The first time I heard the name of Shevchenko was in the "Shevchenko Album" brought back by my father from the former Soviet Union in the early 1950s. At that time, he was still young, and he only remembered that he was a famous Ukrainian poet and painter in the 19th century. By the time we read Ge Baoquan's "Selected Poems of Xie Fuqinke" and gradually approached him, it was already time to study at Peking University. I remember that Mr. Lu Xun, in his article "The Poetic Power of Mora", enthusiastically promoted Byron, Petofi and other 19th century "Moruo" (that is, "resistance") who "intended to resist, and pointed to action". The poet said that they "are all stubborn and indomitable, hold sincerity and keep the truth; do not flatter the crowd, but follow the old customs"; and "make a heroic voice, in order to raise the new life of the people of their country, and to expand their country in the world". In fact Shevchenko should also be among the "Morro" poets: "Don't wait / Wait for freedom - in vain! / Freedom has slept, / It was the Tsar who forced it - fainted! / How to wake up the sleeping freedom ?/ O my people/ Raise up all the clubs/ And that, Ukrainian sword!/ Then, freedom--can come!" Read these deafening verses of thunder and horn-like "shouting and resistance", Can you not be "exuberant" and your blood is boiling?
Shevchenko was born on March 9, 1814 in a small village called Mevac in Kiev Province, Ukraine. His ancestors were all serfs. He only lived for 47 years, but he was a serf for 27 years; he was exiled for 10 years; the remaining 13 years lived a "free" life like "a dog on a chain" as he said. At that time Ukraine was not only under the tyrannical rule of the Russian tsars, but also oppressed by what Lenin called "the most brutal Asian serf system." In the eyes of the serf owners, he was just a "talking animal". He was intelligent and clever since he was a child. Ukrainian folk songs and the beautiful fields have nourished and inspired his artistic talent. During the grazing period, he paid attention to collecting folk songs and depicting natural scenery. The serf owners discovered his artistic talents and brought him to Petersburg, wanting to turn him into a cash cow. In 1838, the famous painter Blyulov valued Xievchenko's talent and sympathized with his tragic life experience. With the huge sum of 2,500 rubles raised by selling paintings, he redeemed his life and sent him to the Academy of Fine Arts for further study.
With "freedom", Shevchenko studied painting skills even more vigorously, and began to write poetry. In 1840, his debut work "Kobchar" (collectively referred to as Ukrainian folk wandering singers, mostly blind people) was his first work in 1840. Ukraine and Russia have gained widespread reputation. In the Memorial Museum of Ostrovsky, the author of "How Steel Was Tempered" in Moscow, there is a copy of Shevchenko's "Kobuchar", which was Ostrovsky's favorite reading during his lifetime. book of. He also took the prancing horse with him when he was wielding his sword in battle. Whenever he missed the Ukrainian countryside, he would recite Shevchenko’s poems and hum a Ukrainian folk song: “The surging Dnepr is surging / The wind is roaring, The fallen leaves are falling / You see that the moon is pale and dim / wandering behind the dark clouds / like a boat floating on the sea / disappearing with the waves Poetry - put it straight on his pillow.
In 1841, when Shevchenko's "Gypsy Diviner" won him a third prize at the Petersburg Exhibition, his poem "Gedamak" on the theme of the peasant uprising in Ukraine against Poland in the 18th century, It also brought him a wider reputation. His fame also reached the Tsar's ears. It was a rare blessing to be summoned by the tsar at that time, but Xievchenko did not take it seriously. According to legend, the rest of the summoned people walked into the summoning hall and bowed to pay homage to the Tsar without exception, but Shevchenko remained motionless. The tsar asked, "Who are you?" He returned his name without humility. The tsar said: "I am the ruler of a country. Whoever sees me in the whole country bows and salutes. Why are you so rude?" He replied: "You want to see me, not me. If I Bowing down like other people, how can you see me clearly?" The authenticity of this legend does not need to be carefully verified, the people love and respect him, and they all know that he has never been a "submissive slave" in front of the powerful: "One day I was walking on the Neva / It was late in the night / I was walking and thinking / If the slaves were not so obedient / These disgraced towers / Would not stand on the Neva / People would Became close as sisters and brothers / But now there are tears and pains / There is neither God nor spirit / A pack of hounds' caretakers are running amok..." In his eyes, the Tsar was nothing but "a group of Keeper of the Hounds".
In 1847, Shevchenko, who had just redeemed himself as a "free man" for 10 years, was arrested for mocking the tyranny of the Tsar and participating in a secret political society in his long poem "Dreamland", and was sent to Oren in the remote Ural Mountains. When he served in the fort, Tsar Nicholas I personally approved: "Strict supervision, prohibition of writing and painting." However, neither the shackles nor torture can destroy his will. Through the small window of the prison, he stared at the night sky, and wrote on a small piece of paper his nostalgia for his hometown: "Fields and mountains sink into darkness / A star appears in the deep sky / I can't help crying quietly / Star, at this moment. Did you also appear in Ukraine..." He hid the scraps of paper in his boots, and later collected them into a collection of poems called "In a Prison", which is also known as Boots Poems. Later, he was transferred to the Mangshrak peninsula, where he was not freed until 1857.
Although his freedom was restored, he was still under surveillance, and his health was severely damaged by exile and hard labor. His only relief in his later years was the opportunity to associate with Tolstoy, Chernyshevsky, Nekrasov, Turgenev and others, among the most famous Russian writers of his time. These, along with Shevchenko, have been running around to free his brother and sister from serf status. In 1859, Xie Fuqinke dragged his sick body back to his hometown to visit his sister Yalina. On the way, he wrote the poem "Writing to My Sister": "...As I walked, I thought about it/as if I was in a dreamland/I saw a A garden in spring / A small house on a hill / As if the maiden was wearing a dowry... / My sister sits under the cherry tree / She is a holy, suffering girl / Eyes fixed on the Dnieper / Take me This unfortunate one hopes / She watches my boat rise from the waves / floats, floats, but sinks into the bottomless ocean / I hear her calling: 'Where are you, brother!' / From my dreams Wake up / still full of grief and anger / my sister is still in labor / I - still in captivity..." At that time, the whole of Russia was an "unlocked prison", even "free people", weren't they also imprisoned? ?!
On March 10, 1861, the day after Xie Fuchenko passed his 47th birthday, he died of political persecution and material embarrassment. Not long after his death, serfdom was finally abolished. He failed to see the fall of Russian rule and serfdom, but he firmly believed that the day would come. In his famous "will" he said: "When I die / Please bury me in the vast steppe of Ukraine / Let me see the vast fields / The cliffs by the Dnieper River / And hear the river The noise." He called: "Rise! Break the shackles / With the blood of the tyrannical enemy / Water our will!" He prophesied that one day "the river will wash the blood of the enemy / from Ukraine / into the blue color sea". And sincerely hope that, when that day comes, the Ukrainian people, "In the great new family of freedom / Please don't forget me / Use kind and tender words / Remember me." After his death, friends based on his Last wish, his body was transported back to his hometown and buried in the monks' hill of Kanif on the bank of the Dnieper River - later renamed Shevchenke Mountain.
Shevchenko is a big tree growing on the fertile black soil of Ukraine. He is deeply rooted among the people, and he uses his poetry to pour out their suffering, reflect their struggles, and express their love for freedom, light and future happiness. The yearning for life, and they fought side by side with them against the dark autocracy all their lives. He inherited and developed the fine tradition of Russian literature, created the Ukrainian literary language and unique national style, and was the founder of modern Ukrainian literature. As early as 1921, Mr. Mao Dun translated Xie Fuqinke's "Thoughts in Prison" into Chinese, and included him in "The Collective Biography of Thirty Russian Writers", which was recommended to Chinese readers. Since then, his works have been continuously translated into Chinese, which is very popular among Chinese readers. Ge Baoquan, Menghai, Lan Man, Gao Mang, Wei Huangnu and other translators have all translated and introduced his works. In 1961, to commemorate the centenary of his death, three volumes of his collections were compiled and published. When my father was invited to give a report at the centenary of his death, he changed the usual boring pattern of "chronology and empty concepts", but used "kind and gentle whispers" to "remember" this man with the audience. Ukrainian serf poet. The end of the report even more unexpectedly echoed Shevchenko's exhortation with a poem: "...when you left us for a hundred years / not only Ukrainians / not only all Soviets / will not forget you / use you What I wish for/'kind and gentle whispers'/remember you∥ and, here, in China where you have been concerned/also using 'kindly and gentle whispers'/remember you//spring breeze, thank you You carry this / 'kind and gentle whisper' / across the Mongolian desert / across Lake Baikal / over the Ural Mountains / to the Dnieper River / to the ear of Taras..." A writer once commented, Such reports are like feeling "a fresh wind" from the Ukrainian steppe.
Now, fifty years later, the Chinese people still miss the great poet Shevchenko. Not long ago, the translator Gao Mang was entrusted by the Ukrainian President at the Ukrainian Embassy in China, in his speech at the award ceremony in recognition of Shevchenko's great contribution to the cultural exchange between Ukraine and China, he also mentioned Shevchenko. The moral concern and support that Ke gave to the peasant uprising of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China during his lifetime. Shevchenko lives not only in the hearts of the Ukrainian people, but also in the hearts of the Chinese people...
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