Thoughts on Reading Spring Moon

"Spring Moon" has never read Bette Bao Lord's English original, so it can't be compared with the Chinese version. Ying Ruocheng's translation has an old-school flavor. The following is what I brought to you after watching Spring Moon. I hope you like it.

After watching Chunyue 1

Reading Spring Moon reminds me of a novel I read many years ago. I don't remember the title. The writer is Dong Zhujun, the founder of Jinjiang Hotel. This autobiographical novel shocked me very much. I reviewed my legendary brilliant experience with the main pen and ink. This book is very thick, the first half is very focused, and the new society is sloppy. I seldom read biographical books at that time. After reading her book, I can't help feeling inexplicably sad. Maybe people prefer the first half of their lives. The farther away they are, the more they seem to say, and that time is better because of their distance. The second half of Dong's life is very rough and a bit unbearable, so it seems that he just spent a few pages in a hurry to summarize it. I feel the same way when I read the book Spring Moon today, just like when we read A Dream of Red Mansions. Although we know that everyone in this story doesn't really exist, even though we know that the era in that story is far away from us, we will still feel ups and downs for their joys and sorrows, excited for the prosperity of our family, and depressed for the decline of our family. The endless desolation in the novel will be left to future generations forever.

The author Bette Bao Lord wrote this book in English, which was translated by Ying Da's mother Wu Shiliang, whom we are very familiar with. It should be said that the novel has a strong pleasure in reading words, which has to be attributed to Wu Shiliang's translation. Without good translation skills and empathy for the joys and sorrows of the times, this work will certainly not show such a strong aesthetic feeling. When I read the first chapter, I became interested in reading. "The room is very cool, and the blue tile eaves on the old wall block the sunshine ..." It suddenly brought us into a very long time, quiet and vicissitudes, as if we were in it. The world we live in now has lost its own characteristics. The beauty handed down from the old China was buried by the rapid material life, but people of our age also have short memories of the old times, so the long silence cannot be erased from our hearts.

The spring moon grew up in an era of alternation between the old and the new. She has the beauty of women in the old days, but she is also influenced by the concept of the new era. It should be said that she is lucky. She married a contented man and still has true love in her heart. Although her husband died soon, she also had to bear the burden of the elderly at home, but on the whole, I think Chunyue's life is still very happy. When many things should appear, they will naturally appear. It's just that the last part of the story is said in a very simple tone and has an unbearable weight. This is a history that people can't skip, and it is also a time that people don't want to say more.

Reflections on Spring Moon Reading II

For a long time, women's novels have been the narrative secret for literary creators to publicize their views on fate and life. Every time I go through an era of social change or ideological enlightenment, the author often places some imaginary metaphors on the fate of women in the novel, so the result is always particularly embarrassing.

The novel Spring Moon is one of the many China-themed works written by Bette Bao Lord, an American Chinese woman writer, in English. It was published in the United States in the 1980s. By describing the beautiful and exquisite life of Suzhou women in the spring moon, the novel shows the life picture of the Zhang and Wu generations during the 70 years from the late Qing Dynasty to New China, and also reflects the turbulence and changes of modern society in China in the long years from another side. The author created many vivid characters with fluent writing style, and also created exquisite and simple Jiangnan customs. After its publication, it caused a sensation in the American literary world. It once set a record of being on the best-seller list in The New York Times for 33 consecutive weeks and was nominated for the American Book Award. American Publishers Weekly even called it "Gone with the Wind in China".

1988, the Chinese version of Spring Moon appeared for the first time in China, and this time it was reprinted after 20 years. Different from other foreign translated novels, this is a China story written in English. An article written by Ying Da in memory of his mother, Wu Shiliang, the translator of this book, was added to the new edition. From another angle, he reveals some unique connections between Bette Bao Lord and Wu Shiliang, and between Wu Shiliang and Chunyue, which make this novel wonderful and legendary. Although the article is not long, it is affectionate, and I can't help but burst into tears when I look at it.

About Wu Shiliang, there is an introduction on the cover of the novel: Ying Ruocheng, the wife of a famous dramatist and performing artist, used to be the secretary of Mr. Cao Yu and translated for Premier Zhou Enlai because of her excellent English. 1987 died in Beijing. "Spring Moon" is the last manuscript she translated, and it is also the crystallization of her painstaking efforts.

Aside from the author Bette Bao Lord China's experience of being born and raised in the United States, and the former American ambassador to China Winston? In addition to the special status of the Lord's wife, his birth mother is an out-and-out noble family second only to the writers of the Qing Dynasty. In her works, although Chunyue was born in a feudal family, she was educated by her uncle with a background of "returnees". In the gap between tradition and modernity, Chinese and western cultures, she opened the door to yearning for freedom, dreams and love. Translator Wu Shiliang was born in a big family in Jiangnan. She entered St. John's College to study science and engineering in her early years, and then came to Tsinghua Foreign Languages Department. After graduation, she and Ying Ruocheng were admitted to Beijing People's Art College. She is a talented woman who is proficient in Chinese and western cultures.

The most surprising thing is that both the author, the translator and the hero of the novel, Chun Yue, have similar origins, and the hardships and confusion experienced by the translator and Chun Yue seem to overlap too much. Ying Da recalled that his mother loved this story, devoted her life to it, and even put her life on it. He said it was because "it's like her own story".

After they are all famous families, the new enlightenment education has made them all intellectual women with both old and new cultural qualities, but they also lack the virtue of gentleness, virtuous, calm and strong atmosphere. Throughout their lives, they have borne more pain for the whole family and accomplished almost impossible tasks. It is their inextricable connection with fate, coupled with Wu Shiliang's amazing attainments in Chinese and English, that finally presents a perfect China woman, Chunyue, to China readers. I can't even tell whether Chunyue has the shadow of Wu Shiliang or whether Wu Shiliang's experience gives Chunyue a better interpretation.

"She never complains and never complains. She has an inner dignity,

Reflections on Spring Moon Reading 3

At first sight, I was attracted by the cover and binding of this book. A gentle woman's side face and back, faint full moon halo, a touch of fresh green waist, with conspicuous words on it, some shining brightly in elegance. This novel is a bit long, but it is not wonderful. It tells the fate of a woman in the south of the Yangtze River under the great historical background. The time span is from Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty to 1980s. Although the story is not too bizarre, there are not too many twists and turns, but many descriptions and phenomena are familiar or heard around. Even now, there seems to be some historical shadows. It is inevitable for individuals or families to get rid of such a big environment and be influenced by the times. Even though there are many different cases, we can still feel the breath of history. This is a microcosm of the Chinese nation in the past century, with some feelings, some reluctance and some lingering depression.

Before reading this book, I read some introductions. I think it's a bit like Lin Yutang's "Clouds in Beijing", which describes several families and typical characters. With the change of time, they have experienced ups and downs in life, and the author also created them in English. However, after reading it, I found that the novel itself is not as perfect as I thought. The whole story shows a state of slow rhythm in the first half and accelerated rhythm in the second half. The plot is there, but reading it can't deeply touch the inner excitement. There is a little more emphasis on the background and history of the times, but the true character of the characters themselves cannot escape from black and white. Too many simple narrative descriptions and bland dialogues can't arouse curious thinking, but I believe some of them.

In this book, people can see the history of the destiny of the country and the nation, especially the process from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, from War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression to the civil war, and from the partition of the country to the opening of the mainland. In this long and turbulent process, a Jiangnan woman who was born in a well-known family and related relatives has changed with the changes of history, the conflict between Chinese and Western cultures and the vicissitudes of life with the passage of time. In fact, the author can tell this story. I saw many good story elements in this book, but I didn't deeply appreciate the beauty of art, which is a little regrettable. Although the Chinese translation may be correct and fully convey the author's own thoughts, I just feel a little disappointed with my previous expectations.

Reflections on Spring Moon Reading 4

"When is the moon in spring flowers? How much do you know about the past? " At the end of the story, Nixon's secret visit to China was in the1970s. He was born in the spring of Guangxu in the ninth year and was 90 years old. On the hillside outside Suzhou, Artemisia grass grows, graves are in disrepair, and stone tablets are scattered and broken, much like the turbulent land of China at that time. However, everything is no longer important, because the whole Zhang family is here, and five generations live under one roof. What my grandmother told her has finally come true. "The fortune teller said that there is only one person in the Zhang family who can see five generations under one roof, and that is you, Chunyue." She closed her eyes and saw the familiar faces in her memory. She opened her eyes and held her granddaughter's little hand.

Li Ge accurately described this slightly bleak feeling. "Parents will tie themselves more closely to a blood chain, which is the blood of thousands of ancestors and has survived wars, natural disasters, famines and killings. The destination is a light, erratic and fragile object hanging in the womb. " Chunyue must have thought of her daughter Mingyu when she stared at her son who returned from America. She has a photo of 1966 Mingyu accompanying Premier Zhou to visit abroad. Mingyu in the photo is wearing a cheongsam made by her mother, and pale pinkish purple's cheongsam is embroidered with plum blossom patterns.

Plum blossom, plum blossom. The story of Chunyue should start with plum blossoms, and all the complicated feelings about family should start with the hanging of Chunyue's handmaid Meihua. In order to repay Ye's kindness, the Zhang family decided to give plum blossoms to Master Ye as a gift. Chunyue stood firmly on Meihua's side, but after her grandfather told her the story before she died, she said sadly, "Grandpa, I know what is right, but now you have completely screwed me up." I don't know who is right or wrong. " Grandpa said, "You, baby, must obey God's will."

No one can understand these truths from the beginning, and who will willingly surrender to the unknown fate? The younger generation of the Zhang family, calling for love, equality and freedom, all want to leave this family and change this family and even this country. Uncle Bing Yi, who returned from studying in the United States, taught health knowledge at home, set up missionary hospitals and dug wells for tenant farmers. Uncle Bingchong joined the army and went to Guangdong to attend the Sun Yat-sen League after the Sino-Japanese War. After the death of Plum Blossom, Chunyue resolutely stopped wanting a maid. Instead of learning needles, she became her uncle's student, studying and learning English.

Xiao Zhangjia is the epitome of modern China. Everyone may have been hurt or discouraged, but when their families need them, they will still stand up. In order to prevent Bingchong from bombing the yamen, Chunyue and Bing Yi secretly assassinated visiting Manchu officials. In order to rescue the grandniece and granddaughter of party member, Aunt Bing went to Shanghai alone during the April 12th coup. Disappointed by the breakdown of cooperation between countries, retired Bing Chong persisted again and served the country as soon as War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out ... Perhaps only when they involuntarily fell into the whirlpool of fate did they find that home is a country and country is home. Those propositions that once felt big and empty: family, national luck, freedom, escape and return, are actually staged in their own lives. Freedom and family are never antonyms, but escape and return have become inevitable.

Reflections on Spring Moon Reading 5

Finally, I finished reading Spring Moon in my spare time. A 400-page book with 360,000 words is informative. Of course, the quality of a book cannot be judged by the number of words, or even has nothing to do with the number of words. But this is really a good book.

I have seen Lin Yutang's Clouds in Beijing before, and I may be preconceived. This book gives me a feeling very much like "Clouds in Beijing", and it also describes the joys and sorrows of a big era and a big family. It's just that the spring moon gives me a more delicate feeling. What moved me most was the love between Chunyue and her uncle Aunt Bing. She even gave birth to one of their children. According to social morality, this is incest, and they are a prominent family since the Ming Dynasty and influenced by Confucian culture, not to mention the troubled times in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. There is not much psychological description in the book. I can only imagine Chunyue's mood at that time, what kind of suffering, despair and happiness. The greatest happiness always blooms in the most desperate place. Aunt Bing must know, "Do you regret our love?" Chunyue replied, "No, I don't regret it. I only regret having to break up today. "

Chunyue obeys fate, and they all obey fate. Although the soldiers shouted, it was their fault to obey. Obey tradition, family, power and responsibility. Obey everything, everyone: living and dead. Just don't obey our needs, our dreams, our enthusiasm! Even if we live for ourselves, it won't last long. Steal a moment here and win January there. Nobody knows yet. You don't have to be really moved. Then, obey. Third, live according to the wishes of others.

However, Chunyue told him that we would get used to it. The more obedient, the less desire. That's what we do in China. Their love must conform to the mainstream and must break up, but in ancient Egypt, this may be the French king. Right and wrong are never so easy to judge. Their child Yun Jian later fell in love with an American journalist, went to the United States and became a professor at a university. It can be seen that there is no problem with the intelligence of children born to close relatives. It's just that mainstream morality doesn't allow it.