Six Records of a Floating Life - Shen Fu
Apr. 20th, 2010 01:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crystal_sun396~*~*~
ONE
"I had a chance to see her poems that day, and though I sighed at her brilliance I privately feared she was too sensitive to be completely happy in life. Still, I could not forget her, and I remember saying to my mother, 'If you are going to choose a wife for me, I will marry no other than Yün.'" (26).
"Yün and I were born in the same year, but because she was ten months older than I, I had always called her 'elder sister', while she called me 'younger brother'. We continued to call one another by these names even after we were engaged" (26).
"Her only blemish was two slightly protruding front teeth, the sign of a lack of good fortune" (26).
"We sat up making jokes, like two close friends meeting after a long separation" (28).
~*~*~
"One day I said to her, 'At first I did not like any of these things, but now I have come to like all of them very much. I cannot understand why.'
'If you like something,' said Yün, 'you don't care if it's ugly.'" (39).
~*~
"One the other hand, she prized shabby old books and tattered paintings. She would take the partial remnants of old books, separate them all into sections by topic, and then have them rebound. These she called her 'Fragments of Literature'. When she found some calligraphy or a painting that had been ruined, she felt she had to search for a piece of old paper on which to remount it. If there were portions missing, she would ask me to restore them. These she named the 'Collection of Discarded Delights'. Yün would work on these projects the whole day without becoming tired, whenever she could take time off from her sewing and cooking. If, in an old trunk or a shabby book, she came across a piece of paper with something on it, she acted as if she had found something very special. Every time our neighbor, old lady Fung, got hold of some scraps of old books, she would sell them to Yün.
Yün's habits and tastes were the same as mine. She understood what my eyes said, and the language of my brows. She did everything according to my expression, and everything she did was as I wished it.
One I said to her, 'It's a pity that you are a woman and have to remain hidden away at home. If only you could become a man we could visit famous mountains and search out magnificent ruins. We could travel the whole world together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?'
[…]
'In our next life I hope you will be born a man,' I said. 'I will be a woman, and we can be together again.'" (40)
~*~*~
"To my surprise, Yün had gone ashore with the boatman's daughter. When I came up behind her she was still covered with perspiration, leaning against the other girl and lost in watching the birds.
[…]
The boatman's daughter was named Su-yün, and she had had several cups of wine with me once before. She was quite nice, so I called her over and asked her to sit with Yün. There was not light in the bow of the boat, so we were able to enjoy the moon and drink happily. We began to play a literary drinking game, at which Su-yün could only blink her eyes" (46).
"At that time we were living with my friend Lu Pan-fang, at his home, the Villa ofSerenity. A few days after our trip Mrs Lu heard some gossip, and took Yün aside. 'Yesterday I heard that your husband had been seen drinking with two courtesans in a boat by the Ten Thousand-Years Bridge. Did you know that?'
'It happened all right,' Yün replied, 'but one of those courtesans was me.' Because she had brought it up, Yün told her in detail about our trip together. Hearing the explanation, Mrs Lu laughed heartily and dropped the subject" (48).
~*~*~
"Afterwards Yün said to Hsiu-feng [of Shen Fu's cousin's husband's new concubine], 'She certainly is beautiful, but she is not the least bit charming.'
'If your husband were to take a concubine,' Hsui-feng asked, 'would she have to be charming as well as beautiful?'
'Naturally,' said Yün.
From then on, Yün was obsessed with the idea of finding me a concubine, even though we had nowhere near enough money for such an ambition" (48).
~*~*~
"As the boats were being unmoored, Yün asked me if Han-yüan could return aboard hers, while I went back with Hsien-han. To this, I agreed. When we returned to the Tuting Bridge we went back aboard our own boats and took leave of one another. By the time we arrived home it was already the third night watch.
'Today I have met someone who is both beautiful and charming,' said Yün. 'I have just invited Han-yüen to come and see me tomorrow, so I can try to arrange things for you.'
'But we're not a rich family,' I said, worried. 'We cannot afford to keep someone like that. How could people as poor as ourselves dare think of such a thing? And we are so happily married, why should we look for someone else?'
'But I love her too,' Yün said, laughing. 'You just let me take care of everything.'" (50).
"I laughed, and asked her, 'Are you trying to imitate Li-weng's Pitying the Fragrant Companion?'
'Yes,' she replied.
From that time on there was not a day that Yün did not talk about Han-yüan. But later Han-yüan was taken off by a powerful man, and all the plans came to nothing. In fact, it was because of this that Yün died" (51).
The Lien-Hsiang Pan, a play by Li Yü (1611-?1680). Li-weng was his literary name. Yün's confirmation that she had this play in mind gives us our principle clue about just what her real relationship with Han-yüan may have been: the play tells the story of a young married woman who falls in love with a girl, and then obtains her as a concubine for her husband so the two women can be together. As van Gulik has pointed out, Imperial China regarded liaisons between women –as opposed to those between men – quite tolerantly. They did not by any means necessarily imply a lack of affection between such women and their husband.
*~*~*
TWO
"In laying out gardens, pavilions, wandering paths, small mountains of stone, and flower plantings, try to give the feeling of the small in the large and the large in the small, of the real in the illusion, and of the illusion in the reality. Some things should be hidden and some should be obvious, some prominent and some vague" (60).
[They are constructing a miniature world in a mountain in a pot.] "We put the pot out under the eaves and discussed it in great detail: here we should inscribe a stone with the characters 'Where flowers drop and waters flow'. We could live here, we could fish there, from this other place we could gaze off into the distance. We were as excited as if we were actually going to move to those imaginary hills and vales. But one night some miserable cats fighting over something to eat fell from the eaves, smashing the pot in an instant.
I sighed, and said, 'Even this little project has incurred the jealousy of heaven!' Neither of us could keep from shedding tears" (62).
~*~*~
THREE
"In the midst of life, I have been just like an Immortal. But a true Immortal must go through many incarnations before reaching enlightenment. Who could dare hope to become an Immortal in only one lifetime? In our eagerness for immortality, we have only incurred the wrath of the Creator, and brought on our troubles with our passion. Because you have loved me too much, I have had a short life!" (88).
"Alas! Yün came into this world a woman, but she had the feelings and abilities of a man. […] I would advise all the husbands and wives in the world not to hate one another, certainly, but also not to love too deeply. As it is sad, 'An affectionate couple cannot grow old together.' My example should serve as a warning to others" (89).
http://books.google.com/books?id=n9wryCFIl5EC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22Six%20Records%20of%20a%20Floating%20Life%22&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q&f=false
ONE
"I had a chance to see her poems that day, and though I sighed at her brilliance I privately feared she was too sensitive to be completely happy in life. Still, I could not forget her, and I remember saying to my mother, 'If you are going to choose a wife for me, I will marry no other than Yün.'" (26).
"Yün and I were born in the same year, but because she was ten months older than I, I had always called her 'elder sister', while she called me 'younger brother'. We continued to call one another by these names even after we were engaged" (26).
"Her only blemish was two slightly protruding front teeth, the sign of a lack of good fortune" (26).
"We sat up making jokes, like two close friends meeting after a long separation" (28).
~*~*~
"One day I said to her, 'At first I did not like any of these things, but now I have come to like all of them very much. I cannot understand why.'
'If you like something,' said Yün, 'you don't care if it's ugly.'" (39).
~*~
"One the other hand, she prized shabby old books and tattered paintings. She would take the partial remnants of old books, separate them all into sections by topic, and then have them rebound. These she called her 'Fragments of Literature'. When she found some calligraphy or a painting that had been ruined, she felt she had to search for a piece of old paper on which to remount it. If there were portions missing, she would ask me to restore them. These she named the 'Collection of Discarded Delights'. Yün would work on these projects the whole day without becoming tired, whenever she could take time off from her sewing and cooking. If, in an old trunk or a shabby book, she came across a piece of paper with something on it, she acted as if she had found something very special. Every time our neighbor, old lady Fung, got hold of some scraps of old books, she would sell them to Yün.
Yün's habits and tastes were the same as mine. She understood what my eyes said, and the language of my brows. She did everything according to my expression, and everything she did was as I wished it.
One I said to her, 'It's a pity that you are a woman and have to remain hidden away at home. If only you could become a man we could visit famous mountains and search out magnificent ruins. We could travel the whole world together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?'
[…]
'In our next life I hope you will be born a man,' I said. 'I will be a woman, and we can be together again.'" (40)
~*~*~
"To my surprise, Yün had gone ashore with the boatman's daughter. When I came up behind her she was still covered with perspiration, leaning against the other girl and lost in watching the birds.
[…]
The boatman's daughter was named Su-yün, and she had had several cups of wine with me once before. She was quite nice, so I called her over and asked her to sit with Yün. There was not light in the bow of the boat, so we were able to enjoy the moon and drink happily. We began to play a literary drinking game, at which Su-yün could only blink her eyes" (46).
"At that time we were living with my friend Lu Pan-fang, at his home, the Villa ofSerenity. A few days after our trip Mrs Lu heard some gossip, and took Yün aside. 'Yesterday I heard that your husband had been seen drinking with two courtesans in a boat by the Ten Thousand-Years Bridge. Did you know that?'
'It happened all right,' Yün replied, 'but one of those courtesans was me.' Because she had brought it up, Yün told her in detail about our trip together. Hearing the explanation, Mrs Lu laughed heartily and dropped the subject" (48).
~*~*~
"Afterwards Yün said to Hsiu-feng [of Shen Fu's cousin's husband's new concubine], 'She certainly is beautiful, but she is not the least bit charming.'
'If your husband were to take a concubine,' Hsui-feng asked, 'would she have to be charming as well as beautiful?'
'Naturally,' said Yün.
From then on, Yün was obsessed with the idea of finding me a concubine, even though we had nowhere near enough money for such an ambition" (48).
~*~*~
"As the boats were being unmoored, Yün asked me if Han-yüan could return aboard hers, while I went back with Hsien-han. To this, I agreed. When we returned to the Tuting Bridge we went back aboard our own boats and took leave of one another. By the time we arrived home it was already the third night watch.
'Today I have met someone who is both beautiful and charming,' said Yün. 'I have just invited Han-yüen to come and see me tomorrow, so I can try to arrange things for you.'
'But we're not a rich family,' I said, worried. 'We cannot afford to keep someone like that. How could people as poor as ourselves dare think of such a thing? And we are so happily married, why should we look for someone else?'
'But I love her too,' Yün said, laughing. 'You just let me take care of everything.'" (50).
"I laughed, and asked her, 'Are you trying to imitate Li-weng's Pitying the Fragrant Companion?'
'Yes,' she replied.
From that time on there was not a day that Yün did not talk about Han-yüan. But later Han-yüan was taken off by a powerful man, and all the plans came to nothing. In fact, it was because of this that Yün died" (51).
The Lien-Hsiang Pan, a play by Li Yü (1611-?1680). Li-weng was his literary name. Yün's confirmation that she had this play in mind gives us our principle clue about just what her real relationship with Han-yüan may have been: the play tells the story of a young married woman who falls in love with a girl, and then obtains her as a concubine for her husband so the two women can be together. As van Gulik has pointed out, Imperial China regarded liaisons between women –as opposed to those between men – quite tolerantly. They did not by any means necessarily imply a lack of affection between such women and their husband.
*~*~*
TWO
"In laying out gardens, pavilions, wandering paths, small mountains of stone, and flower plantings, try to give the feeling of the small in the large and the large in the small, of the real in the illusion, and of the illusion in the reality. Some things should be hidden and some should be obvious, some prominent and some vague" (60).
[They are constructing a miniature world in a mountain in a pot.] "We put the pot out under the eaves and discussed it in great detail: here we should inscribe a stone with the characters 'Where flowers drop and waters flow'. We could live here, we could fish there, from this other place we could gaze off into the distance. We were as excited as if we were actually going to move to those imaginary hills and vales. But one night some miserable cats fighting over something to eat fell from the eaves, smashing the pot in an instant.
I sighed, and said, 'Even this little project has incurred the jealousy of heaven!' Neither of us could keep from shedding tears" (62).
~*~*~
THREE
"In the midst of life, I have been just like an Immortal. But a true Immortal must go through many incarnations before reaching enlightenment. Who could dare hope to become an Immortal in only one lifetime? In our eagerness for immortality, we have only incurred the wrath of the Creator, and brought on our troubles with our passion. Because you have loved me too much, I have had a short life!" (88).
"Alas! Yün came into this world a woman, but she had the feelings and abilities of a man. […] I would advise all the husbands and wives in the world not to hate one another, certainly, but also not to love too deeply. As it is sad, 'An affectionate couple cannot grow old together.' My example should serve as a warning to others" (89).
http://books.google.com/books?id=n9wryCFIl5EC&lpg=PP1&dq=%22Six%20Records%20of%20a%20Floating%20Life%22&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q&f=false
