Chapter 71 noble by sorrow

——Reading Wang Gang's "English", to young readers Read this new novel by Wang Gang and enjoy the sadness. I rarely feel the urge to get to know someone after reading a book by an author I have never met.Mr. Qian Zhongshu once said that if you think eggs are delicious, you can eat them, why should you not see the chicken that lays eggs?Sincerely said. But I have occasional exceptions. One time, after reading Wang Xiaobo's book in a bookstore, I not only thought it was very good, but also wanted to know and talk to him. Later, he really came to my house at my invitation, and we had a great time together. Afterwards, I had two dinner parties in the small restaurant downstairs of my house, but it was a pity that he passed away not long after that, which made me sad for a long time.Another time, I read Wang Gang's "The Back of the Moon", and asked someone to tell me if I could come and talk.He came, and when I sincerely praised him for his good writing, he suddenly lost his composure and tears welled up in his eyes.When I dated Wang Xiaobo and Wang Gang, I was already on the fringes of leaving work and being unemployed. They did not give up, and they also attached great importance to my reaction to their works, which somewhat surprised me.

I appreciate Wang Gang's "The Backside of the Moon" mainly because he is not only familiar with the people and things he describes, but also rolled over from the stage and the crowd, so it is not only generally vivid and profound, It can be said that it penetrates the back of the paper and penetrates three points.I didn't write an article about "The Back of the Moon", but I recommended it to many people, including many young people who were a year or two younger than Wang Gang. Their reaction was that they agreed that it was enjoyable and interesting. "Investment is dead" and such exaggerated emotions after reading, I feel that as a book writer, Wang Gang is at least reaping beans.

Later, I seldom heard news of Wang Gang writing novels, and I also forgot about him in the Jianghu. Suddenly, a copy of his new novel "Ingrid" appeared in front of him.What I expected was a sequel to "The Back of the Moon", but it wasn't the first time I read it.But why does Wang Gang have to take care of expectations from any quarter?He only writes according to his inner impulse.Such a writing starting point makes the work possible to succeed from the very beginning. In terms of characters, story, details, dialogue, I don't think it's all that weird. The "Cultural Revolution" and the dual suppression of politics and sexuality in the context of the extreme left before and after, not to mention foreign writers, even local writers, have accumulated a lot of texts. The extramarital affairs or extramarital sexual relations written in "Ingrid", and the teenagers' sexual ignorance to sexual enlightenment, are all too normal. There is no sexual perversion in the whole book, and the evil of human nature can only be regarded as trivial Evil, all the characters are mediocre and cute, which somewhat surprises me.It may be that Wang Gang just wanted to write this book as a memoir or a confession with his real name hidden. He did not open his own imaginative wings. When he grasped the text, he was trying to stick to the vivid memory of the young man. Like Rodin was engaged in sculpture, he only removed those things that he thought were redundant in this book, so that the original ecology in the memory could be accurately displayed.If these materials are processed by other writers, or Wang Gang himself writes in another mood and writing state, it is easy to change the characters and plot prototypes to be richer, more treacherous, and more avant-garde and innovative through imagination and fiction. Stimulating.For example, when the benevolent English teacher was struggling in the deep quagmire of sexual anguish, it was entirely possible for him to be sincere and fearful in the same-sex friendship in the despair of failed courtship, voyeuristic miscalculation, and irreparable lust. seeking compensation.Cao Xueqin had already made such a statement through the mouth of Jia's mother: "What's the matter! The children are young and greedy like cats, so they can't be kept there. Everyone has been beaten like this since childhood." Now The English teacher in the book was completely wronged. He stood on the shoulder of "I" and failed to peek at the beautiful woman's body. In fact, he saw it clearly and couldn't help masturbating while peeping, so what?If it was Maupassant or Leo Tolstoy, how would he feel about the plot of this character in his works?If we still have different guesses on this, then, if it is written by Kenzaburo Oe or Naipaul, our answers may easily converge.And in all these writers, the gentlemanly English teacher still retains the extraordinary kindness that makes readers palpitate.

As the imagery covering the whole book, the thick dictionary, and the connotation of the symbol "English" as the title of the book are still lacking in expression.Language is the carrier of culture. The cultural charm of "Ingrid", the protagonist's inner reaction to this charm, which was especially devilish at the time, should be revealed in more detail.This is where I'm not satisfied. But my narrative strategy for the whole work, or the narrative tone, is not set rationally at all, but rather It is the narrative sentiment flowing from the heart, which is very satisfying.

This is exactly what I long for and what I intend to recommend to my readers. The mood that runs through the whole book is sadness. Some critics pointed out that the image of the English teacher in the book is steeped in benevolence. Kindness is a noble quality, and noble qualities often need to be enhanced with the help of sadness.There are many such examples in history: Once a tyrant is sad, he either pardons his political opponents or temporarily lays down the butcher knife.And once a humble existence doesn't know why it is sad, it may also do extremely cruel things. Come, come, come, read "Inglis", and enjoy the sadness.On page 53 of this book, the author, who should be the "I" in the novel, wrote about the English teacher: "I often ask myself: in memory, whenever I face his smile , why are you always sad?" This is a question that doesn't need an answer.Blessed is the man who can grieve.

In today's world, many people are sad but not sad, sad but not hurt, hated but not hurt, angry but not hurt, and sadness has become a rare life emotion. Because of this, "Ingrid" has the characteristics of German Stowe in the last century. The well-timed charm like Mu, it can remind the people of the country: why don't you know how to be sad? Sorrow urges repentance, sorrow urges forgiveness.If sorrow cannot cleanse the world, at least it can cleanse oneself. Chen Huangmei, a senior in the cultural circles who has passed away for many years—I don’t know how many young people today know who he is, but he was quite an influential figure in the last century—said to me: “I I don't like terms like 'a touch of sadness' the least." I don't know who said "a touch of sadness", but I'm not at all offended when I hear it.Chen Huangmei was a novelist when he was young, and his article "On the Yangtze River" had an impact.He gave me a collection of novels newly printed after the "Cultural Revolution". After reading "On the Yangtze River", I read a little sadness.The title of his last novel was "The Man Who Sings in the Church". Although he tried his best to remove the melancholy factor from his text and make it full of heroic revolutionary accents, his title still led me to this question. The faint sorrow of the reader—as far as fiction is concerned, he has regressed too quickly.He didn't "forget about leaving behind". With the progress of the revolution, he withdrew his hands from novels and became a cultural official in charge of films. "February", "Stage Sisters" and other "big poisonous weeds" were criticized, and later imprisoned. It was not until the fall of the "Gang of Four" that they regained their freedom and returned to the cultural center.When I got acquainted with him, he must have been well aware of such an unwritten "reason"-as far as human emotions are concerned, if we judge them politically, sadness is definitely not an emotion that can be accommodated by revolution, "There is no way out." Want to turn back", as a person who has experienced it, he taught me earnestly: don't be with "a touch of sadness"-dangerous!stop!

But I can't change my temper that likes to be sad.This sentence can also be regarded as self-praise.Of course, sadness can't all be attributed to "light sadness". Sad emotions are also diverse, very complicated, and quite treacherous.Now no one will be criticized and punished for being sad or pursuing "a touch of sadness", but this kind of emotional factors have become rare, and novels like Wang Gang's which are entirely written with sadness seem to be rare. "The Back of the Moon" is still outdated now, but there is no sadness in that text. "Ingrid" can be sad,

I thought it was a sign of maturity.Reading this book and being able to appreciate sadness, I thought I could approach or enter a noble state of mind. Some people may ask: If all writers become sad, and even affect the society to be sad too much, will you still appreciate sadness at that time?I will too.Because one kind of thing suddenly becomes a swarm or a wave, it does not necessarily mean that there is an oversupply, there must be a lot of fake and inferior products in it, and the real sadness can be identified from the chaos of a large number of fake and inferior sadness, and then in-depth Appreciation, its aesthetic pleasure will definitely be more intense.

The world may really develop to the point where there are too many true sorrows, so what?I never answer prophetic questions, and this is where my reflections on "The English" end. Goodbye!