Chapter 3 "The Thing of Writing" Part Two Soliloquy

Part Two Soliloquy (1) 1. It is correct to say that novels have no rules at all, and it is also correct to say that novels have some rules, depending on how to say it. There are no things without rules in the world, and things without rules are neither things nor nothing, so there is no such thing.In this sense, novels certainly have some rules.For example, novels must always use language; for example, novels cannot be plagiarized (you can plagiarize when making clothes, furniture, or bicycles).Novels cannot be news reports, news reports simply state phenomena, and no matter what techniques are used in novels, they mainly provide new angles of observation or reflection on phenomena (the difference between news reports and news novels can just illustrate this point).A novel cannot be a dissertation. A dissertation follows the logic of deduction and induction to draw a scientific conclusion.Fiction is not science. Fiction is intuition or perception in a system that includes a variety of information and conjectures. Although speculative thinking is possible, precise conclusions are not expected.Only in the blind spots of intelligence can novels have a place, otherwise it will give way to science (saying this does not mean to belittle or reject science. But human beings cannot only have science, and where science can’t do anything, it must be settled by other things the human soul).Fiction cannot be philosophy either. Although the object and purpose of philosophy are different from science, its method is the same as science. The limitation of this method determines the limitation of philosophy when it wants to understand "the whole of all existence".In the desire to transcend this limitation, the novel looks forward to philosophy, but its way of looking forward to philosophy is different from philosophy, and may be more like the method used by Zen masters when they talk about koan, which is the method obtained when the intellect is at an impasse, that is The state of freedom and aesthetics that you enter when you give up intelligence and utilitarianism (this reminds me of many existentialist masters denying that existentialism is philosophy, and they are more keen to embody their philosophy in novels).A novel cannot be a policy agenda, an economic policy, or a parliamentary proposal; a novel cannot be a hero model report, an election speech, or a panel discussion.One can also give some examples of what novels are not, but it is not complete at the moment.In short, novels often do not have a very practical purpose, a very definite conclusion and a very rigorous logic.But that doesn't mean it's absurd and useless.Is it useful to chat with friends aimlessly and without scruples? What if such chats are eliminated? Human beings are bound to live as cold machines or warm animals.

It seems that one can only say what a novel is not, but it is difficult to say what it is, which shows that there is also an aspect of novels that has no rules at all (saying that a novel is a novel has no other consequences except to appear clever).I think the closest thing to a novel is chatting. Of course, it’s not a businessman’s scheming chat, a scholar’s ​​three-sentence chat, or a comrade’s “one-on-one, one-on-one” chat. Chatting is purely a free, heartfelt, and honest chat between friends when all utilitarianism is forgotten.Why do people find friends to chat? Because of loneliness, because of pain and fear.Even if there is joy to share with friends, it is because of fear that the joy will be diminished or drowned in loneliness.Do people expect to completely eliminate their predicament through such chats? No, he knows that friends are also human beings and they don't have such supernatural powers.So what does he look for in a friend? To find sincerity.The soul is oppressed in the pretense of inferiority, and has to regain freedom from the sincerity beyond inferiority.So what rules should be established in this kind of chat? In this kind of chat, can you cry when you are sad? Can you scold when you are angry? Can you be cowardly and decadent? Can you be full of confusion and complaints? Can you talk about a very real thing or a mysterious feeling? Can you talk about a person very vividly or an abstract point of view? Can you talk about it in an orderly manner? Can a story be talked about randomly and freely? Can it be full of enthusiasm and optimism, or can it be disheartened and pessimistic? It can be elegant and profound, or it can be full of common sayings Do you want to tell all the trivial things of ordinary people? ...Of course it is all possible, there are no rules at all.There can only be hypocrisy.There is only sincerity left in the rules without rules.The eternal limitations of intelligence and science mean that man is ultimately a bunch of useless passions, and sincerity is regarded as a standard and a god.If there is sincerity, there will be no despair, life will have a savior, and life will be free to imagine and roam freely, and it is about to enter the realm of aesthetics, and it is about to stand in the realm of understanding (by the way: sincerity cannot be transformed Pessimism becomes optimism, but only sublimates pessimism into equanimity, turning it into a warm and warm dance at the feet of death).

In this sense, what are the rules of the novel? The novel must create lifelike characters? It must have a well-structured story with ups and downs? It must be moving? It must be poetic or not poetic? Don’t expose philosophy? You must interfere with reality or you must be unconstrained? You want people to feel happy and excited for a week after watching it, but you can’t make people feel awkward and dull for seven days after watching it? It must be profound? It must be magnificent? It must be Must be nationalized or must be modernism? Must know how to use clay pots or must play with genitals? Must think in images and must not be metaphysical? ... Suppose all the historical rules have been written here, but even if these rules are all written Violation, there will still be good novels.The development of the novel probably lies in the continuous violation of the existing rules.The existence of novels may be to break certain rules of writing and even living.Living in this world, people are tormented by too many rules and can't breathe. Disguises and barriers make people's nerves so tense that they make everyone feel lonely and weak. Sincere heart-to-heart conversations? Not for the sake of wider conversations, to make one’s real (but not intellectual and scientific) living feelings echoed by the same kind, so as to eliminate loneliness and the pain and fear aggravated by loneliness , Is it because of this planet, this universe, and this fate that we create novels? As far as novels are concerned, only the freedom of dreams, the sincerity of reality, and the appropriate language are the only things that remain unchanged.What other rules do you need to abide by? However, sometimes people are really worthless, and they mess around and lose their freedom and sincerity. This holy land is full of devastation, but the result is that the inventors of the rules are blessed with magic, the promoters of the rules are able to sell patents, the second-hand dealers of the rules get a small profit, and the followers of the rules are driven away and led to the genre that will only become popular The five bodies under the feet are cast on the ground, but they don't know what they are.How can there be sincere and heart-to-heart conversations? How can there be no camouflage and separation? The serenity facing the sky is replaced by the wit facing the market, and the holy place has become a ghost town.When people think about the beginning, they suddenly don't know why they started writing novels.The roots of human beings have been planed and burned, where can I find them?So be a little less disciplined.Only literature and art do not need competition, and only free, simple, and sincere creations are advocated here.Writing novels is the same as making friends. Once you see hypocrisy, you will be over immediately.

2. The simplicity of a novel, to put it bluntly, means the honesty of the creation attitude. Of course, it is not the kind of honesty that says "you are only allowed to tell the truth, and no nonsense is allowed".Instead, it says: don't deceive your friends, don't play tricks on your friends, don't frighten your friends, don't show off your wit to shame your friends, and don't accommodate your friends just to please them.Just show your heart to your friends, don't talk nonsense. In this case, the word simplicity is not opposed to magnificence and grandeur, nor is it opposite to mysterious and profound. It does not mean that "my family lives on the high slope of the loess" must be simple, but your family must not be simple if it builds a space shuttle.Don't go outside to look for simplicity. Simplicity is an attitude towards people and the world. It can be found anywhere or not.

This simplicity does not refer to the dullness that is caused by being uncivilized, nor does it refer to the hardship and simplicity of isolated and backward rural specialties.Those things are unreliable.Children always grow up, and remote corners will step into modern civilization sooner or later.The real simplicity is roughly: when experiencing the sufferings of the world, reading the vicissitudes of life, seeing the limitations of human beings, and understanding the meaning of "the wholeness of all existence", the infatuation remains unchanged, and the enthusiasm is still driven with sincerity, and the transcendence is achieved with equanimity. The state of mind presented by anxiety.This is a return to nature from the ground up, not a stubborn and regressive cycle.It's not to be discouraged by seeing through the world of mortals, but to sing and dance sincerely on the way to death.That's when you instinctively realize how unenlightened and wasteful it is to play tricks.

3. Man has three fundamental predicaments, and thus three opportunities for joy. First, people are destined to be only themselves, and they are destined to live among countless others and cannot fully communicate with others.It means loneliness.Second, people are born with desires, and the ability of people to realize their desires will never catch up with the ability of their desires, which is an eternal distance.It means pain.Third, people do not want to die, but they are born to die.It means fear.God tortures us with these three things. But maybe we got it wrong, God originally wanted to give us three opportunities to be happy.If there is only me in the world, if I have no desire (there is no desire to bear that kind of distance), if I am still immortal, wouldn’t I become a pile of irreversible numbness and endless dullness? In this way Thinking about it, I would rather have those three dilemmas.I think writing fiction appeals to me because it helps me turn three dilemmas into three dilemmas and three opportunities for joy.

Part Two Soliloquy (2) 4. It can be said that a novel is a chat, but it cannot be said that a chat is a novel. Chatting can be complete nonsense, but novels must provide a new perspective on the world and life (perhaps popular novels can be excluded).It can be done through characters, events, emotions, atmosphere, forms, philosophies, hints, but if it can’t provide a new perspective, it’s hard to call it a creation, so at least it can’t be considered a good novel. However, the completely nonsense chat can produce rich meaning in the writer's pen. What's the matter? It's just because he first takes us away from the real, two-dimensional chat, observed from a conventional perspective, and then takes us to Go to one or several new positions, bring into a new or larger system, observe from one or several new angles, and the conventional nonsense will have a new life.Just like the first time an astronaut looked at the earth from the moon, the meaning and emotion he felt from that angle must not be what we had when we looked at the earth from the earth in the past.This is probably the "alienation effect" and "defamiliarization" that people often say.Only when we withdraw from the position we are accustomed to and the mentality we have been familiar with, can we create the possibility.You hold your beautiful wife in your arms, and she is only your wife, and you see her walking in the open fields from afar, and you may see a fairy-like woman.You snuggle in your mother's arms, you feel the mother's love, and you accidentally look at her back, you may only see the tragedy of a mother.Novels are mainly doing such things, such creations.

But what is the use? So what is the use of Apollo landing on the moon? The universe will be destroyed sooner or later, so what is the use of everything? In the final analysis, all creation is the self-pleasure of life.Rather than saying that people are discovering the infinite outside, it is better to say that people use external forms to prove their infinite power of discovery.The infinite external form is but the proof of man's infinite inner power of discovery, which is the only possible reward for man. (Those distorted abstract patterns and lines in primitive art are nothing but the tracks of the creative heart.) Therefore, it is not so much that discoveries are for sustaining life, but rather that sustaining life is for making such discoveries , so that life can have endless joy, and the soul can have the boat of Purdue.The most embarrassing thought is that "a good death is worse than a bad life", because death is firmly waiting for every birthday person.People who think that "a good life is worse than a bad life" generally have a hard time understanding why other humans love adventure.

In short, novel writers should take into account the following two things: ① The usefulness of art is different from the usefulness of delivery rooms and grain stores. ②People who read novels don’t have a lot of time to know one more thing about others, and they know that they can’t finish it.However, people who read novels are always interested in looking at this world from a different perspective, although they know that this is not the end. 5. Now it is very popular to say "wanerwaner". Whether writing novels or doing other things, they like to call themselves "wanerwaner", and mistakenly think that this is the realm of playing life.

Have you watched children's games seriously? You may find that it is simply a symbol, a microcosm, and an explanation of life.There are two most prominent characteristics of children's games: one is that they have no purpose, and they are only intoxicated with the process of the game, or that the process of the game is the purpose of the game; Pretend" ("Pretend you are the mother and he is the child." "Pretend you are the doctor and you give him an injection." "Pretend I'm crying, pretend you told me not to cry.").Of course, children's games are still games, and we can't talk about "game realm".When a person grows up, one day he suddenly realizes that life is nothing but a game, and there is no purpose but only a process. This is the "game realm".

And what about the so-called "playing play"? At first I thought it was a synonym for "game state", but later I realized that it has a footnote: "Don't be so serious, you will be disappointed and painful if you are too serious." He is afraid of being disappointed so much. What was he hoping for? Clearly not for a rapturous process, for such a process can only be sustained by seriousness.Apparently, he paid too much attention to the goal, and he couldn't achieve it, so he felt a lot of pain. What if he couldn't bear the pain? Of course, he was afraid of being serious, and in the end he just "played for fun".But it seems that there is no such cheap thing. Since "playing and playing" is to escape the pain, it means that the pain has been chasing him and running around. Now it can be seen that "playing and playing" is fundamentally opposite to "game state".One is to be devoted to the process to achieve spiritual freedom, calm and joy, and the other is to pursue the goal so that while panic, pain and being deceived, he pretends to be unrestrained and self-deceiving with grievances and complaints.I don't intend to make a moral judgment on these two situations. I just want to say that these two things are fundamentally different (there are many supernatural and similar things in the world. For example, sex life and hooliganism are completely different).I was thinking that since "playing and playing" can't be taken seriously, the interest will decrease over time, and it will become a thing that is too tiring and disadvantageous. I think it's the best thing to be serious about the process.If you are not afraid of things in the world, you will not be afraid of such seriousness. Once you are not serious, it will be terrible.Seriousness is the only way a soul can get paid.Fiction is an activity related to the soul. Once the soul is lost, all the conceptions of "playing and playing" techniques have the same meaning as bowel cleansing and urinary catheterization.Novels can be written by people who are not serious, but they must be written by serious people and read by serious people. Don’t evade saying that you are not serious because you fail to write repeatedly, or even claim that art is nonsense. No more sour foxes who can't eat sweet grapes. 6. In my opinion, art (or beauty - not equal to beautiful beauty) is evolved from the two emotions of awe and pride. The God of Nature gave birth to us with its infinite mysteries, and confuses and even threatens us with its infinite mysteries, so that we dare not neglect or be frivolous, and respect and fear the impermanence of fate.We look forward to the eternal loving care of the mother of nature, but the strict father of nature wants us to wander around the world and make ourselves a home.We had to start the journey from slash-and-burn to space shuttle creation.Days, months, and years, the journey never ends, and as we struggle and wonder what the point is, we remain at a loss and never build a home.The fire of the sun roared and fell on the horizon, and the light of the sun was so sentimental that it was hard to sleep. We thought: Where is home? So we got up and chiseled this hard work, this worry, this passionate and persistent hope on the stone with an axe , Draw on the wall with a pen, write on the paper with words, and confide to the God of Nature; in order to appeal to God's attention, we played the most mournful music and showed our bodies in the most exaggerated posture to become a dance.The sound of tragedy spread to heaven, and the scene of tragedy spread all over the world. Suddenly, we heard the god of nature praising their unyielding son. In an instant, a beautiful homeland appeared, which was built in our hearts with unyielding pride.We have a home and art, we are no longer lonely, no hesitation, no giving up (and we know that the real meaning of all creation is for this. So no matter what business, once it is done to the extreme, people say it It has entered the realm of art, what it was originally is no longer important, it is now mainly the home of the beauty of the soul).We first erected a mirror, and while we rolled the stone with awe, we viewed our unyielding image with pride.Later, we can not only see from the mirror, but also from the majesty and ferocity of mountains, the softness and turbulence of water, the warmth and violence of wind, the change and eternity of clouds, the vastness of space and the eternity of time, the decline and prosperity of vegetation and insects. In the reproduction of beasts, I can see my weak and strong figure from all things.The infinity of the home of the heart and the impermanence of fate form harmony, beauty, and the essence of art.Awe and pride, the two poles! Part Two Soliloquy (3) 7. The limitations of intellect are supplemented by understanding.The limits of science and philosophy are supplemented by the religious spirit.The true religious spirit is by no means superstitious.To put it too far: literature is the literal embodiment of religious spirit. There are nine roads in front of us. If our intellect cannot tell us which one is smooth and which one is a dead end (this is often the case), should we stop at the intersection of nine roads and be furious or wait for death? Of course, these two behaviors are the way fools like.A person with intelligence will think of trying one by one, and a person with higher intelligence will use the optimal method, but suppose he has tried nine and found that they are all dead ends (such things often happen), will he curse or regret it? If Then he is only more intelligent than a fool, and nothing else.And enlightened people have already understood that even if the nine roads are all smooth roads, even if there are smooth roads followed by smooth roads, and the nine roads are all dead roads, what is the difference between the dead road and the dead road? Walking until death, all the walking is the journey of life, so he has no fear, no regrets, no confusion, no complaints, and he is serious about his feet, walking calmly and smoothly, and there is no end in his heart.This is the choice of the savvy person, and it is the necessary supplement of understanding at the end of wisdom. The difference between intelligence and understanding is like the difference between philosophy and religious spirit.The end of philosophy leads to the religious spirit.Philosophy relies on the intellect and uses methods similar to science.Just as science aspires to build a material paradise for the human world, what philosophy dreams of is to get to the bottom of the ultimate problem of human beings in order to eradicate the confusion of the soul.But the riddles set by God seem to be just for people to guess, and they don’t want to be solved. If they solve the riddles, everyone will end up. Isn’t the universe lonely and desolate? Therefore, the intelligence he gave us is too different from the riddles he gave us. Out of proportion, there is an absolute distance between them.In this way, the more philosophy goes, the more things you can guess, but every answer has ten puzzles, so how can you guess it all? Looking forward to the sudden enlightenment, philosophy has stepped into the clouds and fog, and some people are pessimistic and desperate, claiming that Man may be the product of God's negligence or evil thoughts (this is a bit like the intellectual curse and frustration on the nine dead ends).At the time when the three armies stopped at the brink of danger without a commander, the religious spirit continued to walk, turned the battle flags into prayer flags, changed spears into ceremonial guards, continued wisdom with comprehension, abandoned mourning and became wild (if philosophy developed after religion) Yes, you may wish to remember what a philosopher said: "The God who forsakes after a rough understanding of philosophy is not the same God as the God who converts to a deep study of philosophy." Four words to distinguish it from that kind of religion that goes astray and makes a living by selling dogma).If religion is the blind worship of irrelevant things when people "do not know", but its stubborn yearning from the original life has forged the religious spirit, the religious spirit is the firmness that people still have when they "know" Faith is a heroic ideal that when the human army falls into a tight siege, they would rather go to death than retreat and lose.This belief and ideal are not deduced by the intellect, let alone designed by the king, and even its specific content is not important (such as love, what is it for?), rather, it is the masterpiece of the god of nature, and it is the inherent tendency of life , is the most profound understanding of the value of life while knowing the plight of life.In this way, its perseverance does not need to be maintained by clear skies and smooth roads, and it still does not dislike this existence (not to say that it is resigned) even in the vast sea, in the fog-shrouded mountains, and in the fields and moments where knowledge and learning are stretched. , still without losing the awe of the god of nature, the praise of the spirit of life, the pride of creation, and the fascination with the game (if they chat at this time, remember, it is probably the best literature). In short, the religious spirit is not hostile to intellect, science, and philosophy, but only takes the place of these three when they are exhausted.For example, philosophy, if it sees its own way astray, but still does not regret its original intention, this courage obviously does not come from philosophy itself, but from the inspiration of the intuitive religious spirit, or at this moment it is no longer philosophy itself but religious spirit up.Since we cannot count on omniscience, we should not accuse confidence that is not based on science as superstition.What about science itself? When it tells us that this planet and even this universe will be destroyed sooner or later, it also tells us "don't panic, it's too early. Before this disaster comes, human science has already developed enough to find another place where humans can live. At this time, what scientific basis does it have? If it knows that it is an unstoppable tragedy, but it does not give up exploring and works hard, is this spirit based on science? No, that is just It’s just a belief, or rather, I would rather have such a belief.Isn't this a superstition? If it is a superstition, we are happy to have this superstition.What else to do? Die? Or be a fool? Lamenting the absurd, complaining that there is no other choice, is out of fashion, we simply choose the happiest game under the constraints of the gods of nature.Bad superstition is a deception that ignores facts, is hostile to reason, and kills everyone for self-interest (so some religions have actually lost their religious spirit, such as the madness in the "Cultural Revolution" and the war in the Middle East).However, the bright way out imagined by all human beings in the dark, the perfect destination assumed in the confusion, and the final judgment fabricated in the humiliation are not superstitions.Therefore, the religious spirit does not naturally belong to any class, any political faction, or any deified individual. It must belong to all mankind, must care for all mankind, must praise the unity of all mankind, and must admire beauty because it understands the limitations of the purpose of things. Spiritual journey.The gods and heavens it created for this purpose are not superstitions, it just uses the gods to embody human will, and uses the heavens to observe people's equal rights (without the belief in natural human rights, it is difficult to have the awakening of everyone being equal before the law .The natural human rights and the divine right of kings can be seen as the boundary between religious spirit and superstition). Comparing this kind of religious spirit with the artistic spirit, one must be able to get some kind of deep impression. 8. A tired team, a nation that has turned from arrogance to inferiority, a group of people who have lost their cohesion like scattered sand, need to rebuild their religious spirit. A nation that lacks religious spirit is like a couple that lacks love or no longer desires love.Issuing a passport to the religious spirit with science and philosophy as the standard is like falling in love with intelligence and speculation, which will suppress the passion of life and exhaust the charm of love.Replacing religious spirit with political and economic policies is like treating family status and property as marriage conditions, and making children a reproductive machine and becoming a spiritual eunuch. Religious spirit is not science, but political and economic policy is science (it is necessary to emphasize again: religious spirit is not against science, politics and economic policy, just like love is not against sexual knowledge, housekeeping and earning a living, just saying They are different and should perform their own functions).Ideals as religious spirits, such as a world of great harmony, a happy paradise of freedom and fraternity, a perfect society where each should use his abilities and each takes what he needs, etc., did not originate from science (who can prove their inevitable realization? who can deduce them step by step) How to achieve it?), but only originated from the aspiration of life, and the belief in this ideal is the unconditional acceptance of life.Who let him be life? If it is life, you must set up a beautiful ideal for yourself that is not easy to lose, so that life can flourish.This is just like the existence of life itself, it is unreasonable to say, only in this way, before the life withers and perishes, the description of it can change, and the belief in it will not be lost, it will always be the cause and effect of the exuberant life .However, political and economic ideals must be scientific and must be realized step by step, otherwise they will become deceitful.But even if it is scientific, science is not yet omniscient, how can people inspire themselves with it as an unconditional belief? Even if it can be realized, it will die after it is realized, how can it be used as a long-term belief to make life flourish? Therefore, any political and economic ideals cannot replace religious spiritual ideals as beliefs of eternal or long life. Scientists, politicians, and economists have absolutely no reason to fear the spirit of religion, nor should they despise it.All sciences, politics, and economics will be more prosperous and prosperous because life is encouraged to flourish.When a man and a woman have love, have spiritual vision and faith, they are more obsessed with housekeeping, learning, hard work, and save money to buy a house and buy a little treasury bills-the so-called people who live vigorously.Love is really similar to the spirit of religion. Science cannot create it, politics cannot design it, and economy cannot sustain it.What would happen if the couple lost love and only housekeeping was left, or housekeeping replaced love at all, and material possession became the only ideal? Be anxious, run for your life, boring, numb, and maybe divorce in the end Let’s split up, or we’ll just stick together and wait to die. The family’s “incense” is gradually extinguished, and the anger is extinguished. At most, there will be a little memory of the past happiness and prosperity.Take this bit of recollection as an exaggeration, and Master Ah Q came back to life. There is a kind of wedding that takes place in a church, regardless of the teaching, and regardless of whether it may be just a custom later, but as far as its original motivation is concerned, it is such a symbol: facing the sky (that is, the infinite unknown, An impermanent fate), the two souls are determined to move forward hand in hand, not for anything else but for love, this unexplainable and uncontrollable desire can only be understood by God, they both pray for God's blessing and swear that they will not be afraid of God's test.Another type of wedding is held at home or in a restaurant. The more relatives and friends you invite, the more expensive the banquet will be, and the more honor the bride and groom will have.Then kowtow to the ancestors and ancestors, and ask them to rest assured: the womb for inheriting the family business from generation to generation has been obtained.It is also a symbol, a symbol of housekeeping replacing love, a symbol of animals seeking reproduction that have not yet evolved into spiritual animals, or a symbol of spiritual animals degenerating into economic animals.Such animals will one day question the meaning of life, lose their original beliefs, and make politics and economics sluggish.For faith must be spiritual, a passion beyond world affairs, a whim beyond morality.