Romance of the Three Kingdoms
I am ethnically and culturally Chinese but unfortunately not skillful enough to read novels in Chinese. I know that ROTK is one of the 4 greatest chinese novels and have been trying to read a translation done by C.H. Brewitt-Taylor found on a Vietnamese site.
To my dismay, I actually find it quite hard to read/follow and could hardly continue reading unlike wuxia novels. There are way too many characters from too many sides at different periods. Few questions.
(1) Is it 100% history or rather what percentage/parts is actually history?
(2) Is the original in Chinese good and somehow not translated well?
(3) Or is it just me?? I am quite a fan of Chinese history but somehow find it a chore to read this book.
Comments welcomed.
The Masses vs The Classes
Quote:
Originally Posted by shen diao xia
At least, we can say that we are brave enough to go against convention and say that we don't appreciate these well known works amongst the masses.
Thanks. Actually I think that the masses don't appreciate these works as much as might be assumed, so we're not really all that brave!
Quote:
Originally Posted by expression
Red Chamber is great, but stripped of its poetic strength in English translation it seems merely like some cloying story.
I disagree. The Chinese prose in HLM is almost entirely vernacular and in any case not particularly intensive from a linguistic standpoint (bar the occasional pun). The prose thus translates into English pretty well. The poetry doesn't, but even if you remove it, I still feel HLM (if we ignore the last 40 chapters for a moment) is at least comparable with the novels that are considered traditional 'classics' in the English literary canon, from Richardson and Austen in the 18th century and any of the Victorians in the 19th, to Joyce in the 20th. The story itself is only "cloying" if it's read that way (which unfortunately is how most people - including Chinese people - seem to read it).
Quote:
Originally Posted by expression
And I'll also risk my life saying this, but wuxia novels are a laugh in terms of "literary content". They are perhaps fun for entertainment, but literature they are not.
I agree. I consider myself a fan of JY, but as literature, his works are pretty mediocre in the scheme of things.
What does one learn from wuxia?
I used to be a JY-fanatic myself, but when I FINALLY started growing up I realized wuxia fanaticism is one of the main factors that prevented me from WANTING to grow up. A very painful face to face with reality. Took me quite a while.
What does one "learn" from Mr. JY's wuxia?
Don't tell me reading LOCH's Guo Jing makes one want to get drafted into the Armed forces to protect the country. Don't tell me reading DGSD teaches one how to forgive and move on - poor Xiao Feng went around trying to find out the main culprit, while his old pa went around killing every suspect/liaison and placing the blame on Xiao Feng without blinking. In the end Murong Bo is the bad guy, but lol, he and old pa reconciled and became nice monks and Xiao Feng went to Liao. END of story. All the casualties in the process were forgotten. No apologies to their friends and families. No recognition that they have been wronged (Oops I made a mistake killing you, my bad!). Not a word about them anymore. As if their sole purpose was to stir up this "tragedy" to make Xiao Feng a "tragic hero". In the end XF killed himself. Why? For the country? No, because he cannot live on. He carried his tragedy to the underworld. What does one learn from this melodrama?? Forgiveness and resolution?!
Oh and PLEASE, don't tell me reading ROCH teaches one how to love. The twisted kind of love between Yang Guo and XLN filled them with destructive self-centredness, selfishness and anger. They only see each other, the rest of the world doesn't matter - actually it does matter. They spit on people's treasured tradition in their face and force them to approve of their defiance. Is that necessary? Why don't they just go back to their Gu Mu or somewhere quiet? Nobody wants or needs them fooling around anyway. YG says they don't care what others think, then why did he go nuts when they don't give approval? Isn't that a bit of a dilemma? YG has no qualms setting out to kill Guo Jing (whom he knows loves him as a son) for XLN (what a lover). XLN doesn't shudder at the thought - as long as beloved Guo'r is safe, the whole world can perish (how cold and sexy). In the end it was not their "love" that prevented YG from the killing. It was GY's role model of sacrificing for the country. But then again even our good GJ failed to influence the readers that way.
Because this was not the reason why people love wuxia.
They love it for GJ and XF's powerful 18 Dragon Palms. They love it for the cool Top Five. They love it for GJ and YG's (and most of the other main protagonists) lucky chances piling one over another that pushed them to become Grand Masters of martial arts. They love it for XLN's extreme beauty and sexy "coldness". They love it for the many rare beauties who all fall for the same protagonist, some dying for him like flies while others wasting their whole lives yearning for him alone.
Oh yeah, that is what we love wuxia for. It is a fun and comfortable world, filled with lust, passion and danger that never spill into our monotonous lives. We are lazy; we just want to get through school/work. Change the world? Influence people? Help the need? Nah, we learn to escape into wuxia, where the nameless serve to die like flies or yell out our heroes names. But no, don't say we are cowards, because we like Dai Hups and chat about them in air-conditioned rooms. That's all we needed to buff our Dai Hup ego.