Chapter 120 Do you have a little sadness?

That day, I was chatting with a white-collar lady. She has a stable job and a good income. Her husband can be called a "successful person". He has already lived a wealthy life of "a house, a car, a child and a dog".Moreover, she told me quite proudly that the four "ones" in the above saying that summarizes well-off people belong to "prehistory" for her family, and they are starting to buy a second set of bigger and better ones. house, a second car, and because they are both only children and highly educated, they can also have a second child according to relevant policies. When running, add a precious Dalmatian.I was very happy for her to hear that.

This white-collar lady who is closely related to me can be counted as a child and watched her grow up. As time goes by, she is like a small bud, tall and straight into a beautiful poplar.She seems to have it all.She found that there was always an anthology of Feng Zikai's comics next to my rocking chair, flipping through them casually, and giggled.Ask her if she finds it funny?She said frankly: "It's you who are laughing. You are always nostalgic for such things. What is the world like now, and comics are not drawn like this!" I know that she and her husband usually read a few Taiwanese The cartoonist's comic strips are indeed completely different from Feng Zikai's.The change of the times has led to the renewal of the style of painting, but since art is the oozing or gushing of human nature, as long as human nature remains the same, there will always be some classical, old, and time-changed works of art that embody certain aspects of human nature. Those that are expressed accurately and vividly will surely have long-lasting and abundant vitality, and together with the newly added works of art, they will become a stable unit among the multiple choices of modern appreciators.

One of Feng Zikai's works depicts a young mother breastfeeding her baby under the lamp, while flipping through an old book, a few petals suddenly appeared in it. The title of the painting is "Petals Three Years Ago".The white-collar lady looked at it and laughed, so I asked her: "Can you find the old flower petals in your book?" She shook her head: "How can there be? There is no such thing in any of my objects that can hold things." Petals." After she finished speaking, she seemed to be staring at the painting as an exception. Later we had afternoon tea together.She came to me that day for a very utilitarian purpose, in order to force me to go to a place called research and practice sales two days later.I didn't expect that after I published two books on architecture, I would cause such troubles.Even though I failed to let her complete her mission that day, and she even expressed regret when she left, our conversation still made me feel very rewarding, and she also said the same, I hope it was her sincere words.

After she left, I swayed on the rocking chair with my eyes closed for a long time.I dare not say that today's white-collar workers are mostly in the same situation as her, but she herself told me that she and her husband are very representative and can be used as "models" for me to analyze.In a nutshell, although they are already full bourgeois, or full middle class, well-to-do people, their thoughts and feelings lack the traditional petty bourgeois tone. Why? During the tea talk, I once asked her: "Have you ever had a slight sorrow?" She didn't even understand it the first time, so I had to ask again, and explained in detail how the words "light sorrow" were written.

She really didn't have those emotions, which is consistent with never having petals in her books or any personal things that can be stuffed.She claimed that she also had a failed first love, and she said "goodbye" to the big boy "sharply", because she suddenly "woke up" - the big boy "has no strength".Later, she finally captured her current husband. One of the key links was that she took two large white papers under the lamp in the private room, and carefully drew a vertical line and divided them into two columns. "Disadvantages", fill in the various information of the two candidate husbands into two pieces of paper, and compare them. The "advantages" and "disadvantages" that are roughly the same are ticked off with a red pen, and then there are more "advantages" and "disadvantages" left Who is missing.In the end, she "choosed the lesser of two evils" and made her own choice. "He is indeed very capable and has potential", "strength and potential" is her "eternal advice" to her girlfriend who has not yet decided who to marry.

What should I do if there is a conflict between husband and wife?"That's simple: negotiate," she told me. Later, I also flipped through a Taiwanese manga that the lady liked.Positioning the relationship between husband and wife as a state of war, the painting is hot and spicy, which is very fun.Indeed, there is that kind of existence in human nature, and if it is revealed, it may attract people to be vigilant, or persuade people to forbear, or even make people think "Wang Zhihe tofu is the most fragrant" after a smile, and it has its own merits.Such comics can be said to complement Feng Zikai's comics. The old ones are outdated, and the new ones are not superfluous. Human nature overflows from two or even multiple sides. It can be regarded as a portrayal of the soul of the well-off people.

But why can't Feng Zikai's melancholy linger in the souls of some new petty bourgeoisie or middle class?Is that really an outdated sentiment? One of the admonitions my generation received in their youth was to "overcome petty bourgeois thoughts and feelings", and "light sadness" is an "unhealthy emotion" that is often mentioned among them.When the "Cultural Revolution" broke out, the "petty bourgeoisie" was equated with the "big bourgeoisie", and "light sorrow" was also listed as "reactionary sentiment". During the "Cultural Revolution", Feng Zikai was the first "reactionary literati" to be uncovered in Shanghai. I was only 24 years old at the time, and I was secretly surprised (how dare I make it public), because I always liked to see his "girls with red leaves all over the mountains". ", as well as his "Yuanyuantang Essays", I think he is really a casual writer who has nothing to do with politics, at best he is a "non-revolutionary" intermediate figure between "revolutionary" and "counter-revolutionary".You can urge such a person to step up ideological remolding in order to enter the ranks of the revolution. Why use such a big fanfare to make him a big target for such a big political storm?As the prelude to the great storm of the "Cultural Revolution", the big criticisms of the films "Early Spring and February", "Sisters on Stage", and "Northern Country and Jiangnan" also contained cruel whipping of interpersonal warmth and "light sadness". When "Sisters" was shown as a "negative teaching material", the screen was accompanied by a sad and beautiful picture, and the libretto "every year is sad, every year, no home, no home" sounded. I desperately warned myself, "This is a colorful poisonous snake." , but I still can't help but feel the "light sorrow" from the bottom of my heart.

After the "Cultural Revolution", I was fortunate to meet Chen Huangmei's predecessor, and he was the "culprit" of the above-mentioned "big poisonous weed" movies.Although those films had writers, directors and other personnel involved in the creation, he was the deputy minister in charge of film production of the Ministry of Culture at the time, and he really took pains to "get out of the cage" these "poisonous weeds" (grass is a plant, why use "come out of the cage" as a metaphor? I am still at a loss as to how dangerous it is, but "poisonous weeds out of the cage" was once the most popular formal political vocabulary, so it is still used), for which he not only suffered from criticism, but was also imprisoned for several years.Chen Huangmei's original name was Chen Guangmei, and he was a novelist. His first collection was titled "Songs of Melancholy", which shows that he was quite bourgeois at that time.But later he defected to Yan'an, worked hard to reform himself, and changed his name to Chen Huangmei.His last novel was titled "The Man Who Sings in the Church", and he deliberately cut off the melancholy, but he may feel that the form of the novel is still easy to let him fall into "soft emotions", so he "washed his hands in the red basin" and devoted himself to becoming a "literary artist". "Front organizers", that is, revolutionary cultural officials, were in charge of national film production until the "Cultural Revolution".He thought that his thoughts and feelings had been transformed into "Bolsheviks", and he also rejected some films that he considered "unhealthy thoughts and feelings" in his work. However, he did not expect that some of the above-mentioned films he approved were based on martyr works. Adaptations, some are adapted from works with critical reviews in the history of modern literature, some screenwriters are old revolutionaries, and some materials are taken from the left-wing drama movement. It is said that there are some lyrical elements and some human feelings, so they should not be surnamed "capital". , but they were all knocked to the ground and "stepped on 10,000 feet", and were denounced as counter-revolutionary poisonous weeds.

After the "Cultural Revolution", Chen Huangmei reappeared on a regular basis and devoted himself to the torrent of reform and opening up with great enthusiasm. He supported "scar literature" and adapted my novel "Ruyi" into a movie. He not only supported, but also provided meticulous and expert support for the screenwriter and director guidance.When someone suspected that the filming of "Ruyi" was "for the purpose of abstract humanitarianism", he stood up to support our younger generation, which is very touching.But it was him who said to me one day: "I don't see the slightest sadness." At that time, I thought, he is indeed "once bitten by a snake, ten years afraid of well ropes".Even if a touch of sadness is not a good thought, it is true that everyone does not have to have it all the time, let alone be included in any literary work, but what is "unseen"?Later, I thought about it further, his whole life was in the process of continuous transformation of thoughts and feelings, petty bourgeois feelings, especially the "light sorrow" which is the most easily exposed, let him eat up. The bitterness finally made him realize that it is incompatible with the revolutionary cause and must be eliminated like a virus.

The predecessor of Huangmei died of illness at the end of the last century.It's a pity that we can't discuss with him in detail about "a touch of sadness", which is a common feeling of human beings. It is said that it is shared by human beings, so there is no need to give more examples.The news came a few days ago that the French female writer Sagan was gone.Sagan's famous novel is "Farewell, Sorrow".Grief, whether you embrace it or say goodbye to it, is certainly an emotion shared by all human beings.Sorrow is related to the general state of human existence, and even more to human nature.Although revolutionaries carry out revolution for the sake of social justice, there is no need to take sorrow, especially faint sorrow, which is an inherent human emotion, as the object of revolution, and vigorously attack and eliminate it.

For 20 years, I have treasured a small book "44 Chinese Prose", which was edited by the Jiangsu Branch of the Chinese Writers Association in 1983. "Internal learning materials" are printed on the back cover, but I don't know if it was officially published later.The 44 essays selected in this anthology are indeed fine works, from the 1920s to the 1980s. Of course, the first half century accounts for a large proportion.The editor emphasized that it was only because those articles were "difficult to find". When I read these articles, I felt that the editor was intentionally or unintentionally helping readers find those articles that were poisoned by the extreme left, especially the "Cultural Revolution". Abandoned and concealed beautiful essays, these beautiful essays have different themes, various techniques, and the author's ideas and tastes are diverse. However, after reading carefully, I found that in the different articles of these different authors, there is often a kind of similarity. Emotions, for example: Zong Baihua said in "Poetry and Me" in 1923 that the reason why he liked Tagore's prose poems was because "his voice is desolate and deep, and his deep love arouses me a sense of cosmic and distant lovesickness." Yu Pingbo wrote in "Qinghefang": "Let's imagine: if there were no wandering wanderers, the yellow leaves under the westerly wind might as well be sung by their own flowers. If there is no haggard daughter, why should the withered red lotus petals be kept in the collection of poems? "After Xia Mianzun's writer's cat disappeared and died," he wandered alone in the twilight.In the past few days, countless past events that have been lost in the media of association, all come to my heart strongly at once, as if flashing back to the light. "Shen Congwen wrote about a group of boat people living in harmony with nature, "I felt a little depressed when I heard them talking for a long time", and realized that "a new sun and moon will soon destroy everything old." Bian Zhilin wrote in "The Ruler" In "Eight Nights", I wrote that when I was young, I read Su Manshu's "Chun Yu Lou Tou Chi Ba Xiao, when will I return to see Zhejiang Chao?"The straw shoes are broken and no one knows, which bridge of cherry blossoms have you stepped on? "The poem, "I don't know what great sorrow there is at such a young age, but thinking about it, my heart is really soft. "And He Qifang, whose experience is very similar to that of Chen Huangmei, was selected with the rare work "Autumn Begonia" with gorgeous and sculpted sentences, and wrote more clearly that "this early autumn night is like a gauze shirt with the color of a lotus flower, and a touch of sadness floats. " It is not difficult to see from the above-mentioned small anthology of "just take a scoop to drink" that many beautiful essays in the last century contain elements of "light sadness". I don’t know how other people feel when reading this title, the first sentence of the opening sentence, and the lyrical sentences at the end of the article, such as “The night in early spring is still so long”, but I can taste a little sadness anyway. The other articles in his prose collection also have the same flavor. A touch of sadness, that is, melancholy, melancholy, and sad emotions.The revolutionaries dedicated to the revolution and the counter-revolutionaries dedicated to extinguishing the revolution, they are in the mood of life-and-death struggle, and indeed there is no room for sadness, melancholy, melancholy, and sadness. Any such sparks may lead to With a soft heart and a soft heart, one wrong move will result in a complete loss.This is completely understandable.Revolutionary forces and counter-revolutionary forces will also consider strategies to deal with middle forces in the situation of a decisive battle. One strategy is "Anyone who does not openly oppose me can be regarded as a friend", and the other strategy is "Anyone who does not stand against me Both sides are regarded as the enemy", and the two strategies are often used alternately or blended. After the dust settles, in the fields liberated by the revolutionaries, once the mood of the revolutionary leaders softens, the society will be happy, and once it becomes extremely hard, it will lead to violent storms sweeping the whole society.In the territory occupied by counter-revolutionary forces, there will also be cases where the "shoot or kill" circle is enlarged due to the hard-heartedness of those in power, and the ban is lifted due to soft-heartedness.From this point of view, the big figures who play a key role in society and history still have some soft hearts mixed with their hard hearts, and they are suddenly melancholy, melancholy, and sad, that is, occasionally a little sad, which is more beneficial to all living beings. .Does this kind of thinking belong to historical idealism?I don't want to discuss it theoretically, but I only know that around 1973, an urgent order was issued from above to liberate Shanghai's "counter-revolutionary black-line figure" He Luting.Those in charge of supervising He could hardly believe what he heard was true. He was a typical villain who was caught out at the beginning of the "Cultural Revolution" and displayed to the public.But it is also not allowed for the supervisors to ask carefully, what can be figured out but can't be figured out, they are immediately released and dealt with according to the contradictions among the people.I found out later that the leader who launched the "Cultural Revolution" suddenly hummed a few lines of "Guerrilla Song" one day. Isn't this song very good!Where is the singer? You see, the soft things in human nature play a role in saving a person’s life, and it’s not just that one person and a family are saved, but an important person who is softer than him or has always been soft-hearted. A large number of people like He Luting implemented the policy.Human nature is also writing history, which is what I want to express.The softness in human nature, for example, is reflected in the fact that although Lu Xun regards him as a mortal enemy, because you once encouraged Dayang to study abroad, even in the bloody storm of "breaking the four olds", you are instructed to give you fine printing thread packaging Ben's "Liu Wen Zhi Yao" has this kind of human touch; for example, the sigh of "it's going to rain, and my mother is going to get married"; To comfort the widow; for example, suddenly remembering that the same case was rectified, he suddenly felt a sense of forgiveness and praised "talent is rare"...and even lamented "Where should I go for a divorce?" Don't have a touch of sadness, in fact, it's not far away.This kind of emotion, because people have a huge radiating power, and the radiation from it will often have a benign effect. It is not too much to say that it is precious. But it is the middle group in the society who really regards a little sadness as their basic feelings. From a political point of view, they are middle people, from an economic point of view, they are petty bourgeois or middle class, and from a cultural point of view, they basically belong to the spiritual aristocracy. In 1988, I opened a column of "One-leaf view" in the "Literary News" at that time, and published a column roughly every week, including "What is the price of a touch of sadness today".At that time, I analyzed it like this: a touch of sadness is composed of the following factors: 1. The individual's confusion in front of the times, and the small loss in the small joys and sorrows, which make people feel melancholy and sad; 2. The individual's powerlessness in the face of fate. , unable to bear the changes and shocks, so expect warmth and compassion; 3, the individual is lost in the group, the dilemma in the identification, hoping to achieve psychological balance through a kind of masturbation.From today's point of view, if this analysis is only aimed at a specific group of people, that is, members of the petty bourgeoisie, it is still applicable, but the flaw is that this kind of sentiment is not revealed as a universal existence deep in human nature.From my bold analysis of big shots in the previous paragraph, I know that my understanding of soft emotions has surpassed that of 16 years ago.Is it possible to say this now: Feelings like melancholy are present deep in the human nature of every individual, but among all people, petty bourgeois or middle-class people are the easiest to consciously release them .And since it is a feeling that everyone has, the description of it needs to be revised, at least it needs to be supplemented in addition to the above three points, such as pointing out that it can be a kind of compassion, or a heart of forgiveness . In the article 16 years ago, I pointed out that although "light sorrow" is no longer a crime in politics, it is not very expensive in society and is not very popular. I also tried to explain why it was despised by the society, but I had this guess at the end of the article: "A touch of sadness is a natural decline in the market right now, but who dares to assert that a touch of sadness that spirals to a new level will never Is it popular again?" It's a pity that, 16 years later, the "light sadness" that I expected to "spiral to a new level" has not taken off much, let alone become popular.The white-collar lady mentioned at the beginning of the article has upgraded her life from the "four ones" to the "four twos". Among the bourgeoisie, or the middle class, or those who are well-off or successful, or those who are one step ahead of the rich, they are still quite scarce, and the market is not bullish. This is indeed a noteworthy social phenomenon. In the past in our society, the reason why "petty bourgeois sentiment" or "petty bourgeois sentiment" including "light sorrow" was devalued or even judged as a negative poison came from the ultra-left ideology and "anti-sorrow". Right" and "Cultural Revolution" political movements, and now that the repression in this area has basically disappeared, then, what is the factor that prevents this undercurrent from the depths of human nature from overflowing to the surface calmly, and in the In the overall composition of social and cultural emotions, how about getting enough share? The factors that come to mind are, first of all, fierce competition in a market economy.In terms of market economy, we have a situation of supplementary lessons, and it is a bit of a taste of supplementary supplementation. Of course, we are developing a market economy with Chinese characteristics, and no one is willing to introduce the disadvantages of market competition in Western history and today.We all remember the comments of Marx and Engels on the French writer Balzac's "Human Comedy". On the one hand, they pointed out that the writer's political stance was reactionary—he opposed the capitalist market caused by the industrial revolution from the standpoint of a declining aristocracy. The economy is advancing by leaps and bounds, but at the same time, I appreciate the writer's thorough exposure of the chaos in the early stage of capitalist accumulation-he wrote how the veils of warmth and tenderness in the interpersonal world were roughly torn one by one in the fierce competition for survival. How the dark side of human nature rushes out violently.Is it true that although we have tried our best to avoid, and have indeed avoided, some of the disadvantages of the market economy, we have regrettably left a lot of omissions in maintaining the warmth of interpersonal relationships, especially the softness of people's hearts? After all, my investigation and research are not enough, and it is difficult to sample individual cases. For example, the white-collar lady who was able to have afternoon tea and chat with me, even though she recently talked with me on the phone, she was very friendly and even expressed her willingness to discuss with me again. However, she and her husband, as well as people in their social group, can be said to be busy every day, sleeping on yesterday's sleep, spending tomorrow's money, seeing life as open competition, and interpersonal relationships as In the Cold War, everything is about quantifiable "benefits". Where can I really allocate precious time and energy to negotiate prices to cooperate with me in doing this kind of "elegant research" that is "difficult to market"? But no matter what, there is always a kind of hope in my heart, that is, to ask this question to all those who are willing to listen to me: Do you have a little sadness?And look forward to a response.For those who really don't have time to discuss with me in detail, I implore them to at least answer the following questions briefly by ticking the boxes. I think I can always take back these answer sheets and share my long-awaited discussion about "a touch of sadness" research to the end. Here's my problem: Have you ever heard or read the expression "a touch of sadness"? □Heard □Read □Never knew before Do you think you have ever had a little sadness? □Apparently □Definitely □Never Your intuition for a touch of sadness is: □Feeling numb and goosebumps □Feeling poetic in it □Unfamiliar and suspicious □It is a luxury of spiritual nobles, moaning without illness □No response Your rational judgment on a touch of sadness is: □It's ridiculous □It's boring □It's terrible □Inexplicable □Understandable □Tolerant □It's beautiful and indispensable In which of the following literary works do you think there is a touch of sadness: □Lu Xun's novel "Blessing" □Ba Jin's novel □Movie "Red Sorghum" □Movie □Film interlude □School song "You at the Same Table" □Luo Zhongli's oil painting □Kunqu Opera □Ballet "Swan Lake" You think that those who can control your destiny to a certain extent, they can have a little sadness (not necessarily directly perceived by you), for you: □There are advantages □There are disadvantages □It doesn't matter Do you feel that your spouse, and others closest to you, were not at all mildly saddened, would you: □ Disappointed □ Glad □ Doesn't matter Do you think there will be soft feelings in the depths of human nature? □No □Yes □Not sure Which of the following emotions that are close to or associated with mild sadness have you experienced: □Melancholy □Sadness □Melancholy □Nostalgia □Sigh If the feeling of sadness in China is popular among the middle class first, and then affects and penetrates to both the strong and the weak groups, what do you think is: □Promotes social affinity □Not conducive to promoting social affinity □Detrimental to promoting social affinity □It is impossible for this to happen In which of the following situations do you think you should consciously suppress and restrain emotions like sadness: □Foreign enemies invade the country □Facing corrupt officials □In fierce competition and facing competitors □When you think of someone who betrayed you What do you think an exploration of faint sorrow would be: □necessary □overfed □harmful □impossible to solve □ridiculous □shameful Well, I finally finished this article, thank you for your patience in reading it.