Little Prince

舞者

Did anyone actually read it?  

I did--my suspicion is that the tone and the impression readers get could be different from the Chinese translation.  I read 未明's book review in Chinese (on the Chinese translation), and there was no sadness in the English version (at least I did not personally feel sadness).

There are quite a number of profound revelation about life.  For example, the important things are invisible to the eyes, but can only be seen with heart; for example, "taming" is a process of establishing a personal relationship--my reading is that there is no inherent meaning in a thing (or anything per se, for that matter), the meaning lies in the mentality with which we approach that thing/people or establish a relationship with that thing/people--when we establish a "personal relationshp" through sharing a part of us in a thing/person, that thing/person start to have "meaning" to us (as illustrated by Little Prince's "taming" of the Fox and indulging of the Rose); for example, "owning" is to be of service, rather than possessing (which was illustrated by Little Prince's relationship with the Rose); for example, there is a hidden treasure in everything, however destitute to the eyes, and there COULD be a star in everyone's heart (should we choose so).

It is a beautifully cheerful tale to me, in my current state of mind, which through Little Prince insists on seeing the star and smile in everything.  Only through the child inside us, the fantastical untainted innocence, are we redeemed in this "adult" world full of "control" (the King), the "obsessed who loses sight of what is important" (the Business man), the "split" (the Geographer), the "escapist" (the Tippler), the "ignorance" (the Conceited man), and the "Busy-ness" (the Lamplighter).

What I disagree with 未明is that the Fox was not Little Prince's first love, he was Little Prince's teacher.  Through the "taming" and "being tamed", the world takes on personal meaning for each of us, otherwise, the boundless beauty in the world is irrelevant.  

I, at this state of defenseless vulnerable fraility, am willing to be tamed by the world.

[ 本帖最后由 舞者 于 2006-3-2 00:58 编辑 ]

mu

Profound revelation about life-I began reading this book when I was a little boy, and I could remebered clearly that there was no profound thing in it, but simple facts.

舞者

Profound revelation and simple facts, I suspect, are one and the same.  There are no two different sets of life.  It is merely a matter of the filter through which one looks at them.

chinesepoet

I had heard of it for long time,but I haven't read it yet.

chinesepoet

There are not many people to jion our discussion.Talking in English is hard,especially talking about.What's your opinion,Dancer and Mu?

兰陵王高长恭

That‘s one of my favourate book.But i dont think it has anyting associating to love，maybe it is only a tale for the children and i do not like to see the grownups finally put the story of the little prince ,flower and the fox in to a love story.(Maybe thats because i am a person(has a heart) too young to love,and has a character too dull to be loved?i dont know but i often get bored of the love stories )i think those stories wants to  say that people are just needing others in this cold and harsh world,they just need a playmate.

[ 本帖最后由 兰陵王高长恭 于 2006-3-27 22:20 编辑 ]

舞者

原帖由 兰陵王高长恭 于 2006-3-27 22:13 发表
That‘s one of my favourate book.But i dont think it has anyting associating to love，maybe it is only a tale for the children and i do not like to see the grownups finally put the story of the lit ...

Perhaps we could interpret "love" from a broader perspective, rather than "romantic love" only..."Love" is so much more than the conventional "romantic love".

mu

Very interesting, border of the single word "LOVE" in English may have a variety of meanings.
But we Chinese make it much more detailed, and complicated.
When we say"Love", it always refers to the "romantic love".

chinesepoet

Love is acomplicated concept.Otherwise,several days ago I bought a piece of dvd of Little Prince.It's a magical opera.Spectacular!!

舞者

原帖由 牧场看守人 于 2006-3-28 17:32 发表
Very interesting, border of the single word "LOVE" in English may have a variety of meanings.
But we Chinese make it much more detailed, and complicated.
When we say"Love", i ...

True.  In Chinese, compassion慈悲 is used to refer to transpersonal love.  In fact in Buddhism, "爱“was used as one of the causes of suffering, always has a negative connotation, and it implies attachment often. Nowadays sometimes 大爱is used to refer to something similar to compassion, something impersonal.

Love could refer to so many things. Westerners can say "I love you" to their parents, childrens, sisters and brothers and friends, while Chinese do not use "爱“in the context of family. It seems that the conventional and more restricted interpretation is romantic love in the context of Chinese.

Love is the nature of our existence, only that we are unable to recognise it yet, it is more a force of existence rather than an emotion (or attachment).  It is impersonal...it does not cease to exist because we are too scared to recognise it, nor does it change because we are too fearful to honor it.

In that context, love is a much more impersonal thing than we believe.  I say I love you without blinking my eyes, as it is honest and true--and I know that you love me too, despite that you do not know it.  Only in that context, love thy neighbor becomes possible.

[ 本帖最后由 舞者 于 2006-3-29 01:39 编辑 ]