"Horse and women are both very difficult to understand. The prettiest woman is not necessarily the most lovable one. The fastest horse is not necessarily the strongest one. Beautiful women lack sincerity, fast horses lack endurance."
I giggled when I read this. This is something Gu Long says in his legendary novel, the Flying Dagger. While Jin Yong is well versed in history and martial arts techniques, Gu Long is well versed in women and love. While Jin Yong created righteous heroes (Wei Xiaobao aside), Gu Long created sentimental and lonely heroes. Jin Yong's attention to details is amazing but Gu Long's ability to create intricate conflicst and suspense is equally impressive. Jin Yong is your typical thinker while Gu Long is a bravado who loves to break norm.
In Flying Dagger, Gu Long created a hero, Li XunHuan, who resembles himself very much. Li XunHuan is a hero well known for his love for two things, beauty and wine. But deep inside, he is a sentimental who couldn't let go of the one woman he loved. He purposely made that woman hate him so that his best friend, who was also in love with that woman, could get a chance.
He is a loner who couldn't be bothered with life and death. In fact he challenged death with every cup of wine he drank. He is not all useless though as he is in fact a brilliant thinker and a true man who would never run away from his responsibility.
What about Gu Long himself?
Things were perfect for him as long as he had these three things with him: pretty women, wine, and pen. He was twice divorced and he was always surrounded by women who fell in love with him. They said, his loneliness attracted these women. But he would purposely make these women hate him for some unknown reason. He would often leave his wife to spend time with his friends. An excessive smoker and drinker, he could only write with wine by his side.
In th end, his liver was wasted. He was cured after hospitalized but again, he challenged death by continuing his drinking. In the end he lost the battle and died.
What a wasted life. He never seemed to enjoy living as he tried everything there was to life despite knowing the bad effect.
He never took life seriously, so much like the characters he created in his novels.
But Gu Long will always be special to me because the first wuxia story that I watched, the one that inspired me to carry fan and sword and wear wuxia custom everyday in my house when I was three years old, was Chu LiuXiang.
I giggled when I read this. This is something Gu Long says in his legendary novel, the Flying Dagger. While Jin Yong is well versed in history and martial arts techniques, Gu Long is well versed in women and love. While Jin Yong created righteous heroes (Wei Xiaobao aside), Gu Long created sentimental and lonely heroes. Jin Yong's attention to details is amazing but Gu Long's ability to create intricate conflicst and suspense is equally impressive. Jin Yong is your typical thinker while Gu Long is a bravado who loves to break norm.
In Flying Dagger, Gu Long created a hero, Li XunHuan, who resembles himself very much. Li XunHuan is a hero well known for his love for two things, beauty and wine. But deep inside, he is a sentimental who couldn't let go of the one woman he loved. He purposely made that woman hate him so that his best friend, who was also in love with that woman, could get a chance.
He is a loner who couldn't be bothered with life and death. In fact he challenged death with every cup of wine he drank. He is not all useless though as he is in fact a brilliant thinker and a true man who would never run away from his responsibility.
What about Gu Long himself?
Things were perfect for him as long as he had these three things with him: pretty women, wine, and pen. He was twice divorced and he was always surrounded by women who fell in love with him. They said, his loneliness attracted these women. But he would purposely make these women hate him for some unknown reason. He would often leave his wife to spend time with his friends. An excessive smoker and drinker, he could only write with wine by his side.
In th end, his liver was wasted. He was cured after hospitalized but again, he challenged death by continuing his drinking. In the end he lost the battle and died.
What a wasted life. He never seemed to enjoy living as he tried everything there was to life despite knowing the bad effect.
He never took life seriously, so much like the characters he created in his novels.
But Gu Long will always be special to me because the first wuxia story that I watched, the one that inspired me to carry fan and sword and wear wuxia custom everyday in my house when I was three years old, was Chu LiuXiang.
Comments
too bad. jin yong's story is too much fairy tale. gu long one on one hand is more realistic. oh, how complicated life is!