-Lin Yutang
I have heard of Su Dongpo's name and admire him very much, especially one of his poems, River of No Return, a song, The water is bright and sunny, the mountains and the sky are rainy, and the rest, such as People have joys and sorrows, the moon is sunny, the autumn is endless, and July is looking forward to it. He was a well-deserved bold poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, and created another world of Song Ci.
After reading this book, I know that the rest of Dongpo's shining points are just like the stars in the sky, such as loving the people, respecting friends and loyal wives. During his stay in Hangzhou as a satrap, he took pains to write to the court several times, "Don't take relief for the people as the law, but prepare for a rainy day" (see Chapter 22). Su Shi had friends all over the world, almost from all walks of life: Taoist priests, monks, court officials, border officials, ordinary people, prostitutes in brothels, calligraphers, painters, poets and poets. The list is endless, and even his enemies Zhang Chun (adding "enjoyment" to his heart) and Dongpo forgave his crimes (see Chapter 28). Jiang is a famous writer in exile, and later married to be a sequel. The couple followed Qi Mei's example and regarded each other as guests. Until later, Su Dongpo, under the vigorous management of Wang Guizhi, accepted the concubine who followed him to death. It can be seen that three women are extremely important to Su Dongpo's life. Of course, there was another woman, the Empress Dowager during the reign of Yuan You. During her regency (1085.3 ~ 1093.8), she strongly supported Su Shi and praised his senior officials, which enabled Su Shi to vigorously publicize his political thoughts. But after the death of Empress Dowager Cixi, he fell out of power and was exiled to various places, even to Hainan. Finally, he reluctantly returned to the Central Plains and died in Changzhou.
There is no doubt that Su Shi's life is brilliant, and his life course, like his poetry and calligraphy, deserves our future generations to savor. Whether as a courtier of the Song Dynasty Empire or a world-famous genius, he deserved to occupy an extremely important position in man called hero. Although Lin Yutang's book incorporates his own views on Su Dongpo, I think, just as his sentence "Happiness in thought is immortal" is an apt summary of Su Dongpo, a thousand-year genius.
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Throughout Su Dongpo's life, it can be described as three ups and downs of the official sea. In the year when he was admitted to the Jinshi, he ranked second among the 388 people who entered the list. It was precisely because of the misunderstanding of the examiner Ouyang Xiu (thinking that such a wonderful answer came from his friend Ceng Gong) that he avoided suspicion, otherwise he would rank first. Su Shi was demoted to Fengxiang as an official three years later. Yingzong wanted to be promoted to Hanlin, but was blocked by Prime Minister Han Qi. Han Qi didn't dislike Su Shi, but felt that young people should have more experience. And Yingzong has long regarded Su Shi as the candidate for the future prime minister. At least from 1057 to 1079, Su Shi's career was smooth sailing.
1079, Su Shi was imprisoned for four months, which was known as "Wutai Poetry Case". On the surface, this is a literary prison, and the officials who impeached him find out the heinous sentences in his articles and poems and accuse them. The deeper reason is that Su Shi joined the conservatives headed by Sima Guang and opposed Wang Anshi's New Deal. As a rising star in the literary world, Su Shi's influence is growing and should be suppressed. Many people wrote letters to Su Shi or wrote poems for him, including Wang Shen before Xu. During his stay in Huangzhou, Su Shi cultivated the fields on a piece of Dongpo, hence the name "Dongpo lay man". His four recognized masterpieces also came out at this time, namely: Nostalgia on Red Cliff, Fu before and after Red Cliff, and Night Tour in Chengtian Temple.
1085 to 1093 is the second spring of Su Dongpo's career. Although he has always served as a "provincial and ministerial cadre", he has held leading positions in important departments at the central and local levels, and his political achievements are remarkable, which can be described as a prosperous career.
The second time he was demoted was in 1094, and the culprits were Zhezong and the new Prime Minister Zhang Guo. Although this person can be regarded as an old friend of Su Shi, he is definitely an Wang Anshi school, which is contrary to the political stance of Sima Guang and Su Shi. This * * * storm affected 830 officials, which was called "Yuan You Party Case" in history. Su Shi was the first person to be used for operation, probably because his position in politics and literature was equally high, and his opponents had to pay attention to it.
After11kloc-0/was pardoned in, the ruling and opposition parties at that time unanimously agreed to reuse Su Shi again. Unfortunately, Dongpo died suddenly.
My conclusion: Mr. Dongpo has been wandering all his life, but he is still free more often. Mr. Dongpo's official career is rather bumpy, but there are still more times when he is proud than when he is frustrated, and it is not that he can hardly be reused. Mr. Dongpo was twice demoted because of the persecution of Wang Anshi and his party, which had nothing to do with Sima Guang.
Article 2:
Su Shichuan's thoughts after reading.
Read Su Shichuan.
Su Shichuan is a 450,000-word book, co-authored by Wang Shuizhao and Cui Ming, experts on Su Shi. It was published by Tianjin People's Publishing House last year. This book is well written, but it is not easy to write. Su Shi's life experience is rich and complicated, with many works and wide coverage, which is one of the difficulties. There is also Lin Yutang's masterpiece Su Dongpo's Biography, which is so beautifully written.
When I read Su Shichuan, I found that the book's evaluation of Su Shi was almost the same as Su Dongpo's biography. Lin summarized it as "an optimist whose nature cannot be changed, a moralist who sympathizes with others, a good friend of ordinary people, an essayist" and so on. Su Shichuan is generally based on this evaluation. The subtitle "The Transcendence of the Wise in Suffering" shows that the author tries to understand and describe Su Shi from his life experience. So this book has its own characteristics that cannot be ignored. First, narrative in strict chronological order, emphasizing Su Shi as a writer. This book runs through Su Shi's life's poems. In contrast, Su Dongpo's biography is not like this. We should take care of the understanding and interest of British and American readers and should not quote more poems and articles. It uses more legends and stories and occupies a more important position. Therefore, this Su Shichuan is more conducive for readers to understand Su Shi's life from his novels, poems and literary works. Narratively, the interpretation of novels, poems and literary works is extremely in place. Here, it shows that Mr. Wang Shuizhao's research on Su Shi's novels, poems and literary works is extraordinary and can be used freely in his biography. Su Shi's thoughts and literary thoughts are intertwined with world politics, so they combine "transcendence in suffering" and are the transcendence of a "wise man". Readers who haven't read Su Ji can really appreciate a lot from the poems, words and articles quoted in the biography, especially the uncommon essays and notes. Second, Lin Yutang loves Su Dongpo. Lin has created a large number of literary novels, poems and literary works, and to a considerable extent, he has created prose. Of course, Lin has plenty of historical data to prove it. I always feel that his focus lies in Su Dongpo's personality, which is the author's favorite personality. On the other hand, Su Shichuan pays more attention to academics. It is more comprehensive and controversial. Indeed, Su Shi's romantic style is almost natural. However, the environment also made it. No matter from the perspective of novels, poems, literary works, or from the perspective of life, there are not only chic and romance, but also personal pain and people's suffering. China's demotion to Huangzhou is a key step in Su Shi's life and one of the most ridiculous literary prison cases in Wu Tai's poems. In the biographies of Lin and Wang, they both focus on writing. Yu's important article Su Dongpo's Breakthrough is also written in this passage. Su Shi's life and his novels, poems and literary works all reached a peak here. For this life, "Su Shichuan" is undoubtedly more abundant. It shows the pain and suffering more fully, so that it is thrilling. Suffering is enough and "transcendence" is powerful. Lin exaggerated Su Dongpo's happiness and happiness in suffering, and even described his humiliation and pain in Wutai poetry case as "interesting". Su Shichuan makes life in Huangzhou more credible. For example, in many letters at that time, Su Shi repeatedly told his friends to "see it, fire it" and "rumors about the capital are no small matter". He is a frightened bird. In Huangzhou, he saw the folk sufferings he had never seen before in his life, and he also tasted the bitter days. One thing must be mentioned here. When Su Shi was in Huangzhou, he wrote many letters, one of which was addressed to Zhang, a good friend and political enemy, expressing his regret for the past. The legend of Lin is "a very apt answer, and the feelings of regret are beyond words", which is "more apt" and can be read to the emperor; The implication is to deal with it, but to deal with it skillfully. Wang Zhu, on the other hand, thinks that "there may be a personal motive for asking for help", which I think is more true. Wang Zhu is totally opposed to this new law. This seems logical. The poems written by Wang Zhu are more complicated and more real. Third, about Wang Anshi's political reform, Lin's denial may be too simplistic. Wang Zhu is more objective. Of course, about Sue and Wang, they are both great writers, Soapy. When it comes to political reform, this book has compared the views of Su Shi and Wang, saying: "Su Shi is not as good as a generation of celebrities Wang Anshi in terms of ideological height and vision." This is also objective. This book has written a lot about Wang Anshi, and it was written from the interaction between Wang Anshi and Su Shi. The first article was after Wang Anshi's strike. Su Shi visited Wang in Jinling, and his political enemies became literary friends. He put aside his old feelings and wrote a happy paper. That long passage is about the generosity and elegance of the literati in the Northern Song Dynasty, and even about the cuteness of two great writers.