-
48. Understanding Another's Voice
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Understanding Another's Voice HOW difficult the appreciation of style seems. The appreciation of style, of the individual voice, is itself difficult, and when there is somewhere someone who appreciates your kind of music, it is difficult finding out where he is. Meeting one's appreciative interpreter happens about once in a thousand years. Interpreters have always tended to look on the ancients with affection and treat their contemporaries with contempt, according to the formula that "She who is in his presence from day to day prompts no act of love; she whose voice is heard in the distance is an object of desire." When Han Fei's philosophy and Sima Xiangru's poetry were first completed and published, the First Emperor of Qin and the Military Emperor of Han devoutly wished they were contemporary with these authors; but after it became known they were, they allowed Han Fei to be imprisoned and Sima Xiangru to be neglected. Is this not a clear demonstration of the contempt in which contemporaries are held? In the case of Ban Gu and Fu Yi their literary abilities were comparable, but Ban sneered at Fu's "tendency to go on and on once he got started". The same sense of complacency may also be observed in Cao Zhi: Chen Lin seemed to him totally inadequate, Ding Yi did well to ask him (Zhi) to polish his (Yi's) writing, Liu Xiu was somewhat worse than a second-rate critic in his censures. Indeed Cao Pi was not making a false accusation when he declared that writers were mutually contemptuous. When loquacious Lou Hu set himself up as a literary critic he claimed that Sima Qian had had to consult Dongfang Shuo in the compilation of his famous history. For this Huan Tan and others laughed him to scorn. If 178 I The Book ofLiterary Design Lou Hu the gamester was to be taken to task for his frivolous remark, could scholar-writers afford to be flippant? The First Emperor of Qin and the Military Emperor of Han stand for the type who despite their own perspicacity regard the ancients with adulation and the modems with contempt. Ban Gu and Cao Zhi represent geniuses who look down on others but up to themselves. Lou Hu is an example of those who in possession ofa little learning are tempted to question the truth by faith in fallacies. The suggestion that some manuscripts serve better as wrappers for pickle jars should perhaps be taken seriously. The unicorn and the phoenix have nothing in common with the deer and the pheasant; jade discs and pearls are altogether unlike stones and pebbles. The bright sun shines on the distinctions, the apple ofthe eye perceives the contrasting shapes. But there was this subject of the prince of Lu who held that the unicorn was a deer, the man of Chu who pretended that his pheasant was a phoenix, the Wei fellow who thought the piece ofjade was a misshapen stone, and, on the contrary, the proverbial simpleton of Song who was convinced that his pebble from the north was a real pearl. If such errors could be committed with tangible objects, how can we expect to be judicious with literature when it is so elusive, so hard to arbitrate? Literary pieces are things of complexity, in which content and style are closely interwoven, and most critics are biased as no one can be expected to be.perfect in sympathy. The passionate begin to tap their rhythm as soon as they hear the song, the sensitive dance to poetry of intensity; those with a superficial intelligence look at the pretty and are pleased, those who go for the strange will be startled by the strange. On the whole we admire that which meets the expectations of our own mind, and cast aside that which is different. Each of us has his pet preoccupations, with which he hopes to cope with all situations. The only snag is that when you are turned towards the east, the wall on the west side vanishes from sight. He who is practised in a thousand songs understands music, he who has seen a thousand swords will appreciate quality. The secret to perfect sympathy lies primarily in breadth of knowledge. Knowledge of the mountain will make a molehill ofa molehill, knowledge ofthe vasty seas provides the right perspective for the rural ditch. If your aspiration is to weigh literary works as accurately as on a pair of...