If love, then love. If you love, please love deeply.
One Oxford, one Yale; one genius, one lunatic. James Murray pursued his dreams with diligence, and William Chester Miner solved his sins with poetry. The circumstances of the two are completely different, but because of a magnificent career, they have become invincible acquaintances. They were important figures in the early days of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Oxford English Dictionary is regarded as the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of English. As of 2005, the dictionary contained 301,100 main words. Dictionaries are written, and Shakespeare is the most cited writer; George Eliot is the most cited female writer; and the different versions of the Bible add up to the most cited work. Every year, the dictionary selects the word of the year, such as Selfie in 2013. In 2015, it wasn't even a word, but a "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji, which was this one: ?.
Dr. William Chester Miner, one of the dictionary's most ardent contributors, was in an insane asylum for murder, and his association with editor-in-chief James Murray was written by American author Simon Winchester The best-selling book "The Professor and the Madman". And when author Simon Winchester wrote it, the story had been preserved for over a hundred years.
The film of the same name "The Professor and the Madman" was released in 2019. Director Farhad Safnia, who had previously acted as the screenwriter of "Revelation", the film described the unknown blood and thinking of the Mayan civilization, which shocked the audience only to applaud. This time, "Revelation" director Mel Gibson switched roles and returned to starring as his screenwriter, playing editor-in-chief James Murray.
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The film opens with James Murray attending a meeting of the Linguistic Society, intending to win the post of editor-in-chief of the Oxford Dictionary. Full of enthusiasm, Professor Murray is as erudite as Wikipedia, and at the same time has a humble gentleman's demeanor, and his charisma is immediately apparent. He is obviously a qualified editor-in-chief. The codification was on track, and Murray proposed a popular approach, calling on everyone who spoke English in Britain, America, and the colonies to contribute vocabulary and quotations to the new dictionary.
"If one person does one hundred lifetimes, then one hundred persons will do one lifetime, and he will surely be able to complete it." Soon, they received letters from many volunteers. However, due to the shortage of editorial staff, the excessive amount of information, the fault of volunteer reading, and the questioning of the publishing house, Murray lost his direction for a while.
Dr. William Chester Miner, a military doctor during the American Civil War, suffered from severe persecution paranoia and schizophrenia due to war trauma. He accidentally murdered because of illness and was put in a mental hospital. Fantasies arose whenever he was alone, seeing those who had been hurt by him seeking revenge. It wasn't until the guards gave him a copy of "The Biography of Shandi" with the "Oxford Dictionary Invitation Letter" that gave him hope, because it was a job he could easily do.
Dr. Miner sent a large number of letters to Professor Murray, not only providing vocabulary and citations, but also inventing a retrieval method, called a dictionary of dictionaries, which undoubtedly helped Professor Murray solve his urgent needs. In February 1884, the dictionary template page was officially published. Murray came to the psychiatric hospital with a dictionary sample book, only to find out that Miner was a lunatic in the eyes of people.
At the end of the film, in order to help Dr. Miner, Murray used his few social connections, and even found Churchill to get special approval: let Americans manage their own citizens. In other words, Dr. Miner was freed outside the UK.
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"The Professor and the Madman" is not limited to the big history and the compilation process of the dictionary, but focuses on the characterization, trying to make the audience empathize. Professor Murray, the eldest son of a Scottish cloth shop merchant, dropped out of school at the age of 14 to earn a living. When he was fighting for the editor-in-chief, the members admitted that only those with qualifications and diplomas could do the job. At this time, he made no secret of the fact that he was self-taught, and eloquently explained the languages he was proficient in, causing the scholars present to be stunned.
In addition to being diligent and knowledgeable, Murray was always empathetic and secure as a husband and father. He accompanied his wife to watch his eldest son play hockey, and his son was warned by the referee because he lost the game. Murray didn't blame him, but called his son, panted with him, and taught him game skills. At the end, he reminded him not to swear. .
Crazy Miner's story is more legendary, and the discussion is deep enough. At the beginning of the film, he shot and killed a passer-by, and this scene happened to be seen by the passer-by's wife, Eliza. At first, Miner compensated Eliza and her six children with retirement pensions from the military. After several exchanges, Eliza's hatred has been resolved, but she can't tell whether the punishment should continue, she just wants to unilaterally stop the compensation.
Miner, like Murray, was well-mannered and well-mannered, but at the same time keenly perceptive. When he found out that Eliza couldn't read, he hoped to teach Eliza to read, and then let her go home and teach the children. "Standing on a book, I leap over the wall, and with the wings of words, I reach the top of the world. Only when I read, there is no chasing after me, only when I read, I am chasing, chasing the footsteps of God." When he said these words, his eyes were no longer dodging, but looked at Eliza with hope. I burst into tears in front of the screen because I know that in the pursuit of freedom, all resentment melts away.
Murray tossed between family and career, Miner on the edge of sin and redemption. The two have worked together for 20 years in history, and they have become close friends through letters, tacitly. In a scene in the film, the two are talking on the bench, which is quite touching.
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Eliza wants to help Miner heal her illness, so she brings the children to befriend him. Surprisingly, the eldest daughter still remembered that he was the murderer who shot and killed her father. So a slap in the face sent Miner back into the abyss. When they met again, Eliza kissed Mina deeply and stuck a note to him, saying: If love...then what? If love, so what? Miner knew he had stolen her heart, which undoubtedly killed her husband again. So he mutilated his lower body with an iron bar. After continuous madness and treatment, he became disembodied, and only his body was still breathing.
Amid the pain, Miner had told Murray one word, Assythment, Compensation: Satisfaction with compensation for the harm done. But legally, the victim's wife and family are still entitled to compensation, which means paying everything back. Miner, of course, understood the meaning of the word, and his reply on that note read: irredeemable.
Here I have to admire the screenwriter, who equate the punishment for sin with the giving in love, like the synaesthesia between words, elegant and advanced. Thinking about it carefully, love is not just a feeling of guilt; love is not the moment when you dedicate the rest of your life.
"The brain is bigger than the sky, because, put them together, the former can easily accommodate the latter, and you. The brain and God weigh the same, because, weigh them, pound for pound, and if they differ, they will Like a syllable is not the same as a sound." This is Emily Dickinson's verse, and when Miner reads it to Eliza, they may have developed a love. At the end of the film, Eliza saw Mina, who was distraught. She only used one sentence to bring him back to reality: If love, then love. If you love, please love deeply.
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After the dictionary was published, Murray won praise from the Linguistic Society, but sales were not satisfactory, with only 4,000 copies printed. A slow-selling dictionary, there is also a murderer on the credit list, which profoundly explains what it means: This is a big deal. The wife, Ada, quarreled with Murray. In this scene, the professor got angry for the first time, and then he understood the reasoning with emotion, narrating the truth of "the road to knowledge, all beings are equal". I think this is also the creator's point of view, everyone who makes mistakes and lies should be redeemed.
At the meeting of the language society, Ada came to speak for her husband in gorgeous clothes. After some complaints, she concluded that "human nature should not be punished". She not only helped her husband win a chance, but also restored her dignity for Miner. I sometimes really doubt that only women in this world know how to bow their heads proudly.
In the film "The Professor and the Madman", in addition to the beautiful soundtrack, the lines and translations are also very particular. It's like a gift to the audience, gentle and accessible. Usually, I will be mean and summarize some points of view to share with others, but the film seems to tell us that we are born to know how to forgive.
Finally, I would like to thank those unpaid subtitle groups for translating many films so gorgeously, giving the audience the opportunity to stand on the books, leap over the walls, and use the wings of words to reach the top of the world.
- This article was first published on ONE
Text | Yeluli
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