Origins of Tragic Works and Writing Principles

LUO Chang-bin

(Foreign Languages Department，Foshan University，Foshan 528000，China)

1 Tragic Life in The Bible

The human tragic life has an extremely long history，too long to estimate.We can even say that once human beings appeared on the earth，the tragic life story began，as we see from Abel’s death inThe Old Testamentand our sufferings in the written history of five thousand years.

According to the opening chapter ofThe Old Testament，it is rationally estimated that Adam and Eve came to the earth about 20000 years ago because they had violated God’s will and eaten the Forbidden Fruit(Apples)in their Heaven called E-den.This is only the little hint that why they had to fall to the earth to accept the earthly punishment，because the real reason is that they and other countless gods and angels made greater and countless sins in Heavens，so the highest God at the top of the universe，millions of millions of years ago，planned to create the earth to punish the sinners in human bodies.The sins they have committed in Heavens are called the Original Sins;such beings are called sinners.So generally speaking，the people on the earth are at least sinners，because those who are not sinners will stay in their Heavens and do not have to come down.

The God’s tests showed that a few of the sinners really learned the lessons from the hard，merciless and cruel life on the earth，accepted the holy teaching that they had original sins.After they suffered miserably enough，they could return back to their native paradises.The rest who refused to purify their souls would continue their earthly hardships and tortures.This is just the religious exposition of the endless tragic life fromThe Bible，and it is surely true to some degree.

Mr.Wang Zhong-xiang estimates that the greatest Flood inThe Old Testamenthappened 7 500 years ago.［1］But this estimation is not true.This famous Flood，in my long-term studies and serious estimation，occurred at least 10 000 years ago，which means the ending of the first Human Race which had lasted about 10 000 years，and their first father was Adam.But this Flood impossibly drowned all the land，while tops of high mountains such as Himalaya were still there.So Noah and his family survived in their huge Ark，and some people near high mountains climbed the mountains higher and higher with the coming of the Flood and survived，too.Then Noah and some other unknown men became the fathers of the second Human Race of ours，which，up to now，has already lasted about 10 000 years.

The implied meaning that we cannot ignore is that Himalaya means the Homeland of Snow in Tibetan，and its top called Qomolangma means St.Mother.In the usual time，this top is very far away from people and has nothing to do with people.But when Flood was coming，the mountain top was their Ark which could rescue them.So the survivals regarded it as their St.Mother，and then told this story to their children to remember its blessings for ever.Of course，these people became fathers and mothers of the Easterners，while Noah was in fact the father of the Westerners.

The short story about the Flood inThe Old Testamenthas brought us great imaginations.It tells that there have been at least two Human Races on the earth，how God controls and punishes the human world，how the human beings have to live，how miserable the human life was，is and will be，and why the Flood appeared.In this way，from the angle of tragedy，this Flood was just the greatest tragedy，the greatest lesson and the greatest punishment to the human kind.

Of course，no paper and no pens existed after the Flood，so no one could write it to tell the future generations.All the survivals were greatly shocked and stunned and scared silly.Everything had to start from the very beginning.So they had to live like animals;gradually they forgot the details of it and the life style before it;a new life style began.

Within 5 000 years after the Flood，the population gradually increased，but the human beings everywhere still lived in the primitive state.Then they began to have iron tools and swords.So the civilization of this world began to have a recorded history about 5 000 years ago when they had iron.

As we hail Noah for his best blessings from God and his happy ending，we must remember that he obtained all these because of his good morality，and we must not forget the implied meanings of the greatest tragedy around him.Countless people in the whole world were drowned;the survivals’memories were gradually lost，too.When the powerful flood receded，the Earth remained the same.The continents were perhaps not changed.So the human world did not know anything about it within 6 500 years(although they had iron)until God began to tell this to some wise Jewish men to write it down as the opening chapter ofThe Old Testament3 500 years ago.

Thus，the Flood story has become the earliest tragic written story.Later，more wise Jews，with the help of God，wrote down more stories about Jewish fathers and their history;and about forty wise Jews gradually finished writingThe Old Testamentwithin 1 500 years，and when Jesus was born，the wholeOld Testamentwas finally completed.

But after Jesus was born，another cruel tragedy began.The New Testamenttells us the story like this.Herod Ⅰ，King of the Jews and friend of the Romans，feared that Jesus would be the future King.So he ordered his soldiers to kill all the baby boys under two years old.Fortunately，Mary，Jesus’s mother，learned the warning from God and ran away with her baby son Jesus.However，33 years later，another cruel death waited for Jesus:he was arrested and crucified by Jewish leaders and the Roman Governor.Thus the only star and hope from God perished for ever.

When the history of the literary art is studied，when the literary elements are considered，without any doubt，The Biblecan be regarded as the great literary work——the collections of short stories.So the real and tragic story about the Flood has the history as long as about 10 000 years.But the art on rocks has a longer history.It is a pity to say that，in fact，we cannot know their exact time.When God decided to tell this to Jewish people——the Chosen People，He would not tell the details.More obviously，God refused to tell this to Easterners.So，as early as about 3 500 ago，Jews began to read the brief outline，but the Easterners knew nothing about it.In this way，Canaan became the earliest cradle of the world tragic literature.But we now know that it is not only the Jewish tragedy，but also the tragedy of the whole world!

From then on，tragic works developed and flourished in the West.But all of them，in fact，originate from the enormous encouragement ofThe Bibleand then from Homeric Epics，because，from the angle of Christian belief，they believed that those tragic stories and deaths would bring real believers final success and hope.

2 The Effects of Tragic Works

The ten-year-long and disastrous Trojan War greatly inspired some tragic bards and the birth of Homer，followed by the tragic death of Jesus Christ and many early Christians.Influenced by these，the tragic masterpieces about them have strongly influenced and manipulated the Western literature.Saint-type writers would like writing tragic works according to the past history.The reason why they could write great tragic works is that the tragic feelings from the human life are their natural and common feelings.

Shakespeare，Bunyan，Dickens，Hugo，Tolstoy，Hawthorne，Hemingway and Hardy are among the great tragic writers，too.All of these Saint-like writers created Saint-like heroes who can sadden and break readers’hearts，or encourage，inspire and comfort people in different countries with their fictional tragic stories.

Of course，writers of serious literature do not write about technology or medicine;their divine duty is to depict moral stories at different levels in order to give moral teachings to readers.At the same time，writers’own lives can also display their good morality to people，too.More obviously，what they have described properly shows us their own virtues and moral pursuits，and reflects on their own defects and shortcomings.But they would like to improve their own virtues，too.

Saint-like writers study hard，work hard and endure a lot of hardships and tortures.They are such kind-hearted and great people who will not do any harm to readers，but they are ready to respect and guide readers.Good characters they have shaped in their tragic works are also such good examples.

Saint-like people or characters do not have to suffer like Hester inThe Scarlet Lettera lifetime;they，too，have the right to fight and revenge for the justice like Hamlet.Obviously，tragic writers and their books are easily misunderstood by ordinary readers and critics，but good readers and good society can take right inspirations and encouragement from their tragic stories.So the writers live as kind-hearted people，and write for kindhearted people.Although kind-hearted people are few in the history and the present time，their great and tragic works deserve existing.

Thus，moral words and actions of tragic characters and tragic writers can become the lighthouses，the lamps and the stars.Their existences in the books can console good people’s souls and lead good people to the right way.

3 Three Writing Principles

There are three major principles to judge the values of the tragic literature.Firstly，characters must be depicted with the details suitable in their eras.They should speak the words，and have the clothes，habits，etiquette in that era.All the other details must accord with those real environments in the historical times，too.As what we know:details must be real，but the plots can be imaginary.

Secondly，the life has been filled with stealing，bullying，lying，brutality，hegemony，selfishness，intrigue，terror，fighting，murders，slaughters，and countless big or small wars，so the state of the human world is，indeed，very unsatisfactory，disappointed，despairing，horrible，pessimistic and unhappy.The famous American scholar Van Loon wrote an important book calledTolerance.In the end of the book，he said:“This world is not happy.”［2］

So，writers should make all the descriptions narrate significant stories which can possess universal，philosophical，symbolic，and moral meanings under the humane conditions.Especially the stories should have tragic colors，symbolic meanings，encouragement，hope and good way-out.

Thirdly，the moral level in the whole connotation of the works has to conform to the right morals of the human world，rather than heterodox.The human world is dark and evil indeed，so serious writers have to criticize the darkness and praise conscience，but it is not serious writers’major task to copy all the details of the darkness.Their divine duty is to express some sublime expectations in their stories.

Many ordinary writers can write shallow stories to meet the needs of Everyman-like people and parties.In this way，they express such ideas and performances deviated from the right path of the moral standards.Then the story can get such echoes only in the wild section in people’s psych called“id”［3］.But these works will quickly be forgotten as time goes by.

But the writers who can write classic and artistic works will be able to influence the world for centuries，because their books can surpass the boundaries or barriers in space，history，races，religions，or parties.

To some degree，the language messages in the literature are only disguises，codes or symbolic structures.Anyway，if a work can circulate for centuries，its codes and the structures have to conform to the three basic writing principles.Among the three，the first two are easy to achieve.The most difficult one to obey is the third principle.But the status of Western authors and the values of their works are mainly measured by this third principle.That is to say，in the West，good works must be tragic.

4 Conclusion

So，the literary artists must have the hearts of art and the love of art;and the hearts of art refer to the heart of God or the heart of Buddha，because the essence of art is divinity from God and Buddha.However，the nature of the divinity is just pessimism and tragedy，or called tragic consciousness.

The hearts and spirits of God and Buddha have many ways of descriptions，but the essential connotations include goodness，sympathy，compassion，tolerance，pity，help，Thanksgiving，endurance，kindheartedness and so on.In this way，the essence of the literary art should be based on all these elements;and then，great writers can depict honesty，nobility，sublimation and transcendence in their tragic works.Thus，the tragic essence of the literary art and God’s spirit are the same thing.

Therefore，the best Western literature is the classic tragedy which has already existed for thousands of years or centuries，because they have，all the ways，conformed to the divine and tragic qualities.So the Western writer’s status and his literary contributions are both decided by the amount of his ethics.And all of these originate fromThe Bibleindeed.

［1］ WANG Zhong-xiang.A New Edition of the Bible Stories［M］.Wuhan:Changjiang Literature and Art Press，2011:1.

［2］ Loon Van.Tolerance［M］.Xi’an:Shaanxi Normal University Press，2003:274 －281.

［3］ Guerin W L，Earle L，Lee M，et al.A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature［M］.4thed.Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and Oxford University Press，2005:127 －134.

(责任编辑 周江川)