To me, Yu Guangzhong is a very versatile writer. He writes not only in one kind of style. Not only can he write lyrically, he can also write analytically. When he does so, he makes use of a kind of writing which has a long history in Chinese literature; the writing of the couplet . The Chinese have long had the habit of writing two lines, one on each side of a door or gate called a symmetrical pair or couplets 對聯 where each of the ideas, images in one line of the symmetrical pair is matched by its corresponding opposite in the other line. Yu's "World of Paradoxes" may be seen as a further development of that tradition. Here it is, with my translation.
矛盾世界 World of Paradoxes
快樂的世界啊 Happy World!
當初我們見面 When we first met
你迎我以微笑 You welcomed me with smiles
而我答你以大哭 And I answered with a big cry
驚天，動地 Shaking heaven, moving earth.
悲哀的世界啊 Sad world!
最後我們分手 We separated in the end
你送我以大哭 I sent you off with a big cry
而我答你以無言 and you replied with silence
關天，閉地 closing heaven, cloaking earth
矛盾的世界啊 Paradoxical World!
無論初見或永別 Whether it be the first meeting or the final farewell
我總是對你大哭 I always bawled at you
哭世界始於你一笑 the world of crying began with your smiles
而幸福終於你閉目 but the bliss ended with your closed eyes.
In this poem, Yu opposes the ideas of beginning, with the ending, greeting and farewell, laughing or smiling , crying and bawling, heaven and earth, opening and closing to emphasize the final pair of opposites, happiness and sadness and the complex inter-relationship amongst them. Who is he referring to in this poem? No idea! His mother? His lover? His friend?
good morning
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/11/2010 07:20:00]Good Morning. How are you?
The eternal major premise of Being and Nothingness --- the joy and pain of Birth and Death.
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/11/2010 09:54:00]I don't know what Yu may have in his mind when he wrote this poem. It could be about his mother (the reference to her greeting him with a smile and he as a newborn baby greeting her with his bawling and the reference to his happiness ending with her eyes closed forever in death and her response with silence when he bade her farewell may further support this interpretation) But then the same scenario may equally apply to the start and ending of his relationship with his lover or friend. I really have no idea.
We don’t need to look too much at the superficial meaning of this poem. The crying new-born baby and the moment of bidding tearful final farewell are just symbols of the beginning and the end of life. Everything ends!
回覆刪除The last stanza 「矛盾的世界啊」 (note the word “world”) encapsulates everything. Poetic works are to be felt, not to be analyzed under the microscope nor anatomized with the scalpel.
[版主回覆11/11/2010 11:06:00]You're probably right. A poem may point to another world: from the particular to the general, from the individual to the universal. But still, if we knew more about the "superficial", that may gives us more clues about what that universal might be!
I believe not even the poet himself could tell you exactly what resides in his heart and tell you which part of his poetic lines relate to a specific emotion. Every person’s feelings are a hotpot of emotions none of which can be treated in isolation. I have heard about a real story: A professor spent a long time explaining to the class Baudelaire’s works. At the end of the tutorial, one of the students, with perplexity all over his face, raised his hand and asked: “Sir, in that case can we call Baudelaire a pessimistic poet?” The professor was a bit dazed but returned to his composure and replied with humour: “ Yes, yes… by all means.”
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/11/2010 14:47:00]You're probably right. Once on paper, a poem takes on a life of its own. It no longer exists in the mind or subjective intention of the poet alone. Neither does it exist in the subjective mind of its readers alone. It exists in that hazy and inchoate space evoked by the words on the paper or the computer screen, guided by the text of the poem but not completely dictated by it! Hence there can always be more than one interpretations of a poem!
"Paradoxes of love and hate, Of bitter and of sweet, man loves them all, Love is bitter than hatred, And you'll never forget who you hate, Hate needs love, but love'll change with hatred..." Good evening, my dear old friend !
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/13/2010 05:16:00]Yes, love and hate are two sides of the same desire, one positive, the other negative and it's difficult to find one without the other. We love to love the beloved and hate to leave our beloved! As you say, only love can transform hate. But not the other way round. However, we seldom find a place for reason when we are dominated by desire!