The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Nankai Middle School.

Early in the morning, Zhou Weilie came to the classroom with a heavy suitcase, dragged it to the podium and shouted: "Come and get the autograph book!"

The iron buckle of the suitcase was opened, and there were more than forty copies of "The Little Prince" inside, and each title page had Zhou Hexuan's autograph.

Lu Wanzhen and a few other students rushed over immediately, happily found their own copy, and said with a smile, "Thank you, Brother Zhou."

"It's nothing." Zhou Weilie wiped the sweat from his forehead.

After the students in the class got the book, they got together and continued to read the newspaper, arguing over the different interpretations of "The Little Prince" in the newspaper.

"Hey, "Pages of Literature and Art" (the supplement of "Xinhua Daily") and "Pingming" (the supplement of "Central Daily") 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. 'Drunkard' should refer to traitors. The reason why drunkards get drunk all day is to forget the embarrassment of alcoholism. This is undoubtedly a satire on the traitor Wang Zhaoming and his henchmen. , Selling out the country under the slogan of saving the nation and saving the nation, deceiving oneself and others."

"No, no, the interpretation of "Pages of Literature and Art" is more reasonable. 'Drunkard' generally refers to people who are unwilling to face reality. They can be traitors, bureaucrats, or peacemakers who try to negotiate in vain for survival."

"..."

Since Ma Jue published that interpretation comment, various related comments have emerged one after another, and there are often multiple interpretations of the same character in the novel.

Regarding the "Desert Flower", some people say it refers to the capitulators, while others think it refers to the pessimists who do not report hope in the war of resistance.

Regarding the "Lamplighter", the literati of the Nationalist Party thought they were praising the great leader Chang Kaishen, the left-wing literati thought they were praising all the heroes who died for the War of Resistance, and the literati thought they were praising the ordinary people who made contributions to the War of Resistance.

The interpretation of "King" is even more different. The National Party newspaper thinks it is satirizing Japanese fascism, while the Communist Party newspaper thinks 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, just like the research and analysis of "A Dream of Red Mansions".

Now no one criticizes Zhou Hexuan anymore, "The Little Prince" is recognized as a patriotic literary work. Because the novel is very moving, once it is interpreted in the direction of patriotism, the reader's national emotions can be substituted in minutes.

A fairy tale that made countless people cry.

Undergraduate students of the 21st Century Literature Department have a compulsory course called "History of Modern Chinese Literature", which is taught 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, and each had its own chapter. And Zhou Hexuan's chapters are as many as five chapters, "The Goddess", "The Dog Official", and "The Dog Official's Biography" are all included in one section, while "The Little Prince" is a separate section.

The following 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 novel written 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..."

"The Little Prince can be interpreted in two ways: one is from the perspective of children, revealing the emptiness, blindness, ignorance and dogma of adults, and writing about the loneliness and fate of human beings in simple and innocent language, while criticizing Second, from the perspective of a patriot, it reflects the Chinese society in a period of national crisis, praises the anti-Japanese heroes through metaphors, criticizes the fascist aggression forces and traitors, and condemns the dictatorship and brutal rule of the national government... "

"This kind of dual emotional expression reflects the author's love for truth, goodness, beauty and the motherland. It was unique in the literary creation during the Anti-Japanese War in China. It has always been a key research object in the field of literary criticism. "The Prince" has a lot of interpretations, and these interpretations even contradict each other. 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 is right The understanding of the imagery in the book is correct..."

In any case, "The Little Prince" has become one of the favorite works of literature students in the 21st century. Because there are often subjective questions in the final exam, listing one of the roles for students to interpret has a high degree of freedom, as long as they don't scribble, they can basically score.

Let's go back to 1942. The sales of "The Little Prince" were surprisingly good, and many students bought a copy even if they were saving money. It can satisfy readers' dual needs for personal emotion and patriotism, and it can also be bought by parents and told to their children. It is a romance novel, a fairy tale, and a patriotic literature of the Anti-Japanese War.

Just as the French regard "The Little Prince" as a classic, and even print the author, the little prince and the star on 50 francs, Chinese readers also regard "The Little Prince" as a classic. Ordinary people love it far more than novels such as "The Goddess", and it is recognized as Zhou Hexuan's representative work.

At the same time, "The Little Prince" also triggered a wave of fairy tale creation trend. Some writers used fairy tales as metaphors for some content that the national government did not allow to write, so that Lao Jiang didn't know how to ban books.

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". This is hard to say. There are several books that claim to be second only to the "Bible". Strictly speaking, the second best-selling book in the world should be "Mao Yu", the third is "Xinhua Dictionary", the fourth is "Mao Poems", and the fifth is "Mao Xuan".

However, "The Little Prince" definitely made it into the top twenty, outselling the "Harry Potter" series by far.

And because the original French author died too early and piracy was rampant in various countries, it is difficult to count the sales volume of this book. It is conservatively estimated that it has exceeded 80 million copies, and some people say it is 200 million copies-if it is 200 million copies, then it will exceed 200 million copies. "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Lord of the Rings" ranked in the top six, making them the second most popular non-Chinese books after the Bible.

Because this book is so beautifully written, it has a power to touch the soul.

Zhou Hexuan's version of "The Little Prince" has sold 400,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the United States in just one month, and the Indian market has contributed another 30,000 copies. I heard that the English version has been quietly spread to France, and the French writers gave it a high evaluation, and they almost didn't give Zhou Hexuan another award.