Chapter 30 moral question

This incident has been buried in my heart for many years. There is a man named Samarset in England.Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), a writer, has this passage in his book "The Writer's Notebook": No matter what themes the writer works on, his own morality will be embedded in his works, but this is also a major shortcoming of historical novels! This passage is actually a passage on the English test paper when I took the college entrance examination. Since I was more interested in history and period novels at that time, I deeply remembered this passage, and I was able to keep the original text. translate this sentence.On the surface, what Maugham said seems to be very reasonable. If the various figures in history are compared with modern ethics and morals, they are basically unreasonable.

But historical and period novels are very interesting. Speaking of historical novels in the UK, no matter what you say, you will immediately think of "The Heroes After the Catastrophe".There is also the admirable young writer Conan.Doyle (1859-1930) after years of arduous creation, the famous detective Sherlock in history.Sherlock Holmes is vividly displayed in front of readers, and it must be mentioned. When I first embarked on the road of literary creation, I was originally planning to create modern novels, and I could only be regarded as a lover in the field of historical and period novels. But when I was thirty, I suddenly felt that if I didn’t learn history well, life would be very difficult. It was too monotonous, so I started writing historical novels at the age of thirty-five, and at that time, I felt the weight of Maugham's words in my heart.

Now that I have decided to embark on the path of historical novel creation, I have to find a way to use Maugham's point of view in reverse. That is to show the moral and legal views of that era in their original form, making it the strength of historical novels.In turn, using what Maugham said, isn't that what it is? When I choose to describe the history of ancient China, I first have to completely transform myself into an ancient person. Of course, it is impossible to truly do this. All I can do is try to get close to the ancient people. This kind of effort is simple and simple. For example, there is a saying of village in Japan, but there is no such saying in ancient China. This word began to be used in China after the Six Dynasties. Or Yi to express.If someone says village is used in Japanese, so it is good to just talk about village directly, it may attract Maugham’s ridicule, and even I hold a negative attitude. In my opinion, the real historical novel is to go deep into the era. Careful creation based on understanding.

When I decided to create ancient Chinese historical novels, I also considered that since the readership is modern, readers might think such novels are too difficult to understand. But on second thought, wouldn’t Japan’s own historical novels face the same problem? In the creation of historical novels, it should be Mr. Ryotaro Shiba who can successfully resolve this contradiction and sublimate it. At least I personally think that Mr. Sima’s method of creating historical novels is epoch-making, and his achievements are as high as mediocrity like me. unattainable.There is a wealth of symbolism in his novels, and what is even more surprising is that he also uses humor that is difficult for Japanese to express.In the history of Japanese literature, only Mr. Fujisawa Shuhei, who is known as a master of short stories, used symbolism in his early works, but even such a master as Fujisawa Shuhei, his historical and era novels did not achieve flexible use of haiku techniques. situation.It is even more impossible for a so-called writer like me to reach that state. The only thing I can do is to appreciate and admire the various treasures left by the predecessors.However, I can use a sentence that Mr. Sima said to comfort me:

We are all Sanhe people! (Mikawa is a prolific place for Japanese writers).