One more thing is very special. Rebirth, like A Dream of Red Mansions, is an unfinished manuscript. Chen Duansheng only wrote the first seventeen volumes and died, leaving a regret for the world. About thirty years later, Xu Zongyan and Liang Dechun felt that the original author "abandoned his previous life halfway" and continued to write the last three volumes, becoming a 20-volume book. Although the sequel is not as good as the original, it is also a great contribution to the completion of this story. This novel has an original version of Tanci and an adapted version of prose (74 times). You can come and have a look if you are interested. You won't be disappointed. Of course, if you read an adapted version of prose, there is no obstacle to writing habits. The story of rebirth is so famous, but the author's life experience is little known. I think such a talented woman is worth knowing. Fortunately, in his later years, Mr. Chen Yinque devoted himself to "doing useless things to send a life with limited vision" and wrote a long article "On the Destiny of Rebirth" of nearly 80 pages, which made the author's first two lives obscure, made future generations "know others and discuss the world" when we read novels, and deeply understood the relationship between the background of the works and the author's personal experience. Like Liu Chuan, Mr. Chen's papers are textual research, which most people don't understand and don't like to read. They need to be written in a way that ordinary people are used to.
Chen Duansheng is from Hangzhou. Jiangnan not only produces talents, but also many talented women. I remember going to Hangzhou last summer. After dinner, I took a walk near the West Lake. When I arrived at a place, I saw a low wall with the words "rebirth" written on it, occupying the whole wall. I was worried and stayed there for a while. Unfortunately, it is too late to find out what it is, even the former residence of Chen Duansheng. The next day, I left Hangzhou in a hurry, leaving a suspense. Be sure to visit again when you have a chance in the future. The Chen family are several generations of literati. Chen Duansheng's grandfather, Chen Zhaolun, was a scholar in Yongzheng, and he was the author of the Collection of Purple Bamboo Mountain Houses, which was highly praised by people at that time. His father, Chen Yudun, was a juren and worked as a local official in Yunnan and Shandong. Chen Duansheng's grandfather is a very enlightened old scholar, who once wrote Talented Women. He thinks that women's satire on "learning stories", "recognizing allusions" and "inspiring spirituality" is not helpless, but can make women "gentle and honest", so he comes to the conclusion that "talent and morality are accompanied" Although the ultimate goal of talented women in his eyes is to be a more competent housewife, after all, he raised his cultural literacy to a useful position, which at least opened the door for his female descendants to receive cultural education. Chen Duansheng and her sister Chen Changsheng both have good literary talents and should benefit from their grandfather's enlightenment.
Chen Duansheng's mother, Wang, was born differently. She is the daughter of Shangyu, the former magistrate of Yunnan and Dali. It is natural that Wang Shang is a scholar and his daughter is educated. It is not surprising that Chen Duansheng, who was educated by her daughter, is very literary. In addition, Chen Duansheng, a native of Hangzhou, set the starting point of the story Rebirth in Yunnan, and put many activities of the hero and heroine in the capital of Yunnan, which is very puzzling. Knowing her mother's family background can tell everything. Presumably, Chen Duansheng heard a lot about Yunnan from his mother when he was a child, and was deeply attracted, and he had a lot of fantasies and mysteries about Yunnan. Writing novels naturally starts from the mysterious Yunnan. It may also be that Yunnan is far from the traditional capital, people's thoughts are not so restrained, and it is very open-minded for Wang's thoughts to be passed on to his children. Only by examining the traditional social concepts can Chen Duan be unconstrained and unconstrained, and can he write such works as Rebirth. On the other hand, mm seems to be circumstantial evidence.
Chen Yudun and Wang have no sons but only three daughters. Life is long, birthday is second, longevity is the youngest, but birthday is young. In fact, there are only two sisters as partners in life. Duansheng and Changsheng sisters are brilliant in literary talent. It goes without saying that birth is self-evident, as evidenced by "rebirth". Chen Changsheng is not inferior. At that time, the Jiangnan world was more open-minded and not strict with men and women. Her sister Changsheng was one of the "female disciples" of Yuan Mei, a literary giant at that time. Marrying former imperial academy editor Ye Shaogong (Qin Ke) is another cultural marriage. Ye Jia has a characteristic: women are full of talents and excellent poetic skills, and the high level amazed people at that time. Yuan Mei once commented: "My hometown is full of beautiful women, but it is more prosperous than Ye Fangbo's home. His two wives, two sons and one daughter (referring to longevity) are all flying generals in the poem. " Addendum 3 to Poems in the Garden From the fact that Jiangnan women are versatile and good at singing in groups, we can see that the sorority described in A Dream of Red Mansions is not a fabrication or ideal of Cao Xueqin, but a very common phenomenon in aristocratic families at that time. In a family or living environment, it is really difficult to cultivate the mindset that men are strong and women are weak, because it is not your sister or your mother who moves you or worships you. Well, the situation in my family can be circumstantial. Therefore, Chen Duansheng's ability to break the traditional way of thinking and write Rebirth is probably related to the family environment around women (and talented women). The first sixteen volumes of Rebirth were written by Chen Duansheng when he was eighteen or nineteen. At that time, she was still in the boudoir. Although some people say that her grandfather is frugal and his family looks poor, after all, his official position is very high and he is not as poor as the average poor. I started writing in the autumn of 1768:
There is nothing wrong with the boudoir curtain in front of the window, and the early cold in autumn turns sleepless.
The shadow of the lamp leans to the edge of the book, and the rain falls to the edge of the bar.
It is difficult to make sentences with new ideas, but it is difficult to make sentences with only a few sentences.
Tonight, the right to peace of mind is appropriate. Let's talk about writing a beautiful marriage with crayons.
This is the beginning of Rebirth, which shows the writing season. The specific time is about September in the thirty-fourth year of Qianlong (1769). Chen Duansheng lived eighteen years in vain that year. Ancient and modern talented women are precocious, and Grandma Zhang became famous as a teenager. People like us who haven't reached the age of success should feel at ease and be ordinary people. Smile.
When Chen Duansheng began to write Rebirth, he lived in Beijing Wailangying (mm). At this time, her grandfather is an official in Beijing, and the whole family is accompanying her in Beijing. In September, her grandmother and uncle's parents went back to Hangzhou, her father stayed in Beijing to work, and the Chen Duansheng family didn't go back to the south. Chen Duansheng is more free than usual, and the home environment is relatively quiet, which is a good time for writing. It is worth noting that Chen Duansheng and Cao Xueqin (17 17- 1763) are almost contemporaries. Chen Duansheng was twelve years old when Cao Xueqin died. Six years later, she began to write Rebirth in Beijing. A Dream of Red Mansions has been circulating in Beijing for many years. Did Chen Duansheng have a chance to read A Dream of Red Mansions? Teacher Chen said that she may not have read A Dream of Red Mansions, which may be reasonable, but it may not be that she has not read it. If you have seen it, what would Chen Duansheng think of Sister Lin, a talented woman, and the two sisters in the Grand View Garden and their fate? Chen Duansheng's writing is not utilitarian. The earliest readers were probably only her mother and sister, but she was very diligent in writing and often burned the midnight oil. Chen Duansheng said that in the cold winter, she was still thinking about writing:
The freezing weather has been extremely cold, and the hunting of the west wind has been ruined.
A short day can't bear to embroider frequently, which is still a continuation of "rebirth".
Say it again:
Although the book is a clear and peaceful January, the world should know the end of the year.
The window loves to take advantage of the warm morning sun to care about the cold night.
The reason why she writes so hard is completely driven by irresistible writing impulse, which is similar to what Sister Lin said: "The poet's helplessness and ignorance." When the writing impulse comes, the writer can't stop if he wants to, and thinks it is a godsend. Ancient and modern Chinese and foreign masterpieces are probably such products, and it is not enough to rely on the efforts of the day after tomorrow.
At that time, the writing activity was very pleasant, and Chen Duansheng described it like this:
Sister bed listening to the rain at night, spring porch rhyme poems.
The partition wall is covered with red apricots and sunny snow, and the couch is covered with sunset clouds.
Embroidery in the afternoon tired the whole line, and the trial of spring tea added spring.
In the first month of the following year, Chen Duansheng's grandfather left Beijing for Hangzhou, but Chen Duansheng's father was still an official in Beijing, and the sisters and mother stayed in Beijing. By May, she had written the first eight volumes in about eight months.
In August, my father worked in Dengzhou, Shandong, and the whole family followed him. Dengzhou Prefecture is located in Penglai City today. Penglai is near the sea, with beautiful scenery, myths and legends. Life there makes talented woman Chen Duansheng feel very comfortable and at ease:
Near the East China Sea, the tide rises and falls, and Pengshan lives.
There are thousands of castles in the air, and what time are the sails hanging outside the island?
It is not hard to imagine that life in Chen Duansheng is very pleasant. Apart from the beautiful natural scenery, it goes without saying that her family is not an ordinary person there, but a local governor, who was officially released by Beijing and enjoyed special treatment. You can't find that sense of superiority in Beijing. However, the superior and comfortable material life did not erode Chen Duansheng's spiritual pursuit. During her stay in Penglai, she continued to write diligently. Her writing speed is fast, which can be said to be the climax of her writing. She lived in Dengzhou for about seven months and finished nine to sixteen volumes. Mr. Chen speculated that her difficulty in writing might be related to her mother's poor health. She was afraid that her mother would die before she finished writing. Unfortunately, the climax of her writing ended with the completion of sixteen volumes. Because after that, Chen Duan's creation was interrupted, and it was forty-nine years after Qianlong (1784), that is, ten years later, that he resumed writing and continued to write the seventeenth time. This is another story.
After writing sixteen volumes, Chen Duansheng had a sigh that time flies:
At first, the grass was green and the rain was good.
In the end, the apricot blossoms and red drops have disappeared in spring.
It is a pity, it is a pity,
Running water, time is fading;
Don't pack up your leisure,
I will wait, and I will get 17 new words.
The word "Flowing Time" was published in "Peony Pavilion", which is exactly what Daiyu once said sadly: "As beautiful as flowers and jade, as water flies". Teacher Chen said that Cao Xueqin was only trying to figure out a woman's state of mind, which was an article of indirect imagination, while Chen Duansheng was a language of direct experience, so the word "rebirth" was worth pondering. I think this similarity can at least convince those who don't believe that there are sentimental seeds in the world: Du Like Li Niang and Lin Sister.
Chen Duansheng didn't continue to write after he finished sixteen volumes, because his mother was ill and died in July. Calculate the age, her mother will not be over 50 when she dies. According to today's life expectancy, she will reach middle age. Presumably, mother Chen is also a talented woman, which is why it is so inappropriate. Chen Duansheng said, "Since the last years of Gunter Hall, I have made Yunchen Caihua donate." Mother is actually her first bosom friend. During her writing, the readers were only her mother and sister. Chen Duansheng's sisters are closely related to their mothers. They not only take care of them in life, but also teach them to read and write. Their talent depends on their mother's supervision of the class. The main reason why Chen Duansheng worked so hard to write Rebirth was to please his mother. I'm afraid Chen Duansheng lost her mother for the first time in her life. The biggest loss for people in this world is the loss of bosom friends, especially those who are talented and need to be appreciated and encouraged. A bosom friend is more important than anyone else, not to mention a bosom friend is your loving mother. How can I be in the mood to write without my mother?
The following year, in the summer of the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong (1770), she returned to her hometown in Hangzhou with her family about her father's departure. Back to the south, I first took a bus from Penglai to Dezhou, and then took a boat from Dezhou by water, which made the delicate Chen Duansheng walk very hard. At that time, the traffic was not as developed as it is now, and no matter how rich people are, they have to go through rough times.
This year, Chen Duansheng was twenty years old. Back in Hangzhou, I seem to have no energy to continue writing. I just made some changes and touches to the old draft. The next few years will probably be the period when blind date is ready to get married, and there will be many things and some twists and turns in the middle. Three years later, 23-year-old Chen Duansheng finally married her famous son Fan Hong. At that time, Wei Fan was a student, but he had not been selected. However, Fan Hong is over 30 years old and may be married. Chen Duansheng is a stepwife, not an original match. Fan Hong is the son of Chen Duan's grandfather's good friend Fan Can, a native of Xiushui, Zhejiang Province, and a fellow countryman of Chen Duansheng's mother. His family has lived in Huzhou for generations and is closely related to Duan's longevity husband's family. The marriage between Fan and Chen seems logical. Fan Can was a scholar in Yongzheng period, and once served as the governor of Hubei, the governor of Anhui, senior minister and assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry. Chen Duansheng was right to marry his son. So Chen Duansheng's material life will not change much. She hit it off with her husband and was very happy. She described her married life like this:
Fortunately, Aunt Lai is poor and weak, and her husband is a Confucian crown.
Ban Du tea soup waste, carving candles to urge poetry to laugh.
Jinse is a happy combination, and pearl fleas hang in the palm of your hand.
Life is smooth sailing, but writing has not returned to its former state. Although her husband may also be her confidant, this confidant is definitely not her confidant, and the fit between people varies from person to person. Not that particular person, a particular inspiration can't come out. However, I think happiness is more important than continuing to generate writing inspiration. Chen Duansheng must feel the same way, so she has no impulse to write in a happy life. However, she completed another creation, giving birth to a daughter a year after marriage and a son a few years later.
It is not difficult for people to be happy in the world. What is difficult is how to stay happy for a long time. This seems to be a difficult problem for most people, because happiness is always so fleeting, while misfortune is often so stubborn. Chen Duansheng, a rich woman married into a famous family, never imagined that bad luck would suddenly befall her.
Chen Duansheng's husband hasn't been chosen yet, let alone a scholar. With his family background, social relations and marriage with Chen Duansheng, it is inevitable that he will gain both fame and fortune. Therefore, Chen Duansheng said, "I am extremely happy about the prosperity of the cross channel, but it is bound by the name." Yes, there is a good life, why not? But in that social atmosphere and family environment, you can't get rid of the "lock of fame". However, for Chen Duansheng's husband, whether it is "profit" or "fame" in "lock and rein" is a draw with a sieve, but "lock" and "rein" have become a real reality. What Chen Duansheng went through, which I wrote today, is only a page or two, but it tells what it was like at that time. If Chen Duansheng wrote it himself, he couldn't even write hundreds of pages. It's a pity that she didn't write a few words in detail except in the seventeenth volume of Rebirth.
Chen Duansheng's situation is similar to that of Li Wan in A Dream of Red Mansions, but she is more difficult than Li Wan. Li Wan's husband died of illness, and the so-called "widow unemployment" won the sympathy of many people and the support of the old lady. Chen Duansheng is not a widow. Her husband is still alive, but he carried a heavy cross and was sent to the front of the criminals. I wonder how the interpersonal relationship of the Fan family is? According to her own statement, Weng Gu felt sorry for her. However, in the old big family, there are not only aunts, but also others. If there are so many little people, she should be the most vulnerable to gossip and exclusion. But Chen Duansheng still has a strong side. From what she said, "Make a determined effort to appease Shuang'er's ambition", we can see that her nerves are thick. And her sister's support and help. I'll write it later. So in these difficult days, besides raising children, Chen Duansheng is still active in the cultural circle.
The first sixteen volumes of Rebirth were written in Beijing and Shandong, and the readers were only my mother and my sister. After she returned to her hometown in Hangzhou, "Rebirth" soon spread in a province in Zhejiang:
But this book has long been known, and it was handed down from a province in Zhejiang.
When I was a playwright, I felt very happy, but I was better than that, and my articles were worthless.
The boudoir bosom friend, the elders in the court are all smiles.
Even more earnestly, I must let Feng Peng Luan continue to play the old string.
Not only "boudoir confidants" and "court elders" are vying to read her "Rebirth", but everyone is still unfinished, urging her to continue and let everyone see the final ending. As mentioned earlier, the story of Rebirth is connected by a link, and the thrill is connected with the thrill. At first, I couldn't let go. At that time, so many people spread it, urging Chen Duansheng to continue writing. Cao Xueqin's outstanding work A Dream of Red Mansions was not so widely circulated before his death. His reputation is over. Chen Duansheng is not. She was famous before her death, and many fans of fate followed her closely. This is Chen Duansheng's luck. Although writing was of no practical benefit to a woman at that time, talented people love to compete for fame, and talented women seek bosom friends. There are so many people who agree with her writing, which is more precious than money. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Baoyu said that he would show off his words outside, and the sisters were very worried. Chen Duansheng, on the other hand, not only doesn't mind the spread of his works, but also is very proud. It seems that she does have the "crab" gene in her bones. Because the reader's response was very enthusiastic, she felt it necessary to continue writing:
A bosom friend loves me. Don't worry. I will continue to succeed in my spare time.
In rainy days, Bai Mudan sends wax, and red plums burn in the spring.
Xiangyang takes advantage of the three-pole day and lights frequently at night.
It is absolutely not true that people are worried about others, and the old heart is not old.
If there is any mistake or mistake in it, it will bother you, and the reader will add an axe to cut the mark.
In the early spring of forty-nine years of Qianlong (1784), twelve years after his mother died and four years after her husband was exiled, Chen Duan finally resumed the writing of Rebirth. /kloc-stopped writing for 0/2 years, as she said: "Everything happened in 12 years was in a drunken room in Tang Ming". "Tang Ming is drunk" means that the gender of Li Mingtang (Meng Lijun) has aroused people's suspicion in the palace. He is drunk and is about to take off his boots to check whether he has little feet. At the same time of soul-stirring, the story came to an abrupt end, and it stopped for twelve years. Unexpectedly, the twelve-year blank was filled with Chen Duansheng's own joys and sorrows. The bitter outsiders don't know, but Chen Duansheng knows, can't help but sigh.
Of course, the writing mood and living environment have changed a lot at this time. As she said, "my servant is worried about people, and certainly not, and the speed of writing is not as good as before." So Chen Duansheng's ambition to finish Rebirth has not been realized. She only wrote volume 17, and never wrote it again.