1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 589 Jiang Xian's Romantic History

Who is Ye Zhaoyan?

Others may not know this name, but Fan Yong does.

This person is just over thirty years old and has just graduated from Nanjing University, one of the top universities in China. He is a recent college graduate, or rather, a master's student.

Judging from this aspect alone, this young man seems to only have better academic performance.

So what's special about it?
He started publishing literary works in 80 and can be considered a talented man.

Furthermore, his family background is anything but ordinary.

His surname is Ye.

His father was a leader in the Jiangsu Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, named Ye Zhicheng.

His mother was an actress in the Jiangsu Provincial Drama Troupe; her name was Yao Cheng.

The character "兆言" in his name is a combination of half of the characters "姚" and "诚" from his parents' names.

Going further back, his grandfather was even more famous.

That was Mr. Ye Shengtao, a modern Chinese writer, educator, literary publisher, and social activist, whose representative works include "Ni Huanzhi", "Xichuan Collection", and "The Scarecrow".

This is a very famous figure in the Chinese literary world.

So when Fan Yong saw Ye Zhaoyan's name, he couldn't help but be surprised. Seeing Ye Zhaoyan give Jiang Xian such a high evaluation, he couldn't help but feel a little curious.

Ye Zhaoyan saw it.
What about Ye Shengtao?
It is important to know that Ye Shengtao holds a pivotal position in the field of Chinese children's literature. He wrote my country's first fairy tale, "The Scarecrow."

You've all seen "The Scarecrow," right?
There was an old woman who had a scarecrow in her field. The scarecrow was guarding her rice field, but moths laid their eggs on the leaves. The old woman didn't see it, and the leaves rolled up. In the end, locusts ate all the rice.

The scarecrow tried to warn the old woman, but she didn't know.

In short, it saw that the lonely old woman had lost her husband and son, and her eyes were almost blind. She had finally looked forward to a good rice harvest, but then the insect plague came.
It saw that the fisherwoman's child was seriously ill and wanted to drink water but could not. The fisherwoman was so focused on fishing that she was exhausted and the fish she caught dried up and died.

It saw a woman who, because she was about to be sold by her gambling husband, ran here overnight and jumped into the river.

These people are all very pitiful in the eyes of the scarecrow, but it is powerless to help them. The scarecrow can neither save nor change anything about the tragedies of the world.

Ultimately, the scarecrow, torn between guilt and helplessness, "fell in the middle of the field," sleeping alongside the tragedy.

Lu Xun commented that "The Scarecrow" opened up a new path for Chinese fairy tales to be created independently.

This article was later included in textbooks.

In fact, this article also shows that early children's literature was very rich in content.

Just like in the story "The Scarecrow," the unfortunate experiences of the old woman, the fisherwoman, and the weak woman reflect the common hardships and suffering of the lower classes in society at that time.

The "child-centered theory" is a proposition that has gradually emerged in the literary world in recent years.

Therefore, Fan Yong speculates that perhaps Ye Shengtao would appreciate children's literature like "The Little Prince," a novel with a spirit of critical thinking, more than contemporary children's literature.

But whether Ye Shengtao would see it or not is just Fan Yong's speculation and imagination.

Of course, he wanted to recommend the novel to Ye Shengtao, but Fan Yong had also heard that Ye Shengtao's health had been poor recently, and he wondered if he would still have the energy to read the novel in this condition.

Besides Ye Zhaoyan's literary reviews, a considerable number of other literary critics have also written literary reviews of "The Little Prince".

Moreover, these people, in terms of both their own background and their literary status, far surpass Ye Zhaoyan, a literary novice.

Fan Yong noticed a literary review by Sheng Ye, titled "A Brief Discussion of 'The Little Prince'".

Shengye is the pen name of writer Zhou Dakang, who is the deputy editor of the Children's Publishing House and the former editor-in-chief of the magazine "Little Friends". He served as the editor-in-chief of "Little Friends" for a long time and served as an advisor to dozens of children's poetry societies in various places. He just retired last year.

He believes that "The Little Prince" actually contains existentialist philosophical thinking. The core proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence, which means that a person's essence is determined by his existence.

Or to put it more simply, the value and meaning of life are created by people through their actions in real life.

In other words, external things, or life itself, have no meaning unless you assign meaning to them.

For example, when I was drawing a sheep for the Little Prince, I didn't draw it directly but drew a box, assuming that there was a sheep inside the box.

Furthermore, "If someone loves a flower, and there are billions of stars in the sky, and this flower grows on only one of them, that is enough to make him happy when he looks up at the night sky. He will tell himself, 'Somewhere in the sky, my flower lives.'" It is the mutual affection between the Little Prince and the rose that makes the rose different from the millions of other roses.

However, Zhou Dakang does not agree with some of the views expressed in the book.

For example, when the Little Prince was arguing with "me" about what was serious, the Little Prince said, "Isn't the war between the sheep and the flower important? Isn't it more important and serious than the addition by that red-faced fat man? If I knew a flower that was unique in the whole world, that only appeared on my planet, but one morning a little sheep accidentally bit it and destroyed it, I think that wouldn't matter at all!"

Although Zhou Dakang understands that the Little Prince is trying to express the importance and significance of paying attention to things we often overlook, and his subsequent explanations reveal this to be an existentialist philosophical viewpoint, from another perspective, it is precisely because these meanings are given by people's actions that we can see that everyone's life experiences and environments are different. This leads to different points of focus or values ​​for each person regarding each matter or thing. Therefore, we cannot expect others to have the same views and level of attention as us on every matter, because no one can truly empathize, and we cannot imagine what experiences lie behind others' views.

Zhou Dakang said that the two most memorable parts of the book for him were the Little Prince’s account of his visits to six different asteroids, 325-330, where he met different people: a king, a vain man, a drunkard, a businessman, a lamplighter, a geographer, and a man from Earth.

Clearly, these people represent different types of people in real life.

Kings have been considered to possess supreme power since ancient times, and are the so-called rulers in the real world. They can use their power to order others to do things for them.

But "you can't order someone to do something they can't do; authority is first and foremost based on reason."

Vain people believe that "everyone is their admirer." They enjoy hearing others praise them, and their narrow-mindedness makes them seem unable to see that there are always people more capable than themselves.

People who love to drink are people who escape reality. When they encounter problems, they don't think about how to solve them, but instead use alcohol to numb themselves.

Business people are those who pursue material wealth at the expense of life; they turn themselves into money-making machines.

The lamplighter may represent the majority of people in the real world, referring to those who blindly follow social rules but have forgotten their original aspirations—the "walking dead." There is this dialogue about the lamplighter in the book:
Hello. Why did you turn off the streetlights?

“That’s the rule,” the lamplighter said. “Good morning.”

"What are the rules?"

"Lights out rule. Good evening." He then turned the streetlights back on.

"But why did you light it up again?"

“That’s the rule,” the person lighting the lamp said.

“I don’t understand,” said the little prince.

“No need to understand,” said the lamplighter. “Rules are rules. Good morning.”

Sometimes, the rules or principles set by our predecessors or ancestors may no longer be applicable as times change. However, following these rules or principles for a long time makes us more and more prone to taking things for granted, lacking the ability to think deeply and analyze, and forgetting to consider the original purpose of doing so.

Geographers are scholars of the real world; they seek universal laws in reality and overlook the fleeting beauty in life.

The second passage that impressed Zhou Dakang most in the book was the love story of the Little Prince, the rose, and the fox.

On planet B612, the Little Prince has a unique rose. She is beautiful and proud, unwilling to bow her head and openly express her feelings to the Little Prince. She can only use clumsy words and actions to get the Little Prince's attention, telling him how to take care of himself, thus comforting herself that the Little Prince cares about her.

But the Little Prince thought the rose was being coquettish and unreasonable, so he chose to leave.

As she left, the rose regretted her actions and said goodbye to the Little Prince: "Yes, I love you. But you know nothing about it, and that's my fault. It's alright. But you're just as foolish as I am. I wish you happiness. Take the glass dome away; I never want it again."

Later, the Little Prince met the fox, who told him what love was.

"To me, you are just a child, no different from thousands of other children. I don't need you. You don't need me. To you, I am just a fox, no different from thousands of other foxes. But if you tame me, then we will need each other. You will be unique to me, and I will be unique to you."

“It’s your fault,” said the little prince. “I don’t want you to be sad, but you want me to tame you.”

“That’s right,” said the fox.

“Then why are you still crying!” said the little prince.

“Yes,” said the fox.

So you didn't get anything out of it!

“I benefited,” said the fox, “because of the color of the wheat.”

Zhou Dakang said that Jiang Xian's metaphor in this passage is excellent. Many young people have a misconception when they are young that it is a waste of time to have a relationship that they know they will not end up together and cannot accompany each other for life.

But in fact, every relationship has its own meaning.

Later, the Little Prince understood the significance of the rose to him and deeply regretted his actions. He chose death, which was also a choice to return to his birthplace, hoping to meet the rose again.
Fan Yong felt that Zhou Dakang's review was very insightful, analyzing the profound meaning hidden in Jiang Xian's "The Little Prince" from different perspectives, which gave him a sense of enlightenment and deepened his understanding of the novel.

Besides Zhou Dakang, there are several other literary reviews that Fan Yong considers to be of high quality, all written by well-known writers, children's literature writers, and literary critics.

"This novel is like a shining star, capable of illuminating people's hearts across age boundaries."

"A masterpiece! Jiang Xian has created a fantastical world that is also full of philosophical insights!"

"Jiang Xian's daughter's whimsical illustrations complement Jiang Xian's writing, making this a literary classic created by the father and daughter together!"

"The emergence of this novel has injected new vitality into the development of children's literature and also provided new directions for thinking about adult literature."

"."

Besides a number of highly theoretical and professional reviews, there are also some literary reviews that focus more on entertainment.

How do we emphasize entertainment?

Instead of focusing on the novel itself, they find a unique angle to attract attention.

For example, one literary review explores who the real-life figures behind the characters in "The Little Prince" were.

The author of the article believes that Jiang Xian must have incorporated his own emotions from his life when he created "The Little Prince," and therefore, we can uncover a small part of Jiang Xian's life from "The Little Prince."

For example, one's love life.

It can be said that the most striking pair of characters in "The Little Prince" is the rose and the fox.

Rose loves to dress up, hates the cold wind, is afraid of a non-existent tiger, and likes to fake coughs to get the Little Prince's attention. Her suspicious vanity torments the Little Prince.

The fox taught the Little Prince about love and responsibility. She told him, "If you tame me, then we will need each other. To me, you will be unique in the world, and to you, I will be unique in the world. As for responsibility, it means being responsible for what you have tamed. Never forget it. You are always responsible for what you have tamed. You must be responsible for your rose."

In Jiang Xian's writing, these two characters clearly represent two different women.

Therefore, the author believes that the prototype of Rose may be a lover who once tormented Jiang Xian in his emotional life, or Jiang Xian's wife Zhu Lin. Perhaps Zhu Lin's personality is just like Rose's.

As for the fox, she could be Jiang Xian's lover, an older, experienced woman, or she could be a wise woman that Jiang Xian fabricated based on his own experience.

Subsequently, the author went on to elaborate on this gossip based on his own speculation, almost completing Jiang Xian's romantic history.

Fan Yong frowned as he read the paper, then closed it, wanting to see which publication was spouting such nonsense.

Upon looking at the cover, I saw two large characters written on it:
"Zhiyin" (a Chinese magazine).

(End of this chapter)