To Live 活着

This Chinese novel, written by Yuhua, talks about the life of an “unfortunate” man- Fugui. Here I add a quotation mark on the word “unfortunate” because the author’s preface is reminding readers of something.

Fugui, who was born at a wealthy family during a turbulent time of China went through the Chinese Civil War and Chinese Cultural Revolution. And unsurprisingly, he had to endure lots of “sufferings”. During those big events of China, he lost his wealth and his loved ones, one by one. The story is narrated in Fugui’s point of view, and I surprisingly, those big, “unfortunate” events are told quite calmly. In readers’ perspective, his life was undoubtedly full of sadness, but the author is giving readers a warning through the preface of the book.

Below is the author’s preface of the book. I have changed  a few Chinese words, so that some Chinese learners could understand the sentences more easily.

yìlùn
议论              v. discuss

shēnghuó
生活              n. life

xìngcún
幸存              v. survive

jīnglì
经历             n./v. experience

kǔnàn
苦难             n. suffering

gǎnshòu
感受              n. feeling

kànfǎ
看法              n. perspective

jiǎngshù
讲述              n. narrate

búxìng
不幸              n. misfortune

xìngfú
幸福              n. happiness

wǒ céngjīng yǐ zuòzhě de shēnfèn
我      曾经    以    作者  的     身份 
yìlùn guò fúguì de rénshēng.
议论   过   福贵  的    人生 。 
yìxiē yìdàlì zhōngxuéshēng
一些 意大利      中学生 
xiàng wǒ tíchū le yìxiē wèntí:
   向     我   提出 了 一些 问题 : 
wèishénme nínde xiǎoshuō huózhe
“      为什么      您的        小说    ‘ 活着 ’ 
zài nàyàng búxìng de huánjìng lǐ
在     那样      不幸  的       环境   里 
háiyào jiǎng shēnghuó, ér búshi xìngcún?
   还要     讲         生活 ,而  不是    幸存 ? 
shēnghuó hé xìngcún zhījiān de fēnjièxiàn zài nǎlǐ?
       生活    和     幸存      之间   的     分界线  在   哪里 ? ”

I used to discuss about the life of Fugui

as an author.

Some Italian middle school students

brought up some questions to me:

“why your novel ‘To Live’,

under that unfortunate circumstance

still talks about life, but survival?

Where is the boundary of life and survival?”

wǒde huídá shì zhèyàng de:
我的    回答  是      这样   的 : 
zài zhōngguó, duìyú
“  在      中国 ,   对于 
shēnghuó zài shèhuì dǐcéng de rén láishuō,
      生活     在     社会    底层   的  人    来说 , 
shēnghuó hé xìngcún jiùshì
       生活    和      幸存   就是 
yì méi yìngbì de liǎngmiàn.
一  枚     硬币  的      两面 。 
duì xiǎoshuō huózhe éryán, shēnghuó shì
  对       小说      ‘ 活着 ’ 而言 ,    生活      是 
yígèrén duì zìjǐ jīnglì de gǎnshòu,
 一个人  对 自己 经历 的    感受 , 
ér xìngcún wǎngwǎng shì
而      幸存          往往     是 
pángguānzhě duì biéren jīnglì de kànfǎ.
        旁观者      对     别人   经历 的    看法 。 
xiǎoshuō huózhe lǐ de fú guì,
    小说       ‘ 活着 ’ 里 的 福 贵 , 
suīrán jīnglì le kǔnàn,
  虽然   经历 了 苦难 , 
dànshì tā jiǎngshù de shì zìjǐ   de gùshì.
   但是  他     讲述    的  是 自己 的  故事 。

My answer was this:

“in China, for

those people who live in the bottom of society,

life and survival are

two sides of a coin.

To the novel ‘To live’, life is

a person’s feeling about his/her experiences,

but survival usually is

a spectator’s perspective to others’ experience.

Fugui, in the novel “To live”,

although he experienced suffering,

but what he narrates is his own story.

fú guì de jiǎngshù lǐ bùxūyào biéren de kànfǎ,
福  贵 的      讲述   里 不需要       别人 的   看法 , 
zhǐ xūyào tāzìjǐ   de gǎnshòu,
只    需要 他自己 的     感受 , 
suǒyǐ tā jiǎngshù de shì shēnghuó.
  所以 他     讲述   的   是      生活 。 
rúguǒ xiǎoshuō lǐ yǒule pángrén de kànfǎ,
  如果      小说    里 有了       旁人   的   看法 , 
nàme fú guì zài dúzhě de yǎnlǐ,
那么   福 贵   在    读者 的   眼里 , 
jiùshì yīgè búxìng zhōng de xìngcúnzhě.
  就是 一个    不幸    中     的       幸存者 。 ”

Fugui’s narration doesn’t need perspectives of others,

it only needs his own feeling,

so what he narrates is a life.

If the novel contains others’ perspectives,

then Fugui in readers’ eyes,

is a survivor form misfortune.

zài pángrén de yǎnlǐ fú guì de yìshēng
在       旁人   的   眼里 , 福 贵 的    一生 
shì búxìng de yìshēng:
是      不幸  的    一生 : 
kěshì duì fú guì zìjǐ,
可是    对  福 贵 自己 , 
wǒ xiāngxìn tā gèngduō de gǎnjué dàole xìngfú.
我       相信    他     更多    地   感觉      到了 幸福 。 
jiù xiàng wěidà de hèlāsī jǐnggào wǒmen:
就     像      伟大 的 贺拉斯   警告       我们 : 
rén de xìngfú yào děngdào zuìhòu.
“   人  的   幸福  要        等到       最后 。 
zài tā de shēngqián hé zànglǐ qián,
在  他 的        生前    和    葬礼   前 , 
wúrén yǒuquán shuō tā xìngfú.
无人         有权       说   他  幸福 。 ”

In spectators’ eyes, Fugui’s whole life

is an unfortunate life;

but for Fugui himself,

I believe he felt happiness more.

Just like the great Horace warned us:

“A person’s happiness have to wait until the end.

When he is alive and before his funeral,

no one has the right to say he is happy.”

hèlāsī   de jǐnggào ràng wǒ gǎnjué bùān.
贺拉斯 的      警告    让    我     感觉 不安 。 
wǒ nǔlì shuōfú wǒzìjǐ:
我  努力   说服   我自己 : 
yǐhòu búyào zài qù yìlùn biéren de rénshēng.
以后     不要  再  去   议论    别人 的      人生 。

Horace’s warning made me uneasy.

I tried hard to convince myself:

Do not comment others’ lives.

 

Join our event on Saturday, read the article together and mingle with others!

Chinese Book Club – Novel “To Live”

Saturday, Mar 13, 2021, 7:00 PM

Online event
,

4 Chinese lover Attending

Dear Chinese Lovers, Let’s read an article about a Chinese novel – “To Live”. The article that I’ve prepared is the author’s preface of the novel. I believe it’ll be interesting to see he’s thoughts when he wrote the story and the way he looks at this world. Check the article in advance on below link: http://lovinchinese.net/chinese-study/to-live…

Check out this Meetup →

 

 



LEAVE A COMMENT