The Realistic Meaning of Literature from Zweig

ZhuDan

Abstract： Literature on sports is to manifest human physical activities. Great novels and short stories on sports are intended to celebrate human spirits and power， to reflect historical background and real life and to express writers' thoughts and feelings. Austrian novelist Zweig's The Story of Chess is such a strong voice of anti-Fasist that displays the metaphor between an amateur chess player and a world champion， indicates the writer's complaints against Nazi's infringement of human nature. The narrator interprets the relationship between "emptiness" and existence from the aspect of ultimate care of humans and discovers profound relation between sports and human society.

Key words： sports literature； realistic meaning

中圖分類號：G648 文獻標識碼：B 文章編號：1672-1578（2016）05-0126-02

Sports literature are schools of works to picture human physical activities. Homer's Epic is the earliest sports works which records physical competitions of ancient Greek. In Chinese ancient literature， the Book of Poetry records primitive Chinese in battles and dances. The pre-Qin Song of Bullets dispicts how people hunt by only eight words： "斷竹續竹，飛土逐宍" （ which means during hunting， a hunter has to break bamboo which is used as a weapon and to extend it when he is speeding along a spray.） The subsequet anuals， notes literature and novels also record such activities. For example in the Legends of Water Margin， there are descriptions of martial arts and cuju. However， the above does not mean sports literature simply focuses on human physical exercises.

Sports are indispensible parts of human social and spiritual culture， therefore sports literature， as a literary form， can celebrate human spirits and power， reflect historical background and real life， express writers' thoughts and values and examine significance of human existence. The reasons of why sports literature is widly welcomed by large population of readers are inseperable with inspirational stories and sports spirits embodied in works. Among those are western classics the Story of Chess from Zweig and the Queen of Spades from Pushkin. Also there are the Chess Master of A Cheng， Chinese Girl of Luguang， Song of Chinese Woman Volleyball Team from Hu Qiaomu in domestic contemprary classical works， not to mention the craze of "Champion literature". Having finished The Story of Chess，the last work in his life， Zweig and his wife commited suicide in Brazil half an year later. Hence， this short story is the writer's infringement of Fascist reign of terror and strangling of human nature. The paper is going to analyze the realistic meaning of sport lit erature with this story as a breakthrough.

1.To reflect social reality

Literature stems from and mirrors reality. In the Story of Chess， the writer narrates how an amateur player competes with a chess world champion and discovers how an Austrian is tortured and persecuted by Nazis. At the edge of mental breakdown he found a chess manual and began to study playing chess by himself， but finally got split mind because he played it with himself in endless loop in infinite "emptiness". In the story， Zweig describes detailed psychological changes of the player to the utmost in order to display a desperate and tortured broken soul to readers. The mental struggle of the protagonist is a real miserable portrait of Zweig after watching the world was treaded on by the heel of Fascist dictatorial regime.

The theme of the Story of Chess is to manifest how Nazi battered human nature. In it， "chess" has become a metaphor which symbolizes the broken humanity； Doctor B stole the chess manual urgently， which symbolizes his desire for free and rich humaness under the oppression of authoritarianism. When he suffers from mental breakdown in extreme hollowness and plays chess with two egoes in endless circle， he is a distorted miniature of all the people who suffer from Nazi Germany Totalitarianism. Zweig spent his later life fighting with Nazis by his pen as a weapon and the Story of Chess expresses his strongest voice againt them. Hitler came to power in the year of 1933and Malitarism was on the way. Nazi Fascist brainwashing propaganda involved considerable amount of civilians into the crazy politics and war and lent it self as an outlet for those inferior and sinister cowards to let off discontents， which led to abrupt deterioration of humanity. Extreme hollowness and utmost gaming are both abstract expressons of distorted social features in 1930s. "Chess" is game for fun in peace years or regarded as a refined mental exercise， but became the only mental activity of the hero in the story and the sole pillar of rationality. In the game， sluggish and indifferent Mirko Czentovic plays in a deliberately slow speed in order to drag down Doctor B's nerves. The tense atmosphere and intense hatred between the two players are impactful metaphor of face-to-face conflict between humanism and the Fascist forces.

2.To express emotions and values

Writers tend to express emotions and values in literature works. There is no exception in sports literature. In Chess Story， chess is set as a clue and reliable narrator "I" ——a reporter with fair humanistic care——is used to express the writer's emotional trend and value judgement objectively. "To play chess" represents games between anti-Fascist and Fascist forces.

First of all， Chess Story is full of the writer's complaints against Nazi Fascism. Doctor B is a victim of Nazi Fascist Totalitarianism whose miserable experiences discover Fascist devastation and abuse to humanity. In the Fascist world where Millitarianism acts as a tyrant， Doctor B is locked in the prison， which symbolizes deprivation and destruction of humanity， arts and beauty. As in the World of Yesterday， Zweig said painfully that the most tragic generation is the one that had experienced the first and second World War， including himself. Zweig grew up in the city of art， Vienna， and was nurtured by beauty and arts. For his forefathers and him， their life is quiet and happy as they expect no more than everyday newspaper. While WWI broke out， it met people's heroism largely with strong faith of homeland protection and of fair war. However， the great regression of economy and human nature brought by WWI astonished people. Then WWII followed and destroyed the whole generation's faith in their nation and nature. Subsequently， belief of yesterday has collapsed completely. Chess Story is the miniature of Fascist Totalitarianism era.

Secondly， Chess Story indicates the writer's call for return of humanity. "I"， as the reliable narrator， is a reporter with human touch， strong sympathy and high morality. He helps Doctor B through several risks of mental breakdown. He displays the writer's expectation of restoration of love and beauty. The other character who unrolls the brilliance of humanity is the physician. When Doctor B was sent to the hospital， the physician concealed his recovery and helped him flee from Fascist monsters den. The physician and the reporter are the incarnation of high morality and humanity set by the writer， who also imply Zweig's thirst for salvation from the disatrous mental pain. However， as Dcotor B has escaped from the Fascist clutches， he couldn't recover from the incurable mental pain and would get stuck in the past once stimulated： "He paces fast， but back and forth in a certain range， as if every time in the really vacant room he would face an un seen handrail which forces him to turn back. Thrillingly， I found that he unconsciously drew the size of his previous prioson room by walking back and forth…." Here Zweig implies that Doctor B can not leave the prison in his heart， because sufferings imposed by Fascism has marked a scar on his mind which would last forever till his death. This detail reveals Zweig's pessimistic and negative attitude towards the return of beauty， freedom and humanity in the world and unfortunately， he didn't see the victory of anti-Fascism.

References：

[1][奧地利]茨威格. 象棋的故事[M]. 張玉書，譯. 北京：人民文學出版社，1982.

作者簡介：

朱丹（1979-），女，滿族，河北赤城人，陜西理工學院外國語學院講師，碩士，主要研究方向為西方文論。