Chapter 117 drop heels

I saw two articles in succession recently, both emphasizing that writers should stand on the side of the poor.The two articles were published in newspaper supplements in different regions, and the authors were not the same. It can be said that "heroes see the same thing".The reason why there are such discussions is because now—accurately speaking, since the 1980s, in literary creation—not only in literature, but also in art fields such as film and television—more and more " The seed of "beautiful wealth"--now it should be said that it is no longer a seed, but a tree that is growing vigorously.It tells the stories of people who got rich first in the past 20 years, puts the rich people at the center of the narrative, and tries to guide readers or audiences to resonate with their emotions.There are quite a few such texts, but unfortunately not many seem to be successful—there is a hundred-episode soap opera that vividly shows how men and women who have already become rich encounter career hardships in stately managers' offices and luxurious villas. with emotional twists and turns.It cannot be said that it is unreal, but it is a pity that whether it is the reality of life contained in it or the reality of art created by the artist, it took 100 episodes and still failed to achieve the desired effect.Because our society is developing so rapidly from denying the market economy to affirming and vigorously promoting the market economy, so in literature and art, there has also been a group of individuals and their families who have taken the lead in business success in the past century. Excavating, reshaping, carrying forward, and making things bigger are not too small waves.There are only one drama and one movie based on Quanjude's family history, and they have been well received in terms of conception and art.In the past few nights, I have also watched a series on TV that was adapted from a novel and told about the fortune of the Ruifuxiang silk merchants.It seems that there are works that actively set up monuments for wealthy businessmen and tycoons in local history. For example, works about Shanxi money merchants and Huizhou merchants, I have some impressions.Despite the voices I mentioned above calling for the side of the poor, I believe that there will be works that set up biographies for the rich in history and the new rich today.And among them, there must be some works that have received wide acclaim—because even the relatively lame works among them know how to write about the multifaceted social evaluation and the treacherous fate of the rich man who is the protagonist. The complexity of human nature--I predict that writing texts about the difficulty of making a fortune for the rich has gone through years of step-by-step development, and new breakthroughs are expected in the new century.

Whether a work takes the rich as the protagonist or the poor as the protagonist is basically just a matter of subject matter or narrative angle. The writer should have full freedom in how he chooses materials and how he wants to narrate, and there seems to be no need for debate. .The two articles mentioned above do not seem to simply oppose the rich man as the protagonist, or choose the method of "narrating" from the perspective of the rich man in terms of narrative strategy.The premise of their criticism is: Which side does the writer's sympathy lean toward?In their view, some works are indeed on the side of the rich, beautifying the rich, adoring the rich, and flattering the rich, which has become a problem.

It is probably inaccurate to say that writing works about the failure of the rich is due to the author's stance.As far as their political stance is concerned, they should even be the first to be affirmed-their positive performances. People who got rich first in the tide of reform and opening up, needless to say, have closely cooperated with political propaganda, at least they have potential motives; To cleanse the pioneers of the market economy, especially to show their perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit, and especially to show their traditional morality and patriotic righteousness, and it goes without saying that they can use the past as a metaphor for the present-or say It is the political enthusiasm of the past to inspire the present.Their problem, I am afraid, is not in the "poor" and "rich" selection of materials, but in alienating the nature of literature.

Does the writer enter, or at least approach, the nature of literature by standing on the side of the poor?It seems that the problem cannot be understood in such a simplistic way.Although there are interspersed images of poor people like Grandma Liu in the gems of Chinese classical novels, the whole story is definitely about the rich.Western writers such as Galsworthy of the United Kingdom wrote "The Possessives", which has a large volume of monumental biographies for bankers, and Thomas Mann of Germany wrote a history of four generations of rich merchants, which is the history of the proletariat in old Russia. Gorky, who was appreciated by the revolutionary Lenin, although he wrote novels and plays "The Bottom" for the poor, he also had artistically even more wonderful novels for the rich, "The Career of the Artamonovs", "Foma Gower", etc. Geyev" and the play "Yegor Brechev", there are many examples that can be cited-these have become classics of human literature, although they have a ruthless exposure and severe criticism of the rich people they write, But it is not necessarily on the side of the poor.For example, the author is firmly on the side of the noble and wealthy women in the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling". Lovely, lamentable and even respectable heroine.

Taking the poor as the protagonists and writing works from the standpoint of the poor, from 1949 to 1976, he was the ABC engaged in literary creation in the Mainland.Even in the 1980s, especially after 1985, although there was a surge of new literary trends, the breakthrough in form at that time, the so-called subversion of the text, overwhelmed the impression of rich and poor in the selection of materials—whether Liu Suola’s works The "No Choice" group is still the "No Theme Variation" group described by Xu Xing. Although the characters are new, they are quite rich in rebellious spirit, and they are still cash-strapped in terms of material and money. It’s the same, writing about the rich, writing about the rich, and showing people who want to be rich began to become popular, and this is by no means groundless, most of them are not fabricated by Xiangbi—the mainland has indeed begun to appear since 1949. The amount of personal wealth is staggering of a small group.And among the vast majority of people who have not yet owned so much personal wealth, many people have unconsciously formed the value concept of taking personal wealth as the standard of success or failure, especially the younger generation.Middle school students fill out the form, come across the "Composition" column, and ask their parents: "What is the composition of our family?" The answer is "poor peasants", or "urban poor". After 1992, however, it led to a strong sense of inferiority -- "How could our family not be a rich peasant?", "Why wasn't grandpa a capitalist back then."Under such a social and psychological background, there is a wave of literature and art that seeks to be rich, praises the rich, thirsts for the rich, and flatters the rich. Publishers are particularly active in "selling the rich." It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the fate of China's social development through interactive incentives.

Therefore, rather than saying that some literary artists have problems in their creation, it is better to say that our society has not adjusted its values ​​and solved the unfair distribution of social wealth, especially in the starting point and process of obtaining wealth. The big question that hangs over everything.Regarding the poor and the rich, spirit and material, morality and profit... People's cognition has been confused. "Forbes" ranks the world's richest man every year, compared to "Grammy"'s ranking of pop music or " The "Oscar" ranking of commercial films seems to be talked about more in the mainland. In 2000, the newspapers started a new upsurge of publicity about "knowledgeable family".It is said that the most profitable capital is no longer "capital" but "knowledge". Therefore, entering a cutting-edge university to master cutting-edge technology, get a cutting-edge degree and earn a living with cutting-edge technology, for parents who are raising their children, including other Grandparents and grandparents have become an urgent and constant anxiety in life—however, the country's education management departments are implementing "burden reduction" for primary and middle school students with great fanfare, and it is often this page of the same newspaper that promotes "burden reduction". ", but the page was bragging that only by becoming a "knowledgeable family" can you be promising.The logic between the two discourses is still not complete, and there are obvious disagreements on the way of reasoning. In real life, as far as I know, many parents would rather believe in the "knowledge-based theory" than agree with the "quality-oriented education theory". They secretly added to the "minus" that was subtracted by the school, and even said "I will add to what others have subtracted, and the chances of the child being admitted to a key middle school or a prestigious university will inevitably increase, and it will be cheaper!" Some college students who engage in "tutoring" after school told me that the seller's market for "tutoring" is now optimistic, and it is a good time to increase the remuneration!I have said so many things that seem to have nothing to do with current literature and art, but they are actually closely related. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see. Modern literary and artistic works with the theme of "Knowledge Ben", from novels to soap operas, will soon become popular. Will come to the market.

The situation is very complicated, with many and unclear factors, and no one can be blamed rashly. As far as the phenomenon is concerned, in the past eight or nine years, many writers and by extension, many literary and artistic creators, and then expanded to many Few cultural people, in the great changes of social transformation, with the rupture, floating, confusion, and ambiguity of the entire social value concept, can't get on their heels, and trot all the way on tiptoe, trying to "keep up with the pace of the times", the result is Out of breath, he put down a series of timely publications that he wrote or edited, but after all, he still didn't find the most suitable position for himself. When others looked at him, the trajectory he ran out was not even a circle, or even It's like "random steps" like "nine chains".

As far as the current cultural landscape, especially the literary landscape is concerned, it is by no means an exaggeration to describe it as diverse.Some people may disagree with the use of "plurality" and advocate the use of "variety".But since "Who Is the Cutest Person" and, for example, "The Cotai Strip", and "Song of Youth" and the newly released youngest generation of female writers are all legal publications in our bookstore, They are displayed together for readers or literary consumers to choose freely. You can never say that the difference between them is just different "styles", rather than the presentation of completely different aesthetic "yuan".In the pluralistic pattern, there are also quite a few writers who have consciously dropped their heels, chose their own positions, and will not move easily.After a little observation, we can find that in addition to the choice of "writing about the rich" and "writing about the poor", there are many other choices, such as "writing about yourself", and that "self" may be more important than knowledge. The poor who are both poor in wealth are much richer, but compared to those who are both spiritually and materially rich, they are obviously insufficient. If they are not classified, they may be the so-called "middle class". The "middle pedigree" has the richest color, from the well-behaved moral watchman to the perverted and proud character of the promiscuous hippie, there are all kinds of characters.There are also those who criticize the decadence of officialdom and expose corruption, although some of them are only "records of the scene", or clean up the shocking corruption mess with Bao formula's upright officials. However, these works can undoubtedly be considered to be on the side of the poor (the laid-off workers of state-owned enterprises, the low-income urbanites, the unemployed in society, especially those who have been persecuted and wronged among them), at least to give them a sigh of relief.

But now that there are voices calling for standing on the side of the poor and criticizing the "favoring the rich", it can be seen that in the pluralistic structure, how to determine the value standard of the writer and what solid things heels on should indeed constitute an issue that should be discussed at the moment. The problem. As mentioned above, the result of my thinking is that whether it is good to write about the rich, the poor, the middle class, or the self or others with unclear economic faces, it is just a matter of selecting materials. Among the various reasons for the success, the most important one is probably the failure to enter into the nature of literature.

The nature of literature, in fact, has always presented multiple views in terms of cognition.In my opinion, "favoring the rich" is certainly frowning, but "favoring the poor" is not necessarily desirable.The texts written by the writer can be calm and unbiased; if there is an emotional tendency, for example, in terms of sympathy, it goes without saying that it is good to dedicate sympathy to the poor.But as mentioned above, the sympathy Cao Xueqin expressed for the poor girl Zhui'er who was attacked was far inferior to that of the wealthy woman Wang Xifeng who persecuted the second sister You and some unscrupulous things. You can say that Cao Xueqin may write in this way There are certain problems in moral orientation, but in terms of entering the nature of literature, his shaping of Wang Xifeng should be said to have reached a perfect score of 100.

As far as my personal aesthetic orientation is concerned, what I admire most is Cao Xueqin in China, and Dostoevsky in old Russia in foreign countries. Coincidentally, the title of Dolce's debut novella is "The Poor", which of course is "on the side of the poor", and his sympathy for the plight of the poor is also overflowing between the lines. , I am afraid it can only be regarded as a good work, but "The Poor" has reached excellent, why?Because as a literary work, it goes deep into the nature of literature - the excavation of human nature. When it describes the protagonist's journey through poverty and sincere yearning for love, it also reveals the unbearable and trembling in his heart. humble.His second work, which is also his first full-length novel, has a straightforward title called "The Insulted and Injured". If you sympathize with people other than yourself, then it is not necessarily accurate to say that the poor are actually able to work, and they are even healthier than ordinary people, but they choose to be professional beggars. It may be difficult for you to stand by their side and give them Your precious sympathy; it is not necessarily accurate to say that you are a loser. Both Hitler and Jiang Qing were losers. How can you stand by their side and give sympathy?Tuo's "double quilt" is very accurate.The heels on the side of the "double quilt" is a very accurate position, which reflects the author's artistic conscience to cry out to social injustice.But the great thing about Tuo Shi is that when he criticizes and criticizes the rich who hurt others, and gives full sympathy to the "double quilt" person, he can also tear the "double quilt" person's even quite innocent soul. , to be ruthlessly tortured.This is the "serious work" of literature. In it, he even expresses that "double quilt" people should also have the spirit of facing their own souls and daring to redeem, such a kind of painful appeal that makes people have to cover up and think deeply.Doshi sometimes regards the rich as the "No. 1 character" in his works, such as "The Idiot". Of course, the protagonist, Duke Meskin, is an anomaly among the rich. After the pen inheritance became rich, they have always maintained a childlike crystal heart. This is probably a fictional character created by the writer with his own ideals, but because the narrative skills of this work are very good, this character is still full of flesh and blood. The "concealment".However, looking at this work as a whole, what makes readers feel the most trembling may be the son of a retired general who is relatively poor and unwilling to be poor. Gallia, who is the general's secretary, is portrayed by Doshi really well.The highest peak of Tuoshi's creation is "The Brothers Karamazov". It is worth noting that he gave the most despicable soul to a character who seems to be the poorest among the main characters and who at first glance seems to be the most suitable. The "double quilt" standard, the illegitimate child born to the old Karamazov and the dirtiest woman in the worst situation, is Doshi guiding us to go beyond the rich and the poor to painfully explore the eternal secret of human nature? ? To solve the problem of social injustice, eradicate corruption, organize social life well, so that the "double quilt" will no longer be "double quilt", so that the rich can be benevolent, and the poor can get rid of poverty. To be honest, literature, plus other arts Category, and even coupled with the research and discussion of the academic circles, I am afraid that the actual effect that can be achieved is limited after all.As far as literature is concerned, its nature is probably not to save the world, but to purify the soul.In the meaning of purifying the soul, it is not only the torture and redemption of the soul, but also the excavation of the poetic flavor of life, the beauty of words and the creation of rich symbols-as Cao Xueqin achieved in the novel.There is one of Tuo's works that made the revolutionaries of old Russia pissed off, because in that work, Tuo's portrayal of the revolutionary elite who called the people pleading for orders was a hypocritical desire for power. It could not be reprinted long after the "October Revolution".This matter cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences, but we can at least realize from it that writers stand on the side of the "double quilt", and their thinking, methods and ultimate demands are very different from those of revolutionaries who want to clean the world thoroughly. Not the same, or even contradictory. Reflecting on myself, in the past 20 years of social changes, there are also situations where I tiptoe and don’t know which direction to run, and even run blindly. The less anxious you are about being "falling behind", the less you stand on tiptoes panting to follow the tide, and after repeated thinking, you gradually choose your own literary position - put your heels down, and immediately feel cool all over your body.Of course, because I didn't catch up with the good times in my adolescence, my luck was not good, and I lacked knowledge and knowledge. In particular, the most fundamental thing is that my aura may not be good at birth, and my age is approaching sixty. What kind of words can be written in this selected station, I dare not boast.I can only say to myself: Work hard!At the same time, write down your own relevant thoughts as above, maybe there is some reference value for some people.