Multi-stringed revolutionary horn
In January 1918, Blok, the most brilliant poet in Russia’s Silver Age, created a long poem “Twelve” that has been passed down for a long time. This was written by Blok in a rare and short time after the Russian October Revolution that shocked the world, “The whirlwind of revolution that blows at this time stirs up all the oceans of nature, life and art. There was a storm.” And the poet also wrote: “When I wrote and finished “The Twelve”, I felt for several days in a row that there was a huge noise around me physically and aurally-a mixed (probably, the noise of the destruction of the old world).” The poet complied with the trend of the times and wrote a moving movement full of “revolutionary” passion. However, while sounding the clarion call of the revolutionary march, this long poem also contains a multi-string melody.
In July 1926, Hu Xie translated “Twelve” into Chinese according to the Russian language, and listed it as one of the “Wei Ming Series” edited by Lu Xun. This book is accompanied by four illustrations by the Soviet printmaker Mathudin, and the “postscript” written by Lu Xun is attached at the end of the volume. Lu Xun said in his epilogue: “Many people are a drop in the ‘river of life’, carrying on the past and facing the future. If it is not really extraordinary, it will inevitably contain both forward and backward. This kind of heart can be seen in the poem “The Twelve”: He moved forward, so he rushed towards the revolution, but looked back, so he was injured.” “Jesus Christ who appears at the end of the poem seems to have two interpretations: one is He also agrees, one is that he still has to rely on him for salvation. But in any case, it can always be interpreted as close. Therefore, the great work “Twelve” in the October Revolution is not yet a revolutionary poem.” “However It’s not empty.” With his keen intuition and stern observation, Mr. Lu Xun bluntly stated that “Twelve” contains the poet’s “reflection”, rather than a purely “revolutionary” poem.
Judging from the poet’s life, we don’t see how strongly he is devout to religion, but at the end of the poem, “Jesus Christ” wearing a white rose wreath does appear. The belief in Christ as religion is clearly intolerable for a revolution of a materialist ideological character. However, poetry was greatly welcomed by the revolutionary camp at that time, and the poet thus “entered the annals of new, revolutionary Russia” and became a symbolist poet who was still popular after the October Revolution, even though it attracted a lot of attention at that time. Accusations and curses from other poets, friends breaking up, and even being called “traitors”. In this seemingly Bolshevik work, most of the writing methods are realistic. In the first stanza of the poem, the night, the snow, the wind, the house, the slogan “All Power to the Constituent Assembly”, the capitalists, the eloquents, the priests, the ladies, the whores, the vagabonds, etc. A heterogeneous stage background is depicted for the poem, and this is Russia after the October Revolution, in Petersburg in January 1918, on a snowstorm night, people of different classes and identities in society walked in the depressed streets On the screen, a historical picture of misery, curse, anxiety, timidity, guilty conscience, insensitivity, dirty and obscene is shown, which is chaotic and dark but dazzlingly real. Then there was a patrol team of twelve Red Guards with guns on their backs “with crappy cigarettes in their mouths, military caps in disorder, / should have red square aces embroidered on their backs” and The scenes of them chasing and killing traitors, the silence above the Nevsky Bell Tower during the state of emergency, the declining capitalists and the mangy dogs beside them, etc., are also showing the turbulent waves of the revolutionary storm to the contemporaries and future generations.
The historicity and reality of the content of the poem deeply touched the sensitive nerves of the readers. There is no doubt that this is the realistic scene of the storm of the October Revolution. On top of this scene, twelve Red Guards roam the streets, facing the wind and snow, “Freedom, freedom, / Alas, alas, there is no cross” is their wild inner yell without religious belief ; “tra-ta-ta”, and even more rapid “tra-ta-la-ta-ta-ta-ta”, they shot at the enemy, the traitor and the “dumb” Rage of Russian guns; “Around—fire, fire, fire…/Leash on the gun—carry it on…” is the burning rage of vengeance on the oppressor in the midst of a wave of revolution in full swing It is also a sonorous chant to take up arms and load bullets in the rapid revolutionary storm; “Persist in the pace of revolution! / The enemy who never rests will not doze off” is the people’s heartfelt encouragement to the fighters and a call to constant vigilance against the enemy. The repeated chants sounded the clarion call for the march of the revolution. As long as he hears this rapid, powerful, and repeated tune, who doesn’t feel high-spirited passion in his heart? And the third stanza is entirely taken from popular folk songs at that time, encouraging children to throw their heads to serve the Red Guards, living in a broken reality but yearning for a sweet life, “We want to make all the bourgeois suffer, / We will fan the fire of the world, /The fire of the world that is in the blood—/Save me, Lord,” is a curse-filled cry from the depths of the people’s hearts. The excitement of chasing and killing traitors, the gore of manslaughtering lovers, the nihilism and rage of human nature in battle—life is in their hands, death is exposed before their eyes—the brutal revolutionary struggle so nakedly hits the readers’ eyes and ears. A revolution is a bloody revolution, not only one’s own, but also the enemy’s. Death and gore add a strong texture-cold texture to the “revolution” theme of the poem. People with a truly revolutionary spirit are never afraid of death, they are always in danger, facing the wind and snow, insisting on the pace of revolution, singing “Forward, forward, forward, /Working people!”
The chanting and singing of the reality at that time was properly embedded in the moment that history turned. No one will deny that this is a realistic record of the revolutionary situation. Even the poet himself once claimed: “”The Twelve” is my best work anyway. Because I live in reality.” And realism never rejects symbols and metaphors. Just as Carlyle, the British historian and philosopher whom the poet was fond of, said democracy comes in a storm, so Russia is weathering an unprecedented snowstorm. The long poem begins in the wind and snow and ends in the wind and snow. This blizzard symbolizes the storm of revolution, which will sweep across the dark reality of Russia. Of course, the blizzard will also blind people’s eyes: “Everyone can’t see each other! /Although it is only four steps away!” to lose sight of him.” At the time, the revolution did not take on the form it would later take on in time. The lame mangy dog that followed the patrol was the only rapacious, vicious thing the old world could show in its dying moments. Although it is intimidated by the fighters, it still closely follows the revolutionary ranks, trying to wait for an opportunity to counterattack-this is the enemy! The revolution seems to be in a dangerous situation of “attacking from front and back, a dilemma”. Although people have seen the morning star rising in the east, they have not yet fully felt the joy and comfort of the rising sun dispelling all the darkness on the earth.
However, the biggest “hidden danger” of the revolution seems to still exist in the main body of the revolution – the twelve Red Guards. Judging from their appearance, they must be some uneducated “ignorant” “people”, real lumpen proletarians; they may have been unemployed, vagabonds, alcoholics, etc., some even often Hang out with whores, like Petruha among them. They have now become Red Guards—the fighters of the revolution. However, they may not be able to immediately understand the most noble justice and ideals in the history of mankind contained in this revolution. Starting from the narrow psychology of an oppressed person, what the revolution provides him is an opportunity to vent his hatred against the oppressor, an opportunity to regain his beloved lover and satisfy his lust, and an opportunity to get rid of poverty and enjoy the life of the rich. , and even provide him with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to satisfy his desire for destruction, just like the inevitable law of revolution—first of all, “destruction” and secondly “establishment”. Simple people are good at starting from their most immediate needs.
Twelve Red Guards were patrolling the streets, armed with guns, ready to strike the enemy head-on. In the fourth and fifth verses of the poem, Petruha narrates the scene of the entanglement between the traitor Vanika and his lover Katka. He recalls Katka, and his heart is full of jealousy and resentment. And finally ignited the anger to revenge against them-“Alas, alas, commit a crime! / From now on, I can feel at ease!” He decided to use revenge to calm his heart, and behind this behavior there is an even more hidden truth. The important meaning is that a traitor will be eradicated for the revolution. However, contrary to expectations, Vanika escapes, but Kachka dies under the gun of his former lover Petruha. The twelve of them went on the road again, but Petruha was “always unhappy…” Under questioning from his comrades, he confessed that he still loved Katka and regretted her death, “I was in a moment He killed her in impatience… Alas!” As a fighter, Petruha lost his beloved lover for a noble cause. This was a great sacrifice he made for the revolution. He sacrificed nothing but his own life The most precious love. For anyone with normal emotions, this is an unbearable grief in the course of life, and it is a deep personal tragedy. It is conceivable that individuals will sacrifice when facing a collective event (such as a revolution). The relationship between the individual and the collective is vaguely revealed in Petruha’s reckless behavior.
However, under the encouragement of his comrades, “he is happy again…” Perhaps “our burdens are even heavier” aroused a sense of sublime in him, or simply “it is no crime to have fun in the future!” ” and “walking around” indulgence, it seems that the dry and superficial sadness of this group of rude people can be more powerfully diluted. “I always have a time/happy, happy…//I’m always on my head/scratch, tickle…//I’m always going to peel/peel, peel…//I’m always going to use a knife /Scratches on you, slaps!…” This was also taken from a popular ballad at the time, brisk and sharp, and it is a portrayal of Petruha’s violent and eager mood after recovering. He also sent a message for his lover And the oath of drinking the blood of capitalists. It can be seen from this that all revolutionary fighters are directly inspired by hatred. Knowledgeable revolutionaries should have the “hatred” of the world spirit, while ordinary revolutionary fighters mostly harbor direct and specific hatred derived from personal miserable life experiences. The ninth section proves the objectivity and reality of the existence of hatred with the dual images of capitalists and mangy dogs. Hatred, as well as the destructive power and violent emotions induced by hatred are the unstoppable manifestation of human self-generating force. This self-generating force may lead to stagnation or even regression on the way forward. While the self-generating force catalyzes the instant outbreak of the revolution, it also plays an opposite role to the ultimate goal and ideal of the revolution, which appears as a non-positive factor here. Here the poet sees the excessively dazzling blazing light of revolutionary passion with extremely keen insight. In the tenth stanza, Petruja’s hatred is channeled in a positive, positive way by his comrades. He will feel that his hatred is just, both to all his suffering fellow men and to himself.
In the last two stanzas, the “twelve men who do not believe in the holy name” continue to move forward with mighty steps. There is darkness, wind and snow in the front, and the “hungry wolfdog” is about to move behind. You can feel it all around. The danger of the enemy waking up. Moving forward is the only way out. But how to move forward? For a moment the combatants seemed dazed, doubtful, overwhelmed, as they called out to the man waving the red flag in front of him to surrender, and shot the man, and then “Tla-ta-ta!— —There is only an echo / ringing on the walls of the house… / only the snow wind laughing for a long time / in the white snowdrifts.” They can’t see the person holding the red flag, they should be lost and scattered at this moment. And only then did it make sense for Jesus Christ to appear before them wearing a wreath of white roses. The twelve fighters are like the twelve apostles of Jesus, but they do not believe in the holy name, they are more like the twelve Satans, to destroy the old world, and the establishment of the new world needs more reasonable guidance, So the presence of Jesus happened to lead them to conversion and sublimate their behavior. The “Jesus” here seems to dissolve a kind of human ambiguity with a kind of religious ambiguity. However, it should transcend the meaning of religion, and should be “moral support for the revolution and the ultimate goal and ideal of the revolution”, as if to eliminate the duality of base hatred and lofty justice possessed by revolution and revolutionaries, ascribe it to a unified good. Such an understanding may be more in line with the poet’s thinking, because he believes that “compared with the inspiring moral purification effect, the specific social and political significance of the October Revolution is secondary.”
From this we can think that although the poet is singing a movement of revolution, the specific meaning of revolution is only a part of the higher moral meaning symbolized by revolution. The revolution advocated by the poet is ultimately aimed at realizing the moral “goodness”. Therefore, it is conceivable that Mr. Lu Xun had the mentality of hoping to use the specific revolutionary spirit of Russian literature to promote social change in China, so he intuitively discovered the poet’s superficial “retrospect” and “injury”. “The Twelve” had a huge response in Russia at that time, and had a positive agitation effect on the October Revolution, which was largely due to the realism techniques used on the surface of the poem and the closeness between the poet and the rhythm of Russian reality. connect. It is precisely because of this that the symbolism advocated by the poet can rely on the real and direct social history, integrate his own metaphysical thinking and moral lofty ideals, and use this to realize the recognition and appreciation of the Russian nation and its culture. watch.
