Do reminiscences of the watery years have anything in common with the Dream of the Red Chamber?

"Remembrance of The Year Like Water" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" have one thing in common, that is, the place where the story scene takes place is relatively fixed. The "Grand View Garden" of "Remembrance of the Watery Years" is Paris, mainly on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris. This is also the original intention and origin of the exhibition "Proust, a Parisian Novel". As Proust himself put it, when writing, "I always have a map of Paris at hand." The entire exhibition revolves around the scenes, people, events and thoughts depicted in the book, recreating the author's Paris. The house where the author was born, the secondary school he once attended, the restaurants and high-end hotels that were once a lot of work (such as the Ritz Hotel on Place Vendôme), the theater, the opera house, the grove, the park, the boulevard, etc., many places or buildings are still there, and even remain intact. "The life in the memory, not the life that is being experienced in the present, is the real and happy life." "The lost paradise or paradise is the real paradise or paradise." Proust's survival logic and understanding of life, in the more than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world, have often appeared in my mind with a strong symbolic "little Madeleine cake". In the book "Reminiscences of The Age of Water", the taste of the little Madeleine cake dipped in tea is a strong symbol. This symbol prompted the author to recall his past life, resolve to write, and finally record the memories of his life in 7 volumes. In this sense, it may be said that the little Madeleine cake is equivalent to the psychic treasure jade in "Dream of the Red Chamber".

Source: Guangming Daily