Pi Ying's bilingual novels in search of life

You have to go to the foreign language bookstore to buy this. . . How can such a famous novel be bilingual in Chinese and English?

Jan Yann Martel.

Harvest books

The Chinese version was published by Yilin in 2005 1 month, with a total of 347 pages.

Brief introduction to the story

When the author was searching for inspiration in Indian writing, he was told that he could go to Toronto to find a man named Pershing Morido Patel, because he had a wonderful story. Pisin (later renamed Pi)' s father is the director of the local Delhi Zoo in India, so Pisin has many opportunities to get in touch with animals, and he is deeply interested in their habits. In a family of four, no one is interested in religion except Piscine. Because of the high-handed policy adopted by Mrs Gandhi after she came to power, the country was in chaos, so the pee family decided to sell the zoo and immigrate to Canada. They boarded the tanker with animals resold abroad, but they didn't expect to be shipwrecked. Pissing was left alone in the lifeboat, drifting at sea with hyenas, orangutans, injured zebras and Bengal tigers-Richard Parker. However, in the endless ocean, how can we make a big tiger obey? How does the immortal with a varied religion solve his predicament?

* know the juvenile Pi

At the beginning of the preface, the author told himself how the book was written. Just like the thread of wool ball, it can tell you what color the wool ball is, whether it is synthetic fiber or pure wool. The preface leads to several clues. Weng Pi, the hero of the story, originally grew up in India and was related to the zoo, and later lived in Toronto, Canada. And the story will "make you believe that God really exists"-the carrot is hanging in front of you, just waiting for the reader to go forward intently like a donkey to see if he will finally eat the carrot of "meeting God" and gain eternal life.

The preface vividly describes the frustration of people who are determined to engage in literary creation, and their works are ignored. "Rows of books on the display shelves in the bookstore are neatly arranged, just like children queuing to watch baseball or football games, and my book is the clumsy child without sports cells. No one wants to choose him as a teammate. This is the most vivid and interesting adjective I have ever seen about the unsalable works.

Although it is a "preface", we don't know whether the narrator in the story is Yann Martel himself. Yann Martel used a clever technique here. The preface mentions that the author's first published book didn't sell well, and he went to India for writing inspiration for the second time. These are Yann Martel's personal experiences, which make the legendary stories in the book seem true and false. Did Pi come from Yann Martel's imagination or did it really happen?

True stories are sometimes more legendary than novels, and legendary stories are often born out of the absurdity in real life. Which one do readers want to believe? The debate about what is true has a wonderful contrast in the third part of the story, which has become one of the important themes throughout the whole story.

After entering the story, the protagonist Pi quickly became the main narrator in the first person, while the author retired as the recorder, occasionally interrupting to describe what Pi looks like in front of him, what he can cook and how his family life is.

As an adult, Pi entered the university to choose zoology and religion, which was related to his life as a teenager and his experience and study for the rest of his life after the shipwreck. Without wasting unnecessary words, the author introduces us to the life of Pi in India, such as the origin of the name Pi-why it was later renamed Pi and learned to swim-the necessary skills for drifting at sea in the future, the experience of observing animals in his own zoo-the theoretical basis for taming Richard Parker in a lifeboat, the enlightenment of religious experience and unrestrained exploration. Why does Pi miss him?

Yann Martel pays great attention to the setting of characters and the background of time and space. Every part of his writing paves the way for the following story, trying to prevent the legendary survival at sea from becoming a pie in the sky. Yann Martel didn't let the faction go to war until all the weapons were replenished. Pi's personality tonality and the topic of life concern have always been animals and religions, which have formed Pi's unique universe, and the shipwreck has brought him a reversal of life, as he himself said: "I believe in form and order." Yann Martel didn't let Pi eventually become a scientist studying ship safety, nor did he become a survivor who could never heal his pain and lead a normal life. Because the Pi he created is a man of faith (whether his faith is recognized by readers or not), he didn't betray the characters in his works and clung to the line laid in front, which he personally thought was commendable. One of the nightmares of novelists is that the characters gradually change, and finally they are completely out of control and become complete strangers.

* From Fish to Pi

Pi was originally named Piscine Molitor Partel and transliterated directly as Piscine Molitor Patel. Piscine means swimming pool in French, but because its pronunciation is similar to English pitting(Piss originally means "pee"), it is often teased by classmates. The translator of the traditional Chinese version translated it into "fart fishy", which not only sounded close to the original name, but also translated it into an embarrassment that made people laugh. Later, in a self-introduction, Piscine decided to change his name to Pi, and the first two letters of his original name were also the pinyin of the Greek word π.

π, an irreducible decimal point, is a mysterious infinite number in the universe, which is inevitably imperfect.

Pip said, "I hate my nickname is the decimal point that can't be divided." Doing everything well is a great event in life. Only in this way can you let go, otherwise you will always have something to say but you haven't, and your heart will be full of regrets. 」

Not every time in life, there is a chance to make a perfect ending, just like the number π. Isn't Pi's life full of regrets? For perfect expectation or fantasy, it is a heavy burden for human beings, just like the myth of Kuafu chasing the sun, with death as the price of chasing. After that, the landscape creatures transformed from Kuafu's flesh and blood can only make Hou Yi shoot away eleven redundant suns, while the Americans can only plant flags at the Guanghan Palace on the moon to show their visit.

Because it is inexhaustible, it is imperfect; But because of endless life, it also symbolizes the continuation of life in an imperfect form. Beliefs like Pi made him survive the shipwreck. Miracles cannot be taken for granted, so they are very rare and difficult to explain. Pi didn't exchange faith for miracles, but happened to respond to faith with miracles.

* Zoo-Freedom or Survival?

Yann Martel spent a lot of time describing the zoo in Pi's eyes. In addition to shaping the emotional connection between Pi and animals, the author thinks that we should also discuss the ecological imbalance, what is self-reliance and so on through the topic of whether the zoo has the value of existence.

"I hear almost as much nonsense about zoos as people talk about God or religion. good intention

People who are kind but have wrong information think that animals are happier in the wild because they can live freely. ..... actually big fallacy?

However. Wild animals live a forced life, with distinct social strata, approaching crisis, frequent starvation and ready to go.

You need to defend your territory, and you will have parasites that you will never get rid of. What if this environment is free? 」

Then he theorized that animals have fixed activities and don't like changes or accidents. Animals live in zoos, just like humans buy houses to live in. Some people in the zoo clean the environment and provide food. Therefore, if animals are intelligent, they would rather live in a zoo, not to mention the theory that animals are naturally willing to do whatever they want ... zoos are not that bad. However, there is still a lot of room for discussion on this basis.

First of all, not every zoo has thousands of hectares of space. Yann said through Pi that "animals only take a fixed route in the wild, season after season, for the same urgent reason". In the wild, the so-called "fixed route" may be as long as several thousand kilometers (such as migratory birds) or as short as several kilometers, which is definitely not as good as the range of several hundred meters in the zoo. In particular, large wild animals, whether playing or physiological structure, need a lot of activity space and divide the scope. If Pi (or Yann) has the chance to come to yehliu and see four or five Bengal tigers in a cage the size of a single suite, maybe he will change his mind.

What's more, people live in the house because of their own decisions, for the basic survival needs of shelter from the wind and rain, because people don't have thick fur, don't hibernate, and their facial features are not as keen as wild animals. But at first, how many wild animals voluntarily broke into the zoo and locked people up? Do pythons need shelter from wind and rain? Do polar bears need air conditioning? Wild animals are not domestic animals like cats and dogs. After many years, the latter can finally get used to the life of human captivity, accept captivity, and even actively express their desire to be kept in captivity.

When it comes to freedom of movement, there are two camps abroad that hold different attitudes about whether pets at home are suitable for release and whether they are allowed to go out on their own. Those who agree believe that even family pets must keep a little demand to let animals think of outdoor activities; People who disagree think that letting pets go out by themselves, especially in big cities, is only to satisfy the owner's self-righteous fantasy. In fact, pets may face several serious problems when they go out: infectious diseases, fleas, being harassed or attacked by other animals, getting lost, car accidents, causing more cats and dogs to breed unexpectedly, attacking other people's pets and so on. Since they are domesticated, they should not be regarded as wild animals.

The ultimate goal of many wildlife rescue organizations is not to keep endangered animals in artificial space, but to temporarily provide them with time and space to recover and help them learn the instinct of making a living in the wild again. This is an instinct to respect the wild animals endowed by nature, and strive to restore them to a state where human beings do not interfere at will. These environmentalists know that once human beings completely intervene in the lives of wild animals, it will be just another disaster for whatever reason. Even if human beings are the so-called spirit of all things, human sovereignty over nature cannot be infinite.

If it is wrong to think that animals like to starve and freeze in nature, then, on the other hand, it is not another fallacy to think that animals are completely driven by biological instinct and are willing to stay in the limited space where they reach for tea with their mouths open. If you are not a fish, you will know the happiness of fish. What's more, Pi himself found that "the most dangerous animal in the zoo is man". Even if animals are kept in zoos, people will try their best to break in and kill them. Yann slowly told the readers about this discovery in a funny and desolate way.

However, pi is right about one thing. It's getting harder and harder to be a wild animal on this deteriorating planet. If we only focus on the survival of animal species, I'm afraid the zoo will be one of the main channels in the future.

Freedom cannot guarantee happiness, but some restrictions prolong life. "Speaking of which, I'm not defending the zoo, insisting on how good it is. Close all zoos as long as you like. I only hope that the remaining wild animals can survive in the shrinking nature. I know that modern people have less and less affection for animal parks. Religion faces the same dilemma. Some illusions about freedom not only damage zoos, but also damage religion. 」

I don't know what the author means by "free fantasy". Everyone has a different definition of freedom, so when your freedom steps into my boundary, what is my freedom that is important? Or is your freedom important? When He Chunkun posted photos of people having sex with animals on the website on the grounds of freedom of study and research (what are the reasons why animals choose to have sex with the same kind at an appropriate time? ), when I changed the word "in and out" to "in and out" (who said that you can freely enter and leave other people's territory? Is your home open to others? Are your women and children willing to be abused at will? ), when women's movement groups demand the decriminalization of adultery on the grounds that the law can't prohibit extramarital affairs, can't justify extramarital sex, and can't subvert patriarchal politics. (Because it can't be banned, is there no way? Should piracy be banned? There are too many reasons to sue a spouse or a third party. How can we avoid committing adultery by prosecuting only the third person? Why is it difficult for a third party to match Yuan? Doesn't the original match have the freedom to decide who to sue? ) ..... Where is the freedom of the other? If "fantasy of freedom" refers to freedom determined according to the standard of individual will, then it is not only zoos and religions that are hurt.

* Whose God is God?

When Pi and his family went to Mu Na Tea Garden for a holiday, they saw three peaks in the periphery, each with a religious place of worship, namely a Catholic church, a Hindu temple and a mosque. On the mountain, Pi met a Catholic priest, a baker who believed in Sufi of Islam and a Hindu master. Although these three religions confuse pi, especially Catholicism:

"This is a good story. My first reaction was disbelief. What? The result of human crime is paid by the son of God.

Price? In my mind, I imagined my father saying to me, "Piscine, today a lion slipped into the camel circle and killed two camels." yesterday

A lion killed a black antelope. Last week, I ate another camel. Last week, it was a colorful stork and a heron. Who dares to say eat?

Don't these two animals belong to our golden hoofed rat? It can't go on like this. In my opinion, there is only one person who wants those two lions to repent.

The solution is to feed you to the lion. 』

"Well, dad, it is reasonable to do so. Give me a minute to freshen up. 』

"Hallelujah, son. 』

"Hallelujah, dad. 』

What is what? How can you have such a strange attitude? 」

But the three religions also deeply touched Pi, so he went to Mecca to pray five times a day, went to Indian temples on Thursday, went to mosques to study the Koran on Friday, and went to Catholic churches to listen to sermons on Saturday.

Once, three wise men came to him and stumbled upon Pi's special religious beliefs. Yann described the embarrassment when the three wise men met in a farce-like way, as well as various arguments in defending education.

When the three wise men asked Pi to choose only one religion, Pi fought for his right to believe in the three religions by saying that "all religions are true and I just want to worship God". Later, the three wise men refused to let Pi enter their synagogue for religious worship, and Pi thought they were "narrow-minded".

"I have been a Hindu all my life. With Hinduism in my heart, I clearly saw my place in the universe. But we should not insist.

Look! ..... The spirit of fraternity of Hindus can indeed be compared with that of Christians, both of whom believe that God exists in all things.

Just as Muslims are bearded Hindus, Christians make them wear hats because of their piety to God.

Muslims. 」

This is Pi's religious view-many accusations against God will eventually return to the same object. Then, instead of sticking to a single religious belief, it is better to seek common ground while reserving differences. The point is to believe in God, feel the existence of God in all things, and be integrated with the universe, isn't it?

Speaking of religion, I'm afraid it can't be replaced in a few words, so what I have to do is to start with Mark Pi's religious belief.

As the only survivor after the shipwreck (excluding Richard Parker), drifting at sea is equivalent to a desperate isolated state-isolated from human society, lacking civilized materials, and living in a precarious state. Nothing can help solve mental boredom, drift, loss and uncertainty except a survival book. Occasionally, there will be such a state of abandonment in life. Pipi kept the habit of praying on the boat, yes, to different gods.

* Here comes the tiger

This book is full of vivid philosophical thinking and clever and naughty humor.

Speaking of death, "death clings to life, which is not the inevitable result of biology. The real reason is jealousy." Life is too delicate and charming to extricate oneself from death, and jealous love will never let go as long as it can be grasped. The original text of the second sentence is more concise: "Life is so beautiful that death falls in love with it, a jewel, maybe love, grab what it can."

Speaking of observing your own suffering: "I want to live!" " I can't help but confuse my life with the life of the universe! Life is a peephole, entering an infinitely wide entrance-how can I go beyond this short and narrow sight? I only have this peephole! 」

Sometimes when a new animal is about to appear, Yann often uses "he" or "she" instead of "it", which often makes readers laugh and cry when the truth comes out.

For example, when Richard Parker first appeared (page 23), the author wrote:

"Richard Parker has always been in my heart. I can't forget him. Can I say I miss him? ? Yes, I do miss him. I'm still dreaming

Seeing him in the park, although most of them are nightmares, is still full of love in fear. 」

It seems that you really miss your old friend or lover, don't you?

Refer to page 1 13. He cheered for Richard Parker in his heart and even talked to him.

"God, you don't say a word, let me suffer in vain? 」

"After a narrow escape, we are still afraid of immortality. 」

Philosophical and religious issues like this.

On page 1 14.

"Get out of here. Drown you! Drown you! ..... Oh, my God! I got on a wet, trembling lifeboat.

Three-year-old Bengal tiger was trapped in the sea, out of breath and coughing. 」

Who's Richard Parker? Let's reveal the secret to the readers.

And page 125,

"She floats on a banana island, with a halo on her head, as lovely as the Virgin Mary. ...

Oh, the great virgin, the fertility goddess of Ponticelli, the supplier of breast milk and maternal love, the magical arm that provides comfort, tick-tock.

Buster, the hugger of the crying baby ... I love you. Oh, forget about spiders. 」

What does this aria-like description mean? I'll sell it for a while so as not to deprive readers of the right to read this book.

Especially fun.

Speaking of Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, I personally think that its existence should not only be regarded as a crisis inducement, but it may symbolize all kinds of fears, dangers, pains and tests in life from the dialogues in the book.

Originally, Pi formulated six strategies to kill Richard Parker to eliminate this 450-pound threat, but after careful analysis, it seems that each strategy is whimsical. Then Pi said fear first.

"The fear you feel in the face of death is like gangrene hidden in your heart, waiting to corrode everything ... you must

Do your best to illuminate it, because otherwise, your fear will become something you want to escape. ...

You just let fear attack you at any time, because you haven't really defeated the enemy who defeated you. 」

With these words, Pi realized that "it was Richard Parker who calmed me down ... and found my goal, even my integrity. So Pi made strategy 7-don't let it die!

Pi tries to fish for the tiger, don't invade its activity area (illuminate him), and try to train it to understand the warning whistle, otherwise Pi will shake the lifeboat and make it seriously seasick (defeat your enemy).

Because of the company of fear, because he found a way to get along with fear, Pi was able to find a way to avoid being swallowed up by tigers. At the same time, in the long wandering life, the company of tigers became one of the driving forces for him to live.

Seeking truth from facts does not ferment-what is truth?

At the beginning of the story, we already know that Pi has started a new life in Canada, so the result of drifting at sea must be rescue. The last film in the book, Ciudad Juarez Hospital in Bernardo, Mexico, tells that after Pi was rescued, two Japanese people came to see him and wanted to know the real reason for the shipwreck.

Pi told the Japanese the whole story, but the Japanese didn't believe it. They don't want the story of ghosts and beasts and man-eating islands, so

Skin changes the animals in the story into adults and takes off the island to get rid of the fox? Then ask the Japanese if the second edition is better? What's incredible about it? The Japanese vaguely know that the two versions of the story are almost the same, but they can't handle this clever Indian.

When I responded to 1 story version with "incredible" that day, Pi was very excited.

"Love is incredible. Ask people in love. Life is incredible. Ask any scientist. God, I can't believe it,

Ask a man of faith. Why on earth are you so incredible? 」

"We just want to be rational. 」

"Me too! I've been using my reason. Reason is very careful when looking for food, clothes and shelter.

Yes, reason is the best toolbox. Nothing is more useful than reason to keep the tiger from attacking you. But I'm too rational

Boss, you can let the universe go with the bath water ... because in your narrow and limited experience, there are none of these three.

Meet together, so you don't believe it. But the truth is simple. The Chissan people combine the three together.

Then it sank. 」

So, which version of the story do you choose? Is peeing trying to quote a whole book version? Or another version that is more in line with the normal experience?

What is truth? Is it perceived by the senses (that is, seeing is believing)? Or through the mind (faith, reason, sensibility) to explain and analyze? Everyone's standards are different. Will there be cognitive errors?

* Conclusion

From the perspective of literary creation, this is a good book worth reading. Just as Pi said, the seven-month drifting at sea changed nothing more than the weather, food and survival crisis, but carefully selected the right materials and temperature to provide readers with wonderful dishes. However, as far as the major issues such as "believing in God" mentioned in the story are concerned, most of them are lost in his gag words, which only point to and do not develop further. This story makes me believe that unless you have some basic knowledge of survival and animals, it is impossible to survive those seven months by faith alone.

You don't have to regard this book as a novel full of metaphors and profound meanings. Try to relax and dive into the sea between Pi and Richard Parker. Even if you see the last page, you think it is an absurd and funny version of The Old Man and the Sea or Robinson Crusoe. There is no harm. The story itself brings readers pure adventure interest, which can be used to resist boredom, drink it while it is hot anytime and anywhere, get quick results and have no drowsiness ~

* Remarks

(1) related websites/

(2)

When readers begin to read this book, I suggest skipping the introduction written by Yang Zhao first. This story is not difficult to understand. There are no complicated plots, no technical terms and no historical background that must be understood first. So, in my opinion, it seems that reading guidance is not needed. It's just that publishers have always had this habit, hoping to invite celebrity endorsements to stimulate word of mouth and sales. For example, the world culture published Keats' series of novels, but the Chinese and foreign media only published two pages of simple comments, and the stories were released directly without guidance. I personally appreciate this practice. On the contrary, novels like Joyce and Faulkner provide in-depth and appropriate guidance, and I will applaud them.

It's not that I'm biased against Yang Zhao. He is really a learned and earnest person. It is precisely because about two-thirds of the novel Pi's Fantasy Drifting at Sea Diary is about the process of drifting at sea that Yang Zhao focuses on the "sea". He introduced the beginning of the era of maritime navigation, the historical changes derived from it, what problems life at sea will encounter, and how unreasonable the plot in the story is compared with this novel. The conclusion is that even so, readers can still immerse themselves in it because of the writer's brilliant pen.

The title of Yang Zhao's guide is Ocean: Ambiguous Intersection between Man and God. The ocean part is written a lot, which is considered as due diligence, but what about the ambiguity of the intersection of man and god? Only a few short lines mentioned that the hero of the novel believed in three religions, which led to a strange religious view in the story. There is also the last paragraph that says, "It is not the supreme skill of novelists to make a completely unbelievable story flash from beginning to end, but it is also the fundamental spirit of miracle religion that has touched people's hearts for thousands of years." 」

Is the writer's writing talent and superb skills related to the miracle that touches people's hearts and the fundamental spirit of religion? Are both of them eloquent? For example, Yann turned the Green Island into a carnivorous Akatz Island that can eat people. Pi, a teenager, drifted at sea for several months without dying of septicemia. Religion described the dead as living, and turned water into wine. Although both of them are incredible, people still have to believe it.