Preface to the reading notes of "Fifteen Lectures on Western Literature"

“I learned the rules of life from it and learned a lot about what to do and what not to do. My life entered a track defined by social conventions. However, every night, I was lonely. When I lie in bed alone and look at the stars or wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, I often feel an inexplicable wave surging in my chest. It permeates my whole body and mind, drowning me in a sea of ??sadness and pain, and even bursts into tears. But I don’t know why I feel sad and painful.”

“It wasn’t until I started reading Western literature that I realized that my night half was not unusual in human beings. Many people in history have experienced it and expressed it artistically in their works."

"Most of China's traditional cultural classics are influenced by the Confucian "text to convey Tao", which emphasizes teaching and hope. It is obviously beneficial to teach people what to do and what not to do, but the disadvantage is that it is limited in expressing the richness of human nature."

"Feng Youlan quoted the words of Confucius. , Chinese culture is the mountain, and Western culture is the water. In Western literature, we feel more deeply that life is as lively and perishable as a river. Western literature believes that the naked soul is beautiful. Light and darkness, and show us the painful explorations that mankind has accumulated. Chinese cultural classics are precious, and they give us the steel and rich life experience. However, due to historical reasons, this is not enough. China entered the era of commercialization later than the West, and the spiritual knowledge and artistic development of people in the commercial era are relatively poor."

"Chinese Confucian tradition emphasizes "rhetoric establishing sincerity." This "sincerity" means loyalty to heaven. , be loyal to your king, and be loyal to your own life creed. Westerners also talk about "sincerity", which emphasizes frankness, sincerity and honesty. Christianity has created the Western confessional tradition, which is expressed in literature as being fearless. To explore the truth of the soul. Chinese Confucianism has a teaching that is opposite to this: taboo for the venerable, taboo for the sage, and taboo for the relatives. This naturally contains some painstaking efforts by the advocates, but, At least in literature, this idea has a side effect, which is that it hinders the exploration of the inner depths of the soul. "

"People can't stand too much truth. People like to deceive themselves. Living in the atmosphere. As a result, there are too many cowards and double-dealers around us. They speak loudly in front of the media and the public, but they hide a filth in their hearts. Some people think that filthy things should not be spread, so they should not speak out. , writing articles only says positive things. This is an important reason for the superficiality and pretentiousness of literature."

"Western literature also has its hypocrisy, especially in its popular culture and part of postmodernism. Kitsch is becoming an increasingly prevalent trend in Western literature, which is an inevitable consequence of the trend of commercialization. However, in the West, there are always some conscientious scholars who are not willing to accept kitsch. They are like Xixi pushing a stone up a mountain. Like Firth, they are making vain and unremitting efforts; they live in hell, always looking for light, and trying to expand non-hell factors. ”

“I firmly believe that it is human nature to pursue sincerity and perfection. In the battle between right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, people will experience countless twists and turns and fall, and finally move towards the ideal paradise. If young people are not allowed to fully understand the world, society and people, they will only become trivial in poverty, fragile in paleness, and eventually become mediocre. ”

“We live in the Internet age. One of the great things about the Internet is that it reveals everything, defeating all attempts to cover up the ugliness of humanity. Only on this basis can we be qualified to talk about what beauty and ugliness are and how to appreciate beauty and abandon ugliness. Only then can we allow the younger generation to calmly think and choose their own lifestyle and values. ”

“There are also some young people who reject all valuable culture, whether Chinese or foreign. They waste their precious lives in the cycle of making money and spending money. Culture and art are only part of the fun they spend money on.

We have no right to blame them, it is a freedom of choice. However, as college students and future intellectual elites, we should jump out of this reincarnation and become a real person, a thoughtful and educated person. "

"Fifteen Lectures on Western Literature", I borrowed this book from the library. This book was published in 2003. The author is Xu Baogeng, director of the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. This book belongs to "University Quality Education One of the "General Course Series Textbooks", which was processed and compiled from lecture videotapes. Before the publication of this book, this course had been taught at Tsinghua University for 20 years.

The reason why the preface is so detailed I have excerpted so many because I really like the points of view expounded in the preface. Some of these points arouse my excitement, and some are issues that I have thought about for a long time but cannot figure out.

On the advice of my Chinese teacher, I also read some Western works in middle school, such as "Resurrection", "Anna Karenina", "Gone with the Wind", "Jane Eyre", "Pride and Prejudice", "The Red and the Black", etc. , but I don’t understand the profound meaning, and I have never thought about the complexity of personality. Therefore, in my heart, I am often in pain because I cannot understand some of my thoughts and behaviors, but it is already difficult to completely forgive and accept myself. This happened in recent years.

I was chatting with a writer friend on WeChat, and he said: The most regretful thing is that he was not exposed to the works of modern and contemporary Western writers earlier.

In recent years, I have also read some works by modern and contemporary writers. I think I understand what my friend meant. Although the famous works I read in middle school also revealed the multi-faceted nature of human nature, I think more about it. The focus is on the background of the story, such as class struggle, exploitation, struggle, and religion. It always feels like I am reading other people's stories and cannot empathize with them. However, modern and contemporary writers are more concerned with thinking about life. The exploration of human nature and the pursuit of the meaning of personal existence

For example, in Maugham's life trilogy, the protagonist of "The Moon and Sixpence" abandoned his wife and children and wandered around the world willingly in order to paint. Enduring poverty; Larry, the protagonist of "The Blade", began to question the meaning of life and the meaning of his own existence because of the death of his friend. He gave up his original "good life" and searched for answers in every corner of the world. There is also "Stoner". Everything in his life happens around us and seems very ordinary. But who can follow his own ideas every time and fight against the meaningless life by not following the trend like him. Although he failed in the end, he had pursued it after all. Did he expect anything else in his life?

What shocked me the most was the Japanese writer Osamu Dazai's "Disqualification in the World". Actually, it was not. Everyone is suitable to be a social animal. Even happiness will scare a coward, and marshmallows will hurt him. Not everyone can understand it. Those who understand it are like fishes drinking water, knowing whether they are warm or cold.

I suddenly remembered that the characters in Chinese classical novels do not have completely single personalities. For example, Yun Niang in "Six Chapters of a Floating Life" is mostly an amiable and lovely little lady, but some of her behaviors really puzzle me. For example, she helped her father-in-law take a concubine, which led to her losing the favor of her mother-in-law. For example, she insisted on helping her husband find a good-looking concubine, but her failure to succeed directly led to her final death. I don’t know whether it’s because the author is rather careless about psychology, or because it’s really difficult for me to put my own thoughts into it.

Speaking of Chinese writers, I can’t help but think of Wang Xiaobo. Reading his books also has the feeling of a direct impact on my soul. Like Maugham, he believed that the first priority of writing is to make people happy. Maybe, with a pure heart, you can express your feelings and thoughts unscrupulously.

　　　　　　　　　2019.4.2