The modern world is becoming more and more complex, and so are people, even more so. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer simple optimists, just like those simple pessimists. People always reveal pessimism in optimism, and still retain some optimism in pessimism. It stands to reason that it is impossible for a pure pessimist and a pure optimist to exist: a thorough pessimist cannot survive in this world, just as a thorough optimist will definitely taste pessimism in reality It tastes the same. So we say that there are pessimistic optimists and optimistic pessimists. Even some people’s situation is more complicated: they can probably be called pessimistic and optimistic pessimists; or optimistic and pessimistic optimists. What's more, some people will reject such pessimistic or optimistic concepts, because linguistic concepts are not life itself. They are not like hands and gloves that fit perfectly and seamlessly. The limitation of language is always difficult to present the diversity and richness of life or reality. In this category of people, we are just alive, and there is no difference between pessimism and optimism.
No one expected that the new crown virus outbreak that appeared and broke out in early 2020 would last for such a long time and spread so widely throughout the world; never expected that the epidemic would spread so much in developed countries, and it could even be said to be rampant. , So that "death has ruined many people", "sigh, short and rare", "London Bridge collapsed"... We once hoped that the epidemic would pass soon and everything would be back on track quickly, just like "The sun is normal. "Rise" is the same, but we are a little disappointed. Sometimes victory is in sight, but soon new cases pop up. To borrow a saying, "pull the gourd down and get up." The epidemics in Wuhan and Hubei were under control, and when the cases were cleared, large-scale outbreaks occurred outside the region. As a result, the number of imported cases outside the region increased, and a few new local cases appeared occasionally, and the possibility of a local outbreak suddenly increased, so hope became disappointed. We have experienced this kind of inner suffering together: hope, disappointment; hope again, disappointment again. However, after we have experienced hope and disappointment time and time again, we have not become hopeless, let alone despair since then, but our hopes have become more and more cautious, which means that we dare not have extravagant hopes. We have to sigh: It is not that human beings are not smart and tough enough, but that the virus is too cunning and fickle. At this time, even if we still have hope, we are not so optimistic. This is the so-called "not optimistic hope."
Dan Murosh, a famous professor of comparative literature at Harvard University in the United States, wrote "Eight Books Around the Earth" during the epidemic. With the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States, Harvard University suspended classes in the middle of the semester for the first time since its inception. Professor Dan Murros canceled all travel during the year and isolated himself in Brooklyn home to study and write. Later, he started to publish an article every day on the Harvard University webpage, discussing a world literary classic every day. Professor Dan Muroz expected to complete a world literary journey in 80 days, just like Verne's "Around the Earth in Eighty Days" As the protagonist in ". According to Song Mingwei, the Chinese translator of the book, the book “is not only a reconstruction of the world’s literature, but also a memory palace on paper for mankind. When the virus is prevalent, some people read and write at their desks to help the world. Burning a lamp gives the world a kind of hope." Hope is also talked about here, but I think this kind of hope is relatively slim, because I don't know how many people can read "Eighty Books Around the Earth". It won't be too much to think about. Even if people who have read this book, whether they really ignited hope because of reading, it is not known. On the fourth day of the seventh week, Dan Murosh discussed the work "The Secret Life of the Sadistic Optimist Said" by a contemporary writer, Emile Habibi (1921—), in which "tragic Optimism", this is an interesting topic.
The term "tragic optimist" was originally created by Habibie. Habibi lives in Israel, but he is an Arab, so he is both an Israeli writer and a Palestinian writer. It is difficult for an Arab living in this place to be naive and optimistic, but it may become absolutely pessimistic. Habibi was born in Haifa in 1921 into a Christian Arab family. He was a reporter and a member of the Israeli National Assembly for two decades. In the 1990s, he won both the PLO and Israel's literary awards. He was questioned because of this, but his answer was: "The dialogue between the prize and the prize is better than the dialogue between a stone and a bullet." (Dan Muroth, "Around the Earth in Eighty Books", week 7 On the fourth day, the Israeli/Palestinian Emir Habibi "The Secret Life of the Sad Optimist Said") This answer was impeccable. In 1974 he published his masterpiece "The Secret Life of Saeed" (The Secret Life of Saeed). The protagonist in his works is an anti-hero, a typical Arab liar. Habibie uses the story frame of the famous French writer Voltaire's novel Candide to tell his story.
"The Honest Man" was written in 1755. In November of that year, a major earthquake struck Lisbon, killing 30,000 people. Rousseau attributed the disaster to human beings: if we lived in the wild, not in the city, we would not die so many people; if we lived in the open air, not in a house, we would not be crushed to death in the house. In the face of the new crown virus epidemic today, we can also say this: if we live scattered in the wild, "chickens and dogs hear each other, old and dead", then there will not be so many people infected with new crown pneumonia; if We do not have modern transportation, without planes, trains, ships, cars, etc., and the virus will not be quickly carried from one place to another. Therefore, there will be no global epidemic of the epidemic. Voltaire fought back at Rousseau and wrote "The Honest Man" (also translated "Gandide"). Gan Dide is the name of the protagonist in the novel, and the word means "honest person". The experience of honest people shows that the world is not like what the governess Dr. Pangloss (Dr. Pangloss, whose name is spelled together by two Greek words, meaning "all nonsense") in the novel said: "Nothing Big and small are definite numbers; everything must belong to the best." People usually think that Bongoros is the prototype of the philosopher Leibniz. Leibniz believes that the world we live in is the best of all possible worlds. However, in fact, this world may not be the best one, this world could have been better. The important thing is that after entering a civilized society, human beings will never be able to return to the uncivilized society before.
Habibie combined the words mutashaim (pessimistic optimist) and mutafail (optimist) to create the word al-mutashail, which can be creatively translated as "pessoptimist" (pessoptimist, in fact, pessimistic optimist) By). The whole family of Said is a "tragic optimist", and this name deserves it for their rich life. They are both dissatisfied with reality and enjoy real life; they both oppose dictators and serve them. They can't be consistent emotionally, and politically, they often rebel. Their wives are good to give men cuckolds, and the men all work for the dictators in the Middle East, which also includes the Israeli government. Disappointment in reality does not hinder their enjoyment; vision for the future cannot eliminate dissatisfaction with reality.
It seems that hope and disappointment are always entangled, just as pessimism and optimism go hand in hand. "There is no mutual growth, difficulty and easy mutual formation, long and short form each other, high and low mutual inclination, sound and sound, follow each other." The front and back of things are actually the same thing. In 1859, the famous British writer Dickens wrote at the beginning of his famous novel "A Tale of Two Cities":
This is the best time, this is the worst time; this is the age of wisdom, this is the age of stupidity; this is the time of faith, this is the time of doubt; this is the season of light, this is the season of darkness; This is the spring of hope, this is the winter of disappointment; people have everything in front of them, and people have nothing in front of them; people are going straight to heaven, people are going straight to hell. (Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities", translated by Luo Jinan, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1985 edition, p. 3)
Dickens' evaluation of the era of the French Revolution is dualistic and contradictory. One hundred and fifty years have passed, and Dickens' evaluation of that era seems to be partly applicable to today. Of course, our time is not the best time, nor is it the worst time; however, this is definitely the age of wisdom and at the same time the age of stupidity. With the development of high technology, the world is changing with each passing day; but various unimaginable events and behaviors in human society also occur from time to time. This is an era full of hope, but it is also an era of constant disappointment, where hope and disappointment coexist, and light and darkness coexist. People are overwhelmed with all kinds of new things, but the authenticity and certainty in front of them is getting less and less. Almost no one cares whether to go to heaven or hell, because almost no one believes that there are heaven and hell, and all people live in the world. There is sky outside the sky, there is still the universe outside the universe, and there is nothing outside the universe.
In 2015, the famous British Marxist theorist and critic Eagleton published the book "Hope without Optimism" (Hope without Optimism). The title of the book means: there is hope but not optimism. Here, Eagleton borrowed Kafka's expression. When Kafka’s friend Brod asked Kafka: "Is there any hope?" Kafka said: "Oh, very hopeful, very hopeful, but not for us." Eagleton followed Explained: "Kafka's meaning is very vague, but many people think that he meant that God created the universe when he was unlucky. At that time, he was depressed because of indigestion. It was easy, maybe indeed so easy, to create other universes. Countless universes have been created elsewhere, where hope is obviously still there. So I guess there is still some hope from that perspective." [Terry Eagleton, John Chad, "Only death can make me stop ": Interview with Terry Eagleton", "English Literature Studies" (third series), Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2020 edition, p. 140] There may be some problems with the translation of this dialogue. The original text can be found in the card "The Biography of Kafka" by Brod, a friend of Kafka. Brod wrote in his biography: On February 28, 1920, Kafka once said to him: "We are nihilistic ideas emerging in the mind of God." Brod then quoted Gnosticism about the world. The evil creator Demi Urgen’s doctrine that the world is God’s original sin. Kafka said, "No, I believe that we are not God's sharp fall, but a bad mood, a bad day." Brod asked: "That means there is hope outside our world. The monument?" Kafka smiled and said, "Many hopes—for God—infinite hopes—but not for us." (Max Brod, "The Biography of Kafka", translated by Ye Tingfang and Li Qi, Hebei Education Press 1997)
The English translation of this text is as follows:
Here is another conversation I noted down that I had with him on February 28，1920. He said： “We are nihilistic thoughts that came into Gods head.” I quoted in support the doctrine of the Gnostics concerning the Demiurge， the evil creator of the world， the doctrine of the world as a sin of Gods. “No，” said Kafka， “I believe we are not such a radical relapse of Gods， only one of his bad moods. He had a bad day.” “So there would be hope outside our world·”He smiled， “Plenty of hope—for God—no end of hope—only not for us.” （Brod， Max. Franz Kafka： A Biography. Trans. G. Humphreys Roberts and Richard Winston. New York： Da Capo Press， 1995. p75.）
Hope is there, but it has nothing to do with us; God has it, and it has nothing to do with us. Infinite hope, but outside of this world. This claim can even be found in ancient Greek mythology. In ancient Greek mythology, Prometheus was a "ahead", "he is agile and wise." (Swieb, "The Myths and Legends of Greece", translated by Chutunan, People's Literature Publishing House, 1978 edition, p. 1) Prometheus stole the fire from Mount Olympus, hid it in a reed pipe and brought it to the world And teach humans to use fire. So Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create a beautiful woman, Pandora, and sent her to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus ("The Aftermath"). Epimetheus refused to listen to her brother’s warning and accepted Pandora. Out of curiosity, she opened the box that Zeus gave to Epimetheus, and brought disasters, diseases, plagues and other unheard of before. When she was awakened and closed the box in a hurry, she also locked her hope at the bottom of the box forever. Ancient Greek mythology tells us: Hope cannot be said to be no, but it has not stayed in the world; the plague spreads in the world because of the insatiable greed of human beings.
Of course, according to Kafka, this world is a creation of God in bad moods, and a product of God in bad days. So, we can't help asking: God also has times when he is in a bad mood? God has bad days too? If this is the case, then this God is very suspicious, that is to say, this God is probably not really God. If this God is suspicious, then the product of God-hope is also suspicious. Therefore, mankind is not without hope, but this hope may not be so optimistic.
We can't live without hope, because it is a kind of struggling to live, a life without color. There is no hope, or even despair, that is, the meaning of life is lost. If this despair becomes decisive, life can end at any time. Therefore, Camus, a famous contemporary French novelist, said that the fundamental problem of philosophy is to judge whether life is worth experiencing. The only serious problem in philosophy is suicide. "There is only one really serious philosophical question: suicide. Judging whether life is worth experiencing is itself answering the fundamental questions of philosophy—such as the world has three domains, and the spirit has nine or twelve categories—all of secondary importance. , These are just games; the first thing you should do is answer the questions." In Camus's view, he has never seen anyone who died for ontological reasons. "Which one of the earth or the sun revolves around the other is fundamentally irrelevant. All in all, it is a trivial question. However, I have seen that many people think that their lives are not worth continuing, so Ended life; I also saw other people who died absurdly for those ideals and fantasies that gave them meaning in life (what people call the reason for life is also the sufficient reason for death). So I think life The question of meaning is the one that needs to be answered most urgently.” (Camus "The Myth of Sisyphus", translated by Du Xiaozhen, Sanlian Bookstore, 1987, pages 1-2)
The world is absurd. Philosophy or literature are human efforts to transcend absurdity. Although this endeavor is doomed to fail, because people are aware of this failure and dare to face it squarely, mankind is able to overcome his failure. This is just like Sisyphus’s labor (Sisyphus was the king of Corinth before his death, he was said to be scheming, many gods, including Zeus, have been fooled by him, and he was punished for it), he “lifted the boulder, rolled it and pushed it To the top of the mountain, what we saw was a painful and distorted face, the cheeks clinging to the boulder, the muddy shoulders, the muddy feet, the completely stiff arms, and the Solid hands full of mud. After being limited by the insignificant space and eternal time, the goal was achieved. Sisyphus saw the boulder roll down to the world below within a few seconds, and he had to move The boulder pushed back to the top of the mountain. He then walked down the mountain again.” (Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", p. 157, translated by Du Xiaozhen, Sanlian Bookstore, 1987) This sober mind constituted his pain and at the same time So that he won the victory.
Camus's philosophy is called "absurd philosophy". He believes, "A world that can be explained by fallacy is still a familiar world, but in a universe suddenly deprived of illusions and light, people feel like an outsider. This exile is hopeless, because people Deprived of memories of hometown and hope for a happy land. This separation of people and life, the separation of actors and settings, is a sense of absurdity." (Sarter Studies, edited by Liu Mingjiu, China Social Science Press 1987 edition, p. 385. See also Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus", translated by Du Xiaozhen, Sanlian Bookstore, 1987 edition, p. 6) Although the world is absurd and meaningless, we cannot live in a meaningless In the world. "Man can tolerate physical hunger, but not sense of meaninglessness. Therefore, without a clear concept of value, one will fall into extreme pain, in our words, the pain of despair." (Gustav René MG "Despair and Confidence-On Literature and Art at the End of the 20th Century", translated by Li Yongping, China Social Sciences Press 1992, p. 58) Hope, disappointment, even hopelessness and despair, but because human beings cannot be in despair Survive, so I had to return to hope.
Just half a year after Kafka's death, on January 1, 1925, Lu Xun wrote an essay called "Hope". Lu Xun explained in "The Preface to the English Translation of "Wild Grass": "Because I was surprised by the depression of the youth, I made "Hope"." Lu Xun could not bear the depression of the youth, and wrote "Hope" in order to stimulate the youth's hope. Lu Xun said: "My heart is extraordinarily lonely. However, my heart is very peaceful; there is no love or hatred, no sorrow, no color and sound.... Hope, hope, use this shield of hope to resist the emptiness of the dark night It strikes, although there is still a dark night in the emptiness behind the shield. However, it is so, and it has gradually exhausted my youth." Facing the endless night in front of and behind me, what can the Shield of Hope resist? What is the meaning of resistance? Therefore, Lu Xun put down the shield of hope, and he heard the "Hope" song by the Hungarian poet Petofi:
What is hope? Is a prostitute:
She bewitched everyone and dedicated everything to;
Waiting for you to sacrifice a lot of treasures-
Your youth-she abandons you.
Anyone can have hope, and everyone can be abandoned by hope. Finally, "despair is illusion, and it is the same as hope." (Lu Xun's "Hope", "The Complete Works of Lu Xun", People's Literature Publishing House, 2005 edition, Vol. 2, pp. 181-182.) The meaning here seems to be that despair is vain, so it does not exist; hope is also vain, So it does not exist. Despair is vain, so there is hope; hope is vain, so we will still despair. There is no complete despair, just as there is no complete hope, everything is vain. Both despair and hope have reasons for existence, but neither of them necessarily exist or must exist. I hope it doesn't matter whether there is, and it doesn't matter whether there is nothing, that's what it means. "If I have to live in this illusion that is not clear or dark, I will still seek the lost youth of sadness and vagueness, but I might as well be outside of me. Because if the youth outside of me disappears, it will be in me. The twilight of life is also withered." I don’t know, after reading Lu Xun’s article, did those young readers add more faith and hope, or feel more depressed and desperate? Are they more "not desperate optimism" or "not optimistic hope"? "Not optimistic hope", or this is what we can still hope for today.
