The genius is on the left, the lunatic is on the right

Chapter 27 Andersen's Fairy Tales and Childhood

There is a very unique phenomenon in literature. Many well-known writers have had tragic childhoods, such as Andersen, Kawabata Yasunari, Dante, Xiao Hong, Zhang Ailing, Kafka, etc. Some people are very interested in this phenomenon and think it is A kind of compensation for the pain of early life.Hemingway once said that the best early training for a writer is to have a miserable childhood.Psychologists have also proved that childhood experience often has a profound impact on an individual's life, and the keynote of his life is formed at this time, and his subsequent development cannot avoid this keynote, leaving an indelible imprint.

Andersen is a world-renowned writer of fairy tales. His works are colorful and imaginative. His works contain myriads, including kind little people, absurd emperors, praises of the light, and satire of the social status quo. They have far-reaching influence and have many For unique readers, Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales have crossed borders, races, and ages, and have become common spiritual food for all mankind.

He has comforted the hearts of countless people, but his own living conditions are not very good, even unreasonable. He likes to live in the spinning room of the lunatic asylum, where the light is dim, the noise is constant, and there are walls separated. Those who are mentally abnormal can often hear the wailing of patients or hysterical shouts, but these have given Andersen countless creative inspirations.The writing background is very gloomy, but the stories he writes are full of beauty.

It has to be said that this has something to do with his childhood experience.Andersen was born in poverty, his father was a shoemaker, and his income could barely maintain food and clothing. However, his father liked literature and had a very rich imagination. He would often tell some interesting legends to Andersen and read some fairy tales to Andersen, such as La Fontaine's " Strange Child".Father's influence on Andersen was profound.It can be said that Andersen grew up in the company of stories, and the mottled world in the stories nourished his monotonous childhood life.The reason why Andersen likes to live in the spinning room of the lunatic asylum is that he can hear many interesting stories there. While listening to the stories, he completely isolates himself from all kinds of external interference and immerses himself in the wonderful world.This habit persisted as an adult and writer.

Childhood experience has been rooted in his thinking structure and has had an indelible impact on his future creations.Andersen liked Shakespeare's plays very much. He often conceived plays in his mind and then told his father.Every time his father would give him some suggestions, which were thoughtful and pertinent, which greatly improved Andersen's ability to conceive plays.

The death of his father brought indelible trauma to Andersen, and he has repeatedly depicted scenes related to his father in his works.For example, one winter before my father died, the world was covered with ice and snow, and the windows were frozen. My father lay on the hospital bed, pointed to the icy pattern on the window and said, do you look like a woman with arms stretched out? My father named it The Snow Queen, and joked that the Snow Queen would take herself away.

Andersen described it in "The Snow Queen": "On a snowy night, Kay suddenly saw a large snowflake falling on the bridge outside the window, gradually getting bigger, and finally turned into a woman wearing a white snow veil. , her body shone like a pearl in the night sky, and her eyes were shining brightly, she opened her arms and waved in Kay's direction, Kay quickly lowered his head, terrified in his heart, when he looked up, she had already flown away." The book also describes an exquisite garden: "The two ends of the box are next to the window, like a bank full of flowers. The pea vines are growing wildly in the box, and the roses are constantly stretching their bodies. They hover over the window and entangle each other. , like a triumphal arch made of flowers and green leaves."

Childhood memories with his father can be seen everywhere in Andersen's works. The trauma brought by childhood life gave him the opportunity to think deeply about life, life, and the world, which became the main line of thought in his later works.Not only that, most of the stories Andersen heard in the spinning room in his early years were told by the old man in oral language, and this language style has also been preserved in his works.When Andersen told the source of the story of the work, he mentioned the spinning room and his father, that is, Andersen's fairy tales are all close to colloquial, similar to the way a storyteller tells them.

The famous psychologist and psychiatrist Bettelheim also agrees with this. He believes that the charm of fairy tales comes from the telling, which is similar to the language of face-to-face communication. Only in this way can people feel as if they were there context in order to elucidate its psychological meaning.Before books appeared, fairy tales were told face to face, so it is a tradition.Andersen did not take psychology as an elective, nor did he study child psychology, but his childhood trauma and the story in the spinning room have undoubtedly demonstrated this point. It seems to be an accident, but in fact it is caused by childhood trauma. brought about by necessity.

Chernyshevsky said: "What is more poetic and charming in the world than that joyful love that resonates with everything that is as noble, pure and beautiful as itself." Where is the pure heart of a young man?"

The influence of childhood on a writer is deeply rooted in the bone marrow and runs through the soul. Childhood is our spiritual hometown, and the trauma encountered in childhood will be remembered in people's hearts.Trauma took root in the depths of the soul, as if seeds were sown in the ground. As the years passed, the seeds gradually germinated, grew branches, and grew into towering trees. The trauma of time breeds.Trauma and the thoughts formed from it become the core of the writer's work.

The brain-burning logic of a genius or a madman
Why is childhood trauma more likely to shape a "genius", and why is such a genius mostly manifested in artistic creations such as literature and painting?

Childhood is the starting point of life. Newborns are like a blank sheet of paper, and childhood is the time to paint the tone of life. When you grow up, although there will be many colors on the blank sheet of paper, it is still inseparable from the tone set by childhood. .Childhood is the initial period when human nature unfolds slowly. During this period, emotional feelings, memories, consciousness, etc. will leave a deep impression on people, and will form a qualitative impact on people's aesthetic psychology, outlook on life, values, and world outlook. .

Trauma has the greatest impact on people. After adulthood, people's minds gradually mature. Even if there is trauma, it is not as strong as in simple childhood.The trauma of childhood is like a dagger piercing deeply into the undefended heart, which is unforgettable and unforgettable.

So why does this indelible imprint of childhood eventually become the inspiration for literature or painting, but not others?The essence is that the way of expression of people is nothing more than language and body language. Language converges into words, while body language can be transformed into images, and the sense of picture emerges spontaneously.When the repressed heart can't find an object to confide in, it is easy to transform into words and flow out from the pen.

Therefore, childhood experience has various charms, which are closer to the essence of literature.The experience and introspection resulting from trauma, as well as the insights and innovations formed as a result, are all indispensable components of creation.

(End of this chapter)