Lecture: Li Yu: Last King of the Southern Tang
Saturday, November 3, 3:00-5:00 PM
Event Fees: Free, but advanced registration is requested
The event will be conducted in Chinese
Location: 40 Rector Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10006
Li Yu was a poet, painter, and calligrapher: a bon vivant and a connoisseur of fine arts. Reluctant to be the monarch, Li Yu, the only heir-apparent to his father, Former King of the Southern Tang Kingdom, elevated the Ci poetry from frivolous tunes to the representative poetic genre of the Song dynasty (960-1280), which became a literary equal to the Tang poetry. Li Yu’s Ci poems established him, a disgraced, and in the end a murdered monarch and victim, as the first great Ci composer and remembered ever after as one of the towering master poets in Chinese literature. At this lecture, Mr. Ben Wang, Senior Lecturer and Co-Chair of the Renwen Society at China Institute, will introduce Li Yu’s poems and his legendary life.
李後主與宋詞
李後主名李煜，初名從嘉，字重光，號鍾隱，帝南唐（公元961—975）凡十四年，為後主，因名。後主生于公元937年，自幼文采過人，於詩詞，書畫 （其書法影響宋徽宗瘦金體至深），金石，音律，無不精絕。然唯好風月聲色，沉迷佛教，性格優柔寡斷，不諳政，軍，國事，以致國勢日衰。公元975年宋太祖破南唐，後主肉袒出降，南唐亡。後主被擄至宋都汴梁（今開封），太祖去其號，授違命侯。978年受宋太宗命，服牽機毒藥致死。
李後主為中國詞學開宗大師。其詞亡國前香艷浮華，境界狹窄，主題無非男歡女愛，與當時其他詞人作品相類。亡國後入汴京遭軟禁，一改文風，所有作品皆寓亡國喪家，生命無常之歎，悽婉悲涼，深刻動人，為詞學創出一嶄新領域。詞之能在中國文學中綻放異彩，與唐詩並立，全歸功於李後主一人。中國古典文學史唐宋两代宗師四李，後主即其中一位，（其他為李白，李商隱與李清照三大家）。然開宗詞家，惟後主而已。
華美人文學會訂於今秋11月3日（週六）下午3时至5时特請紐約華美協進社資深教師、華美人文學會共同主席汪班先生作“李後主與宋詞”專題演講，闡述李後主生平，並細析李後主四首不朽詩詞作品：“七言自賦詩”“錦堂春”，“菩薩蠻”，“虞美人”（其絶筆作）。汪班老師數十年來致力研究中國古典文學與戲劇，歷年中英文講座極受全美文化學術界推崇歡迎，李後主為其最精闢課程之一。
歡迎對中國文學有興趣人士屆時到社參加。