Read while you are empty #3 The In and Out of the Artistic Realm——On Margaret Yourcenar's "Wang Fu's Adventure"

Welcome to "Read While I'm Not", a podcast focused on short stories, updated monthly. Before each episode of the show, the three anchors will read the same short story and chat with you about the experience and feelings of reading in the show.

In the third episode, we chatted about Margaret Yourcenar's "Wang Fu's Adventure" . This short story tells the story of the painter Wang Fu and his apprentice Lin who traveled the world and were finally caught in the palace and forced to paint under the emperor's orders. At the end of the novel, Wang Fu and Lin ride their own boat in the painting and float away on the green sea...

This time, we changed the way of recording a little bit, hoping to present our discussions in a clearer way. If you have any comments and suggestions, please leave a message to us!

Click here to listen to the discussion of episode 3

executive summary

• 02:01 Why did Ms. X recommend us to read "Wang Fu's Adventures"? What qualities of the novel attracted Ms. X?
• 07:25 After apprentice Lin met painter Wang Fu, what changed in him? What does Wang Fu mean to Lin?
• 10:22 What role did Lin's wife play in his life? Why does she seem to have to die?
• 14:44 Wang Fu and Lin finally decided to leave the city and travel around the world...
• 17:26 Wang Fu and Lin were suddenly taken into the palace by the emperor. What impression does the novel's description of the palace leave on us?
• 18:10 The emperor accused Wang Fu of cheating on him. But was the emperor really deceived by Wang Fu? What was the emperor deceived by?
• 19:30 Lin and the emperor both lived in fine clothes and food, and grew up in a secluded place. Why do they have different perceptions of Wang Fu's paintings? How do they enter and exit the realm of art respectively?
• 26:52 "Lin and the emperor represent the world's two attitudes towards artists."
• 28:00 In order to punish Wang Fu, the emperor will blind Wang Fu's eyes - but is it really impossible for the artist to paint if he is blind?
• 31:15 The emperor asked Wang Fu to complete a semi-finished work in his youth. What happened before painting?
• 34:00 Wang Fu started to paint... What happened while painting that made the reader feel the difference between reality and reality?
• 38:08 At the end, the painter entered the painting, did he escape the danger successfully, or was he swallowed up by art?

References

• "Wang Fu's Escape from Adventure" is selected from the novel collection "Oriental Stories" . This short story also reminds us of two novels with painters as the protagonists: Soseki Natsume's "Straw Pillow" and Orhan Pamuk's "My Name is Red" . Interested friends can try to read further.
• Chinese translation of another version of "Wang Fu's Escape": https://www.sohu.com/a/321354404_366048
• The English translation of "Wang Fu's Escape": https://youtu.be/DKmX6UCs9AA
• Music: The Baby (was born dead) - Ryuichi Sakamoto & Paper Emperor - David Byrne

next notice

Next month, we'll be reading "Dr. Jack-o-lantern" by American author Richard Yates . Welcome to click on the link to read this novel in advance and preview it~

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