At a time when everything can be written into a book, as the oldest type of book "biography", it is still the "highlight" in a wide variety of publications.
Only when there is a market can products be born, and books are no exception.
So why do readers like to read biographies?
When publishers keep pace with the times and launch upgraded versions, how should readers open it?
Interpretation of Van Gogh with psychoanalysis: the starry sky turned out to have other meanings
Seeing that Albert J. Lubin, author of "Strangers in the World: A Psychological Biography of Van Gogh" (East China Normal University Press, February 2022), is a professor of clinical psychiatry, I think I will read A "Van Gogh Biography" that is unique among the many Van Gogh biographies because of a new approach.
Almost from the moment of Van Gogh's birth, Lubin used the "ruler" of psychoanalysis to measure how the indescribable, withdrawn and paranoid Van Gogh "refined" himself into the great painter Van Gogh.
In addition to the famous "Longing for Life: A Biography of Van Gogh", I have also read several Van Gogh stories, and I have also watched the well-made cartoon "Beloved Van Gogh: The Mystery of the Starry Sky" ".
Rao is like this, the process of reading "Stranger in the World: Van Gogh's Psychological Biography" turned out to be a process for me to re-understand Van Gogh - the title of the book is too appropriate, we only see "Sunflower" and "The Star is Bright". ” and other shocking paintings are linked together by the lively Van Gogh, but the lonely Van Gogh can’t be seen in the days and nights of creating “Sunflowers” and “Bright Starry Sky”.
Therefore, even today, when almost everyone knows Van Gogh, he is still a stranger in the world.
And Lubin tries to let us understand Van Gogh sympathetically through this special biography of Van Gogh, and on this basis, we can appreciate the works of Van Gogh that are shocking and weeping ghosts and gods, in order to obtain a richer beauty.
Indeed, this Van Gogh biography, which the author calls a "psychological biography", restores to us almost a brand-new Van Gogh.
The paper will be short and long, and I will only talk about how Lubin interprets Van Gogh in Arles, why his painting style suddenly became brighter from the previous dark, and how the famous "The Starry Sky" brought the viewers a glimpse of it. The artist has a strong sense of dizziness.
Lubin believes that Van Gogh spent his entire life trying to improve the melancholy and withdrawn character formed by his mother's neglect and even indifference.
Although the sunshine and style of Arles led him to create a warm and warm "Sunflower", he started from his hometown of Zundert and went to the Hague, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Nuenen and other places to seek paradise in his heart. , Van Gogh slept in the open air, and his health was seriously damaged.
Coupled with the fact that he always replaced his brother Theo's support with canvas and paint, he often ran out of food, resulting in malnutrition, which made Van Gogh suffer from dizziness.
Therefore, rather than saying that "Bright Starry Sky" fully shows the artistic characteristics of Van Gogh's works, that is, the colors are gorgeous, rich in ink, and the feeling of "the sky is spinning", it is better to say that the bright starry sky on the canvas is what Van Gogh saw with his own eyes, but, When the disease struck, Van Gogh chose to complete the leap from a mentally ill patient to a great painter.
The paintings, which are now sky-high, record Van Gogh's difficult leap.
Today, we are willing to indulge in a Van Gogh-like dizziness, which is actually a tribute to Van Gogh who broke free from the shackles of disease.
Five Versions of "Lover": Reflecting Duras's Mental Journey
This book "Marguerite Duras: The Darkroom of Writing" (Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press, June 2021 edition) also jumped out of the writing shackles of "presenting the biography of the master".
This is a new work by Huang Hong, a professor of French at Nanjing University who has been following Duras since he was a master student.
In her own postscript, there is such a passage: "As far as I know, there are more than a dozen kinds of biographies about Duras at home and abroad, and there are no less than six kinds that have been translated and imported in China..."
This is not surprising, since the publication of the novel "The Lover", especially since the film of the same name adapted from the novel has been popular all over the world, Margaret Duras's popularity has spread all over the world, and everyone is arguing about Duras.
It's just that, being so deeply swept up by the writer, the legend belonging to Duras should be thin, right?
"What new materials, new perspectives, and new discoveries can I have?" After reading this book, we know that it is Huang Hong's self-effacing.
In Chapter 1, Section 3, "The Lover", Huang Hong wrote: "Duras used five texts, "War Notes and Other Texts", "The Dam Against the Pacific Ocean", "Eden Cinema", "The Lover", "China" "The Lover of the North" - created five versions of the "lover" for readers. The question is, it is not that there is no subject to write, why did Duras write the story of "lover" five times? In Duras's text world Huang Hong, who has been submerged in it for so many years, really understands the truth.
On the tenth anniversary of Duras' death, France published War Notes and Other Texts, compiled from manuscripts and notebooks she donated during her lifetime.
In this book, the man Duras calls Leo is the 1.0 version of "The Lover": "Has a limousine, wears a huge diamond ring on his hand, wears an oak silk suit, speaks French, Paris, polite and courteous." Leo, who had not been identified by Duras at this time, was like him in several later versions, and was obsessed with "short, flat, freckled on his face, dragging two people behind him. white girl with heavy braids".
And what about white girls?
“It’s not so much that white girls fell for Leo, they were seduced by his luxury cars and the huge family wealth behind them.”
The Dams Against the Pacific, based on the contents of the notebook, published in 1950.
In this 2.0 version of the "lover" story, the man has changed his name to Jo, and the little white girl has the name Susan.
Mr. Ruo, who is called "monkey" and "toad" by Susan's family, is still the money bag of Susan and her family. Susan enjoys the gift that Mr. Ruo gave her, but when Mr. Ruo's lips kiss her , she "as if slapped in the face".
The advent of "Eden Cinema" in 1979 marked the birth of version 3.0 of "Lover".
It is still Mr. Ruo who is dressed up, and Mr. Ruo who is infatuated with white girls, but after 29 years of fermentation by the author, Susan's feedback on this emotion has changed, and she kisses him a little less. Disgust, "the prototype of the lover has been completed," Huang Hong said.
The image of the lover is full, and it will take five years to wait.
In 1984, "The Lover" was published. As we know, the 4.0 version of "The Lover" story told in the first person has completely transformed into a ignorant and poignant love story.
With the movie "The Lover", which was adapted from the novel, taking the world by storm, and as the novel "The Lover" won the Goncourt Prize, the lover's story written in the notebook has been "successful" and can fade from Duras' memory, right?
But Duras, the owner of the memory, feels that "The Lover" has not yet completed the "lover" story in the notebook.
In 1991, "Lovers in North China" came out.
In the 5.0 version of the "lover" story, the "lover" not only overwhelmed the white girl, but also fascinated the mother and calmed down the elder brother because of his witty conversation and knowledge - from version 1.0 to version 5.0, the dress of "lover" , The behavior has not changed, and the value judgments projected by Duras to him are updated version by version.
For a biography, is it necessary to enable the comparison of works that is usually used for work analysis?
Huang Hong told us that behind the update of the Lover version is Duras' mental journey, which corresponds to the changes in the world pattern.
In 1950, when Duras wrote "The Dams Against the Pacific Ocean", the international situation could not help Duras honestly present what she saw as her lover, especially her heart, and this psychological pressure continued until she wrote "Eden Cinema." "Time.
When Duras wrote "The Lover", Huang Hong wrote: "She is already old, and her memory has changed under the repeated action of consciously or unintentionally forgetting and reappearing. Moreover, the scandal does not matter to her anymore." Exactly, but it should be added that by 1984, Duras was no longer afraid to announce to readers the true face of his lover and his true feelings about his lover.
In 1991, when "The Lover in North China" was published, the "lover" finally regained the self-confidence and love that came late, and the female writer finally had the courage to express her love story with her lover candidly.
Huang Hong, who disdains to entangle those superficial Duras legends, the entire biography guides readers to dive into Duras' texts to understand Duras, so this Duras biography shows Yulin.
In the background of classical music: biographies of musicians highlight professionalism
Awareness of the author's increased weight of expertise related to the biography begins with "Music in Paradise Castle: A Biography of Bach" (Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, May 2020 edition).
The author of this book, Sir John Eliot Gardner, is an expert in Bach studies. Since 1964, he has formed an orchestra focusing on ancient music with like-minded musicians. Bach.
In this biography, Sir Gardner has chosen the most difficult permeation technique, which is to outline Bach's seemingly peaceful but turbulent life by focusing on the best of Bach's works.
More than 300 years ago, the ingenuity that Bach buried in his works makes it difficult for us today to understand. Sir Gardner is the "bridge man" who helped us reach Bach. , learning to understand Bach's huge number of works is no longer a dangerous path.
Another biography of a musician that is similar to "Music in Paradise Castle: A Bach" is "Wagner" (Yilin Publishing House August 2021).
The 800-page "Biography of Wagner" certainly presents Wagner's "holographic image". Wagner's thousand-faced Wagner is written in one side by the author's colors, which makes the reader have to sigh: Wagner's life is too dramatic.
However, Wagner, who is re-dramatic, must have the blessing of "The Ring of the Nibelung", and the biographer Ulrich De Luna, who has a background in music and music theory, has been a viola player in the orchestra, How could such an author be satisfied with reproducing a superficially lively Wagner?
Therefore, the backbone of "Wagner's Life" is Wagner's representative work, a set of four operas "The Ring of the Nibelung".
Whether it’s the Bayreuth Festival Theatre dedicated to The Ring of the Nibelung, or the grand theatres around the world where the show is occasionally staged, there are a few people who are lucky enough to be a guest audience and can proudly claim that they understand it. The Ring of the Nibelung?
This opera is based on ancient Nordic legends, not to mention Chinese audiences who do not understand European culture so well, even European Wagner fans may not be able to understand it.
However, the author of "Wagner's Life" has already understood the connotation and cultural value of the play, so half of a "Wagner's Life" is telling readers how to open the opera correctly - this is another This is an updated biography that explores how the biography was immortalized by his works.
For a long time, celebrity biographies became synonymous with inspirational books.
We read biographies, it seems, only to understand the struggle process of celebrity fame, in order to obtain the courage to continue to forge ahead.
After there is a conventional standard for biographies, publishers are willing to publish biographies with "willful" additions of professional knowledge by authors, which can be said to have a long-term perspective.
They certainly expected that the steep increase in reading difficulty might lose readers accustomed to "old-fashioned" biographies, but it might also allow readers who are willing to "tiptoe" to taste the "sweetness" of a biography infused with professional knowledge, and also That is to understand or even understand the connotation of why Van Gogh, Duras, Bach and Wagner became famous.
And the news of the good sales performance of "Bach Biography" makes us believe that the upgrade of the biography readers' taste is just around the corner.
Just, is our biographer ready?
After all, to write a highly professional biography, you must have the knowledge reserve of "the bench is willing to sit in the cold for ten years".
Wu Mei