Since Peter the Great moved to St. Petersburg in 17 13 to learn from western countries, Russia, a small transparency that has been silently wandering on the edge of the history of human civilization, has suddenly become like a chihuo, and all walks of life have accumulated a lot of money, and all fields have shined brilliantly: mathematicians, chemists, physicists, musicians, painters, dancers, dramatists and film directors.
Especially in the field of literature, tsarist Russia created an unprecedented explosion in the19th century-Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Turgenev ... these endless masters produced the deepest, heaviest and most unique hardcore literature of mankind. Until today in August102, we can still be in this dust.
As Nabokov said, "The convenience of Russian literature lies in that it took a century for a country with almost no literary tradition to create literature that can be comparable to the brilliant works of Britain or France in artistic value, influence and all aspects. The only difference is in quantity.
From19th century to today, it is recognized as the best Russian literature, with only about 23,000 pages according to general printing statistics. Obviously, neither French literature nor English literature can be condensed to such an extent.
In order to taste the essence of this culture, we will go back to the19th century, trace back the anecdotes of Russian heartless people, and together with the masters, blow the coldest wind, drink the hottest wine, beat the fiercest bears and read the deepest fighting national literature.
Today is the first article in the series "The Cruel Past of Russian Literature"-the lovely Chekhov.
1
"He is more like Chekhov", which is Beauvoir's first impression of Lu Xun.
Chekhov (1860- 1904) and Lu Xun (188 1- 1936), although living in similar times, lived in completely different countries and cultures. However, they all gave up medicine and pursued literature, and their novels were strikingly similar.
Chekhov has a famous work "Distress", which is about an old coachman who always wants to talk to people about the pain of bereavement, but no one cares:
Jonah's eyes looked anxiously and painfully at the people on both sides of the street: among the thousands of people, is anyone willing to listen to him? However, the crowd has been running, and no one has noticed him, let alone his distress ... that kind of distress is boundless. If Jonah's chest cracks, that kind of distress will roll out, as if flooding the whole world, but even so, it is invisible to people.
At the end of the story, the poor coachman can only tell his sorrow to a horse.
Coincidentally, the distress of Xianglinsao in Lu Xun's works is also unspeakable. "Later, almost everyone in the town would recite her words, and it would be annoying and headache."
Contemporary people should understand this kind of loneliness: although they are in a boiling world, they are even more lonely because of the excitement around them. Everyone is like an island, which makes people more desperate and helpless.
Do you still remember Rykov, the ultimate otaku in middle school Chinese textbooks?
As long as you go out, no matter how fine the weather is, you should always wear overshoes, umbrellas and warm cotton-padded clothes. His umbrella, pocket watch and pencil sharpener are in the box. ..... This person always has an irresistible desire to wrap himself in a shell and isolate himself from the outside world.
Illustration of "trapped person"
The mental radiation he created made people around him feel estranged. He acts as an official slave, not only shielding himself, but also restraining others. Real life makes him nervous all day. He always praises the past and supports all the old traditions, because he can hide in it and escape from reality, just as his thoughts are dark.
Such a man became the "Kong Yiji" written by Lu Xun, while Chekhov called him a "trap man". Today, he is a moral guardian waving a keyboard.
"... where's the scholar? Can he steal it? "-Kong Yiji
"Oh, stop it!" -No, Rykov.
"Am I the only one who thinks XX is very destructive?" -Keyboard man
Chekhov and Lu Xun, like two short and sharp scalpels, accurately and mercilessly dissected a small person deprived of Buddhism in a big era.
"Almost all the characters in the novel are equally confused and confused, and the economic situation and traditional morality make them have nowhere to escape: some people give up hope, some people resign themselves to fate, and almost all struggles are of no help, seeking comfort from false imagination or resorting to superstition that destroyed them. The weakness of these victims is half connivance and half obedience to their own misfortune. "
This is Beauvoir's evaluation of Lu Xun, but it is not wrong to change the object to Chekhov.
Coincidentally, they all wrote about some arrogant people who flew over the madhouse.
The hero in Lu Xun's first vernacular novel, Diary of a Madman, was the first madman to shout "ethical cannibalism". Twenty-six years before the publication of Diary of a Madman, Chekhov also built a gloomy sixth ward, where several mental patients and a hapless doctor were kept.
Gromov, the leading actor, was originally a government civil servant of noble birth. One day, he was deeply stimulated by a group of prisoners who were escorted by him. From then on, he lost control and suffered from paranoia:
He didn't light a lamp in the house at night, and he didn't sleep at night. He always thought that he might be arrested, handcuffed and put in prison. He doesn't know where he is wrong, and he can promise never to kill, set fire to or steal again. But isn't it easy to commit a crime carelessly? Won't someone frame it? Finally, is it impossible for the court to make mistakes?
In the filthy sixth prison, gromov suddenly realized that he had been living in a huge Russian prison, with dark prison bars and cruel beatings everywhere, and he could never escape. Not that he is crazy, but that everyone is crazy! He can no longer live safely and feels suffocated all the time.
The Russian film Larkin (2004) is based on Ward 6.
So he shouted angrily, "Open the door! Otherwise, I will slam the door! "
Because of sympathy and understanding, Dr. Lajing, who was in charge of the hospital, was arrested as a madman and put into the sixth ward, where he was persecuted to death.
Andre Ye Femic lay down and held her breath, waiting for the next beating in fear. It's like someone took a sharp knife, plunged into his body and turned several times in his chest and abdomen. He has been biting the pillow, gnashing his teeth in pain. Suddenly, in his chaotic mind, a terrible and embarrassing thought flashed clearly: these people who are ghostly in the moonlight at the moment must have endured such pain every day for decades. He knows nothing about it for more than twenty years, and he doesn't want to know-how is that possible?
It's a pity that these two lunatics are too active in thinking and too advanced in consciousness, so they have become the most determined saboteurs in this huge and boring condom.
The Russian film Larkin (2004) is based on Ward 6.
Later, a young man named "Vladimir ilych Lenin" felt "terrible" after reading this work, and thought that he "seemed to be locked in the sixth ward". Later, he led the Bolsheviks to launch the October Revolution, which overthrew the social order of the whole country and further affected the fate of neighboring countries. Of course, this is another story.
2
The overall characteristics of Russian literary masters are poetic, enthusiastic and overwhelming narrative passion. The disadvantage is that it is not cut, and the big head is thick enough to kill people. In contrast, Chekhov, the king of the world's short stories, seems to be an alternative.
Katherine Manthfield, a master of short stories, said, "I would like to exchange all Mo Bosang's works for a short story by Chekhov."
Chameleon illustration
Chekhov wrote seven or eight hundred short stories in his life. The most valuable thing is that he writes about little people, that is, little people. Unlike other Russian writers, no matter how grounded he is, he has his own literary accent after all, and Chekhov always puts himself flat. His description of human nature, citizens and society has a vicious sense of humor:
If you are afraid of loneliness, don't get married.
University can cultivate everything, including stupidity.
This ice cream is like milk from a patient in the shower.
There is a young lady whose laughter is like soaking her whole body in cold water.
"Oh, oh, my baby's pustule," said the fiancee coily.
The man thought about it, and it was very uncomfortable, so he broke off his engagement.
When the throat is dry, there will be a spirit that can even swallow the sea in one gulp-this is faith;
Speaking of drinking, you can only drink two glasses at most-this is science.
When a landlord was eating, he proudly said:
"Country life is really cheap. -chickens are their own, and pigs are their own. -life is really embarrassing. "
He once wrote to Gorky about the nationality of Russians: "Their psychological state is like a dog. If you hit it, it will cry for mercy and get into the kennel; " If you kiss it, it will lie on the ground, wagging its tail and begging for mercy. Such a group needs long-term rational training within the existing order, otherwise it will only support the new tyrant. "
Nabokov commented on Chekhov's humor in this way: if you can't see its ridiculousness, you can't feel its sadness, because ridiculousness and sadness are integrated.
Via cargocollective.com//leezakai.
When Chekhov doesn't tell jokes, he is also a very delicate and sad author. He uses words to provoke readers to be full of "difficult to understand".
We know Chekhov's Fanka from primary school textbooks.
A poor boy wrote a letter about how he went to town to be an apprentice to a shoemaker. Exploited, helpless and ignorant, he still has a little expectation for the future. At the end of the story, he wrote down the address:
Grandpa collects in the country.
Let this naive expectation completely fail.
At the end of another novel, The Hunter, Chekhov wrote, "He has disappeared around the corner, and she still stands on tiptoe to look at his white hat". Just intercepting some scenes in life also makes people feel helpless.
All the bitterness, humor, admiration and sadness in the world are in Chekhov's novels.
three
Perhaps because of the reputation of "the king of short stories", everyone seems to forget that Chekhov is also the originator of modern drama, and his dazzling achievements in drama are no less than literature.
It is said that Chekhov felt that Ibsen, a Norwegian playwright, didn't understand drama at all. He said, how can there be so many stormy waves in life? Real life is nothing more than drinking tea and chatting. As time goes by, tragedy or comedy is born in this lackluster place. The protagonists in his plays are all frustrated little people. If we can sum up the characteristics of these characters in one sentence, it is the line in Ivanov-"My soul is paralyzed by inertia".
In his later years, Chekhov cooperated with the great stanislavski and contributed a series of outstanding plays for later generations: Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya and cherry orchard.
Lin Zhaohua's version of cherry orchard.
It is worth mentioning that Uncle Vanya. The story happened on a farm in Russia. Selebryakov, the owner of the farm and a retired professor, returned to the countryside with his beautiful young wife yelena. Their arrival caused ripples in the hearts of farm manager Vanya and village doctor Astrov. Vanya, who regards the professor as an idol, has been working diligently on the farm for 25 years, supporting the professor's family and pinning her youth and ideals on the professor. Unexpectedly, in the end, he found out that the professor was just a selfish fool, and the angry Vanya almost killed the professor.
When stanislavski personally appeared in Uncle Vanya, he tried to extract some symbols from the playwright's mouth to interpret the characters, but Chekhov only said: "Remember, he is wearing a velvet tie!
Stanislavski plays a country doctor in Uncle Vanya (1899).
Uncle Vanya is a very anti-type drama. The characters in the play have no long monologues and few positive emotional conflicts. They can't even tell who is the hero and who is the protagonist of the tragedy. Only humble and cowardly character and ambiguous feelings.
The real theme is the disillusionment of idols, which is a spiritual dilemma that all mankind cannot escape.
Gorky wrote to Chekhov after reading Uncle Vanya: "I cried like a woman, although I am far from a virtuous person. When I got home, I was overwhelmed by your drama. I wrote you a long letter, but I tore it up again ... I looked at the characters in these plays and felt as if there was a blunt saw sawing me back and forth. "
More than 0/00 years after Chekhov's death, his plays have been put on the stage or big screen in many countries, and his lines have been translated quite close to life. No matter what language or culture you use, you can approach it.
Soviet version of Uncle Vanya (197 1)
British version of Uncle Vanya (199 1)
Australian version of Uncle Vanya (20 12)
Beijing People's Art Edition Uncle Vanya (20 15)
four
The king of the three major short stories in the world, his life span is not too long.
Mo Bosang is 43, O'Henry is 48 and Chekhov is 44. They all have excellent sense of humor, but like all comedy masters, they are not happy in private. Those ironies that point directly at people's hearts are all sacrificed to themselves. Chekhov's writing style in his later years was obviously gloomy and depressed, perhaps because he could no longer force a smile. If he lived for another ten or twenty years, his literary achievements might far surpass Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.
1884, Chekhov graduated from the medical department of Moscow University and planned to be a doctor. When he lived in the countryside, he often gave free medical care to farmers. Due to family difficulties, Chekhov began to write humorous short jokes for publications at the age of 20. Even so, life is often stretched. For many years, Chekhov's interpersonal communication was to borrow money from relatives and friends.
Feel the words of great writers when they borrow money;
I'm not married and have no children. Life is not easy. You will be rich in summer. Ah, I hope so!
It's true: not a penny! I haven't learned to borrow money yet, so I'm in big trouble!
In addition to this epidemic, I am still waiting for another epidemic, which will definitely spread to my manor. That is lack of money.
I'm sick, depressed and outrageous. The pen fell out of my hand and I couldn't write at all.
Please send me money. I have no money, and there seems to be no place to take money.
..... my pockets are empty, and I don't even have money to go out. ..... alas! I'm not going to your house. I said this sentence in a low and gloomy tone.
I have no money to spend and I am too lazy to make money. Please send me some money! I will never break my word: I am only lazy until May, and I will sit down and write from June 1.
I hope I will have a lot of money next spring. I judge according to superstition: no money is almost money.
Money is always gone, and it will not come soon. It almost killed me.
In that case, I owe 104 rubles. ..... I am anxious to pay off this last debt, because I am going to borrow new debt from you.
Gorky once said, "Everyone who comes to anton Chekhov will involuntarily feel that they want to be simpler, more real and more self."
After all, this writer has the most powerful weapon-cuteness, which is the magic weapon of the cultural circle.
He looked like this when he was young. He is the most beautiful man in Russian literature, okay? ↓
Chekhov was once asked about the war between Britain and Turkey: "Which side do you prefer to win?" "Then I'll ... hope ... play hard and win."
Some people say that there are two unattainable peaks in Russia today, the summit of Mount Elbrus and me.
Chekhov once praised his first lover Misinova crazily, "I love you crazy", "You fascinate me. Even if you say that two plus two equals five now, I will believe that you are right. "
Later, Chinova chose to fall in love with Chekhov's good friend and great painter Levitan, and Chekhov wrote the novel The Jumping Woman.
1886, Levitan painted a portrait of Chekhov.
1896, the premiere of Chekhov's drama Seagull failed, and he wrote sadly in the letter: "The theater is full of hostility, and the air is inflated because of hatred, and I, according to the principle of physics, flew away from Petersburg like a bomb."
He described the weather in Petersburg. "It killed me. Everyone was sledding, but there was no snow. This is not the weather, but a kind of masturbation. "
He once exchanged autographed photos with Tchaikovsky, a composer, and said, "I am very, very touched, and I am deeply grateful to you. Send a photo, a book, and if I have the sun, I will give it to you. "
Chekhov's signature photo of Tchaikovsky on his desk
Many women are fascinated by him, even Tolstoy's daughter. Chekhov's most famous infatuation object is the writer Lydia Aleksevna Avilova. She has a husband and children, but she loves Chekhov all her life. She gave Chekhov a book-like pendant with numbers engraved on it. According to the figures, we can find a page and a line of Chekhov's book, and we can see this sentence: "If you need my life at any time, come and get it."
He once worried that marriage would hinder his work: "My family has a large population, and I am like a shrimp in a basket with other shrimps: it is very crowded." ..... I'm not going to get married. I wish I were a bald little old man now, sitting at the big table in the exquisite study. "
So he didn't get married until he was 4 1 year old. After marriage, he wrote to his wife enthusiastically: "Goodbye, my child! Kiss you, and I'll throw you up, catch you, roughly turn you over in the air, hug you, throw you out, hug you and kiss my actress. "
Chekhov and his wife
190 1 year, he worried about what pants to wear for an hour before visiting Tolstoy.
I'm afraid Tolstoy will die, he wrote in a letter to his wife. If he dies, there will be a big hole in my life … I love him more than anyone else.
1900, Chekhov and Tolstoy in Yalta.
The last letter in his life was written in June 1904, and at the end, he said gloomily that "German women here have no style in clothes".
The conclusion of his will is: help the poor, love the mother and live in harmony with the whole family.
What I wrote will be forgotten in five to ten years. However, the road I paved will remain the same and will not be damaged. This is my only contribution. -Chekhov
Just say a few words about Chekhov: When he doesn't want to tell jokes, Zhang Jiawei and Zhihu.
Lovely Chekhov, bright way
Chekhov's letters