Early in the morning, Zhou Weilie came to the classroom carrying a heavy suitcase, dragged it to the podium and shouted: "Come and get the signed book!"
The iron buckle of the suitcase was opened, and there were more than forty copies of "The Little Prince" inside, and each of them had Zhou Hexuan's autograph on the title page.
Lu Wanzhen and several other classmates immediately rushed over, happily found their own copy, and said with a smile: "Thanks, little brother Zhou."
"Nothing." Zhou Weilie wiped the sweat from his forehead.
After getting the books, the students in the class gathered together to continue reading the newspapers, and argued over the different interpretations of "The Little Prince" in the newspapers.
"Hey, "Literary Pages" (supplement of "Xinhua Daily") and "Pingming" (supplement of "Central Daily News") have different interpretations of the image of 'drunkard'. Which one is more in line with Mr. Zhou's original intention?"
"I think "Pingming" makes more sense. The term "drunkard" should refer to traitors. The reason why drunkards get drunk all day long is because they want to forget the embarrassment of drinking. This is undoubtedly a satire on the traitor Wang Zhaoming and his gang members.
, betraying the country under the slogan of saving the nation and trying to survive, living in a dream, deceiving oneself and others."
"No, no, the interpretation of "The Pages of Literature and Art" is more reasonable. A 'drunkard' generally refers to a person who is unwilling to face reality. He can be a traitor, a bureaucrat, or a peacemaker trying to negotiate for survival."
"..."
Since Ma Jue published that interpretation comment, various related comments have emerged one after another, and there are often multiple different interpretations of the same character.
Regarding the "Desert Flower", some people say it alludes to the capitulationists, while others think it generally refers to the pessimists who have no hope of fighting the war.
Regarding the "Lamplighter", the imperial literati of the Kuomintang believed that it was praising the great leader Chang Kaishen, the left-wing literati believed that it was praising all the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Anti-Japanese War, and the liberal literati believed that it was praising the ordinary people who contributed to the Anti-Japanese War.
The interpretation of "King" is even more disparate. The Kuomintang newspapers think it is satirizing Japanese fascism, while the Communist Party newspapers think it is exposing the dictatorship of the Nationalist government.
Almost all the images in the book "The Little Prince" have been interpreted over and over again by people, just like studying and analyzing "A Dream of Red Mansions".
Nowadays, no one criticizes Zhou Hexuan anymore. "The Little Prince" is recognized as a patriotic literary work. Because it is originally written very movingly, once it is interpreted along the direction of patriotism, it can be put into the reader's country in minutes.
emotion.
A fairy tale that made countless people cry.
Undergraduate students in the 21st century literature department have a required course called "History of Modern Chinese Literature", which covers the period from the late Qing Dynasty to the founding of New China.
In this professional course, Zhou Hexuan received the same treatment as Lu Xun, Mao Dun and others. They all had an exclusive chapter. And Zhou Hexuan's chapter was in as many as five sections, such as "The Goddess", "The Dog Official", "The Dog Official" and so on.
They are grouped together into one section, while "The Little Prince" is in its own section.
The following content is excerpted from "History of Modern Chinese Literature" Chapter 10 Zhou Hexuan, Section 5 The Little Prince:
"The Little Prince was published in February 1942. It is a fairy tale and fable created by Zhou Hexuan during the Anti-Japanese War. It is also a patriotic literary work with outstanding achievements and great influence in the history of modern Chinese literature..."
"There are two ways to interpret "The Little Prince": one is from a child's perspective, revealing the emptiness, blindness, ignorance and dogma of adults, using simple and innocent language to write about human loneliness and drifting destiny, while criticizing
Instead of money and material desires, it eulogized truth, goodness and beauty. Second, from the perspective of patriots, it reflected the Chinese society in the period of national crisis, praising anti-Japanese heroes through metaphors, criticizing fascist aggressive forces and traitors, and condemning the dictatorial and brutal rule of the National Government...
"
"This dual emotional expression expresses the author's love for truth, goodness, beauty and the motherland. It is unique among the literary creations during the Anti-Japanese War in China and has always been a key research object in the field of literary criticism. For a long period of time, people have been paying attention to "Little Children"
"The Prince" has many interpretations, and these interpretations are even contradictory. In the eyes of a thousand readers, there are a thousand Hamlets. Zhou Hexuan later said: The little prince can be anyone, it is you, it is me, it is him, every reader has a different understanding of Hamlet.
The understanding of the images in the book is correct..."
No matter what, "The Little Prince" has become one of the favorite works of literature students in the 21st century. Because the final exam often takes subjective questions, listing one of the characters for students to interpret, the degree of freedom is very high, as long as they don't write the basics
You can score points.
Let's go back to 1942. The sales volume of "The Little Prince" was surprisingly good. Many students were frugal and wanted to buy a copy. It could satisfy readers' dual needs for personal emotions and patriotism, and it could also allow parents to buy it and talk about it at home.
For children, it is a love story, a fairy tale, and a piece of anti-Japanese war patriotic literature.
Just like the French regard "The Little Prince" as a classic and even print the author, the Little Prince and the star on the 50-denomination franc, Chinese readers also regard "The Little Prince" as a classic. Ordinary people love it.
Far surpassing "The Goddess" and so on, it is recognized as Zhou Hexuan's representative work.
At the same time, "The Little Prince" also triggered a wave of fairy tale creation. Writers used fairy tale themes as metaphors for some content that the Nationalist Government did not allow to be written, so that even Chiang Kai-shek banned books and did not know how to ban them.
As far away as the United States and the United Kingdom, although there is no aura of patriotism, "The Little Prince" also detonated the book markets of the two countries.
There is a saying that the sales volume of "The Little Prince" is second only to the "Bible". It's hard to say. There are several books claiming to be second only to the "Bible" in sales volume. Strictly speaking, the second best-selling book in the world should be "Mao Zedong".
The third is "Xinhua Dictionary", the fourth is "Mao's Poems", and the fifth is "Mao's Selected Poems".
However, "The Little Prince" is definitely ranked in the top 20, and its sales volume far exceeds that of the "Harry Potter" series.
Moreover, because the original author died too early and piracy is rampant in various countries, it is difficult to count the sales of this book. A conservative estimate is that it exceeds 80 million copies. Some people even say it is 200 million copies. If it is 200 million copies, then it will exceed "A Tale of Two Cities" and "A Tale of Two Cities".
"Lord of the Rings" ranked in the top six, becoming the best-selling non-Chinese book second only to "The Bible".
Because this book is so beautifully written and has the power to touch the soul.
Only one month after Zhou Hexuan's version of "The Little Prince" was launched, the cumulative sales in the United Kingdom and the United States reached 400,000 copies, and then the Indian market contributed another 30,000 copies. I heard that the English version has quietly spread to France, and French writers have given
He was so highly praised that he almost didn’t give Zhou Hexuan another award.
