Bitter tea

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Bitter tea (Original title: Les quatre vies du saule ) is a novel published in 1999 in French by the author Shan Sa from the People's Republic of China . In 2000 Shan Sa was awarded the Prix Cazes-Brasserie Lipp for Les quatre vies du saule .

Compared to the first novel Shan Sas ( Porte de la Paix Céleste ) published in French , Les quatre vies du saule represents a new chapter in the development of the author's oeuvre: the novel consists of four short stories, although they relate to space , Time, characters and plot show significant differences, but are linked by the motif of the weeping willow and the recurring theme of doomed dreams and unfulfilled love.

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Plot and characters

Chong Yang's story

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The first short story takes place in 15th century China during the Ming Dynasty . The main character is Chong Yang, the son of a wealthy businessman. At the age of 6, he was given two branches of a weeping willow, which he lovingly looked after, so that two new trees emerged from them.

A chain of unfortunate events impoverishes the family and is forced to move to a remote province , so that Chong Yang has to leave his weeping willows behind. At the age of 18, Chong became an orphan and from then on lived lonely and modestly. He makes his living doing odd jobs as a teacher; in the evening he studies for the Chinese civil servant examination . His everyday life changes when he happens to meet a young man named Qing Yi from his homeland. He introduces him to his sister Lü Yi, who gives up her prosperous life to live with Chong Yang in his hut.

Lü Yi is satisfied with the simple living conditions. But as ambitious as Chong Yang is, he continues to work on his career and soon reaches the capital city exam. When he has to leave Lü Yi for 6 months to travel to the Forbidden City , the two swear in front of a weeping willow that they will find each other again, whatever happens - even if it is at the beginning of their next life.

Indeed, Chong Yang passes the exams and becomes such an important political figure that the emperor's brother-in-law offers him the hand of one of his sisters. Gripped by ambition, he agrees to the marriage and becomes one of the most important men in the empire. However, Lü Yi pursues him in his dreams, so he asks her in a letter to come to the court as a concubine . Lü Yi, however, rejects this on the grounds that she can love him best at home; if she came to court, she would become his prisoner. When Lü Yi opposes his request a second time, Chong Yang sends her a blank letter as a sign of the ultimate break.

One night Lü Yi appears to him, who accuses him of destroying all her hopes of his return. Out of lovesickness she is forced to give up on him for good and disappears into thin air. In its place, Chong Yang finds a branch of a weeping willow. Suddenly, her brother Qing Yi also appears in the garden. He explains to Chong Yang that he and his sister were the two weeping willows that he planted so long ago. His sister's goal was only to thank him for this good deed.

In the war that broke out shortly afterwards , Chong Yang lost his position. He travels to his old parents' house. When he sees the weeping willows, he remembers saying goodbye to Lü Yi and the vow to find himself again in a new life. But now there is nothing before him but darkness.

characters

Chong Yang: Chong Yang is the son of an impoverished merchant family. Although his character is characterized by humility , he tirelessly prepares for the Chinese civil service examination, in which he sees the only way to escape his misery. His aim in life is to gain recognition at the emperor's court and to become an important political figure. Although living with Lü Yi puts him in a situation of contentment and happiness, he does not lose sight of the dream of fame and fortune. In order to achieve his goal, he fully concentrated on the entrance exams of the imperial court and eventually even married out of political calculation . It is only when it is too late that he realizes that he has lost his true love, Lü Yi.

Lü Yi: Lü Yi's character is characterized by simplicity and simplicity. She is ready to give up her prosperous life to live with Chong Yang in his humble hut. She is also ready to wait for him while he makes a career at the imperial court . But her hope that Chong Yang will return to her is disappointed, so that she is finally broken by lovesickness. It turns out that Lü Yi was one of the branches of the weeping willow that Chong Yang planted as a child.

Chunnings story

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The second short story takes place about three to four centuries later and is about the dissimilar twins Chunyi and Chunning. The plot is told from Chunnings perspective and begins before the twins are born in the womb. Chunyi, the heir for whom the father has waited so long, is the great hope of the family, while Chunning, the daughter, receives little attention. But this changes over the years: Chunyi brings nothing but disappointments to his father, Chunning instead develops into a small personality. Often the father wishes that Chunning was a boy. Chunyi gets to feel this and takes out his frustration on his sister, who doesn't fight back. When the twins grow up to be teenagers, despite their very contrasting characters, they eventually get together.

At the age of 16, Chunyi felt more and more attracted to women and eventually seduced the father's first concubine . The third concubine notices this, rushes to the father and claims that the first concubine seduced Chunyi. The father is furious, so Chunning advises her brother to flee to Beijing . The father stabs the third concubine; but she throws herself at her father while she is still dying and drills a dagger into his back. A short time later, the twins' mother also dies, as they cannot let go of the memories of the murder scene.

Chunning takes over the management of the house and the property and banishes the concubines from the house. Chunyi finally arrives in Beijing after a long journey; how his life will develop remains open. Chunning marries and gives birth to a son, but she never sees her brother again.

characters

Chunning: Chunning is "only" the daughter of the family and therefore comparatively little attention is paid to her. In the course of time, however, she repeatedly impressed her father with her knowledge and ultimately trumps her brother Chunyi. The relationship with Chunyi is ambivalent and is characterized by a mixture of affection on the one hand and pure hatred on the other. At the end of the narrative, it is Chunning who takes on the role of heir.

Chunyi: Chunyi is the long-awaited heir of the family, but he disappoints his father's high expectations. He often takes his frustration out on his twin sister, who both fascinates and repulses him.

Wen's story

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The third short story begins in 1966, in the middle of the Cultural Revolution at the time of Mao in Beijing . Wen already involved in youth active in the fight for the People's Republic . However, his parents do not approve of his commitment, so that he renounces them and eventually even joins the students who move to the remote regions to spread the Maoist principles there. On the trip to Meilin , he got to know the inconspicuous column, with whom he initially developed a brotherly and sisterly relationship over time.

In Meilin, Wen runs into a group of red guardsmen who tell him that the troops have been divided into two camps since the outbreak of the revolution: their group, the "Orient rouge", and the group "Soleil rouge". A guardsman asks Wen a favor: Since he will not live long, Wen should fulfill his lifelong dream of seeing President Mao by wearing his pin when he goes to Tian'anmen Square in Beijing. Who agrees.

After a training session, the groups build their own villages. Wen and Saule are in a group and their friendship solidifies. One day a delegation from the Merlin City Revolutionary Committee came to the camp. Your spokesman announced that the anti-revolutionary group 'Orient rouge' was defeated, but that some traitors were still hiding in the student camps. One member of the village after another is questioned and suddenly Wen is accused of treason. Wen's diary , in which he describes his encounter with the sick guardsman, and his badge serve as evidence . Whom is beaten, tortured, and betrayed by the people they believed were friends. The main piece of evidence had been disclosed by Saule because she had believed the diary could prove Wen's innocence. Whom do you not believe a word.

Ultimately, Wen is taken to a prison where he is terribly hungry until he receives a surprise visit from Saule. The two make up and Saule promises to throw food over the prison line. Whoever finds a small parcel behind the prison wall almost every day is already imagining a future with Saule. One day, however, Saule is caught trying to throw food over the wall and shot by the prison guards.

characters

Wen: Contrary to the advice of his parents, Wen is actively involved in the struggle for the People's Republic - less out of political conviction than in search of himself. He quickly rises to become the leader of his group, but he realizes that this success is temporary. When he is accused of treason, his "friends" turn away from him.

Saule: Like Wen, Saule is involved in the fight for the People's Republic. As her name suggests, it is she who ultimately brings misfortune to Whom by revealing the alleged evidence. At the same time, it is she who turns out to be Wen's true friend.

Aying's story

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The fourth and final short story takes place in our time and is about a young businesswoman named Ajing, who is on her way to a business meeting in Hong Kong by plane . Before leaving her apartment, she receives a call from her mother. She longs for her daughter to marry, but despite her many admirers, Ajing lives alone.

Ajing falls asleep on the plane and dreams. In her dream she is in heaven, where she spends her life at the side of a beautiful prince and has a son. At the end of her life, Ajing says goodbye to her husband and son. As Ajing ages, both have remained young and beautiful. As a farewell, her son gives her a crown made of weeping willow branches. Ajing closes his eyes; when she wakes up again, the plane is on approach to Hong Kong.

When Ajing opens her suitcase in the hotel, she finds a crown of weeping willow branches in it.

characters

Ajing: Ajing is a young businesswoman who, despite her numerous admirers, is still looking for true love.

Symbolism and themes

Weeping willow

Literally translated, the French title of the novel is "The Four Lives of the Willow". The willow is a characteristic tree of the Chinese landscape. The weeping willow , which symbolizes both death and rebirth in China , is widespread . Its green branches are on the one hand heralds of spring, while on the other hand their hanging branches are reminiscent of running tears and express the mood of sadness prevailing in the novel. The motif of the weeping willow runs through and unites the stories of the novel like a leitmotif .

In the first short story, Chong Yang plants two branches of a weeping willow as a child, which, thanks to his care, bloom and flourish and thus symbolize pure life. Also in front of a weeping willow, Chong Yang vows to his lover Lü Yi to come back to her, but he never keeps this promise. Ultimately, it turns out that Lü Yi and her brother were the two branches of the weeping willow that Chong Yang tended as a child. Since Chong Yang has never returned to Lü Yi, she breaks because of her lovesickness, so that nothing more than two dried up branches of a weeping willow are left of her and her brother. The weeping willow went from being a symbol of life to a symbol of death.

In the second short story, Chunning describes a weeping willow in the family garden. 50 years later, the willow is hollow, struck by lightning, and its branches hang lifeless. It can still be brought back to life by a gust of wind, because this makes the branches dance in the wind.

In the third short story, Wen meets the young Saule during his trip to Meilin. She explains to him that her name comes from the following verse of a poem by Wang Weis : "la couleur des saules se renouvelle" (in German: "The color of the weeping willows is renewed."). Saule's name thus symbolizes life. Nevertheless, it is finally Saule who turns out to be a supposed traitor because she reveals Wen's diary , which was hidden in a weeping willow. At the end of the short story it is she who gives meaning to Wen's life, but in the end she finds death herself.

The outcome of the fourth short story remains unclear. However, Aying's fate can be guessed after she finds the weeping willow crown in her suitcase, which she received in a dream shortly before her death.

Doomed dreams and unfulfilled love

In addition to the weeping willow, the subject of doomed dreams and unfulfilled love forms an element linking the four short stories, which is presented differently in each short story.

The first short story shows that love and career are incompatible. It is enough for Lü Yi to live with Chong Yang in his modest hut. But out of ambition Chong Yang moves to the Forbidden City and enters into a marriage out of political calculation, so that Lü Yi breaks because of lovesickness. Chong Yang loved Lü Yi, but living with her in Beijing remains an unfulfilled dream. Ultimately, his political career, which he dreamed of all his life and for which he had worked long and hard, also fails.

The second short story describes the "fusion-like" relationship between the twins Chunning and Chunyi. The relationship between the two is characterized by great affection and fascination on the one hand and hatred and envy on the other. Chunyi's hope of gaining his father's approval remains unfulfilled, and Chunning's wish to see more of the world will remain a wish.

In Wen's story, of all people, it is a loved one who unintentionally causes the protagonist to be arrested. And even after the reconciliation, Wen's dream of a life with Saule is destroyed, as Saule dies trying to smuggle food into prison.

In the fourth short story, too, Aying's dream of love remains a dream in the truest sense of the word.

Shan Sa's novel shows that love today, just as it was during the Ming Dynasty and throughout all the epochs described in the novel, can awaken unexpectedly, but can also die out just as quickly.

shape

Structure of the text

In Les quatre vies du saule is it is a novel that consists of four short stories. The term novel (instead of a collection of short stories) seems justified insofar as the four short stories are linked to one another through the recurring motifs, the title itself and some narrative aspects and thus together form a whole. The length of the individual stories differs considerably: while the first story has 35 pages, the second story with 64 and the third story with 59 pages take up significantly more space, whereas the fourth and last story with only 8 pages appears relatively short in the overall work .

Narrative perspective and writing style

The first short story is told from the perspective of an authorial narrator outside the story . This narrative perspective is characterized by the fact that the characters are reported in the third person and the narrator himself is not involved in the story. The sometimes very detailed descriptions of the action framework are supplemented by inserts verbatim speeches from the various figures. The narrative tense is the past, whereby the passé simple and the imparfait are mainly used. The use of a multitude of metaphors is characteristic of the first short story . For example, the meaning of Lü Yi's arrival for Chong Yang is described as goutte de miel dans une vie, qui ressemblait à du thé amer and Lü Li himself equated with a papillon qui venait se poser sur le papier jauni de son livre .

The second short story is told from the perspective of the protagonist Chunning. It is therefore a narrator in the 1st person who is part of the story himself and speaks of himself as "I", but reports on the other characters in the 3rd person singular. The story of Chunnings is supplemented by passages of verbatim speech from the other characters. In this story, too, the narrative tense is the past, whereby the passé simple and the imparfait are also used most frequently.

In the third story, the protagonist Wen takes on the role of the narrator. As in the second story, it is a narrator in the first person. The narrative tense is the past. The third story also contains passages of verbatim speech.

The fourth story, like the first, is told from the perspective of an authoritative narrator who reports on Ajing and her mother in the third peron. As in all four short stories, the narrative tense is the past. As in the first three stories, the narrative is interspersed with literal speech.

If you compare the narrative perspective and the writing style of all four stories, it is noticeable that there are elements that are identical in all four stories, while others differ from story to story. While the first and fourth stories are told from the perspective of an authorial narrator, in the second and third stories it is the protagonists from whose point of view the story is told. A common element in all four stories is the narrative tense of the past. Thus, all stories are told retrospectively after the conclusion of the last event, so that the narrator can already look back over the entire plot at the beginning of the story. Another thing they have in common is the insertions of direct speech, which on the one hand are monologically structured, but on the other hand also have the character of a dialogue . In addition to the symbols used to link the individual stories, the narrative tense and direct speech in all four stories also contribute to the unity of the novel.

Background information

References to the historical context

It is characteristic of Les quatre vies du saule that Shan Sa chooses a different epoch or a different point in time in the history of China as the setting for each of the four short stories in the novel. The short stories are arranged chronologically with regard to the selected epoch: The first short story takes place in the 15th century , when the Ming dynasty ruled. The length of time in which the second story takes place cannot be precisely determined. However, the reader learns that the ancestors of the Chunyi and Chunning families attained fame and fortune at the time of the Ming Dynasty, which they built on in the subsequent ten generations and three centuries, respectively, so that the story is about three to four centuries later the first short story takes place. The point in time of the third story is precisely defined by the year 1966, in which the Cultural Revolution in China experienced its first climax. Although there are no details in the fourth story that would allow precise information about the point in time, the story can be classified in the present. Because the features that make up Aying's everyday life characterize the contemporary, modern life that more and more - especially young people - lead or strive for in China.

Position in the overall works of the author

Les quatre vies du saule is the author's second novel written in French. The novel represents a new chapter in the development of Shan Sa's oeuvre as the basic form of presentation has changed: The novel does not contain just one single, coherent story as before, but four short stories of different lengths that relate to In terms of time, space, characters and plot, they are hardly connected with each other, but still form a unit, as they are linked to one another via the common motifs, the title and some narrative elements.

Awards

In 2000 Shan Sas Les quatre vies du saule was awarded the Prix Cazes-Brasserie Lipp. This prize has been awarded annually in France since 1935.

Web links

Further information on Shan Sa and an excerpt from Les quatre vies du saule can be found on the publisher's website. ( available online )

literature

Text output
Secondary literature
  • Xia Lo, 'Les quatre vies du saule - L'histoire et la mélancolie'. In: Orient Extrême - Le magazine des cultures asiatiques ( available online ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b http://www.prix-litteraires.net/prix/59,prix-cazes-brasserie-lipp.html
  2. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 27.
  3. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 36-37.
  4. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 45-47.
  5. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 26.
  6. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 47.
  7. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 55-56.
  8. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 72 and 76-77.
  9. ↑ cf. Koehn, Alfred: Chinese Flower Symbolism , in: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 8, No. 1/2, 1952, p. 131.
  10. ↑ cf. Xia Lo, Les quatre vies du saule - L'histoire et la mélancolie . In: Orient Extrême - Le magazine des cultures asiatiques.
  11. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 17.
  12. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 46-47.
  13. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 62.
  14. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 145.
  15. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, pp. 187-188.
  16. ↑ cf. Xia Lo, Les quatre vies du saule - L'histoire et la mélancolie . In: Orient Extrême - Le magazine des cultures asiatiques.
  17. ↑ cf. Xia Lo, Les quatre vies du saule - L'histoire et la mélancolie . In: Orient Extrême - Le magazine des cultures asiatiques.
  18. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule , Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 24.
  19. ↑ cf. Sa, Shan: Les quatre vies du saule, Paris: Gallimard, 1999, p. 53.