{"id":3629,"date":"2018-04-23T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T08:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/2018\/04\/23\/zhui_xun_yu_20180423\/"},"modified":"2018-04-23T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T08:35:41","slug":"zhui_xun_yu_20180423","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2018\/04\/23\/zhui_xun_yu_20180423\/","title":{"rendered":"Pur\u00adsuit and Growth: The Mag\u00adic of \u201cHouse of Mir\u00ada\u00adcles\u201d (Rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded Book of the 13th Wen\u00adjin Award)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u8ffd\u5bfb\u4e0e\u6210\u957f\uff1a\u300a\u5947\u8ff9\u4e4b\u5c4b\u300b\u7684\u9b54\u672f\uff08\u7b2c\u5341\u4e09\u5c4a\u6587\u6d25\u5956\u63a8\u8350\u56fe\u4e66\uff09\"<\/a>
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\n\u201cHouse of Won\u00adders\u201d is anoth\u00ader mag\u00adi\u00adcal work by Amer\u00adi\u00adcan graph\u00adic nov\u00adel\u00adist Bri\u00adan Selznick. Based on a true sto\u00adry, the \u201cHouse of Won\u00adders\u201d in the book is the Den\u00adnis Seforth House, a muse\u00adum cur\u00adrent\u00adly open to the pub\u00adlic in Lon\u00addon, Eng\u00adland. This \u201chis\u00adtoric place\u201d is actu\u00adal\u00adly a \u201cmir\u00ada\u00adcle\u201d cre\u00adat\u00aded entire\u00adly out of thin air by a col\u00adlec\u00adtor\u2019s imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtive imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion, with a mov\u00ading sto\u00adry behind it. How\u00adev\u00ader, in this graph\u00adic nov\u00adel, the sto\u00adry is pre\u00adsent\u00aded as mag\u00adi\u00adcal and even more inspir\u00ading.
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\n 
\nGraph\u00adic nov\u00adels were orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly intend\u00aded for adult read\u00aders, but because comics con\u00adsti\u00adtute a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant por\u00adtion of their con\u00adtent (either exceed\u00ading or equal\u00ading the text), they have grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly gained a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant audi\u00adence among young read\u00aders and, in recent years, have become a main\u00adstream genre in young adult lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture. Selznick made sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtions to this endeav\u00ador. His book, Hugo the Dream\u00ader, won the pres\u00adti\u00adgious Calde\u00adcott Medal (typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly award\u00aded to chil\u00addren\u2019s pic\u00adture books), and the film adap\u00adta\u00adtion of the same name won an Oscar, fur\u00adther cat\u00adalyz\u00ading the devel\u00adop\u00adment of graph\u00adic nov\u00adels in the chil\u00addren\u2019s book indus\u00adtry.
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\n 
\n\u201cHouse of Won\u00adders\u201d appears even more sub\u00adstan\u00adtial than \u201cHugo the Dream\u00ader\u201d (at a stag\u00adger\u00ading 670 pages!). While it main\u00adtains a hybrid sto\u00adry\u00adtelling approach, empha\u00adsiz\u00ading both visu\u00adals and text, its nar\u00adra\u00adtive is strik\u00ading\u00adly orig\u00adi\u00adnal: the illus\u00adtra\u00adtions are com\u00adplete\u00adly sep\u00ada\u00adrate from the text, even the sto\u00adry\u00adline itself being com\u00adplete\u00adly iso\u00adlat\u00aded. The first sec\u00adtion, near\u00adly 400 pages long and told entire\u00adly in pic\u00adtures, tells a fam\u00adi\u00adly sto\u00adry span\u00adning from a ship\u00adwreck in 1766 to a the\u00adater fire in 1900. Read\u00aders unfa\u00admil\u00adiar with comics might find it dis\u00adori\u00adent\u00ading. Even more pecu\u00adliar, the next 200-plus pages, entire\u00adly in text, seem to unfold a com\u00adplete\u00adly sep\u00ada\u00adrate sto\u00adry, set between 1990 and 1991. It tells the sto\u00adry of Joseph, a 13-year-old from a wealthy fam\u00adi\u00adly, who runs away from board\u00ading school to vis\u00adit his uncle in Lon\u00addon. This leads to a unique fam\u00adi\u00adly sto\u00adry, a heart\u00adwarm\u00ading sto\u00adry of heal\u00ading, and the ori\u00adgins of the \u201cHouse of Won\u00adders.\u201d If read\u00aders can patient\u00adly read to after page 540, they will grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly under\u00adstand the won\u00adder\u00adful con\u00adnec\u00adtion between the afore\u00admen\u00adtioned pic\u00adture sto\u00adries and the text sto\u00adries. The con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous pic\u00adture sto\u00adries that serve as the epi\u00adlogue after page 610 are a per\u00adfect cur\u00adtain call, bring\u00ading the whole sto\u00adry into the edge of fic\u00adtion and real\u00adi\u00adty, allow\u00ading the once excit\u00aded emo\u00adtions to return to peace and tran\u00adquil\u00adi\u00adty.
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\n 
\nThis nar\u00adra\u00adtive tech\u00adnique tru\u00adly resem\u00adbles a mag\u00adic trick! Strict\u00adly speak\u00ading, the book has three main plot\u00adlines: the fam\u00adi\u00adly his\u00adto\u00adry of Bil\u00adly Mir\u00ada\u00adcle, a ship\u00adwreck sur\u00advivor depict\u00aded in the illus\u00adtrat\u00aded sto\u00adry; the sto\u00adry of Joseph, a wealthy young man, search\u00ading for his fam\u00adi\u00adly and grow\u00ading up; and the sto\u00adry of Joseph\u2019s uncle Albert\u2019s upbring\u00ading and the cre\u00adation of the \u201cHouse of Mir\u00ada\u00adcles.\u201d To the read\u00ader, these sto\u00adries are all fic\u00adtion\u00adal, but for the char\u00adac\u00adters, which is real and which is fic\u00adtion\u00adal? Fur\u00adther\u00admore, does this ques\u00adtion real\u00adly mat\u00adter? The book\u2019s open\u00ading apho\u00adrism is also the apho\u00adrism of the real House of Mir\u00ada\u00adcles: \u201cTo see or not to see\u201d\u2014though \u201csee\u00ading is believ\u00ading\u201d is often said, don\u2019t our eyes often deceive us? Per\u00adhaps we only believe what we pre\u00adfer to believe. How much \u201ctruth\u201d is hid\u00adden from view due to famil\u00adiar\u00adi\u00adty and prej\u00adu\u00addice? If we tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly set aside the so-called stan\u00addards of truth and fic\u00adtion, we may see that these three sto\u00adries are actu\u00adal\u00adly one: a sto\u00adry of pur\u00adsuit and growth.
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\nIn my opin\u00adion, the most chal\u00adleng\u00ading aspect of edu\u00adca\u00adtion, regard\u00adless of era, is help\u00ading future gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions find the mean\u00ading of life. Selznick\u00ad\u2019s char\u00adac\u00adters often appear fraught with con\u00adfu\u00adsion: Leontes, the young man from the Mir\u00ada\u00adcle Fam\u00adi\u00adly, con\u00adfused about his iden\u00adti\u00adty, pre\u00adpares to secret\u00adly leave home and sail to India; Joseph, a boy, escapes his aris\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic school and trav\u00adels to Lon\u00addon in a hope\u00adless search for his uncle and close friend; and Uncle Albert, drift\u00ading from Amer\u00adi\u00adca to Lon\u00addon with his quirky dreams\u2026 They are all search\u00ading, yet unsure of what. A series of unex\u00adpect\u00aded events, an unex\u00adpect\u00aded friend\u00adship or fam\u00adi\u00adly con\u00adnec\u00adtion, lead them into a won\u00addrous jour\u00adney through life, a jour\u00adney that will undoubt\u00aded\u00adly bring both joy and sor\u00adrow, but coura\u00adgeous\u00adly fac\u00ading and bold\u00adly ques\u00adtion\u00ading will yield rich insights.
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\n 
\nAlthough the so-called \u201cHouse of Won\u00adders\u201d is entire\u00adly fic\u00adtion\u00adal, entire\u00adly new\u00adly con\u00adstruct\u00aded, and to some extent, non-exis\u00adtent, all the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal ele\u00adments and phys\u00adi\u00adcal mate\u00adri\u00adals that com\u00adprise it are incred\u00adi\u00adbly real. To oth\u00aders, they might appear worth\u00adless and mean\u00ading\u00adless, per\u00adhaps sim\u00adply invis\u00adi\u00adble. How\u00adev\u00ader, con\u00adstruct\u00aded by those with a heart and a dream, they are mirac\u00adu\u00adlous\u00adly imbued with mean\u00ading. This per\u00adhaps con\u00adfirms Selznick\u00ad\u2019s long-held belief: even machines and objects have their own mean\u00ading, let alone peo\u00adple?
\n
\n 
\n  But you must pur\u00adsue it your\u00adself, and you need to build the \u201cHouse of Mir\u00ada\u00adcles\u201d your\u00adself.
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\nAjia \u2026
\nWrit\u00adten in Bei\u00adjing on March 30, 2018
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