[Dutch]J. Huizinga: Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, translated by Cheng Qiong, proofread by Wang Zuohong and Chen Weizheng, Guizhou Publishing Group, Guizhou People’s Publishing House, first edition January 1998, second edition August 2007, 35 yuan—☆
Often, just when I am thinking about certain topics, I can promptly find the book I want at a bookstore, and even at the new-books counter……
This book immediately came out in two editions, one of which (the one I chose) is a reprint, and the other is the latest translation by Huacheng Publishing House (the third Chinese translation), Huizinga: 2007, 9th month, first edition. I compared these two books for quite a while and found that the translation in this second edition still seems slightly better (if you want to get a feel for the unreliability of translation without reading the original, the best way is to compare two different translations of the same book……), and another advantage is that this book preserves the page numbers of the English translation——however, this translation does not indicate the original edition on which it is based, and its price is so high that interested friends may also do well to choose the third translation, published with support from the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Fund for the Creation and Translation of Dutch Literature……
I recommend this book, though there is no need to read it straight through from beginning to end; friends who are interested can read my notes first, and then think “seriously” about the concept of “play” and its significance in human civilization—you will surely gain some insight and something worthwhile from it.
As for“game”, I have talked about it many times before, and will talk about it many times in the future as well, so I won’t say much now—just take a look at the excerpt!
Page 2 of the Chinese translator’s preface2 Just as the work Man: The Player leaves one astonished, so Hu’s death was also rather unexpected. Hu was not only an outstanding scholar, but also a staunch fighter against fascism. He loved democracy and freedom, and detested the autocratic despotism of modern totalitarianism. After the German army’s invasion, Hu was arrested and imprisoned for opposing the Nazi movement in the Netherlands, then held in a small village called Stedje, where he suffered all kinds of torture. On February 1, 1945, on the eve of the liberation of the Netherlands, he finally met his heroic end with indomitable spirit.////—I only want to say that he interpreted the unity of play and seriousness with his life.
Page 1, p1 Even in its simplest forms at the animal level, play is far more than a mere physiological phenomenon or psychological reaction. It goes beyond the sphere of purely bodily activity or purely biological activity. It is a meaningful function; that is to say, it has a certain meaning.–In play, something is “at work” that transcends the immediate necessities of life and endows action with meaning. All play means something. If we were to call this activity principle, which constitutes the essence of play, “instinct”, then we would have explained nothing; if we call it “mind” or “will,”–then we would be overestimating it. However we may regard it, the fact that play has meaning signifies a nonutilitarian quality inherent in the action itself.
Pages 3~4, p3-4 But in accepting play, you accept mind[mind], because whatever play is, it is not matter[matter]. Even in the animal world, play goes beyond the sphere of matter. If one approaches the question from the standpoint of a world wholly ruled by blind forces, then play would be something entirely superfluous; only when the torrent of mind breaks through the absolute control of the cosmos does play become possible, and become something thinkable and intelligible. What continually affirms the non-logical character of the human condition is precisely the existence of play. Animals can play, and therefore they must transcend mere mechanical things. We play and know that we play, and therefore we must transcend mere rational beings, because play is irrational.
Page 5, p5 Those forces that have given a great impetus to civilized life have their roots in myth and ritual: law and order, commerce and profit, craft and art, poetry, wisdom, and science. All these forces are rooted in the original soil of play. The purpose of this book is to show that viewing culture “under the aspect of play”[sub specie ludi] is by no means merely a rhetorical metaphor. This metaphor is not at all new.…… And for us, the whole point is to show that genuine, pure play is one of the principal foundations of civilization.
Page 7, p7 All play is a voluntary activity. Play that follows orders is no longer play; at most it is a compulsory imitation of play. By this voluntary character alone, play lifts itself out of the track of natural processes. Play is something more than a natural process,……
Page 8, p8 Here we thus arrive at the most important characteristic of play, namely, that play is voluntary, is freedom in fact. The second characteristic is closely related to this: play is not “ordinary” or “real” life. On the contrary, it steps out of “real” life into a temporary sphere of activity that nevertheless is completely dominated by it,……
Page 9, p9 The way in which play differs from “ordinary” life is due both to the place where it takes place and to the duration of time it lasts. This is the third main characteristic of play: its closedness, its delimitation. Play is “performed”[play out] within a certain spatiotemporal limit. It contains its own process and meaning.
Page 10, p10 Within the arena of play, there reigns an absolute, special order. Here we encounter another highly positive characteristic of play: it creates order; it is order. It brings a temporary, limited perfection to an imperfect world and a chaotic life. Play’s demand for order is absolute, supreme. The slightest deviation from order “destroys the game,” strips it of its character, and deprives it of value. The profound connection between play and order is perhaps the reason why play— as we noted in passing— seems, to a large extent, to belong to the sphere of aesthetics. Play has certain tendencies toward beauty. This aesthetic factor is quite likely identical with the impulse to create orderly form, which infuses vitality into every aspect of play. Most of the words we use to designate the factor of play belong to the same vocabulary we use to describe aesthetic effects: tension, balance, equilibrium, conflict, variation, dissolution, resolution, and so forth. Play fascinates us; play is “captivating,” “attractive.” Play bears the highest qualities we can discern in things: rhythm and harmony.
Page16,p17 We may say that the social play of antiquity is exactly equivalent to the play of children or animals. Such play already contains from the outset all the factors peculiar to play: order, tension, movement, change, solemnity, rhythm, ecstasy. Only at a later stage of society does play come to be linked with the idea of representing something in play and through play, that is, with what becomes for us “life” or “nature.” At that point, wordless play takes on the form of poetry.
Page16~17,p18 In the form and function of play (which is itself a meaningless, irrational, independent entity), human consciousness of being incorporated into a certain order of sacred things finds its first, highest, and most sacred expression. Gradually, the meaning proper to sacred action permeates play. Ritual is grafted onto play; but the primary thing is, and remains, play.
Page20,p22 The connection between festival and play is necessarily a very close one. Both demand a suspension of everyday life. In both, gaiety and delight reign, though not necessarily—for a festival may also be serious; both combine strict rules with genuine freedom.
Page39,p42 Naturally, we should be inclined to regard music as belonging to the sphere of play, even without these special linguistic examples. Making music from the very beginning possesses all the features of play. The activity begins and ends within a strict spatiotemporal framework, is repeatable, and essentially contains order, rhythm, and variation; it can lead listeners and performers alike out of “everyday” life into a state of joy and tranquility, a state that can even give sorrowful music a certain sublime delight. In other words, that state can “elevate” listeners and performers and make them “ecstatic.” Thus, it is easy enough to understand why all music should be subsumed under the name of play.
Page42,p45 Play is affirmative, whereas the serious is negative. … The serious is simply “non-play,” and that is all. The meaning of “play,” on the other hand, is in no way defined or employed by calling it “non-serious” or “not serious.” Play is something distinctive. As such a thing, play has a higher order than seriousness, because seriousness always seeks to exclude play, whereas play can inclusively embrace seriousness within itself.
Page 43, p46 When speaking of the play element in culture, what we mean is not that among the various activities of cultural life, play occupies an important place, nor that civilization arose through an evolutionary process in the following sense: that something which was originally play evolved into something that was no longer play and could therefore be called culture. The standpoint adopted in the chapters below is this: culture arises in the form of play, that is, culture is played from the very beginning. Even those activities aimed at directly satisfying the needs of survival, such as hunting, in ancient societies tended to take the form of play. Social life, too, was endowed with a super-biological form, that is, with the form of play, and this raised the value of social life. It was precisely through this play that society expressed its interpretation of life and the world. When we say this, we do not mean that play became culture, but that culture in its earliest phases bore the character of play; that is, culture developed in the form and attitude of play.
Page 44, p46-47 When a culture is on the move, whether advancing or retreating, the primordial relation we have posited between play and non-play will never remain unchanged. In general, the play element gradually recedes into the background, is for the most part absorbed by the sacred sphere, and what remains of it crystallizes into knowledge: folklore, poetry, philosophy, and the various forms of juridical and social life. The original play element thus becomes almost entirely hidden behind cultural phenomena. But at any time, even in a highly developed civilization, this play “instinct” can reaffirm itself with full force, engulfing the individual and the multitude in the ecstasy of some splendid game.
Page 61, p64 Thus virtue, honor, nobility, glory, and the like have from the outset fallen within the sphere of competition, that is, the sphere of play. The life of the young warrior of noble birth is a continual training in virtue, a continual struggle for the honor of the class to which he belongs. This ideal finds perfect expression in the famous lines of Homer: … (“always to strive to be first and to surpass others”)
Page 71~72, p75 In ancient Greece, there was no transformation from “war to play,” nor any transformation from play to war; what existed was only a culture that developed in playful competition. In Greece, as everywhere else, the play element was present and meaningful from the very beginning. Our point of departure is precisely the childlike concept of play; this notion is embodied in all kinds of play, some serious, some mocking, but all rooted in ritual and all products of culture, because these games allow the human being’s inner need for rhythm, harmony, alternation, change, contrast, climax, and so forth to unfold in all its richness and fullness. Twin to this play-consciousness is the spirit of the pursuit of honor. Magic and mystery, heroic aspiration, the meaning of music, sculpture, and logic—all seek their form and expression in noble play. The next generation would then call the age that understood these aspirations the “heroic” age.
Page 72, p75 During the growth of a civilization, the function of competition attains its most beautiful and most conspicuous form in that civilization’s classical phase. As civilization becomes more complex, more diverse, and more burdensome, as the techniques of production and social life itself are better organized, the soil of ancient culture is gradually covered over and stifled by systems of ideas, thought, and knowledge, by dogmas, rules and regulations, morals and customs, all of which have lost their connection with play. At that point we say that civilization has become more serious; such a civilization gives play only a secondary place, the age of heroes is over, and the age of competition too seems to have become a thing of the past.
Page 85, p89 Ever since there have been words for fighting and for play, people have been accustomed to calling war a game.
Page 92, p96 Even if it is only a fiction, these images that view war as a noble game of honor and virtue still play an important role in advancing civilization, because it is precisely from these images that the idea of chivalry arises, and thus, in the end, international law arises as well. Of these two factors, the chivalric factor did the most to propel medieval civilization forward, and however much this ideal may have been misunderstood in reality, it nonetheless remains the foundation of international law.
Page 107~108, p111-112 We can draw the following conclusion: riddles originally arose from sacred play, and as such, riddles completely canceled out any possible distinction between play and seriousness. They are both at once: on the one hand, a most important ritual factor, and on the other hand, in essence, a game. With the evolution of civilization, riddles too developed in two directions, one toward mystical philosophy, the other toward entertainment. But in this development, we cannot say that seriousness degenerated into play, nor that play was elevated into seriousness. Rather, the matter is this: civilization gradually produced a certain differentiation between these two kinds of mental life, which we distinguish respectively as play and seriousness; but originally they constituted a unified mental medium, and civilization arose out of that medium.
Page 115, p119 When it comes to the origins of Greek philosophy and its connection with the sacred contest embodied in knowledge and wisdom, we inevitably have to touch upon the blurred boundary between religious or philosophical modes of expression and poetic modes of expression. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore the nature of poetic creation. In a certain sense, this issue is the key to all discussion of the relation between play and culture. This is because, in the more highly organized forms of society, religion, science, law, war, and politics gradually lose their connection with play(this is especially evident in earlier stages), whereas the function of the poet remains confined to the field of play in which it was born. In fact, poiesis[poetry] is itself a mode of play. It operates within the play-space of the mind, that is, within the world the mind creates for it. The things in this world possess characteristics quite unlike those of the things in “everyday life”; they are bound together by ties[ties] rather than by logic and causality. If a serious proposition may be defined by the awakening of life, then poetry will never attain the level of seriousness. Poetry lies beyond seriousness, on a more primitive and more original plane(where children, animals, savages, and contemplatives all dwell), inhabiting the realm of dream, intoxication, ecstasy, and laughter. To understand poetry, we must be able to don the soul of a child as though putting on a magic garment, and we must be able to renounce adult wisdom in order to possess the wisdom of a child.
Page116~117,p120 The ancient poet’s true title wasvates, meaning the seized one[the possessed], the spirit-possessed one[the Godsimtted], and the dream-mumbler. These titles simultaneously also signify his possession of extraordinary knowledge. As the ancient Arabs called them, the poet is one who knows. In the mythic lore of ancient Iceland, the mead one had to drink in order to become a poet was brewed from the blood of Kvasir[Kvasir]. Kvasir was the wisest of all created beings and was never stumped by any question. Gradually, the poet-seer[the poet–seer]split into prophet, priest, consoler, proclaimer of mystic doctrines, and what we now call the poet; even the philosopher, lawgiver, orator, demagogue, sage, and rhetorician all emerged from this original mixed type ofvates. In the early Greek poets one can trace their common ancestor. What the poet obviously fulfills is a social function; they speak as educators and prefects of their people. They are the nation’s guides, a status later taken over by the Sophists[Sophists].
Page118,p122 In terms of the original creative power of culture, poetry arose in play and as play—undoubtedly, this is a sacred play, yet even in its sacred solemnity it always tends toward wantonness, irony, and joy. At this stage there is as yet no question of satisfying an aesthetic impulse. This impulse still lies dormant within the experience of such ritual action, and from this experience poetry emerges in the form of hymns or odes composed amid ritual fervor. But poetry did not arise only in this way, for poetic capacity also wells up out of social change and the grave antagonisms among clans, families, and tribes.……
Page126,p129 I think we may boldly say that the seriousness of myth is exactly the same as that of poetry. Like anything else that transcends the domain of logic and deliberative judgment, myth and poetry operate within the realm of play. This is not to say that this is a lower realm, for myth can soar high above the heights of insight inaccessible to reason.
Page158,p161 Aristotle points out: “Most people nowadays make music for amusement, but the ancients placed it within education, because nature demands that we not only work well, but also repose well.”
Page165,p168 A theory that explains the origins of the plastic arts by an innate “play instinct” was proposed long ago by Schiller. We certainly cannot deny that human beings have an almost instinctive, inborn need to ornament things; this need can conveniently be called a play function.
Page170,p173 It is already easy for us to prove that throughout the entire cultural process there is an active element of play, and that this element of play has produced many important forms of social life. The spirit of playful competition, as a social impulse, is older than culture itself and, like a true yeast, permeates every aspect of life. Ritual arises from sacred play; poetry is born in play and flourishes in play; music and dance are pure play. Wisdom and philosophy find their expression in words and forms stemming from religious competition. The rules of war and the customs of a noble way of life were all established in various kinds of play. Therefore, we cannot but arrive at the conclusion that civilization in its initial stage was played into being. It did not come forth from play as an infant emerges from the womb; rather, it came into being in play and as play, and never departed from play.
Page199,p202 All these cases make it impossible for us to think that contemporary art contains a play element. Since the 18th century, precisely because art has been regarded as a cultural factor, it has clearly lost, rather than strengthened, its playful color. But is this final outcome a gain or a loss? As we feel with music, one cannot help thinking that art knows nothing of the noble interests and beauty it creates, and that this is its good fortune. If art becomes self-conscious—that is, if it can become aware of its own beauty—it is very liable to lose its childlike innocence.
Page 207, p212 Late Greek tradition, speaking of Heraclitus, says: “He called all human thought child’s play” (“Fragments” 70). We shall quote at length Plato’s profound remarks (which we cited in the first chapter of this book) as a supplement to this precise statement: “Although human affairs need not be too serious, they still require seriousness; happiness is another matter. … I think that one must take seriousness seriously, and cannot do so in any other way. Only a god is worthy of the highest seriousness, but human beings were made as toys for God’s play, and that is the best part of them. Therefore every man and woman should live accordingly; all should play the noblest game and possess a different spirit from the one they now have. For they think war is a serious thing, although in war neither play nor culture—which are the things we think most serious—can be called serious. Therefore all people must live in peace as much as possible. So what is the right way of life? Life must be lived as play: play games, make sacrifices, sing and dance, so that human beings may appease the gods, may be spared the attacks of enemies, and may prevail in competition.” Thus, “people will live according to nature, for in many respects they are puppets and possess but little truth.” Plato’s interlocutor then says: “My friend, if you say that, you are making human nature into something utterly corrupt.” Plato replies: “Forgive me; it is my eyes, which look at the gods and are moved by them, that have made me say this. If you wish to understand it that way, then human nature is not entirely bad. Rather, it is worthy of some consideration.” (“Laws” 803-4, see also 685)
Page 207, p212 The human mind can only escape the magic circle of play by turning toward the Ultimate.
Page 208, p213 Whenever, once more, we are made dizzy by the recurring thought of “what is play” and “what is seriousness,” we shall again discover in the realm of ethics that fixed and immovable point that logic cannot give us. We initially said that play exists outside morality. Play itself is neither good nor evil. But if we must decide whether the actions our will compels us to perform are serious obligations or merely play, then our moral conscience immediately presents us with a standard of judgment. Once truth and justice, compassion and tolerance take part in determining our actions, the anxious question that has been troubling us loses all meaning. A little compassion is enough to lift our actions beyond rational weighing. Since conscience, which is moral knowledge, indeed arises from belief in justice and divine grace, conscience will always overpower this question, which up to the very end keeps evading and deceiving us, with an eternal silence.
2007年10月11日
· tom
The differences among Chinese editions of this book are as great as the differences in people’s understanding of the book itself, so much so that if you want to buy a good edition, you really do have to put some thought into it!
I’ve already bookmarked the article myself!
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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