Chapter 7 about short stories

about short stories Recently, Li Qingya first presented the volume of "World Literature in 1935" edited by him, This is one of the "1935 World Survey Series" newly compiled by Commerce this year.Depending on the situation this series of books About one set will continue to be released every year.Mr. Li's "World Literature in 1935" "Science" is a collection of more than a dozen important essays and chronicles selected and translated from French literary journals. It is a method to directly preserve important literary and artistic historical materials and documents, which can be said in the compilation of books of this nature.

It is a new attempt.After flipping through it in a hurry, I found that "Two French Proposals on Short Stories" "On", the first editorial of the Paris "Month": "On the Short Story", referring to Paul Mouland (Paul Morand) has a lot of similarities with my opinion on the definition of short stories, makes me feel very interesting. This spring, I wrote an article "On Modern Short Stories", which talked about the Generation and evolution, and recent trends in style, I mention two masters of the short story: Chekhov and Maupassant, I once said:

"Under the efforts of these two masters, the short story has achieved the most complete form and content. content, and reached the point of "three-dimensional", no longer a two-dimensional narrative.Maupassant's French The love disputes of the bourgeoisie, the gloominess of Chekhov's characters in small Russian cities, are all used with the most acute sensitivity. His power of observation readily cuts out a slice from his entire life, and through this slice hints at The whole life..." These few sentences are similar to what Mu Lang said in the preface of "Short Stories Zhongxing Collection":

"It turns out that the short story is a section cut quickly from the real world; it is not It can describe a person from the time of birth, fundamentally explain it, and then accompany him to the time of growth. generation; with man it is only the last moment in which the full force of a quality or a situation is reduced to action. Minutes, change to show the nature of flow, so it makes this characteristic or this situation, in this Come alive within a concentration of it or its action..." (translated by Li) This is the difference between a novel and a short story.What Moulang lamented was that the modern French short

The artistic quality of the short stories was low, so he compiled a "Short Stories Zhongxing Collection", collecting Some are worthy enough of "true short stories" in style and substance to compete with the popular Confronted with commercialized short stories in order to save the low quality of short stories. This is the case in France.But in China, although our short stories are not "commercialized" crisis, but there is an even bigger crisis that has eaten away at us: namely, the formulaic and technological decline. "Short story" has become an outdated term in the Chinese literary world, and everyone calls it a short story.

"Creation" or "Short Story Creation".This was originally a Japanese term with a strong artistic flavor. But the current Chinese creations under this term have become some stereotyped words, Not only is there no "art", but it is no longer "fiction".Although what is described is "reality", But the reality has long been dissociated from life and has become "surreal", all of which are fabricated and formulaic stories. It's just a matter. Under this circumstance, so the short creations published in the current publications, no matter on which side

In terms of aspects, they are all lower than those of four or five years ago, and they can't even catch up with the early works of the May Fourth era. It is indeed a sad phenomenon.But this phenomenon, it seems that writers and critics are stubbornly unwilling to add to consider.And let it develop with peace of mind.posthumous name George Giss-ing, an unlucky British literati at the end of the 19th century, lived in London sells papers to make a living, poor and poor, the income is not enough to live, sometimes poor enough to afford bread, only Live on lentils.There are no washing facilities in his dormitory, so he borrowed the pretext of reading newspapers every day, and went to London to blog.

The bathroom in the reading room of the museum is used to solve this problem.The custodian of the lavatory found him visiting every day, And it was used as a bathroom and a laundry room, so the gentleman's manager was at the door Put a note on it that says: The equipment here is designed for occasional washing needs. In order to make Ji Xin understand in his heart.It is really lamentable that the literary life is so embarrassing. During his lifetime, Ji Xin often sighed hopefully: "If only I could eat enough!" This is his sigh when he was hungry and writing an article at the same time.From this, it can be seen

What happened to the life he had exchanged all his life for words. Ji Xin was aloof, and he refused to follow the current trend when writing articles, so he was not well known by the readers at that time. As a result, food and clothing were not enough, and he was poor all his life, but since his death, his light-hearted prose, strict His austere style of writing gradually became popular with the world, and his reputation grew day by day.formerly in the history of literature He, who has no room for him in the world, is now gradually occupying an important position. Now many people love to read Ji Xin's writings and praise his writing style.His posthumous works are all reprinted

Well, even edition collectors are buying up his old books in original editions.One of his novels "In the Dawn" The first edition of "The Worker" was probably an old book with a price of one penny and no one cared about it at that time. In 2009, it was sold for a high price of 850 U.S. dollars in the American antique book market. Ji Xin is under the Nine Springs. If he knew this situation, he would not even have enough to eat when he was alive. One of his books was sold for 850 yuan. Regarding this posthumous name, I don't know whether he is smiling or not. It was crying.But in any case, from the perspective of us who also live on words, this is really a worthwhile thing.

Something to chew on. Should we cater to the trend of the times in order to have enough food and clothing in front of us, or should we live for the eternal life of our own words? Would rather endure the neglect and hunger in his lifetime? Ji Xin has a volume "The Private Papers of H. Ryecroft" (The Private Papers of H. Ryecroft), It is the most widely read collection of essays.This book is his pretense that a writer has worked hard all his life and can only Food and clothing, so I have never written a satisfactory article, everything is a work of subsistence.Suddenly in old age Got a fortune, can live comfortably, don't have to make a living by writing, so I vowed to write A work not for the bookstore owner, not for the readers, but for the author's own whim, So I wrote this essay.This is Ji Xin's false excuse, and it can be said to be the highest achievement in his life. fantasy. Mr. Yu Dafu appreciates this book very much, and Mr. Shi Zhecun and I have the same hobby.I heard not long ago He wants to translate this book into Chinese, but has he started yet?The charm of Wuxiangan's essays is the most suitable It is a translation of Ji Xin's masterpiece.