Gu Yuehua (finishing summary)

On the evening of Thursday, September 2nd, 2002/kloc-0, planned by Gu Yuehua, jointly organized by the North American Chinese Writers Association, the new york Chinese Women Writers Association and the New Immigration Service Department of Queen's Library, the working team with Chen, new york Taohua, Nancy, Gu Yuehua as the main members presented the 24th Aurora in the cloud fair. Zhou gave a lecture on History and Novel of War and Peace, with Li Daxing as the guest. Hosted by Wang Tingting.

Wang Tingting, born in 1970s, majored in novels of Ming and Qing Dynasties. He used to be a reporter for the organ newspaper and an editor of the publishing house. Immigrating to Canada for ten years. I started writing five years ago. She introduced the speaker and praised him.

Zhou, the granddaughter of a famous writer, was born in Hunan, China. Born in science and engineering, he moved to the United States for 30 years, lived in Shanghai for three years, and now lives in San Jose, California, USA. I have worked in high-tech companies in Japan and the United States and have written Chinese for more than ten years. He is the author of three books, such as Everything in the world is paid to the wind, Dreaming of my hometown and listening to the flute, I am far away, a movie script, and many novels and essays, such as Sunrise in the East and Rain in the West, Looking at the High City from afar, Jack's Happy Life and April. Among them, The Wind in the Wind won the 4th China Award for Excellence in Biographical Literature, and Dream was selected as one of the top ten masterpieces in the biographical documentary category of China Reading Newspaper on 20 16.

Why did Zhou Yang talk about history and the novel War and Peace? She put it this way: a great writer must have a deep understanding of life. He must know that life is limited, writing time is even more limited, and writing requires so many conditions. Now or never. Although a good writer can write anything, the best writer will carefully choose his writing object, the time and place of the story he describes, what problems he wants to explain through this book, or what ideas he hopes to clear up through writing this book. Why do you want to read War and Peace? What is the historical and writing background of War and Peace? Why did Tolstoy write War and Peace?

She first talks about history, then goes back to novels to talk about characterization, and finally talks about the conclusion.

1. Why do you want to read or reread War and Peace?

She first pointed out that the book War and Peace is almost recognized as the world's number one literary work. For example, in 2000, The New York Times and Reader's Digest ranked as follows: 1, War and Peace, 2, Notre Dame, 3, Childhood, 4, Wuthering Heights, 5, david copperfield, 6, Red and Black, 7.

War and Peace is a great book, but its time is real, some of its characters are fictional, some of its stories are fictional, but the dates and times of all major events are real. This book describes the story that happened in the fifteen years from 1805 to 1820. There are more than 500 characters in the book. The author spent six years writing this masterpiece from 1863 to 1869. In other words, Tolstoy wrote this story 40 to 60 years before he wrote it.

Tolstoy wrote this novel when he was most mature and healthy. According to Tolstoy, "This book is neither a novel nor a novella, nor an epic, nor a history". Zhou defined it as a novel and an epic of that era.

Why did Zhou Yang think of talking about the theme of war and peace? The reason is that she is writing a postscript for a book. It was 20 15, and she happened to be traveling in Europe, so she took the opportunity of writing a postscript to write these thoughts. Including the relationship between War and Peace and Russian history, Tolstoy's thinking and confusion, and the comparison between Russian history and Swedish history. I wrote a long postscript and handed it to the publishing house. Later, he made a speech, which was finally planned by Aurora. So I enriched this article into a speech.

Second, the Romanov dynasty in Russian history (1613-1917, about 230 years).

Russia has a long history. Zhou Yang mainly tells about the Romanov Dynasty, focusing on three czars related to war and peace. Romanov Dynasty was an independent dynasty, which lasted for 230 years. Before that, it was a vassal country of the Golden Horde. The origin of this vassal state is that they fought a war with the Mongols, and they were defeated, so they became a vassal state.

When the story of war and peace happened, Tsar Alexander I had the consciousness and efforts to be a great emperor, but history was merciless and fair. He finally stopped being called the great by later generations. What is the reason?

Peter the Great resolutely brought Russia from a small marginal country into the more advanced European civilization at that time, and Russia in the era of Catherine the Great even reached the forefront of European civilization in some aspects. She also paid more attention to the enlightenment thought that originated in France than the French royal family. When the political reform was not satisfactory, but the military expansion was very smooth, she became more rational and focused on the expansion of the imperial territory. The French Revolution that broke out in the last few years of her administration also partially changed her mind.

Catherine the Great's court was deeply influenced by French culture because of her preference. She recognized freedom under enlightened autocracy, but Russian aristocrats have become French, at least in spirit. Finally, she killed the emperor's head and entered anarchy. She didn't want to see it, and she was wary, but it was too late.

After the death of the female emperor, her son Paul I succeeded to the throne. Paul's political ideas and cultural background are completely opposite to his mother's. He strongly promoted retro, and the young aristocrats' freedom of thought and even personal dignity were swept out of the house, and the flogging of officers was restored. Paul I even likes people crawling in front of him. So Paul I was killed by nobles after four years in power. After they killed Paul, they found the prince shivering in their own house and made him successful. This is Alexander I, and the story in War and Peace to be discussed today happened in his dynasty.

Alexander I succeeded to the throne at the age of 24, and was deeply loved by nobles and people in his early years. Alexander I grew up in my grandmother's court, and she loved him very much. At the same time, his relationship with his father is quite good, and he can express obedience and loyalty in front of his father without hesitation. Therefore, his father's murder has nothing to do with him on the moral level. When Alexander I succeeded to the throne, he had no negative assets at all, so it was natural for all parties to accept him. Everyone loved him. A teenager with an angelic appearance and personality was also loved when he first ascended the throne. His reign lasted for 24 years from 180 1 to 1825. 1825, he went on holiday and suddenly died in the resort without warning. Alexander I had no sons, so his younger brother Nicholas I succeeded to the throne. Thirty years later, he passed it on to his son Alexander II. War and Peace was written in his time. He was in office for 26 years and was assassinated. His son Alexander III succeeded to the throne in 13.

So the last czar was Nicholas II. The tsar is not a wise man. He got Russia involved in World War I, and the whole family was slaughtered. What I want to say is that it is actually a few people who have been cut off like this, and the more famous ones are France and Russia. Such a tragic ending is the result, and the cause of causality is a topic of interest to people today.

Third, three czars who consciously wronged.

1. Alexander I

Alexander I received the best imperial education, was fluent in French, well dressed and elegant, and was the monarch of a huge and powerful empire. When a Napoleon appeared on European soil and beat all the European royal families to the pulp, people remembered him and asked him to help save Europe. When he was a savior in the first film of War and Peace, he made a magnificent appearance, and then he was defeated in Ortiz. Because the emperors of France, Russia and Austria visited the front, it was also called the Battle of Huang San. Only a few hours later, the Russian-Austrian allied forces were defeated, and Napoleon's brilliant victory in this battle made him reach the peak of his life.

The structure of the book War and Peace is very neat. His first and third books tell stories about two world wars, while his second and fourth books tell stories about peacetime. After Ortiz's defeat, Alexander I made friends with Napoleon in the second film.

In the third novel, Napoleon took 670,000 troops, claiming to be a million lions, and killed them directly in Moscow. Napoleon's March into Russia was the beginning of his fall from the peak. After 670,000 troops fought to 80,000, there were only 10,000 left, and even rolled and crawled out of Russia.

1825 Summer, 47-year-old Alexander I left the capital for a holiday, and died in the resort on June165438+1October 17 that year without warning. His last words were: No matter what history says, I think I will always be a pacifist.

2. Nicholas I

The queen of yekaterina carried her to the palace as the future emperor, and not one, but two grandchildren, later Alexander I and Archduke Constantine. This is also very reasonable. At that time, the possibility of children dying young was very high. It is safer to train two children at a time. Their younger brother Nicholas has no royal training and plans to be a rich landlord all his life.

Because Alexander I had no son, on the day of 1825 12 14, the third brother reluctantly succeeded to the throne and became Nicholas I, who was hastily remonstrated by young aristocratic officers and surrounded by the palace. In one day, the young aristocratic officers wavered several times between storming and waiting for the new emperor to make concessions. The new emperor was also hesitant about abdication, appeasement or repression. In the end, he chose the most extreme way, transferred cavalry and artillery to suppress it, and killed more than 1000 people that day. Later, he sentenced the young aristocrats involved in this incident to exile. Historically, these young aristocrats in The Decemberists and many aristocratic wives and girlfriends who followed them in exile suffered the heaviest blow in their lives, but they were regarded as Russian conscience by future generations and will be remembered forever.

So Nicholas I was bent on expanding to the outside world. He is the emperor of a special soldier, and almost every portrait is dressed in military uniform. His ability and luck in fighting are good, and his diplomatic skills are also quite good. In his time, Russia became stronger. The 28-year expansion from victory to victory finally aroused the anxiety of Europe and attracted the British and French allied forces. He was defeated in World War I, which broke the myth that he was invincible. Unable to bear this blow, he ended his life in a suspected suicide way and passed it on to his son Alexander II.

3. Alexander II

Alexander II is another gift from heaven to Russia besides the two emperors. Compared with his uncle Alexander I, he is quite decisive and does not hesitate. Compared with his father Nicholas I, he has more political skills. After praising his father well at the beginning of his coming to power, he hung high and quickly launched the opposite reform.

The contents of the reform include ending the war, signing a peace treaty and giving up part of the land expanded by the former dynasty. Recall exiled members of The Decemberists, liberate serfs, reform the judiciary, open the ban on speech, and build new railway telegraph and postal factories. Unprecedented material, unprecedented prosperity of commerce, culture and art. People are ecstatic that Russia is about to set sail. At this time, the young writer Tolstoy began to write War and Peace.

Such a good reform situation made Alexander II loved as a god, but the liberated serfs began to have the trouble of exile, and even some freemen asked the nobles to buy themselves back and become serfs again. The last book War and Peace mentioned this phenomenon.

After the New Deal went wrong, Alexander II reacted impulsively and directly canceled the old road. Repeated tossing has also caused greater dissatisfaction. Some people blame all this confusion on the tsar. At that time, anarchism and nihilism prevailed, and they threatened to assassinate the tsar from 1870. During the eleven years from 1870 to 188 1, Alexander II lived in the shadow of assassination. 188 1 March 1 He was finally stabbed to death. This dynasty also ended tragically after 38 years.

Fourth, what do you see when you read War and Peace?

Zhou Yang was about twelve years old when he first read War and Peace. He saw Natasha and her love for Prince Andrey. On the second reading, I saw Tolstoy's doppelganger and saw his thinking and hesitation. After writing for more than ten years, she saw Napoleon, Russian history, French history, and European history, and also vaguely saw why Tolstoy wrote this novel and the novel he was going to write or should write next.

Zhou thinks that War and Peace is a novel, not a history, and his best part is the characters.

1, Pierre

There are never perfect characters in Tolstoy's works. The more you love them, the less friendly they are. Although he was the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, Pierre, who inherited the family business and became the richest man in Russia, was greatly weakened by him. Pierre's body is great but clumsy, and his brain is active but not smart. His greatest characteristic is kindness and sensitivity. Tolstoy loved and sympathized with him, which made his fate full of luck and surprise. He inherited the title of family business and became the richest man in Russia with the help of God. He can escape from the duel with Dolohov and hurt the other side. He wants to divorce a femme fatale, but he can't see clearly. The great beauty died suddenly, and finally he married Natasha and lived a happy life.

The writer Tolstoy is partial to him, and the qualities that most Russians like shine on him.

2.prince andrey

Prince Andrey is the son of the old Duke Paul Kanski. War and Peace describes the stories of four noble families. In addition to Bezukhov being the richest man, the Duke family of Paul Kanski is also amazing in wealth and has quite a social status. Of course, the old duke was a marshal in the queen's time, and now he is out of breath. The prototype of the old duke is considered to be the invincible Russian star Suwonov.

Although Prince Andrey is Pierre's best friend, he is as rational as his father. He thought calmly and methodically, kept his promise and acted. Although he always sneered at Pierre's grand ideal of improving farmers' lives, he did more and achieved better results. He even deeply participated in the reform and design work in Speranski. But there should be many Russian aristocrats who advocated rationality at that time, and Andre and his son were very representative. How lucky Pierre is, how unfortunate Prince Andrey is. He advocates rationality and scoffs at religion. As a result, fate was cruel to him.

3. Natasha

In the book, Natasha grows from 13 to 28 years old, from an innocent girl to a happy wife and a mother of several children. Natasha's empathy, betrayal and Prince Andrey's love, and the beautiful man Anatoly almost ran away successfully. Using women with moral defects as the heroine in the book was quite shocking in Russia 150 years ago.

4. Nicholas. Rostov

Nicholas is Natasha's brother. He took part in the Battle of Austerlitz and the Great Patriotic War, fell in love with his adopted daughter Sonia, and finally married Prince Andrey's sister, Princess Marya.

Nikolai grew from an ignorant recruit to a mature officer, from an impulsive, ignorant, kind-hearted guy who would do bad things to the head of the family, with a large family to support. This process is full of situations and logic, which can be said to be unexpected, reasonable and wonderful. At that time, the great concentration of Russian serfdom wealth really made the nobles richer than those in other parts of Europe. The Rostovs were kind-hearted, completely unable to manage money, and finally came to the brink of bankruptcy. However, as the god of the characters in the book, the screenwriter sympathizes with and cares for this family, and the good people are rewarded, which makes them have a perfect ending.

5. Princess Maria

Princess Marya is the daughter of the old Duke Paul Kanski and the sister of Prince Andrey. She is neither beautiful nor clever, and she can't learn math well no matter how hard she tries. Although she doesn't seem to have much talent in practicing piano every day, she is kind and emotional and full of religious feelings. She is an alien in a rational family, but she is deeply loved by her father and brother. Although she was also seduced by the handsome man Anatoly, she refused his proposal. Marrying Nikolai, who was originally a lover, can get her husband's love and respect. She is a person with a strong religious pursuit and a satisfactory secular life.

6。 Beautiful Helen

Of the four aristocratic families in War and Peace, Tolstoy dislikes the Duke Vassili family the least. The duke himself is a mercenary and calculating man, and his son and daughter are fools. Tolstoy used a lot of pen and ink to describe Helen's beauty, but nothing else.

7. Anatoly, a beautiful man

The ugly Prince Vasily is a beautiful woman, and even Helen's brother Anatoly is the most handsome young man in the book. His legs are long and tall, his shoulders are wide and his waist is thin, his lips are red and his face is white, and he is always ready to seduce or be seduced by women. Anatoly spends money like water, and his father, Prince Vasily, is reluctant to dance with long sleeves, so he has to plan to let his son marry a rich girl. When he went to Poland with the army, he got into trouble for playing with local women and was finally forced to get married. He went back to Russia to seduce Natasha, who was engaged to Prince Andrey, and finally his leg was sawed off in a field hospital.

5. Who is the most memorable character in War and Peace? Who is Tolstoy?

Who is the most memorable character in War and Peace? Natasha, who is Tolstoy in the book? Everyone thinks it's Pierre, there is no doubt about it.

Princess Marya in the book is also the author's doppelganger. She is going to travel around the world with her relatives and devote herself to religion. Later, by chance, she got married and had children and entered a happy secular life. A writer's life is the other way around. He wrote in a happy secular life, gradually entered religion, and finally decided to give up the secular life at the last moment of his life and wander around the world.

6. Why did Tolstoy write War and Peace?

Zhou's point of view is: "A great writer must have a deep understanding of life. He must know that life is limited, writing time is even more limited, and writing requires so many conditions. Simply put, it's now or never. Although a good writer can write anything, the best writer will carefully choose his writing object and the time and place where the story he describes takes place, and what problems he wants to explain through this book, or what ideas he hopes to clarify through writing this book. "

She concluded that the story of "War and Peace" took place in the era of Nicholas I, when Russia was at a critical moment when history might turn. In the era of Nicholas II, history gave Russia another chance, and it was in this era of active thinking that the writer Tolstoy wrote this book.

What will Tolstoy write next?

On this issue, Zhou speculated that Tolstoy was supposed to write a story about December Communists, and he made a lot of interview preparations for this, and War and Peace should be the prelude to The Story of December Communists. Pierre has a strong tendency of idealism and spirit of sacrifice. In a few years, he is likely to become1February Party party member. Once exiled, Natasha's character is very similar to that of his later wives who insisted on sharing weal and woe with the victims. Who will raise their children? It must be Princess Marya.

Conclusion: Tolstoy's confusion vs Russia's confusion

Zhou wrote in the postscript of Dream: "Tolstoy is not a writer who wants to educate readers. He is a confused writer who takes readers to think together. Is there a conclusion? If history has no conclusion, he will have no conclusion. " After Tolstoy's JIU· Ge, Russia is still confused after trying all this. Of course, I haven't tried the most. France, the spiritual home of Russia, has finally settled down after almost all attempts twice. Therefore, the book War and Peace is still the best novel in Zhou Yang's heart, which makes people memorable.

This lecture invited Li Daxing to take the lead. Li Daxing dropped out of junior high school and was admitted to Peking University History Department on 1980. In the second year, he studied in Japan and then settled in the United States. Participated in Today, edited by Beidao, managed the online edition and Today's Poetry Forum. Since 20 15, hundreds of essays on history, culture and personal memory have been published. His works are found in Reading, Caixin Weekly and Economic Observer. , and published books such as Behind the Cheongsam of Life, Poems in the Distance and the Past Tonight.

Li Daxing is brilliant and poetic. He said that the series of lectures on Aurora literature, which suddenly rose after the outbreak last year, was given by Zhou, the granddaughter of a famous writer and a North American Chinese female writer. I've never met Yang Zhi, but recently, there have been occasional exchanges between the authors of Du Shiniang, the official account of WeChat, which has spread widely. Maybe what I saw was not that there was no agreement. I was invited by you to be her guest speaker, so I had to keep War and Peace and Tuoweng in mind.

He said: Just like there are a thousand Hamlets in the hearts of a thousand people, War and Peace is also a classic that "looks like a mountain peak on a ridge". He and Yang Zhi were born in the same year, and they both read War and Peace for the first time at the age of twelve. It was 1973 in the middle of the Cultural Revolution. Western literary masterpieces were still banned, but Li Daxing was lucky to have the opportunity to immerse himself in it as a teenager. From 1968 to 1977, he didn't go to primary school or junior high school, but he studied in the home of a famous historian, Mr. Li Shu. He is a good friend of his parents and a neighbor.

"After 1977, western literature re-entered China. Compared with the classics of19th century, the influence of western modernist literature and magical realism is greater than that of19th century. As far as Russian literature is concerned, it is not Turgenev and Tolstoy who have replaced the vanished literature of the former Soviet Union. The deliberately erased Silver Age and the more modern Dostoevsky have gained more attention. " "War and Peace" has always been there, and it is still the benchmark, but it is more like the old wine in the depths of the alley. Classics don't need to be shelved, but not many people have a taste. "

Li Daxing and Zhou's rereading of War and Peace are different experiences. Zhou Yang remembered the love between Natasha and Andre for the first time, saw Tolstoy behind the words for the second time, and read history for the third time. Li Daxing and Yang Zhi are just the opposite. He first saw the magnificent historical picture, and then realized Tuo Weng's mind, confusion and sadness. Finally, what remained in his memory was love and death.

War and Peace has a grand scene, many characters and complex structure, but few novels are remembered and recognized as epics. Whether in Russia, the later Soviet Union or China, the impulse to create an epic has always existed. However, a voluminous and magnificent work may not be called an epic. To be worthy of the title of "epic", Li Daxing pointed out that there must be compassion and spiritual strength. This is true of Les Miserables, and so is War and Peace. It is good to write about war scenes, political games, and love and hate between people. The first time you read the story, the second time you will find Tolstoy's inner world.

Re-exploring Tuoweng's philanthropic thought, religious belief and repentance spirit, Li Daxing believes that his starting point lies in his compassion for human nature and destiny, so he has a profound "sympathetic understanding". In the literary history following the thought of the former Soviet Union, his works are often described as "realism" or even "critical realism". In fact, it is realistic to have a high degree of sympathy.

Li Daxing believes that Tolstoy's sympathy has brought a narrative warmth to War and Peace. Although Tuo Weng has a great sense of morality, and there are many discussions in the book, it has entered the versatility and imperfection of the characters. No matter how many ideal Andre and Natasha are, or Pierre, who is regarded as his own way, always shows the weakness of human nature. On the other hand, even if it is a negative symbol of Helen, her life and death make people feel sad. Therefore, in Toron's works, although history is irrational, wars are cruel and personal stories are mostly tragic, the brilliance and hope of human nature have always existed.

Comments on a great novel are all about love and death in the final analysis, and War and Peace is no exception. Then Li Daxing began to sigh deeper.

When the smoke cleared and history became dust, he last read War and Peace more than 30 years ago. Unforgettable is the love and farewell between Andre and Natasha: "Did fate bring me to her so strangely just to let me die? ..... Is the truth of life presented to me just because I have wasted my life? "

Then Li Daxing pointed out that Tolstoy cared more than love and death. His eyes focused on history, destiny and people's plight, which is a broader concern. War and Peace is not only a novel, even an epic, but also a book full of emotional thoughts. He thinks: "A great writer can't be a great thinker at the same time, because only his irrationality, sensibility, pluralism and self-contradiction can make a writer, and the thought of19th century is precisely the era of rationalism and system construction. Thinking is the patent of German philosophy. There is the passion of the French behind the Enlightenment, and the thinking of the British is always restrained and rigorous. Russia is still a wild place in Europe. Reason and religion wrestle, heavy and fanatical, rushing left and right, repeatedly, and finally the revolution in which the tsar was annihilated. "

"Russia in the19th century lacks thinkers in the sense of western Europe, so Tolstoy is a writer after all and plays an important role in the history of thought and the construction of the so-called Russian spirit." "War and Peace" can be said to be Tolstoy's earliest complete ideological work, "Tolstoy's pastoral life". Such a dream is inevitably disillusioned in the era of war and revolution.

Li Daxing's induction of Tolstoy's thought is not very clear, and most of the later generations can't tell, but the resulting critical spirit is more skeptical and less outspoken, and sympathy often precedes judgment. The coexistence of criticism and sympathy is the essence of so-called humanistic care. In a great work, both are indispensable.

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Li Daxing believes that War and Peace is not a perfect work. However, this novel did create an important tradition of Russian literature, and its heavy concern for great history and personal destiny, its height and thickness, and sense of oppression are not common in other countries' literature.

Tuo Weng is a middle-aged man in the19th century, and we need a sense of history to understand him. Tuo Weng never sank in his life, but he still lacked extreme personal experience. In Russian literature and even world literature, Li Daxing praised Dostoevsky as the first person to reach the height of suffering madness.

The history of modern literature in China has deep traces of Russian and Soviet literature, which has influenced all fields of culture and art, so he suggested that everyone return to Tolstoy. Reread War and Peace.

When speaking freely, Chen, a famous critic in North America, spoke highly of the lecture and agreed with Li Daxing's point of view: a good literary work should depict the weakness of human nature and personal predicament, and a literary work should express the theme of love and death. Yao Jiawei, president of the Overseas Chinese Women Writers Association, also said that she liked the novel War and Peace very much when she was a student. It is said that there are various differences between the two sides of the strait, but everyone likes good literary works.

Grace Wai Wong's comments: Ms. Zhou's speech was excellent and simple, describing Russian history and literature from both macro and micro aspects. Thank you for listening. Zhang Chunying said: Zhou's information is very rich, but it can be clearly displayed, which has benefited us a lot.

There are also many kind words in the chat room. The first one said: Ms. Yang must have finished the thrilling History of Russia. Let's review and sort out Tuoweng's masterpieces and world history.

Although today's lecture is very aurora-like, a little cold and a little Chun Xue, the audience's enthusiasm is very high and it will soon be full, which is a great encouragement for our aurora lecture. The literary influence of aurora lectures is expanding. No matter how devastating the epidemic is, the sky with aurora is becoming more and more beautiful.