Chapter 18 Section 4: A Glimpse of Intellectuals' Spiritual Struggle: "Red Bean"

Most of the writers who were active in the field of literary creation in the 1950s were intellectuals who had experienced revolutionary practice. They used their own growth experience as proof that they believed that intellectuals could become true proletarian revolutionaries after being tested by revolutionary practice.Therefore, in the modern historical themes of that period, many protagonists were growing intellectuals.However, for the same reasons as "Red Flag Spectrum", such a creative tendency that highlights the revolutionary experience of intellectuals does not conform to the new cultural norms, which makes writers have to be scruples when describing their own experiences. Truly digging out the pain, struggle, and self-struggle in the depths of the soul that intellectuals felt when they participated in the revolutionary practice, nor can they faithfully describe the rich spiritual feelings and spiritual sublimation experienced by intellectuals in the process of growing up.And the naked spiritual autobiographical narrative mode like "The Rich Man's Sons and Daughters" in the 1940s is almost gone.In this sense, we chose Zong Pu's short story as the object of discussion, precisely because it expresses the narrative perspective of the intellectuals in such a short space. The life choices and inner conflicts faced in the torrent of the era where great joy is intertwined.

In July 1957, it was recommended and published by "People's Literature" "Innovation Extra Large" as a "newcomer's work". The "Anti-Rightist Movement" has been fully launched, so it has become the last batch of swan songs in the short-lived "Hundred Flowers Era".After the novel was published, "People's Daily", "China Youth Daily", and "Literary Monthly" criticized it for nearly a year, believing that the work promoted the "human touch" and love view of the bourgeoisie.In fact, the profound ideological connotation and artistic passion contained in this work far exceed the love novels in the general sense.

Through the love tragedy between college students Jiang Mei and Qi Hong due to differences in life attitudes and political positions, the work tells the story of an intellectual who chooses his own life path in the face of great changes in the times.Although love is the main responsibility of the content of the story, it is not the theme of the work.What the writer wants to express is this kind of "struggle at the crossroads" in life.The reason why the writer chooses a love story to express this theme is because "on the road of our life, there are crossroads constantly appearing. The choice of the motherland, revolution and love, the choice of family, the break between the new self and the old self, all kinds of struggles are carried out in the flesh and blood of oneself, of course it is very painful.”15 And the writer just needs this kind of “inside oneself The pain of "fighting" among the flesh and blood to show the difficulty of intellectuals making choices at the crossroads and the joy of making successful choices.From the writer's confession, it is not difficult for us to feel the spiritual style and artistic pursuit similar to Lu Ling's creation of "The Rich Man's Sons and Daughters".

In terms of character creation, Zong Pu is completely independent. The protagonist Jiang Mei was not a hero at the beginning, and she did not become a hero in the end. The protagonist) and other intellectuals "integrated with workers and peasants". At the beginning of the work, a pure and lovely female college student appeared in front of readers, "playing the piano in class during the day, reading reference books in the library at night, and going home on Saturday .My mother came down from the steps lined with oleanders to greet her, and her life was as isolated from the world as the pink oleanders." In 1948, when she was a sophomore in college, two physics seniors The appearance of the student changed her life path.Her new roommate Xiao Su "always gives comfort, knowledge and strength", and soon brought her into a new world, let her understand some simple revolutionary principles, and led her to join the revolutionary movement step by step among.And "the old elephant is dreaming" Qi Hong silently broke into her emotional world with his high spirits when playing the piano, and their common interest in music and literature linked them together, and soon she was involved. Into the vortex of love.The writer described Jiang Mei's emotional changes in these two aspects very delicately. On the one hand, under the influence of Xiao Su, she more and more actively participated in social activities. The poetry recitation in Red May, and then, with the righteous indignation of the nation, participated in the Beijing student parade of "anti-Americanism and support the Japanese" as an ambulance team, and finally in the parade protesting the massacre of young students from the Northeast by the Kuomintang, Went to the forefront of the team.On the other hand, the relationship between her and Qi Hong got deeper and deeper, and the contradictions became more and more acute. "Their love is just like opium, which makes people miserable, but it can never be broken." The People's Liberation Army, who was overwhelmed like this, still agreed to Qi Hong's departure to the United States. She had to make her own choice.Jiang Mei's emotions were slender at first, even a bit of moaning, but later, although they became richer and broke out, they were still very sensitive and sentimental.The writer boldly goes deep into Jiang Mei's inner world, and writes meticulously about her so-called "petty bourgeois" feelings and psychological changes in love as an intellectual woman.The love between Jiang Mei and Qi Hong has always been developing amidst the changes of the current situation, and it has always changed under the background that Jiang Mei is more and more concerned about the social situation. And twists and turns, ups and downs.

The writer's description of Jiang Mei, a female college student in the process of growing up, got rid of the influence of formulas, and the portrayal of Xiao Su, the leader of the student movement, did not fall into the cliché of conceptualization.Xiao Su's greatest role in her works is to influence Jiang Mei to embark on the road of revolution, but she has her own personality, frank and pungent, upright and brave, and she has her own style. Speak the truth, be down-to-earth, and practice.Under her influence, any changes in Jiang Mei will not surprise readers.In contrast, Qi Hong's image lacks three-dimensionality and is a bit thin.Although the writer showed the process of exposing his selfish nature, emphasized the sharp contrast of his personality before and after, and also noticed his complex performance in the process of love, but still explored the side of "he really should know life best and love life most". Not enough, so that after Jiang Mei had clearly seen the fundamental differences between them and became an active member of the student movement, she still could not make a clean break with him, and still wavered at the last moment, etc., lacking sufficient basis.

Although it is a short story, the social level and artistic style it reflects are obviously higher than the modern historical novels at that time, which mainly focused on grand historical narratives.The poetic artistic conception and prose brushwork form the unique artistic style of the work, while the warm and romantic sentiment and strong and implicit human touch form the unique literati charm of the work.The use of flashbacks helps the writer create a small world of love in the stormy atmosphere of the times, while Jiang Mei's nostalgic emotions and uncontrollable tears caused by "red beans" give the work a kind of tender "sentimental beauty". [[Comment:]]

1 Quoted from Li Liuru's "Sixty Years of Change: Preface", People's Literature Publishing House, 1981 edition. 2 Quoted from Liang Bin's "On the Creation of "Red Flag Spectrum"", "People's Literature", No. 6, 1959. 3 Quoted from Hu Feng's "Poems at the Bottom of Youth", collected in "Hu Feng Selected Works", Volume 1, Sichuan People's Publishing House, 1995, page 184. 4 "Red Flag Spectrum", China Youth Publishing House, published in December 1957. 5 Quoted from the second volume of "Contemporary Chinese Literature", p. 80.Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House 1984 edition.

6 Quoted from Feng Mu and Huang Zhaoyan's "Picture Scroll of Life in the New Era", published in "Literary News" No. 19, 1956. 7 Quoted from Liang Bin's "On the Creation of "Red Flag Spectrum"", "People's Literature", No. 6, 1959. 8 At that time, Zhou Yang had already issued a warning in his report at the first Cultural Congress: "When the Chinese people have struggled under the leadership of the Communist Party of China for more than 20 years, they have already achieved a high degree of political awareness and organization , are engaged in the great action of determining China's destiny, if we do not make every effort to get close to them and describe them, but still stay in the relatively narrow circle that intellectuals are used to, then we will not only be seriously divorced from the masses , and it also seriously violates the truth of history and the principle of realism." Quoted from the first volume of "Zhou Yang Anthology", People's Literature Publishing House, 1984 edition, p. 514.

9 Quoted from Liang Bin's "On the Creation of "Red Flag Spectrum"", "People's Literature", No. 6, 1959. 10 "A Merry Christmas" is divided into five volumes: "Three Families Alley" (1959), "Bitter Struggle" (1962), "Wild Willows and Blossoms" (1981), "Holy Land" (1983), and "Evergreen" (1985). In 1997, the author re-edited the whole book, renamed it "Sanjiaxiang", divided it into four volumes, and canceled the title of the divided volumes. (See Ouyang Shan's "Preface to the Complete Book of School Reform "Sanjiaxiang", contained in "New Literature Historical Materials" No. 4, 1998).This textbook discusses the first volume of "A Merry Christmas", "Sanjiaxiang", which was originally published.Guangdong Publishing House, 1959 edition.

12 Quoted from Ouyang Shan's Preface to "A Generation of Love", contained in "Works" New Volume 1, No. 8, 1962. 13, first published in 1958 by China Drama Publishing House. 13 is the homonym of trust, but Xiao Mazi Liu has another explanation for this in the work, see the third act. 14 Quoted from Lao She's "Response to a Question About "Tea House", collected in "Lao She Research Materials" (Part 1), Beijing Shiyue Literature and Art Publishing House "Research Materials Series of Modern Chinese Writers", 1985 edition, p. 640.

15 Quoted from Zong Pu's "Reminiscences of "Red Bean"", collected in "Selected Novels of Chinese Women Writers", published by Jiangsu People's Publishing House in 1981.