China and the West

[Ibsen, Henrik]. Yibusheng ji. Pan Jiaxun yi [ID D26174].
He Chengzhou : Pan calls Ibsen a social reformer in favour of individual development. "For Ibsen, democracy and the politics of the majority are but nonsense. The only way to reform society is to let individuals have their talent fully devloped". Regarding Ibsen's change of language from verse to prose, Pan explains : "Ibsen was determined to diagnose the symptomes of the sick all over society, so he had to employ a clear and exact prose as his tool. Otherwise, the symptoms cannot be explained thoroughly". Pan suggests at the end of his essay, that it is difficult to interpret what Ibsen really means in his plays. "For readers who are careless and can't really get into Ibsen's dramatic world, Ibsen is certainly very difficult to comprehend. Even those who read him very carefully and with all attention won't always be able to get what the writer really means".