About innocence

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:27:31 GMT

Innocence, a word that tends to be forgotten as we grow older. There was a movie on TV last night, . I just saw the beginning where Fanny met her dreamy Charles and ran off with him together from the brothel. Then they made love. Fanny gave her virginity/her innocence to Charles, had his baby, fell in love for good…Then the tragedy followed. Charles’ father refused her because she once refused to sleep with him (some story we got here)…blah blah blah…she got separated from his love, lost the baby, made a lot of debts. Finally she had no other choice but started whoring in order to survive. And she enjoyed it! Well, I didn’t finish the movie, coz it’s interrupted by some stuff. Today I googled it. To my surprise, it used to be a very controversial erotic novel that was banned for 200 years in Europe. The ending is at least comforting. Fanny finally met her Charles on the street on day and they lived happily after. It did sweep me off the floor at the very beginning, the story how they met each other. Just one look, they fell in love. All the sweet words, all the tender looks, all the promises, all the innocence! What more can I say? Love at first sight, sweet boy and sweet girl, like everyone has dreamt of. After everything happened, she lost her innocence, but still she had her happy ending. It makes me wonder: Do we need to be defined good or bad by our innocence? In this case, what is “innocence” anyway? Don’t we just have to deal with our lives no matter how far innocence away from us? Well, i am determined to buy this book and read, hopefully figure it out :)

River Town

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:18:30 GMT

当读完<River town>最后一章的时候，眼睛有些湿润。其实这本书几天前就已经读到最后一章了，之所以不想继续读下去，主要的原因是因为不想那么快结束一本好书。读书很少会有这样的体会，觉得自己仿佛经历着作者文字中的生活，感受着作者描述的情感。Peter Hessler的确是一个具有才华的作者，更是一个机有洞察力的人，书店里有许多关于中国的书籍，可很少有象他一样客观、细腻的去给读者一个真实、普通、老百姓的中国。在他的书中可以发现许多自己曾经熟悉的场景，街边的小贩，校园生活，城市的交通等等，这些对自己的心灵是一些安慰，在那么遥远的地方回忆起在国内的生活引起的不仅仅是思乡之情，更多的是对过去生活的反思，还有对自己以后生活的设想。他在River town中讲述了他在四川Fulin小城教书的两年生活，从一开始的文化冲击，然后渐渐融入这个小城，后来开始热爱上在中国的生活，是令人感动的。书中描写了很多作为一个外国人对中国文化的感受和见解，很多事情让自己不由得思考，为什么一个外国人可以写出那么深入的见解呢？从<Oracle Bones>到<River Town>，都被他的文字所吸引，现在读完了，读到他盛船离开Fulin，迎着上流而去的时候，觉得一阵空虚，不知道以后用什么好书来填充空余时间，让自己有所感触。

读完他的这两本书，自己心中多少产生些遗憾，后悔自己在国内时没有多对祖国文化认真的去感受，没有对一些社会现象认真的去思考，毕竟当时年少，生长在一个饭来张口的时代和家庭，就如其他同代人一样把一切都当做理所当然，现在想起来真是痛心啊。读Peter的心程笔记，让自己多次想起在学校遇到的外教，那时候有一些外国朋友，可对他只有一面之缘。大四，最后一年的一个晚上，自己上晚法语课回到宿舍楼下正好遇到英语角，忽悠忽悠的跑过去跟人聊天，他正好从我身边走过，我对他笑着说bonsoir。他回答道bonsoir。后来的时间就是我和他的交谈了，旁边围了许多人，大四那年自己也有了不少的自信，所以谈笑风声，只记得他很高，名字是什么我都不从记得了。他说我很特别，在那么多学生中可以一眼看得出来。想想当时聊的内容，无非就是耍宝的话题，什么电影啊，旅游啊，欧洲啊等等，后来他走了，我也毕业了，在也没有见到过。读Peter的书，经常想到和他的相遇，如果当时自己已经读了Peter的书，那该是一个多么好的话题去讨论啊，想要知道也作为一个外教的他是如何感受国内的生活等等。而现在，自己身边的人对国内生活一无所知，即使去过的，回来讲的也全是一些cliche之类的东西，无趣极了。

想想自己读过的书，除了三毛和小王子，最喜欢的就是这两本了吧。有时间打算重读一边，仔细的琢磨和反思，这也是一种所得。

Life in Brussels: Boeken

About innocence

River Town