(French-Chinese Comparison) Brief Introduction to World Famous Figures -- Volume of Literary Figures

Author: Wang Beili, Qian Hong, Wen Huijing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Ah, I think, in this age of fleeting excitement and superficiality, literary figures—this species that was already scarce—will inevitably go extinct like the mammoth. I’ve grown weary of writers who are merely "smallly talented," of contrived "public sweethearts," of exhausted literary prowess, and of "scholarly merchants" (and "merchant scholars") who hold out for high prices. When literature is inexplicably cloaked in the guise of "body writing," torn apart by all sorts of "handsome men," "beautiful women," and "darlings," the radiant crown of the "literary figure," which has shone for over a thousand years, cannot help but tumble from its lofty Olympus, reduced to a useless decoration on the roadside stall, ignored by passersby. Yes, in this bustling world filled with temptations, everyone toils and struggles just for the sake of livelihood, and genuine writing and reading seem so outdated and unsuitable for the times. If so, who would still want to be a "literary figure," and who could still become one?
However, if one day you discover that the clamor of the secular world has not extinguished your longing for purity and love, if you feel you can still weep passionately and laugh heartily, if you still harbor even a sliver of unrealistic fantasy about the word "beauty," then I believe you will never be able to forget true literature, never be able to forget those miraculous works that have moved your hearts countless times. A short passage, a sentence, perhaps even a single word—all are the product of a brilliant mind and refined expression, condensed from pure essence. And those authors who have achieved such brilliance—do you remember them? Yes, as you stride across the threshold of the twenty-first century, you glance back casually at the past two thousand years: do you remember the stern Racine, whose world was both gentle and cruel? Do you remember the whimsical Molière, whose satire was sharp and profound? Do you remember the author of Memoirs from the Grave? He now lies quietly on a small island called "Grand Bé" outside Saint-Malo, where the winds of Normandy howl, and we can only visit him at low tide. Do you remember the author of The Red and the Black? He died silently, and it wasn’t until forty-six years later that people rediscovered him, his works, and his long-forgotten grave on Montmartre, inscribed with "Alighieri Belli, Milanese, who wrote, loved, and lived."
And then there was the great Hugo. On June 1, 1885, his funeral was held in Paris, and the capital’s citizens poured out in droves, the streets empty, 21 cannon shots fired in honor. His massive coffin lay beneath the Arc de Triomphe, draped in black, as people called him Napoleon’s most formidable enemy. A journalist present wrote, "All who have seen such a scene will never see it again; all who have not seen it will never see it." All of this is so real, so vivid. Simply recording it gave rise to this slim history, and all we hope is that readers might steal a half-day of leisure to skim through it, perhaps gaining a little knowledge, perhaps stirring a little reflection. This is the preface!