What desires did ancient literati have?

Text/Cat Review/Plus Seven Editor/Xu Xu

I once heard an outsider say, "Since ancient times, there have been many literati YY, and this helplessness is projected on splendid articles because the literati who failed to get their wish have repeatedly hit a wall in reality ..." I think this sentence is too extreme, but this statement is not completely unreasonable-especially in ancient times when the monarchy was autocratic, the literati groups were suppressed to varying degrees. They are full of resentment and fantasy about reality, but it can't be surpassed, so they have to combine bony reality with rich imagination to create a literary utopia. This self-balance of literati mentality is also understandable. In the process of self-balanced creation, literati will intentionally or unintentionally project their potential desires as a substitute compensation for repressed desires.

Privately, popular literature is the most representative, and it is also the carrier that can best reflect the subconscious desires of literati. The so-called popular literature is the popular literature that was considered as "difficult to appeal to elegance" at that time compared with serious literature such as preaching and preaching. Common popular literature includes songs, ballads, operas, novels, and lectures on history. Let's take a look at the ten desires (y) and hopes (y) of ancient literati through their works.

10. To be the top scholar, Jinshi and

Since the imperial examination system provided the broad masses of scholars with the career prospect of "learning literature and practicing martial arts, and being a good emperor", "becoming famous in one fell swoop" has gradually become the mentality of scholars in ancient society. If we flexibly use today's famous saying that "practice is the only criterion for testing truth", the slogan of this era should be "Being the first is the only criterion for testing talents". Being the top scholar is not only the realization of literati's personal value, but also related to the political privilege and practical interests behind fame. In many ancient novels, the author's potential desire is implied.

Zhang Sheng in Yuan zaju "The West Chamber" is a good example. A poor scholar, the daughter of a country, is naturally full of twists and turns on the road of love. Even if the two parties get married, the poor scholar is still not accepted by the family. It was not until Zhang Sheng became a top student in high school that he really felt proud and happy, and the story had a happy ending. It can be seen that the desire for fame has been deeply rooted in the hearts of literati, and even in such a love-oriented work, the author will inadvertently reveal it.

9. Beautiful people favor and fall in love freely.

In the old society, beautiful women were called beautiful women and Iraqis. A beautiful and virtuous woman is a good spouse of a gentleman. Since ancient times, the beauty complex of literati has never stopped. At this time, if you are lucky enough to get the favor of beautiful women, it will become the talk of literati after dinner.

In "Yujiao Pear", the author uses the mouth of Su Youbai, the protagonist, to nakedly expose the emotional desire of the literati-"If I don't marry a stunning beauty, it will be a lifetime for me (Su Youbai), and it will be in vain to read many poems and talents."

Therefore, in many novels of gifted scholars and beautiful women, there is usually a lot of space to describe the beauty's body to consume women-black hair, Emei, pink face, fragrant cheeks, red lips, white teeth, thin waist and so on. , and has excellent qualities such as natural intelligence and proficiency in women workers to satisfy the imagination and lust of the literati group represented by the author; Then there are beautiful women who admire talented people and distinguish the stories of pearls to show the sense of self-existence of literati; In the end, the two sides fell in love regardless of ethics, and the plot of you and me was released, releasing the author's lust suppressed by Neo-Confucianism in reality.

8. The son-in-law in the East Bed is rich.

Under the ancient concept of family status and the specific conditions of career promotion, it is undoubtedly a portrayal of "good wind, relying on strength, sending me to Qingyun", which is similar to the mentality of many women in modern society who want to marry giants even if they break their heads.

Therefore, in Biography of Yingying, Zhang Sheng refused Yingying's request, only to give up his wife's position for future marriage. Li Yi in Biography of Huo Xiaoyu, no matter how many vows she made to Xiaoyu, finally chose the person who slept beside her, or the girl with her family. In "Cherry Tsing Yi", Lu Sheng married Zheng's daughter in his dream, and thus "granted Wang Zhai Wei, moved to prison, turned to the temple, worshipped foreign officials in the official department, and sentenced him" ... To know this patent, he will really move to the assistant minister of the Ministry of Ritual in a few months ... So he worshipped the assistant minister of Huangmen for a few months and stayed in Henan as the imperial adviser of Yin, and was "very picky" about the East.

Laughing at the emperor is a blessing for everyone.

In utopian love stories, the west tends to create a happy ending, while China's classic novels of talented people and beautiful women tend to create the ending of "two (n) women called sisters, followed the example of Queen E, formed a strong friendship and lived happily ever after".

According to the statistics of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Tales of Beautiful Women, there are as many as 37 cases of polygamy. There are different reasons, such as Lover, Dream in a Lonely Mountain, Spring Claudia's Warbler, etc., which pursue monogamy, and some form polygamy in the development of the plot; Such as "Pleasure on Earth" and "Liner" promoted by others; It is also actively pursued by Hepuzhu, Wumei Destiny and Embroidered Screen Destiny. But no matter what kind of high-sounding excuse, it implies the recognition and desire of the taxi class represented by the creator for "polygamy and * * * serving the emperor".

6. Get an idiot, and this feeling will never change.

Money is easy to get, true feelings are hard to find, and it is even harder to get an infatuated person!

In the face of his father's broken marriage, Eve Cai said to his lover, Wang Ruzhen, in The Fairy History of Tiehua: "It's a certainty, but a thousand dollars is not easy. My heart is as hard as a stone. " So she disguised herself as a man and escaped from marriage, madly guarding her love.

In Jin Zhong, after Wang Cuiqiao and scholar Jin Zhong privately agreed for life, they went to revelry twice, became good friends twice and attempted suicide twice. Exile 13 years, infatuation, finally "happily completed the old wish."

Du Liniang in the opera Peony Pavilion is a stunning beauty, a bureaucratic woman, an infatuated beauty who died for love in born to love. No matter in her dream, in hell or on earth, she is not married. What more can a husband ask for such a spoony woman?

Literati created these brave and loyal women in their works. While praising this kind of free and passionate love, their essence also reflects that while the literati are frustrated in their official career, they also hope to have a charming person who will never leave. It is not difficult to see from many works that this desire has also become one of the motives of literati's creation.

5. Eliminate evil and rape and uphold justice

In Utopia, besides Superman, there are chivalrous men who are familiar to everyone. Of course, this chivalrous man is not Batman or Spider-Man in the western world, but those chivalrous men in ancient China who have a rough road and draw out their swords to help each other. Where there are people, there is oppression, and where there is oppression, there must be chivalry. It's not enough to have a chivalrous group. It is best to promote a competent minister to be a spiritual leader, and swear to "beat bullies, punish corrupt officials, comfort the people and voice grievances" with the aura of the protagonist to safeguard world justice and peace.

Therefore, from the perspective of vertical development, the Three Heroes and Five Righteousness in the Qing Dynasty later developed to Elvis Presley, and then to the sequel books such as the sequel to Xia Chuan, Xiao Wuyi and the sequel to Elvis Presley. From the perspective of horizontal development, we can see Shi Gong case, public case, case and so on. From the content of the characters, we can also see Bai Yutang, Zhan Zhao, Ding, Bao Zheng ... In short, when the authors are happy to create such works, we can easily see four words in the gap of the text: beware of evil and destroy traitors!

The emergence of this kind of case-solving legend is no accident. To a certain extent, this just reflects that as a weak taxi class, it has a strong desire to rectify the world and safeguard justice. Even if it has its own practical limitations, it is necessary to mold a capable person to accomplish this "one world, one dream" for himself.

4. Make contributions and make progress.

In feudal society, the gentry class was a humbled class, with far less power and wealth than the ruling class. To say the least, even if there are countless talented literati, not everyone can become the top scholar and be reused by the rulers. But even if they live in this crevice, they are poor and have no short aspirations. They created a lot of patriotic works, including Shang Ya and Secularity.

There are many daydreams about the down-and-out literati in the dream novels of the Tang Dynasty, which not only make those literati who have no hands to tie chickens get psychosexuality, but also play a role in boosting morale and spreading patriotism, comparable to chicken soup! For example, in The Legend of Ling Ying, Zheng Chengfu, a talented man, made great achievements in the spiritual world. He was able to "eat 13,000 households in the north" without giving his first house, horse jewelry, clothes, servants, gardens and armor. Lu Sheng, who is down and out in Sleeping Story, still dreams of living a life of "making contributions, getting ahead, eating enough, listening to his voice and getting rich". Isn't this dream a reflection of their subconscious desires?

3. Go beyond the world and become immortal.

Among the literati, not all people are keen on fame, and a considerable number of lofty literati disdain being in officialdom and are willing to stay away from the dust net. What's more, they may think that the world is too busy for me. So they began to pin their hopes on Xanadu and created a series of strange novels or zaju accordingly. They tried to imagine that in that pure land, they could stay away from the world, be carefree, live in the fairy class and live forever.

For example, The Journey to the West Li, Han Zhongli, Zhang, He Xiangu, Lan Cai He, Lv Dongbin, Han Xiangzi, Cao Guojiu and others, all of whom were good mortals, later became immortals, and got rid of the burden of the physical body. They were very happy! It is not difficult to see that when writing such works, the literati themselves yearn for a fairy-like life.

2. There are endless blessings, and children are thriving.

In feudal society, the ancients paid attention to many children and many blessings, and naturally this desire jumped between the lines. For example, in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Ning married a wife and a concubine, and then he added three sons who honored his ancestors and had five grandchildren. For example, in "Pillow Story", Lu Sheng had five sons and more than a dozen grandchildren in his dream ... These plots all expressed the long-cherished wish of literati to have a full house of children and grandchildren.

1. If you get money by accident, you will be rich.

No matter how a scholar doesn't bend over for five bushels of rice and how he treats money like dirt, he must live. Although living is not to eat, eating is to live. Eat, but also have money to ensure three meals of food and clothing. What a simple and complicated desire! Even so, as a scholar, you can't show the desire of "asking for money" naked, and you can only pretend to reveal your dream of wealth inadvertently through some works.

In Pu Songling's pen, a man named Fame was invented. He became a millionaire because he got a cricket. "There are thousands of fields, castles and towers, and there are thousands of cattle and sheep hooves; As soon as I go out, I will take a home. " Cui, a fictional scholar, has accumulated tens of thousands of silver because of a horse in a painting; He also created a dutiful son, Xi Fang Ping, who impressed the judge of Hades with filial piety. In the past three years, his family has been rich ... It can be seen that literati are not easy to avoid customs and have an inseparable desire for money.

Desire is a double-edged sword, not the devil among those people who kill people's desires. It can play its due role within a reasonable and controllable range. Perhaps it is the many reasonable desires of literati that make us lucky to get so many literary heritages and spiritual treasures today!

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