On Enjoyment by the Masses and the Elegance

Author: Zhu Ziqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-12-01
Features: Tao Yuanming once wrote the poem, "To savor the rare and profound, to discuss the doubts together." This was a joy for those with pure hearts—naturally refined individuals, or scholars. These lines later became the idiom "savor the rare and discuss the doubts," an elegant pursuit, inaccessible to petty townspeople and rural children. Yet, another idiom emerged: "enjoyment for both refined and common." Clearly, "enjoyment together" is a simplification of "savor together," meaning refined and common people enjoy it together. This book is one of the important works of Mr. Zhu Ziqing. It primarily discusses the standards and differences of literary appreciation, offering many insightful and thought-provoking perspectives that help us understand literature, human emotions, and worldly phenomena, as well as develop critical thinking and recognize various literary phenomena. It is a book worth reading from cover to cover.
This book is one of the last miscellaneous collections compiled by Mr. Zhu Ziqing during his lifetime. Its content mainly covers three aspects: literary criticism, poetry creation and appreciation, and character reviews. The author's writing is concise and straightforward, with the characteristics of Northern vernacular. Each essay in the book speaks in this direction. "On Enjoyment for Both Refined and Common" is placed first and used as the title of the book, reflecting this intention. The arrangement of the essays follows the differences in nature rather than the order of writing; the most recent essay is "On the Truthful."
The essay "Lu Xun's Miscellaneous Writings" was originally written as a commemorative piece for the eleventh anniversary of Lu Xun's death for Yanjing News. It was too brief and was initially considered for exclusion. However, a friend remarked that Lu Xun was like the sea, which does not reject even small streams. He persuaded me to keep it, so I reluctantly included it as a cherished treasure.