Chinanews, Beijing, February 16th (Reporter Shangguan Yun) Among various classical novels, "Journey to the West" is a well-deserved super IP, and "Havoc in Heaven" and "Golden Monkey Conquering the Demon" derived from it are all It is a popular literary work.
The 1986 version of "Journey to the West" became very popular after it was broadcast, and it is still the "standard equipment" for many people to spend their winter and summer vacations.
The majestic Monkey King is a hero in the hearts of many children; the cute "Second Senior Brother" and the calm and reliable Junior Brother Sha are also very popular.
Not long ago, "20-month-old baby plays the classic role of Journey to the West" appeared on the hot search, causing a wave of memories.
Some people miss the time of watching dramas in their childhood, and some people discuss the character setting in "Journey to the West".
Image source: Video screenshot of "Journey to the West"
Zhu Hongbo, a professor at East China Normal University, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Chinanews.com that Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" completed the frontal modeling of Sun Wukong for the first time, such as yellow hair and sharp teeth, golden eyes, etc.; of a pistachio.
How is Sun Wukong's appearance?
Among the many characters in "Journey to the West", Sun Wukong's character and experience are the most characteristic.
In terms of talent, he was born from heaven and earth and transformed from immortal stones. He is always full of enthusiasm and courage in the face of the unknown world.
In terms of combat effectiveness, he was fearless and made a big disturbance in the heavenly palace.
On Sun Wukong, there are many people's heroic dreams.
Zhu Hongbo explained that before "Journey to the West", the appearance descriptions of some Monkey King prototypes (such as Monkey Walker) were not sufficient, but they were all relatively ugly.
Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" completed the frontal modeling of Monkey King for the first time, such as yellow hair and sharp teeth, golden eyes and so on.
Scholars have different opinions about the origin of Sun Wukong's prototype.
Among them, Hu Shi's "foreign" theory and Lu Xun's "native" theory were the most influential.
Lu Xun believed that Sun Wukong originated from the legend of the local monkey spirit, specifically the story of Wuzhiqi, the monkey of the Huaihe River.
However, with the popularity of film and television dramas, Sun Wukong's image as the "Monkey King" has gradually been established.
Zhu Hongbo believes that the image of the majestic, sunny, and cute Monkey King is shaped by modern art such as animation, television, sculpture, and painting.
It should be said that the cognition of Sun Wukong's personality by readers of all ages has broad commonality.
Monkey King is straightforward, brave, optimistic, and invincible. Everyone loves it, and they also have strong empathy for wonderful stories such as Havoc in Heaven and Three Beatings of the Bone Demon.
Therefore, many people poured their feelings into this character and interpreted it from different angles.
For example, there is a view that Sun Wukong's personality has changed after the "True and False Monkey King" storm, from the original straightforward and irritable to more mature and harmonious.
"The six-eared macaque symbolizes Sun Wukong's inner demons. Its appearance means that the 'two hearts' are harassing, fighting, and obstructing the study of scriptures. Sun Wukong killed the fake monkey king, which is actually defeating the inner demons." Zhu Hongbo believes that this is also the relationship between Monkey King and himself. farewell to the past.
From then on, I stopped "rest assured", strengthened my Zen mind, concentrated on learning scriptures, and "exhausted it until death".
However, Zhu Hongbo disagrees with the claim that in the "True and False Monkey King", it was Sun Wukong who was actually killed, and that the six-eared macaque accompanied Tang Seng to learn Buddhist scriptures.
In his view, this is an over-interpretation that ignores the objective description of the text and pretends to be shocking.
Image source: Video screenshot of "Journey to the West"
Pistachios on the road
In the "small team" of the four masters and apprentices, there is another important person, that is, "Second Senior Brother" Zhu Bajie.
He looks stupid, lazy, and likes to make small reports.
Sometimes, the second senior brother has a sense of humor.
When the master and apprentice were passing through the Tongtian River, Tang Seng was captured by a monster.
When Sun Wukong asked "Where is Master?" Bajie replied: "Master's surname is Chen. His name has been found out. Now there is nowhere to look for him. He will go ashore and work in the district again."
In fact, Zhu Bajie was originally the marshal of the canopy. Judging from the description in the works of "Cai Yunsheng with one step, and a light body and a healthy body towards the golden palace", he may be a handsome and heroic young student, but he was demoted to the mortal world. The wrong fetus turned into a pig body.
In this way, it is natural for him to be clever in his stupidity and humorous in his naivety.
Zhu Hongbo believes that Bajie's humor comes from his straightforward nature.
"In his temperament, he has always maintained an ignorant innocence. No matter what kind of setbacks he encounters, he has a heart that is ready to move, and he is punished in various ways." Zhu Hongbo said, such as encountering some difficulties , I have to "divide the luggage" at every turn, and return to my hometown to reconnect with Ms. Gao.
In addition, he is timid and reckless, but his behavior has always been within the boundaries of human goodness, so when he is punished for his negligence, it will produce a lot of comedy effect, making the onlookers angry and laughing, and forgive him at the same time. His little wishful thinking.
Therefore, Bajie provides happiness to everyone in a self-deprecating and self-abuse way, and he is a pistachio on the way to learn the scriptures.
Nowadays, on the Internet, many people make various interesting interpretations of the four masters and apprentices from the perspective of the workplace.
Zhu Hongbo believes that Tang Seng and his disciples are indeed a team for the purpose of learning scriptures.
Image source: Video screenshot of "Journey to the West"
"Their experience also tells us that the team has a division of labor, and if they do their best, their efficiency is 1+1 greater than 2." In the effort to persevere.
Author Mystery and Version Evolution
The famous "Journey to the West" contributed an excellent novel text, but it also left many mysteries to people.
Among them, "who is the author?" has become a protracted public case for four hundred years.
Zhu Hongbo said that when "Journey to the West" was published in Jinling Shide Hall in the 20th year of Wanli, the author was declared anonymous.
Afterwards, many different author signatures appeared one after another.
Wu Chengen is the author of "Journey to the West", which was identified by modern scholars such as Lu Xun, Hu Shi and Dong Zuobin.
In the history of Chinese novels, this phenomenon of anonymous authors is not uncommon.
The author of the popular "Journey to the West" is usually signed by Wu Chengen, and the CCTV TV series "Journey to the West" popular at home and abroad in 1986 also marked the original author as Wu Chengen.
Interestingly, "Journey to the West" was long hung under the name of Qiu Chuji, a famous Taoist priest during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and the truth came to light later.
It turned out that Qiu Chuji wrote "Journey to the West", a real person from Changchun, but this is actually a book with the same name and a different name from the hundred-time novel "Journey to the West".
Therefore, Zhu Hongbo believes that the "Wu Zhu" theory has undergone a century of evolution, and has now built a fairly rigorous chain of evidence, including some newly discovered "authoritative" documents such as "Mr. Unearthed cultural relics.
Therefore, among the many candidates for the author of "Journey to the West", Wu Chengen has the greatest possibility.
Since "Journey to the West" was widely welcomed by readers of all ages, the book market competed to reprint it and reproduce it one after another, thus forming a complex edition system.
It can be roughly divided into three main categories: the Ming Dynasty version, the Qing Dynasty version, and the contemporary current version.
In terms of editions, the Shidetang edition of the Ming Dynasty marked the birth of the one-hundred-page edition of Journey to the West, and it is also the most important rare edition of Journey to the West. Most of the various Journey to the West that can be seen in the book market are collated and sorted out based on it.
"Journey to the West" is a representative work of the Qing Dynasty version. It adds the story of "Tang Monk's Birth" and completes the first four difficulties of 9981 difficulties: demoted, conceived, thrown into the river, and avenged, and it is well portrayed. It embodies the image of Tang Seng as a resolute, intelligent, and courageous monk.
General Knowledge of Journey to the West.
Published by Zhonghua Book Company in July 2022.
The contemporary popular version is Journey to the West, which is edited by People's Literature Publishing House.
How can I read "Journey to the West"?
Classic literary works are often models of language. Some people say that "Journey to the West" has "vulgar language" which is not accurate.
Zhu Hongbo believes that in the history of Chinese literature, "Journey to the West" is a rare cultural classic, and it should still be held in awe today.
In his view, "Journey to the West" is a treasure in the history of Chinese literature, and even affects the daily life and language expression of Chinese people.
People are familiar with the characters and stories in it, but it has gone through a long process of formation, has its profound cultural heritage, and also has its characteristics of folk literature, and some places are not easy to read through.
Considering that "Journey to the West" is a literary classic in mythological novels, Zhu Hongbo put forward a point of view in his new book "Journey to the West": Our reading may need to establish a reading that is compatible with mythological literature. Consciousness, the "mystery of mythic logic".
"If you regard the pilgrimage as a game designed by Tathagata Buddha, then Tang Seng is destined not to be eaten. You must measure the journey of pilgrimage step by step to complete this game." He said, "It is not difficult to understand, Sun Wukong has great powers. , can soar through the clouds and ride the fog, but still have to endure fourteen cold and hot summers and ninety-nine and eighty-one hardships. The a priori logic of the work stipulates that Tang Monk’s homework for learning Buddhist scriptures can neither be omitted nor 'replacement'."
"For the long work "Journey to the West", to realize the overall viewing of literary masterpieces, on the one hand, we must understand its multiple values, and on the other hand, we must further understand the characteristics of related disciplines through the overall reading of a certain book. purpose.” Professor Zhu Hongbo said about general education in literature.
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