Ling 046) Distinguished Professor praised Homer's epic poems, and the contrast between East and West sparked cultural controversy.

Let's say that Wei Wei'an, the first handsome on campus who was kicked out of the back kitchen of the restaurant by Luqiu Muwei, returned to the classroom in a daze, ready to continue the class.

This guy still sits in the last row of the classroom, close to the corner by the door, and his mood is not affected at all, such a tenacious and tenacious psychological quality is also the fundamental reason why he can maintain a relaxed and happy body all year round despite being criticized and disliked.

A year has passed in the blink of an eye, and the exquisite teenagers on campus have generally grown a lot taller, and some boys' voices have suddenly become thicker, which makes relatives and friends especially unaccustomed to it. They themselves are proud, ushering in another noisy spring and summer turn in the cardamom years.

Accompanied by Kevin, who was sleeping next to him, Vivian hummed the R&B in the headphones, and kept posing for various handprints on his hands and feet. It is like the background music of the sleeping god, and at the same time plays the role of a nervous backup dancer. The most rare thing is that this style of painting is extremely harmonious and natural, and the compatriots in this class have long been accustomed to it, when he is a rhythmic and restless air; Only a stranger would be possessed by him as a psychopath.

The bell rang for the literature appreciation class, and Professor Morgan walked into the lecture hall with a green lesson plan, confident and calm, and extremely gentlemanly.

Because Professor Morgan's class schedule is tight and the schedule is very full, in order to compress the time as much as possible, today is a big class with multiple classes. Even though it is an elective course, it is rarely absent. Except for those who have taken leave of absence and gone out on business, a total of seventy or eighty students are sitting below, waiting for this respected old professor to give a lecture on one of his most famous special courses: the appreciation of Western literature.

As if it was just a standard piece of equipment, every time Morgan gave a lecture, he would hold the green lesson plan, but he would never open it and check it, because all the knowledge points had long been familiar to him, and he would only occasionally use PPT to make slide presentations, and the content was mostly simple and concise, with almost no class notes. But listening to his lectures was very tiring and nervous, and I wanted to follow the progress of his thinking, and my kung fu was mainly used outside of class. Students need to read a lot of literature beforehand in order to keep up with his broad and jumpy teaching ideas.

Today he is going to lecture on the topic of Lecture 23 on the History of Western Literature - The Greatest Classic Recorded by Man: Homer's Epic.

Professor Morgan, with the look of a lover's infatuation, gushed endlessly about the magnificence and splendor of Homer's epic poems for the children, and there was a quiet place below, with the occasional note-taking and reading of the main points, and the students seemed unwilling to miss a single classic comment. His magnetic baritone, with some non-standard pronunciation of the British port, seems to flow between the beginning and the end, and the tone is like a symphonic orchestra, leaving aside the topic, the sound itself is a flowing poem, a beautiful movement.

It's no wonder that his class hall is full, especially for girls.

Finally, Professor Morgan concluded: "I have never seen such majestic poetry, full of masculine beauty. The Homeric Epic not only has high literary value, aesthetic value and ornamental value, but is also the only written historical material preserved in ancient Greece from the 11th century BC to the 9th century BC. This great work reflects the Mycenaean civilization of ancient Greece, so this period is also known as the "Homeric Age" or "Heroic Age".

The worship and yearning for heroes is the most common in the history of all mankind, and there are no boundaries of time and place at this point. As long as there are people, there are heroic dreams. This dream makes humans more interesting, more vivid, and more endearing than other creatures. How boring will it be for human beings without heroic dreams? Western civilization has taken this respectable dream to the extreme.

Even in the Oriental countries with ancient civilizations, most of the male poets in ancient times were still depicting landscapes and pastorals, frustrations, talented and beautiful women, the change of dynasties, or the hardships and intrigues of the side, and few of them expressed their hearts and minds in such a straightforward way, which reflects the difference in the cultural background of the East and the West, as well as the huge difference in the origin of ancient civilizations.

There are also long-form classic works, such as: the four most popular classical classics of the Chinese, I have read them carefully a long time ago, and I have read them more than once, and I am very impressed. Let me talk about my feelings, which may not be accurate, and everyone is welcome to correct me.

"The Legend of the West Right" is the most interesting, it is written about a beautiful monk in the Tang Dynasty riding a white horse and bringing a servant with luggage to learn scriptures, which is a bit like the story of "Don Quixote". Along the way, he received a monkey king and a fat pig fairy, protected him and fought goblins while walking, met many beautiful women, resisted temptation, was unmoved, and finally had a happy ending. It's very much like playing a point to earn points, fight monsters and recharge, and complete a task, a very lively large-scale customs clearance game, similar to a "Bible" that popularizes Buddhist thought. Personally, I think it is vivid and interesting to read, but it does not have much literary value and ideological significance.

"Water Margin" is a story about a group of ruffian criminals, monks and thieves, all with their own abilities, but after getting into trouble, they refused to accept the king's management, fled to Shuibo Liangshan, and occupied the mountain to claim the king's story, a bit like "Robin Hood". All beings are guilty, but all are equal. At the beginning, he was more rebellious and had a lot of personality. It's just that in the final finale, they were still subdued by the government and surrendered to the emperor en masse, reflecting the original servility and submissiveness of these people, or the spirit of resistance was not thorough enough.

"The Romance of the Three Aunts" (the professor's pronunciation is not accurate) looks too hard, and it is full of oriental strategies and mental tricks, and the competition with secret calculations is extremely brain-burning. There is a lack of simplicity and honesty between people, a lack of credit, and deception. And there are too few women in it, only a group of big men with super high IQs are competing, and without the company of beautiful women, it looks boring and boring. However, the biggest advantage is that it can be used for war planning, and it is undoubtedly a very practical reference book in modern society in business warfare. Such works are rare in Western literature, and they deserve respect and study.

There is also a big "Dream of the Red Furnace" that is the most boring, full of trivial things in life, and I don't understand why it is regarded as a classic. The content is nothing more than old-fashioned: a group of children from wealthy families are quarreling and throwing tantrums, mothers, mothers, and grandmothers are eating, drinking, and watching plays, celebrating birthdays in three or two days, finding reasons to play cards and laugh, old men and sons engage women in playing, and the lives of generations are luxurious and corrupt, like a memoir of a declining aristocracy. The author rarely comments, most of them are detailed descriptions, and the reader needs to understand the historical and cultural background very well, which I admit, is my weakness. China's historical and cultural foundation is too deep, I just know a little bit of the surface, I can't understand it, that's normal, just like you can't understand "Downton Abbey".

In short, in the Confucian philosophy and Lao Zhuang culture admired by the Orientals, the thinking is too subtle and indirect, and lacks courage and courage, so it is difficult to write a simple, direct, great and bold classic literary masterpiece like the Homeric Epic.

I've already interpreted the meaning of life and death, and some of you may remember it. (Someone made three fingers!) ）

Well, yes, thank you for your care! I couldn't be more grateful.

That is, every person's life is only a certain moment, but his death needs to go through three stages:

The first stage is that you lie in bed, and the gradual decay of the living body until it stagnates, terminates;

The second stage is when all memories about you disappear from the minds of relatives and friends, and are cleared;

The third stage is that all the traces of your existence in this world are erased, such as words and images.

However, a world-class cultural heritage such as the Homeric Epic or the Four Great Masterpieces will not die in any way until the memory of humanity is completely emptied and refreshed, or humanity is completely destroyed. Otherwise, they are immortal souls.

Well, that's all for today's first lesson, thank you all again for your patience!

At the end of an impassioned speech, the classroom was greeted with approving applause. The bell rang just for the end of the first class.

The old professor's second class is usually a live discussion, and Mr. Morgan initiates a routine topic that explains the students' confusion one by one. Today, unlike in the past, there was silence in the classroom, and the children seemed to be immersed in what they had just thought. Some of the more serious students were writing quickly, recalling the main points of Professor Morgan's explanation in the previous class and recording them in their notebooks.

Professor Morgan seemed to be a little unhappy with this reaction: "Could it be that I was just talking to myself in front of a wood?" What I need most is not the main points written down in the notebook, but the essence of your brains, do you understand? ”

In order not to disappoint the old man, some voices began to appear in the classroom, and the children began to talk in small voices, and gradually became active. The professor's face softened slightly, but still no one asked any questions, it seems that today's topic is a bit complicated, and for the current middle school students, there is indeed a certain depth and difficulty.

"Yue, you are the pride of the class, try to tell me what you think!" The professor hand-picked the name of the scholar *** Qi Guan Langyue.

Qi Guan Langyue: "Professor, although I personally respect your knowledge, I am a little disappointed by your comments on the four classical Chinese classics. I think these four books are all classics among the classics, and there must be an inevitable reason why they have survived to this day. If this matter is to be explained, it is estimated that three days and three nights will not be enough. Therefore, everyone had to remain silent, not without thinking. ”

Mo Xue'er: "Sir's view is quite normal, for a Western scholar, the difference in understanding is first due to cultural differences. Many of the things described in the book cannot be understood without the cultural background. Although the professor's knowledge of Chinese is very deep, and even surpasses many Chinese people, it is still not enough to fully and deeply understand the essence of these four books. In fact, it is nothing, even locally-grown Chinese, may not be able to understand them, this is also a matter of benevolence and wisdom. ”

(To be continued)

==============