Su Dongpo in “Song People’s Elegant Collection of the West Garden” (Source: National Palace Museum, Taipei)
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in the previous
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So, how should we treat these two different versions? And why is it that the version written by Huang Tingjian was already mentioned in Hong Mai’s “Hong Zhai Xubi” in the Southern Song Dynasty, but until today, people still generally use the current version that they see today, and they don’t even know that there are other versions? This article is here to talk to you about this issue.
The Tradition and Fallacies of “Pursuing the Author’s Original Intention”
In reading Confucian classics and literary works since ancient times, China has a tradition of “pursuing the original meaning of the author”. The more symbolic beginning is the concept announced by Mencius “knowing people and discussing the world” and “reversing will with will”. This had a great influence on the literati in ancient China, and even today. Many people always want to ask what the original meaning of the sage (author) is, and even regard exploring the original meaning of the sage (author) as the ultimate pursuit of reading.
However, since American Sinologist Stephen Owen’s “The Formation of Early Chinese Classical Poetry” (The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry) since its publication in 2006, we have re-aware of an important phenomenon in ancient China, that is “manuscript culture”. Until the invention of printing in the Tang Dynasty, Chinese classics could only be circulated by hand copying. Therefore, on the one hand, the dissemination of classic knowledge is limited by certain classes, regions, and numbers of people; Because the copyists have different levels of knowledge and aesthetics, there will inevitably be typos, omissions, derivatives, and even changes to the original text quietly. Therefore, ancient Chinese books, whether they are Confucian classics or literary works, have various versions and variants, and this is the reason. Although printing became more popular after the Song Dynasty, the culture of manuscripts in ancient China has never been cut off, especially poems are often hand-copied.There are many records in the history booksSu DongpoWhen a great writer has just finished writing a piece of work, it is copied and spread widely. And this has completely affected the understanding and interpretation of literary works by future generations of readers-because the version we read may not be the version originally written by the author. Unfortunately, most of the time, we have no way of determining what the author’s original version looked like.
Another aspect related to the manuscript culture is that friends with actual creative experience know that after an author writes a work, there will not be only one version, and they will usually change it again and again. Du Fu’s so-called “changing new poems and giving up self-changing poems” is talking about this situation.So, is there any possibility that whenSu ShiAfter finishing writing “Nian Nujiao”, it was immediately taken away by friends, or copied, and passed into the hands of Huang Tingjian, which is Huang Tingjian’s version pointed out by Hong Mai; The final version was printed, and the last printed and published version is our common version today? The answer is entirely possible, and it happens quite often.
Why can’t Huang Tingjian’s version replace the current version?
To sum up, although the version written by Huang Tingjian is highly credible, it is very likely that it was really written by Su Shi, but because we still cannot be sure that this is the final version of Su Shi himself, naturally we cannot directly replace Tong Tong with Huang Tingjian’s version. Version.
In fact, the ancients also realized this point, which is why until today we still read the current version of Hong Mai at that time. So, since it is impossible to know exactly what the author’s original version was, how did the ancients find the so-called “authentic version” or “original intention of the author”?
Since it is impossible to prove which is the real “earliest” version in reality, ancient literati will choose what they think is the “best” version as the true definitive version of the great author.
However, the ancients generally believed that even if the tune of “Dajiangdong to the Waves” is not in tune, it is better than “The Sound of the Waves” in terms of sound and meaning. And “sentiment should laugh at me, give birth to Huafa early” is also more clear and intuitive than “sentiment should be, laugh at me and give birth to Huafa”. Also, the Battle of Chibi was led by Zhou Yu and belonged to Zhou Lang. If it were changed to “Three Kingdoms Sun Wu Chibi”, the meaning would be empty instead. As for “collapsing clouds” or “piercing through the sky”, “shooting the shore” or “sweeping the shore”, “life is like a dream” or “life is like sending”, etc., each has its supporters, so we sometimes also use it in the market. See various versions.
All in all, the ancients generally believed that <Chibi Nostalgia〉The literary artistic conception of the popular version is higher and better, and this so-called “better” is most likely to be the original intention of the author in their opinion, and it is most likely to be a word that Su Dongpo would write. Therefore, even though Huang Tingjian was born in the same era as Su Shi, and is Su Shi’s good friend, with high credibility, it still cannot replace the current popular version, and this is the reason.
How did Su Dongpo grasp the author’s original intention of Tao Yuanming’s poems?
It is pointed out above that when the ancients were not sure what the “earliest” version was, they would choose what they thought was the “best” version as the author’s original intention they trusted. We can find examples of this directly from Su Dongpo himself.
Su Dongpo wrote:
“Plucking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, you can see Nanshan leisurely.” Because of picking chrysanthemums and seeing the mountains, this sentence is the most wonderful. In recent years, the folk books are all written as “Wang Nanshan”, so this article has no air. The ancients had deep and subtle intentions, but common people recklessly changed their minds. This is the most dangerous thing.
Tao Yuanming’s “Drinking Poem” is also very familiar to everyone, especially “picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, and seeing Nanshan leisurely” is a famous line. We generally regard this line of poem as a proof of Tao Yuanming’s retreat to the countryside, showing the lofty realm of forgetting things and self in the poem. But in terms of versions, the earliest version that is currently visible is actually “Wang Nanshan”, not “See Nanshan”. So why do we all read “See Nanshan” now? It was determined by the influence of the postscript of the great poet Su Dongpo.
Because in Su Shi’s view, although there is only one word difference between “Wang” and “See”, the word “Wang” has subjective intentions, which gives people a deliberate feeling, which is not as good as the unintentional expression expressed by the word “See”. , The state of doing nothing is sublime. In other words, in Su Dongpo’s view, “Tao Yuanming”, a reclusive scholar, could only write indifferent sentences like “Seeing Nanshan leisurely”, but not vulgar sentences like “Looking at Nanshan leisurely”. Therefore, although we can reasonably infer that Su Dongpo would not know whether Tao Yuanming wrote “Wang” or “See”, Su Dongpo has already concluded that “Seeing Nanshan” must be the author’s original intention and the authentic version, while the popular “Wang Nanshan” at that time “It’s a fake copy that the layman randomly changed.
In the same way, future generations are reading Su Dongpo’sNian Nujiao‧Chibi Nostalgia>, even though I knew that the version written by Huang Tingjian may be very early, but because I think the artistic conception of the popular version is better, it is not surprising that I still respect the popular version as the final version.
Source: Watch China
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