The Soul of Spain: The Sorrow and Glory of a Civilization, by John Crowe, translated by Zhuang, published by CITIC Publishing Group Xinsi Culture 202/KLOC-0 in June, 536 pages, 98.00 yuan.

A scholar who studies foreign literature and culture should always try to break the stereotype of the country he studies and keep a distance from commercial advertisements and political propaganda about this country. "Spain is different" is a signboard of Spanish tourism advertisement, which aims to show tourists from western developed countries a country with "exotic" customs and a little taste of North Africa. However, it is undeniable that Spanish culture still belongs to Europe in essence, and Spain's European identity cannot be denied because of its uniqueness. Spanish official propaganda often proudly claims that Spain is a big tourist country with the most developed tourism industry in the world. Tourism is green and lovely, but taking tourism and tourism-driven real estate as the main pillar of the economy will take great risks. Now everyone knows the power of COVID-19 and how fragile tourism is ... "Romantic Spain" is an image deeply rooted in the hearts of people all over the world. This comprehensive impression is made up of fiery dancers, unrestrained guitar music and brave matadors stained with yellow sand ... American scholar John Crowe (1906-200 1) pointed out in the book "The Soul of Spain: the sorrow and glory of a civilization" that there is no such thing as "romantic Spain".

The original title of this book is Spain: Roots and Flowers: An Interpretation of Spain and the Spanish People. Spain's gorgeous appearance is flowers, and Spain's soul is the root. Only by understanding this ancient and profound root can we make a convincing explanation to Spain and the Spanish people. This "soul" is a national temperament, a cultural tradition, and an isomorphic consciousness that has been shaped again and again in thousands of years of history. It is more stable than economic phenomena and political movements. John Crowe has in-depth research on Spanish literature and has experience in studying in Spain. He took literature, art and thought as the basis to explain everything in Spain. Throughout the book, from the cave murals left by prehistoric inhabitants of Spain to the general situation of Spanish society in the 1980s, his evaluation of Spain has both a personal perspective and a rational attitude, without passionate praise or paranoid conclusions.

The reason why Spain is regarded as a "romantic" country has a lot to do with the western romantic literature prevailing in the19th century. In the works of romantic writers, closed and backward Spain seems to retain many things that almost disappeared in their country: folklore, ancient folk customs and lofty ideals ... American writer washington irving's Travels of Spain shows an untimely legendary place, French writer Merimee creates a mysterious Spanish strange girl, and German poet Heine shed tears of sympathy for Don Quixote, an upright and crazy knight who ran into a wall everywhere. John Crowe studied Spain in the eyes of British romantics in his doctoral thesis. One of his conclusions was that it was because Spanish medieval narrative poems were translated into English that Spain became a "famous romantic place" in the eyes of British and later Americans. Spain's "romantic" image is mixed with a lot of subjective imagination and misunderstanding. John Crowe's insight recorded his mental journey, which can arouse many people's shouts: "When foreigners come to Spain with an open mind, they will immediately begin to enjoy the sunshine and life in Spain ... This feeling may last for several months, but in the end he can gradually feel the huge price paid by the Spanish for such anarchy, and then feel sad. He felt the pain of frustration and the threat of despair, and then he began to understand that the happiness of Spain is always full of deep sorrow, which is the natural result of the struggle of life ... If you observe Spain long enough, through its mask, you will find that there is no real joy or picturesque beauty here. "

Visiting Spain from the outside to the inside in space, the gradual change of visual impression is completely consistent with the mental journey he described. The peripheral scenery of Spain is marked by the scenery along the Mediterranean coast. From Catalonia to Andalusia, all the way is sunny, blue sea and yellow sand. Further inside, there are green olive groves and golden wheat fields, which are the pastoral customs that have been accumulated for many years in agricultural civilization. Then I came to the interior of Spain, which is the Castilla Plateau, the landscape of nomadic civilization, the vast Yuan Ye full of rocks, and a large area of land where only cattle and sheep are seen. John Berger, a British art critic, said very sternly: one way to define the inland scenery of Spain is to declare it unsuitable for painting; The scenery in the hinterland of Spain is a kind of scenery that can't find the focus and is therefore not suitable for viewing. This is not romantic at all. If we go further inside and enter the ancient church that stands between heaven and earth, in its dark cave-like interior, we can see the bloody and painful image of Christ crucified. This thrilling icon art is also the classic carrier of Spain's "soul".

Turning to Spanish history, especially modern history, one tragedy after another is also hard to let go. John Crowe devoted a lot of pen and ink to the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. The last chapters of this book run through the regret of Spanish brothers and sisters and the reflection on the political success or failure of the Second Republic. Perhaps it was because he had personally experienced Spain's hopeful and turbulent second Republic era (193 1- 1939), and watched with regret that it finally fell in a pool of blood in the civil war. His account of the modern history of Spain has a sad tone and is not optimistic about the future of this country. This book was first published in 1963, when Spain was still under Franco's dictatorship. The second edition came out in 1975, the year Franco died. The third edition was published in 1985, when Spain had completed its democratic transformation and was accelerating its integration into European countries. If the new revised edition of this book is released in a few years, the tone of the last chapters may be more optimistic.

Compared with those countries in Europe that got rich first, Spain's major feature is that the Middle Ages ended late, and there were traces of the Middle Ages until the twentieth century. In this sense, Spain is indeed a bit "romantic". During John Crowe's study trip in Spain in 1930s, those old towns with medieval characteristics must have left an unforgettable impression on this young man from the New World. When he wrote about medieval Spain in his book, he did not hesitate to praise: "Medieval Spanish towns are the result of spiritual unity and a work of art." The construction of towns pays attention to integrity and is full of harmony, beauty and piety. Everyone works hard and is proud of technology and technology. Everyone tries his best, because his works will spread all over the world ... It is a wonderful emotional catharsis for people to participate in community work and various songs and dances and celebrations. Individuals disappear into the community, then the tension disappears and loneliness is dispelled ... medieval cities are neither dark nor ugly. Walls are often painted to release sunlight and air. Even the fortifications are works of art, and you can see beautiful scenery wherever you look. Practicality and aesthetics are rarely separated. These words are partly his fond memories of his trip to Spain and partly his beautiful imagination of medieval Europe.

It is not difficult to see that this kind of beauty also implies some criticism of modern civilized life. He came from the most developed country of modern civilization to one of the most backward and conservative countries in Europe, and the contrast was big enough to arouse his reflection. He saw the harmony of medieval towns and thought of the chaos and crowding of modern urban buildings; Seeing that the workers in the Middle Ages were satisfied with their own skills and labor achievements, they thought of the monotony of the assembly line and the alienation of labor in the modern industrial system. Seeing that people live in a closely linked community, I think of individualism, autism and depression of modern people from self-reliance to autism; Seeing that life in the Middle Ages was both practical and beautiful, I thought that modern people often sacrificed their sense of beauty for practical functions ... The Spanish life he saw more or less retained the aesthetics and lifestyle of the Middle Ages, which was a feature of Spain that made him miss America. On the other hand, in the eyes of Spaniards and Spanish-speaking Americans, there are many problems in the seemingly affluent modern life of Americans. José Enrique Rodó, a Uruguayan thinker, sarcastically wrote in his masterpiece Ariel: "If Britain is the road of pragmatism, then the United States is the incarnation, and the gospel of this word has spread all over the world because of the victory of material miracle ... Although the city has magnificent museums and splendid exhibits, and the square is full of marble and bronze sculptures, if one day, The name of this country is associated with a certain artistic taste, which must be a denial of art itself ... The descendants of serious Puritans are indifferent to the concept of "beauty" and also lack enthusiasm for "truth". They despise all thinking without direct purpose and think it is useless and barren. " In a word, although thinkers in Spanish-speaking countries are eager to integrate into modern civilization, they don't want American modern civilization to be vulgar and ugly in their eyes, and they don't want to completely abandon the medieval tradition of paying attention to spiritual quality and emphasizing the integration of truth, goodness and beauty.

However, any modern civilization must resolutely abandon the autocratic rule and inefficient production system of the integration of politics and religion in the Middle Ages. John Crowe had no romantic and beautified imagination about the feudal autocracy in Spain. The magnificent buildings left by the two most modern monarchs of the Spanish Empire-Granada Palace of Emperor Charles V and Escorial Palace of Philip II-are "cold and serious" and "like a prison, heavy and unlovable" in his eyes. This can also be seen as a description of the autocratic rule of the Habsburg dynasty in Spain. An autocratic empire must have subjects who not only adapt to autocracy but also take pride in autocracy. When writing about the restoration of the autocratic monarch Fernando VII at the beginning of the19th century, the author criticized the Spanish people: "The Spanish people are skeptical about the enlightened government, and they prefer the autocratic monarch to the constitutional government ... These backward, superstitious and reactionary Spaniards once again accepted the shackles made of pure gold." There is often a sharp contradiction between the conservatism of the Spanish people in political ideas and the radicalism of the Spanish intellectual elite in carrying out reforms. This contradiction will lead to more and more fierce struggles between different political factions and accelerate the growth of extremism at both ends of the political spectrum. When John Crowe wrote about the Second Republic of Spain, he believed that this dramatic conflict was the root of the Spanish Civil War. He believes that the Republic dug a grave for itself at the beginning of its establishment: the Republic is the product of intellectuals, and the new constitution formulated by the parliament is full of idealism and promises too many things that the government can't do in a short time. This sumptuous meal brought nothing to the Spanish people. * * * During the Republic of China, the ruling liberal party launched an attack on the Catholic Church in Spain, which was deeply rooted and had a large number of supporters. It was in line with the law of historical progress, but it was rushed and triggered fierce resistance. The moderates who were originally in the middle had to fall into the trend of either-or extremism. The Second Republic of Spain tried to establish modern civilization by leaps and bounds, and finally Spain lost the whole modern civilization. However, no matter how stubborn Spain's political conservative forces are, Spain will inevitably move from medieval autocracy to modern politics with separation of church and state and sovereignty in the people, just like Spain today.

Although Spain has lived a modern political life today, it has not yet solved a major political problem that has plagued this country for a long time: regional separatism. The overall impression of the Spaniards to outsiders is not so much "romantic" as "loose". Behind this "sloppy" is a strong individualism, emphasizing self-dignity and unruly temperament. John Crowe believes that Spaniards always have the psychological characteristics of vagrants and shepherds. Individualism in Spain, manifested in political life, has become stateism, anarchism and even regional nationalism. Today, we can see that some Catalans are constantly pursuing the establishment of an independent country, and some Basques insist that they are not Spanish ... John Crowe also sees the positive significance of this psychological trait. He wrote: "Perseverance and absolute freedom like Sparta are the ideals held by many Spaniards. Spanish anarchists resorted to this primitive pride and racial power, which laid the cornerstone of their success. In addition, they pay attention to the autonomy of local labor unions, thus attracting the root of Spanish character, that is, fighting alone by instinct. In Spain's war against France, this instinctive action or "organized indiscipline" brought the most tenacious and lasting guerrilla warfare. These guerrilla tactics relying on instinctive actions won the war against Napoleon and almost successfully defeated Franco with Italy and Germany as allies. " In the struggle against foreign aggression and autocracy, Spanish carelessness can exert great power, but in the process of national construction in peacetime, carelessness is a great obstacle. John Crowe pointed out that since the rule of the Roman Empire, Spain's culture and psychology have been swinging between two extremes: on the one hand, Roman unity, centralization and imperialism, on the other hand, African division, tribal culture and separatism. If we rely on democratic compromise, this basic opposition can only be alleviated in a short time.

This phenomenon was very obvious in the short period of the Second Republic of Spain. Perhaps it was a series of failures of the Second Republic that made John Crowe form this dualistic view. At the end of the book, he commented that Castilla is the heart and pillar of Spain; Castilla knew how to conquer, but never learned how to govern; Madrid is much worse than Barcelona and Valencia. It is not a qualified capital, but Spain must persist in learning the art of management in Castilla and Madrid. Before that day comes, the Spanish must grit their teeth, expect, wait and endure. This argument was obviously inspired by the Spanish philosopher Ortega gasset, who famously said that Spain was torn apart because of the lack of strong core leadership, and Castilla did not assume the responsibility of leading the whole Spain forward. However, John Crowe also admitted that apart from the external forces imposed by imperial despotism, Spain still has a simple strength and eternal vitality to maintain its unity. This power comes from the core structure of history and common destiny. Perhaps this is also the "soul" of Spain.

I remember listening to Americans, Germans, French and Spaniards talking about their respective nationalities at a party with beer and barbecue. The Spaniards say that Spain is the greatest nation, because no foreigner who invaded Spain has really conquered the Spaniards in history. The Spaniards have spent thousands of years trying to destroy themselves without success.

Proofreading: Luan Meng