Birth and Hope of Tragic Literature

LUO Chang-bin

(Foreign Languages Department，Foshan University，Foshan 528000，China)

1．The Earliest Tragic Stories

It is estimated by someone that the greatest flood in The Bible took place 7 500 years ago［1］．But this is not true．This famous flood，in my estimation and studies，occurred over 10000 years ago．And it impossibly drowned all the land;some tops of high mountains were still there．So Noah and his family survived in their Ark，and people near high mountains climbed the mountains higher and higher and survived，too．Written in the beginning chapter in The Bible，the Flood tells how God controlled the human world，how the humankind must live，and how miserable the human life will be．In this way，this Flood was the greatest tragedy，a greatest lesson and a greatest punishment to the human race．

But no one wrote this story to tell the future generations．All of the survivals were shocked and stunned and scared silly．There were no paper and no pens;everything started from the very beginning．They had to live like animals;quickly they forgot the Flood and everything before it．

Within 3 000 years，the population increased，and nearly everywhere human beings in the primitive state could be seen．So we are sure that the civilization of this human world has a history of 7 000 or 5 000 years after the story of Noah’s Ark．As we hail for Noah who had got enough and good blessings from God and had a happy ending，we seem to forget the greatest tragedy around him．Countless people were drowned to death．The human world knew nothing about it 30 000 years later until God wanted to show off this greatest tragedy in reality He had arranged to teach these new men to take care on earth by telling this to some anonymous Jewish prophet who later told it to more people．Later Jews wrote down this story and more things about Jewish fathers．Why can we not say this real story about the Flood is the earliest tragic works?

When the long history of the human pursuit for art is studied by researchers in the world，when the literary element is considered，undoubtedly，the tragic story about the Flood has the history in the literary world as long as 10 000 years．But it is a pity to say that we do not know when it took place:God wouldn’t tell the details．Of course the earliest cradle of the tragic literature is not Canaan!But the most tragic story is not only about Jews，but also about the whole world!

How about ancient Greece!It turns to be the second cradle!Written in the 8th century B．C．，Homeric Epics was already quite mature literary works，which reflected the social status from all the angles in the 11th century B．C．to the 9th century B．C．．But at that time，ancient Chinese were mature in many ways in addition to the literary art．Superficially，Homer told us the heroic optimism of many heroes such as Hector，Paris，Achilles，Agamemnon，Odysseus and so on．

Nevertheless，our calm insights will disclose the secrets in these two great books:Iliad and The Odyssey are two greatest and longest tragic literary works．Of course，they are much longer than Noah’s Ark．Anyway，it is the first time for the world to have such long and mature works，and these poetic works and Noah’s Ark all tell only tragic stories:ridiculous and greedy life，desires to kill and conquer，miserable deaths．From then on，tragedy has been the western literary tradition and the lighthouse which direct good writers and literature．The reason why writers like to compose tragic works is that they，under God’s direction，expect to expose the tragic elements in our life and encourage us to cherish life and persist in living as good people．

After Homer，in the 5th century B．C．，ancient Greece again produced a batch of outstanding tragedy and comedy，but they generally acknowledged that the most accomplished men of letters in this period were tragic dramatists such as Aeschylus(525B．C．-458B．C．)，Sophocles(496B．C．-406B．C．)，and Euripides(485 or 480 B．C．-406B．C．)．The three of them composed a lot of tragic plays based on the Greek Mythology，and only a few remained．From Oedipus the King，Oedipus at Colonus，Antigone，Medea，Agamemnon，we see that their tragic and descriptive levels were high enough;their writing skills were quite mature，so that modern playwrights cannot match．Their tragic depictions were able to touch readers’hearts and conscience，and could awaken people’s sympathy，compassion and faith．In this way，the tragic art has further established the dominant position．

Even people in the real world tended to pursue the tragic death so as to purify their spirits and souls，because they，in their belief，wished to go to Heaven after their clothes——their physical bodies——were stripped of．Among them are well-known and great figures such as Socrates，Jesus，Joan of Arc，and so on．For example，Socrates(469B．C．-399B．C．)chose to be poisoned to death rather than escape with the help of disciples．19-year-old Joan(1412-1431) gave up the chance to be jailed in all her life and chose to be burned to death within half an hour．Jesus had time to flee at night after the last supper since he knew he was betrayed by his disciple Judas，but he chose to be arrested and crucified．

As for Jesus Christ，when the demons came，seized him，and killed him with the most demonic spirits，he accepted it and expected to encourage his followers and believers to bravely face the tragic life including blood，threat，hardship and even death on their way to Heaven．

At this，the early Christians within over 200 years in Rome had learned His real teaching，so that a lot of believers and bishops were captured and brutally killed by the ancient Romans or eaten by hungry lions．After they were captured，some of them，young or old，were forced to be eaten alive by the hungry lions in Colosseums．The bloody sights were hailed and appreciated by tens of thousands of savage Romans．But living Christian believers still firmly stuck to their belief;they neither wavered，nor feared the threat of death，and they grew up and developed．Until 313A．D．，the Roman Empire had to declare Christianity legal，and then in 392A．D．，it became the state religion of the Roman Empire．All these come from the enormous encouragement of tragedy:their tragic death brought them hope and success．

2．The Development and Values of Tragic Works

The large scale of the ten-year-long Trojan War inspired some tragic bards and the birth of the tragic Homer．So this kind of tragic masterpiece has seriously influenced and manipulated the western art．Especially those Saint-type writers would like to write such classic tragic works．Not only that，tragedy has also sunk into other art forms，such as sculpture art．For example，stonecutters carved numerous statues of tragic images of Jesus who was crucified on the cross．

In the family of the world tragic literature，ancient Chinese contributed four greatest tragic star writers．They did not know Homer，but their spirits and tragic consciousness also brought them inspirations to write good tragedy．Now all of them have been translated into English，but Westerners have not valued them high because translators did not have such good ability to contribute good versions．

For example，WU Cheng-en(1501-1582)wrote Journey to the West;in the past years the T．V．plays of it spread throughout the world．The English version of the title easily makes audience mistake it for a long interesting journey．But that is not the essence of the story．In my version，it should be Buddhists’Progress，because it tells how five Buddhists overcome 81 great tortures on the way to their Heavens．The story has a happy ending;but all the 81 great tortures and threats of death are the most extreme tragedy．

The other three great tragic writers are CAO Xue-qin(1724 －1764)who wrote Dreams of Red Mansions，LUO Guan-zhong(1330－1400)who wrote Romance of Three Kingdoms，and SHI Nai-an(1296 －1371)who wrote All Men Are Brothers(in my opinion，it should be translated as SONG Jiang and His Brothers)．All the four greatest Chinese tragic novelists learned nothing from Homer，but they could write greatest tragic works，too．The reason of it is that tragic feelings from the human world are naturally their common feelings．

The list of the great tragic writers includes Shakespeare，Tolstoy，Dickens，Victor Hugo，John Bunyan，Hawthorne，and so on．All of them successfully created a lot of Saint-like literary figures who can encourage，inspire and comfort readers with their tragic life．

Serious writers do not write about technological world;their duty is to depict moral stories at different levels．Writers’own lives also display their moral levels to the world．It is more obvious that what they have described in their works properly reflect their own moral ideals and pursuits．Saint-type writers are those who are willing to reflect on their own defects and faults，and improve their virtues．So they would put their own ideals and pursuits higher than the human degraded ideals on the fictional characters．

For example，Hawthorne reflected on his grandfather’s guilt and changed his last name because of the sin and shame that his grandfather brought to his family．Then with his deep compassion and his deep understanding of the human race，he described three important literary figures at three levels of morality．He described a heroine Hester who had been made a criminal and persecuted at first，but actually she was a saint．He also described a priest Dimmesdale who，Hester’s lover，was superficially a saint，but he was actually an everyman．He then described a figure Chillingworth who，Hester’s husband，was superficially a good doctor，but in fact he was a devil．

In Journey to the West，Wu Cheng-en clearly described the three kinds of characters:saints are one moral teacher—Tang Monk，and three disciples such as Monkey King，and the white horse is also Tang Monk’s disciple．Everyman-type people are those farmers and some kings who are kind to Tang Monk and three disciples．And those evil characters are those male or female monsters who try their best to capture and devour the human bodies of Tang Monk and his disciples．

In Hamlet，Shakespeare depicted Saint-like Hamlet，Everyman Queen，and the Satan-like new king．At the same time，Shakespeare，in his“Sonnet 18”，expressed his likings to the sublime love——another kind of expression of God’s ideas，the eternal life．This poem is often mistakenly thought as a poem of love between a boy and girl，or love between two boys．That is the mad“analysis”and“understanding”and is terribly wrong．This poem tells love;but it is not the love between a man and woman;it is the God’s love，thought of saints，a kind of realm that surpasses all earthly ideas．

Saint-like writers work very hard，endure many hardships，and do not pursue fame and wealth．They are such kind-hearted people who do not bring any harm to other people，and they are ready to respect themselves and other people．Characters they have shaped in their novels are also such good people．Hamlet kills the new king at the end of the sad story，but he does so only after he has got sufficient evidence，and he is dying，and he revenges for the people，for the interests of the state as the only prince in the palace．

Saints do not have to suffer like Hester a lifetime;they also have the right to fight and revenge for the real justice．Of course，great tragic writers and their creations have often been misunderstood by everyman-type readers and commentators．But good people can take good inspirations from their works．So they live as good people，and write for good people．Although good people have been few in the history，their writings deserve．

3．Hope from Tragedy

The basic human life has been filled with countless wars，murders，slaughters，fighting，hegemony，bullying，extreme selfishness，intrigue，strong brutality，terror．Undoubtedly the human society is terribly unsatisfactory，disappointed，despairing，pessimistic and unhappy．Life is short and bitter．All those demonic actions are fully described in Van Loon’s Tolerance．He felt that the human history and the present state are deeply pessimistic．He said: “This world is not happy．”［2］

The human society is very dark and very evil indeed，so writers have to criticize the darkness and praise conscience，but writers cannot honestly copy the details of the real dark without any sublime expectation．As a matter of fact，it is a contradiction，and it is very difficult to deal with this．But because of this，it will seriously challenge writers’skills and ability．

All of those tragic stories in realty mean that writers must write the human tragedy instead of comedy．So values of comedy and happy endings will have to be despised，ignored or belittled．

Those who have written classic，artistic and tragic works will last for centuries．Such classics can surpass space and history，surpass cracks and boundaries between races，surpass the barriers of religious prejudices，and surpass the ideological barriers between parties．Because all of them are superficial and temporary，only classics can cross the human bodies，touch the human conscience and the depths of the soul，and find resonance there．The depth of the soul is just the“divine”part inside the human psychological structure，and refers to“superego”［3］．The “resonance”means that the divine elements meet with the divinity of the reader’s heart，and both communicate and exchange the purification and sublimation by touching．So，the“the right path of the human moral”just refers to the“superego”and“divinity”．

The spirits of God and Buddha have a lot of ways of expressions，but the basic connotations are sympathy，compas-sion，tolerance，thanksgiving，endurance，pity and help．The essential nature of all those features should be based on kindheartedness．In this way，the essence of art is divinity，compassion，tolerance;the essence of God’s spirits is tragedy，honesty，sublimation，transcendence and nobility．In fact，the essence of art and the essence of God’s spirits are the same thing．If they are not one，the essence will be deviated from the real divinity，from the real nature of Buddha．

Therefore，literature with the best quality is the classic tragedy which has existed for centuries，because they conform to the real divine qualities．So the height of a writer’s literary status and the quality of his contributions to the human world are both decided by his internal capacity of the deities．If he does not have any God’s spirits，he cannot write any works with the natures of divinity and tragedy．It is the same with readers．If readers do not have any God’s spirits，they cannot understand the tragic art with divinity，either．In a word，literary works without God’s spirits are not real art!And this kind of art comes from the arrangement of God’s will，originates from the bitter reality，and can encourage people．

In this way，we can see that tragic characters’moral words and behaviors can become the lighthouse，the lamp and the star in the darkest world．Their existence can comfort good people’s hearts and lead good people to the right path of the human moral．

［1］ 王忠祥，賀秋芙．圣經故事新編［M］．武漢:長江文藝出版社，2011．

［2］ 房龍．寬容［M］．迮衛，靳翠微，譯．西安:陜西師范大學出版社，2003:274－281．

［3］ Guerin，Wilfred L．A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature［M］．4thed．Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and Oxford University Press，2005:127－134．