nomura Bole one day and it's gone. It's about the 2008 earthquake. A man thought that his wife and daughter were dead, and he ran away alone. He went to other cities with the money spilled by several banks and became the richest man from scratch. One day, I found my daughter alive in the welfare home, but I was rescued to the welfare home before the death of the kidney source. He blamed himself, regretted, and escaped into an empty door. In fact, the two articles have the same effect.

When one day I found out that I thought I had made the right decision when I was helpless, it turned out that there were other ways and better choices, and my choice was actually the most wrong and selfish. I think everyone will regret, blame themselves, feel guilty and be in a state of anxiety all the time, especially when nothing can make up for the mistakes made at the beginning.

The story is short. It's about a thief who killed and set fire to all evils and went to eighteen levels of hell after his death. Buddha remembered that the thief spared the spider's life, so he let the spider silk go to hell and let the thief climb up along the spider silk. In the process of climbing, the thief found that hundreds of sinners had to climb up along the spider silk. Afraid that the little spider silk could not bear the weight of so many people, he drank heavily to prevent others from climbing up. Seeing this, the Buddha cut off the spider silk and the thief fell down again.

Buddha believes that thieves have no compassion at all and only care about getting out of the sea of suffering, so they should get what they deserve. I think, no matter how vicious a person is, he will be kind, but his nature will never change. When they meet their own practical interests, all benevolence, righteousness and morality will be forgotten. But from another perspective, no matter how kind a person is, he will have evil thoughts or thoughts. When a saint encounters such an emergency, he may not care about the life and death of others.

Young Luo Fu was at the church gate, asking about his life experience. He replied that his home was in heaven. The young man is firm at heart and handsome in appearance. A woman admired him for a long time and deliberately approached him, but the young man was unmoved. Later, when the woman became pregnant, she called the child a teenager. The teenager was kicked out of the church and made a living by begging, but she still kept her heart and prayed devoutly. Later, a fire broke out in the woman's house, and the teenager risked his life to rush into the fire to save the children, but he was hit by the roof beam, and his life soon ended. At this time, the woman regretted that the child was not a teenager. As a result, people shouted: "This is martyrdom!" Just then, the young man was reflected in the fire, showing that he was actually a daughter.

Knowing that you have been wronged, you can clear your grievances by telling your daughter's identity, but for the sake of a woman's reputation, she has suffered all this. She is willing to give her life for her beliefs, which is a kind of selfless love. She finally realized the true meaning of life and died laughing.

In this article, Ryunosuke Akutagawa also expressed his appreciation of beauty and goodness. The conception of this article is also very clever. Through meticulous description, the opening part shows Luo's beauty: his ugly appearance and excellent integrity are like the reincarnation of a child prodigy, which makes people yearn for it. However, such a beautiful person fell from heaven to hell because of adultery, begging for a living, poverty, ridicule and being framed. The ending is reversed again. She gave her life to save a child who had nothing to do with herself. She used to be a daughter, and everyone was in awe of her. Through this comparison between heaven and hell, Luo's greatness and beauty are more displayed.

In this work, Ryunosuke Akutagawa deeply analyzes the dark contradictions and egoistic thoughts hidden in everyone's heart by showing the psychological activities and action expressions of his disciples before his bed when a generation of haiku masters lay dying.

At the beginning of the novel, the haiku master Matsuo Tao Qing is about to swallow his last breath. His disciples sat quietly together, and then they took turns smearing the master's lips with the last water. Every disciple has his own ideas, among which Cao Zhang and Lai are the representatives.

Being greedy for fame and fortune, he was "known for his courtesy", so he came from far away and took the initiative to take care of Master, undertaking a series of complicated affairs that didn't need anyone, and created an image of respecting teachers and valuing education. But judging from his final psychological thoughts, he did all this just to maintain his personal setting, and took good care of Master as a sense of superiority and a kind of credit, which he was proud of.

On the other hand, Cao Zhang made no secret of his greed for interests. Even if master is dying, he doesn't want to do any fake face projects like coming. He looks very casual. When he sent the last drop of water to Master, what he thought was how to make up the haiku handed down by Master for profit.

In his article, Ryunosuke Akutagawa did not comment on the behaviors and thoughts of these disciples, but recorded them in simple and objective sentences. On the contrary, he created an impressive and distinctive character. This kind of treatment is really powerful.

After reading it, I remembered the performance of my uncles and aunts when my grandfather died, and my wife and grandmother died. Some surface projects are well done and have a good reputation, but the actual parties know that he actually doesn't do much. Some people, like grass, don't even want to visit their beds. After they die, they will stay far away to help. And those who are really busy before doing things are complained that things are not done well and are not well considered. Decided to conceive an article, imitating Akutagawa Ryunosuke's "Dry Wild Copy", to write about the different performances and psychology of an old man's dying children.

This is a story that happened in ancient officialdom.

The protagonist actually has no name, only that he is a five-product official. These five products are ugly, don't understand hackers, have little ability, naturally can't be reused, and are cautious, a little timid, and are often the object of ridicule. However, he is obsessed with yam porridge. Every year when guests come to the palace, he can only eat leftovers and soup, so he regards eating yam porridge as his dream. At a banquet, he inadvertently said this idea and was laughed at by many officials. One of them, Li Ren, said with half contempt and half pity that he could sincerely make Wu Pin drink enough. Wu Pin should have refused, but he insisted on drinking yam porridge, so he agreed. Naturally, I was ridiculed.

Liren didn't really want to invite Wu Pin to drink yam porridge, just wanted to see Wu Pin's jokes. He deliberately took Wu Pin to his father-in-law's house far away, and on the way he deliberately caught a fox to tell him, deceiving Wu Pin's admiration and love for him. When I arrived at my father-in-law's house, I specially cooked yam porridge in several cauldrons in the yard for five products to drink. Wupin looked at so many yam porridge in front of him. In fact, they didn't want to drink, but only drank bowls after bowls under the persuasion of Liren. In the end, they couldn't even swallow a bite. Liren did not stop there and gave the yam porridge to the fox. It stands to reason that Wu Pin should feel embarrassed and unbearable, but he feels that his long-cherished wish has been met and he can stop drinking yam porridge. The ending was dramatic: the wind was biting, and Wu Pin couldn't help sneezing in the pot. From then on, he really didn't even want to drink any yam porridge.

After reading it, I have pity, shame and some admiration. As the article says: "People sometimes give up their lives for a wish I don't know if it can be realized. People who laugh at other people's stupidity are not smart. Who is not a passer-by in life? " Although he was insulted all the time, the final result was that he really drank enough yam porridge and realized his wish. However, when the ideal really appeared in front of us, there was no such state of mind as when we wanted to realize it. Once the ideal is realized, it will be disillusioned.

This story takes Ma Qin, an Edo writer, as the protagonist, and discusses the relationship between art and reality.

At the beginning of the story, Ma Qin met an acquaintance, Mr. Qu Ting, in the bathhouse. The other party said a compliment and praised his work, but it was just some face-saving words. Qu Ting is a person who writes haiku poems, which is exactly what Ma Qin is not good at and doesn't want to use in the article. In his words, it is "incompatible with temperament", and it is a bit embarrassing to talk for a while. Later, when we broke up, Ma Qin heard that other people in the bathhouse deliberately belittled his articles in front of him, saying that he was fried rice and a ready-made water margin, saying that everything he wrote depended on playing with pens, and there was nothing in his stomach. Whether it is malicious slander or praise against one's will, Ma Qin feels gloomy in his heart.

While telling himself to ignore those malicious words, he thought about how to prove them wrong in the article. Inner struggle, self-comfort, finally restored some self-confidence. But I was still unhappy until the bookstore came to urge him to write some bestsellers and add some content that readers liked. These cunning and inferiority of bookstores are quite different from Ma Qin's writing attitude. Coupled with the slanders heard in the bathhouse, Ma Qin, who has been patient, finally broke out and completely left the bookstore. Then, like-minded friends visited and gave Ma Qin some confidence. He began to conceive articles, stayed alone in the study, and wrote at his desk until late at night, still full of thoughts and exhausted.

When writing this article, the author took Ma Qin as the spokesman and expressed his loneliness, depression and incomprehension through Ma Qin's situation, so he devoted himself to writing and pursued the ideal realm of art all his life. At the same time, the article also discussed the contradictory relationship between art and life. If you just pile up gorgeous rhetoric and haiku, making the article full of artistic flavor but unreadable, that is, for the art of art, then this art will become a word game. If you create to cater to the public, make a living, live a more comfortable life, that is, the art of life, then this art is full of utilitarianism. What the author wants to express or pursue is for artistic life. Taking art as a lifelong pursuit and a portrayal of life is extremely painful and lonely. Through this article, the author will make such a state of mind public, hoping that his words can be truly understood, hope to build a communication bridge between readers and authors, and hope to talk to more people through words and produce * * * sounds.

After reading it, I was deeply touched. As a person who loves literature, as a person who also wants to take literary creation as his own life pursuit, I can really feel the same. I used to write articles with my heart and no one read them. Some people advised me to write hot articles on other platforms to earn money, and some were ridiculed and vilified by close people, but these did not stop me from continuing to create.

People who write are lonely, even if they are immersed in their own thoughts in crowded carriages and busy streets, the whole world will be lonely at that moment. Only when you are lonely can you calm down and create, and this loneliness can only be understood by the same lonely soul.