Translator: Liu Zhiyao | Northern Literature Xunkan, 213
The boundaries of fairy tales are extremely far, extremely deep and extremely high, and everything is in them: all kinds of birds and beasts, endless oceans, countless stars, beauty that is infinitely addictive and can always trap people in danger, and happiness and sadness as sharp as a sword. There are always many questions about the fairy tale kingdom, but it is hard to say. It seems that once too many questions are asked, the door to the mysterious world will be closed forever. But everyone who yearns for wonderland always wants to know the answers to some basic questions, such as: What is a fairy tale? What is its origin? What is the function?
People usually have a narrow understanding of fairy tales. They are not just stories about fairies and elves, but the whole wonderland. Besides dwarfs, witches, dwarfs, giants or dragons, there are also oceans, the sun, the moon, the sky, the earth and everything that appears on this earth, including trees and birds, running water and stones, wine and bread, and us mortals. The definition of fairy tales should not depend on the definition or historical description of elves or fairies, but on the essence of wonderland: the dangerous fantasy world itself and the atmosphere around it. Wonderland can't be completely captured by words, because the indescriptibility is one of its characteristics, although it can be perceived. It contains various components, but any analysis may not be able to discover the secret of the whole. A reasonable definition can only be this: fairy tales are stories that use or revolve around wonderland, no matter what their own intentions are-satire, adventure, morality and fantasy. However, although there is often irony in the story, it is very important that the magic in the story should be taken seriously, and it can neither be laughed at nor explained to make it disappear.
The history of fairy tales is probably as complicated as the history of human language. Independent creation, inheritance and communication have played an obvious role in the production of a complex story network. Among them, creation is the most important, basic and mysterious. Both inheritance (under the guise of time) and communication (under the guise of space) finally point to an original creator. Fairy tales are not a simple copy, reproduction or symbolic interpretation of beauty and horror in the real world, but are recreated by using the elements in them. In fantasy, wonderland was born, and man became a "sub-creator".
In our history, fairy tales are always associated with children. Especially in modern literature, fairy tales have been degraded to the category of "children's literature", just like shabby and outdated homes being thrown into the game room. This is mainly because adults no longer want it, regardless of whether it is appropriate or not. In recent years, many fairy tales have indeed been written or adapted by children, but just as music, poetry, novels, history or science books have also been adapted for children, fairy tales do not belong to children alone. As a whole, the level of art and science has not been lowered, and so has fairy tales. Once it loses its connection with adult literature and art, it also loses its value and potential.
As a literary type, fairy tales are worth creating for adults and reading. It provides people with a space for fantasy, and fantasy shows the truth.
Fantasy includes both Imagination, that is, the perception of image and the grasp and control of its meaning, and sub-creative art..
Fantasy is a natural human activity. It will not destroy or belittle reason; It will not dull people's desire to pursue scientific truth, and obscure the insight to discover scientific truth. On the contrary, the sharper and clearer the reason, the better the illusion. If human beings are always in a state of not wanting to know or being unable to get a glimpse of the truth (facts or evidence), then fantasy will gradually weaken until it dies, becoming a "morbid illusion". The premise of true creative fantasy is to be sure that everything should be like this in this world; It is to know the facts, not to be enslaved by them. Just like the story of The Frog Prince, if people really can't tell the difference between frogs and humans, then such a fairy tale wouldn't exist.
In the stories about elves fabricated by human beings, there is always a desire to realize the art of sub-creation, either openly or secretly, or simply or compositely. It is different from the tricks of magicians. It is not self-centered, and it is not full of conquest and distraction like that. Driven by this desire, elves were created; Through them, we realize the core intentions and aspirations of human fantasy-although elves are only the product of fantasy itself. This creative desire has not been polluted or degraded, and it will not create illusion, bewitch or conquer; What it seeks is a sense of fullness shared by all, and it seeks partners rather than slaves.
Fairy tales have the functions of recovery, escape and consolation through fantasy.
Of course, fairy tales are not the only way to achieve recovery or prevent loss. Mooreeffoc fantasy or chesterton fantasy also has this effect. Mooreeffoc is a wonderful word, which appears in almost all the streets-in fact, it is the reverse of Coffe-room, but it will only appear in front of people when they look out from the glass door. Dickens discovered it in a gloomy morning. This word was borrowed by chesterton to describe the strange feeling that suddenly appeared when the perspective changed. This kind of example is everywhere, but it has limitations, because restoring freshness is its only benefit. Creative fantasy, because it tries to create something new and different, can open the treasure house of your thoughts and let all things that have been blocked for a long time break out like trapped birds.
The whimsical elements in other styles have the same effect even if they only appear as embellishments or occasionally, but they are not as thorough as fairy tales, because fairy tales themselves are built on fantasy, and fantasy is its core. Fantasy comes from the first world, but the original materials are processed. In fact, fairy tales mainly focus on the simplest and most basic things that have nothing to do with fantasy, but these things are more clear because they are in a foreign land. If a storyteller can "get along with nature", he can become a lover of nature instead of her slave. Fairy tales show the infinite potential of language and the wonder of everything in the world, which is contained in one stone, one tree, one grass, one insect and one bird.
The second function of fairy tales is escape, which is not the escape of defectors, but the escape of imprisoned people. Fantasy can provide positive escape closely related to recovery and gain imaginative understanding of real or natural things. Fairy tales are similar to science fiction, both of which have desire, ambition and greed, and also have the ideal of building a new world (building cities on other planets). This era is an era of "leading to worse results in a better way". So people have the idea of escape, not from life, but from our present robot age and the pain caused by ourselves-we clearly know the ugliness and evil we have created, which is also one of the fundamental ills of our times.
But besides noise, stench and ubiquitous internal combustion engines, there are more gloomy and terrible things-hunger, poverty, pain, sadness, injustice and death. Fairy tales also provide an escape way for these ancient puzzles, and provide satisfaction and comfort for people's ambitions and wishes. This includes not only the simple desire to swim like a fish and fly like a bird, but also the deeper desire-such as the desire to communicate with other creatures. We don't remember when we were separated from other animals, but this sense of separation is quite clear and vivid. We seem to have some strange fate and guilt. Our relationship with the animal world is broken, and we can only look at them from a distance, even in a fierce war or an uneasy truce with them forever. Fairy tales allow human beings to re-establish the relationship with animals and nature.
Finally, there is the oldest and deepest escape-the escape from death. Fairy tales provide many examples and patterns to escape death. Fairy tales are created by people, not by fairies. Stories often tell the opposite truth: eternal life or endless reincarnation is a heavier burden, and the escape from death becomes the escape from immortality. Escape can get real recovery. It means getting other possibilities to solve the problem, other choices, even if this choice is impossible at all.
closely related to escape is another function of fairy tales-comfort. Fairy tales should show a kind of magic with special atmosphere and power, but the magic in wonderland is not an end in itself, but its significance lies in the operation of all this, including the satisfaction of specific human basic wishes. Fairy tales are not concerned with the possibility of things at all, but with the satisfaction of wishes. These wishes are made up of many elements, some of which are universal, while others are especially aimed at modern people. Among them, the most basic wishes include the exploration of space and time, the desire to communicate with other creatures and the desire to explore strange languages and ancient lifestyles.
in addition to the imaginary satisfaction of ancient wishes, it is more important that fairy tales should provide a happy ending and make people get psychological relief. Just as tragedy is the most authentic form and the highest function of drama, the reverse is also true for fairy tales. The best ending of fairy tales is a sudden happy "transformation" to escape disasters, which can be called "Eucatastrophe", such as the ecstatic moment of resurrection or being rescued from evil forces. This comfort has nothing to do with "escape" or "escape". In the setting of fairy tales, it is a sudden and beautiful miracle, and it cannot be expected to happen again and again. It does not deny the existence of catastrophic consequences, sadness and failure, which are the premise of finally releasing joy; What it denies is ultimate failure. Joy is as strong and moving as sadness. No matter how absurd or terrible the adventure is, when the turning point comes, people will hold their breath, their hearts will accelerate and they will almost cry. And people should always have an optimistic belief in realizing their wishes and getting them.
It's not hard to imagine that if we find that a beautiful fairy tale is true in essence, and it describes history without losing its mystery and fable, then we will feel excited and happy. This joy is essentially the same as the joy we get through the final turn of the story: