I don't know how epic is defined in textbooks, and I don't bother to read the book. I think that the so-called epic is actually the history of poetry, that is, the poetic history, or the poetization of history.
This is not tongue twister. I think that only by using this kind of palindrome, can we make it clear what an epic is.
I understand that epics have at least two characteristics.
First of all, just as everyone has childhood memories, epics are actually the childhood memories of a nation, the continuous accumulation of national consciousness and spirit.
In the West, homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" can be called epics, ancient Greek tragedies and comedies, and of course the "Bible". why? Because they are legends, myths, and even history. At the same time, they are also the source of Western spirit and the starting point of thought. And history is poetically embellished by heroes who can communicate with God, such as Jason, Achilles, and Odyssey.
In China, the "Book of Songs", "Guoyu", "Warring States Policy", "Shan Hai Jing", and "Historical Records" are not the epics of the Chinese nation? ! And the great Yu who controls the water, the Jingwei who fills the sea, the Yu Gong who moves the mountain, the Gonggong who touches the sky, the Jing Ke who assassinates Qin, the overlord of Farewell, etc., are not those half-human and half-god heroes in the epic? !
In human childhood when written records were not yet developed, epic is history, the history of human growth that is easy to remember and spread after poetization. Because the elderly are the incarnation of wisdom, and history (or epic) is the crystallization of wisdom and the guide to action.
With this understanding, it is not difficult for us to understand: why in ancient times a poet (a person who collects poems from the folks) is a historian; why the top priority of Confucius for "denying oneself and restoring rituals" is to delete 305 "Books of Songs" and "Zheng Le" "; Why did the toast in "Dust Settle" order him to be his own clerk after cutting the enemy's tongue.
The second characteristic of epics as epics is the ambiguity of epics and the openness of connotation.
If we take out the historical events in the epic, the epic is actually made up of epic heroes. Such an epic is actually the compilation and eulogy of all the complex emotional experiences of mankind for thousands of years.
Take "Troy" as an example.
Our heartbeats, we are moved, we sigh, we sigh, but these heartbeats are moved and sighed, but there is always some inexplicable complexity.
Such as love. Is love sensible? Do you need to think carefully about love? Is it legitimate to seize love? Why is Feiying Gougou an adulterous affair, while a country and a city is a vigorous true love?
Such as war. Does war need a reason? Doesn't war need a reason? Should war be a battle between evenly matched opponents? Or fight alone or fight alone, or corpses are everywhere in blood? Isn’t terrorism a helpless choice for the weak to deal with asymmetric warfare?
Such as heroes. Why do some people always have the ability to communicate with the gods? Why are heroes always unpaid? Why is the fate of a hero always a fateful tragedy? Why are heroes who are eloquent and weeping, while ambitions can only be heroes?
Such as women. Why is it always a woman who harms the country? Why do women harm the country when they are beautiful? Why did the confidante lose his life? Why is the passionate husband the only one? Why does the destiny of a woman always start with weaving a web of love but end with an insoluble knot of death?
For example, Trojan horse tactics and war ethics.
For example, father and son, brother and younger brother, husband and wife, family and country.
For example, Achilles' mission and destiny.
For example, God's refuge and retribution. Etc., etc.
Therefore, when people read Dante’s Divine Comedy, Boccaccio’s Decameron, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Goethe’s Faust, when people read Alai’s Dust Settled, Chen Faithful "Bai Lu Yuan", Ba Jin's "The Spring and Autumn", Cao Xueqin's "A Dream of Red Mansions", and Luo Guanzhong's "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are often dazzled by the duplex theme and complex feelings. At this time, a more trouble-free way is: Praise them as magnificent as "epic", as magnificent as "epic", and so on.
Going all the way, the so-called Troy, the so-called epic.
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