From the end of the "Cultural Revolution" to today in the new century, Chinese literature has gone through nearly 30 years of interaction between challenges and challenges, from gradually recovering and finding itself, to absorbing foreign cultures, strengthening itself, and then integrating into the market and adjusting itself. Magnificent course.In the past thirty years, fantastic changes have taken place from the material world to the spiritual world to the art world.As far as literature is concerned, these 30 years have been continuously influenced by politics-ideology, economy-marketization, culture-mediaization, and high-tech. Works, slogans, phenomena, trends of thought, and debates not only change their time background and ideological and cultural background, but also the protagonists on the literary stage are constantly changing. They are colorful and full of twists and turns.But the general trend is, from narrowness to openness, from singleness to diversity, from locality to the world.

In fact, the situation has become so complex that it is difficult to clarify, generalize and name it.To be specific, in terms of ideological and cultural background, the past thirty years have generally gone through three stages, and experienced three interrelated but different cultural contexts: The first stage lasted from the end of the 1970s to the entire 1980s. For a considerable period of time, the enlightenment discourse of literature, the rectification of political chaos, and the ideological liberation movement maintained a synchronous relationship; literature centered on the restoration of the tradition of realism, and intellectual elites Consciousness has sprouted, and the feeling of having found a spokesperson, literature opposes concealment and deceit, and calls for the spirit of "telling the truth" that truly, boldly, and deeply examines life and writes about it with blood and flesh. In the mid-to-late 1980s, a large number of modern Western philosophy and literature were translated and introduced, and modernism and realism collided and stirred up, shaking the dominance of realism, and a new situation of diversified development emerged.

The second stage was in the 1990s, when the market economy and commercialization swept across on an unprecedented scale, the spiritual ecology of Chinese society tended to be materialized and materialized, and the voice of ideological enlightenment was gradually weakened and marginalized in literature. Towards the road of deconstruction and leisure, towards the secular statement of natural experience and personal narrative.Accompanied by it, a period of upsurge in popular culture came. The third stage is from around 2000 to the present, everything is unfolding: globalization, high-tech, marketization, urbanization, and networking have become its important features, especially the network, which is called "the fourth media". Its ubiquitous energy has greatly changed the world's view of time and space, human existence and thinking mode, and also greatly changed the production mechanism and communication mode of literature.As a changing humanistic background, they actually potentially affect and permeate all aspects of literature, such as the tendency of subject selection, the evolution of themes, the shift of the focus of ideological trends, the orientation of values, the way of discourse, and the narrative energy and so on.So, is it still possible for us to face the new historical context, stand on a new foothold, and carry out some big thinking, such as: what kind of road have we traveled?What is the basic spirit of Chinese literature in the past thirty years?How is the interaction and connection between Chinese literature and world literature?What is the trajectory of the stylistic evolution of Chinese literature in the past thirty years?What kind of discoveries and harvests have you gained from examining the aesthetic experience of thirty years of literature?etc.

On May 11, 1978, Guangming Daily published a commentator's article "Practice is the only criterion for testing truth", which opened the prelude to the ideological liberation movement.It is said that practice is the only criterion for testing truth, which is almost common sense and self-evident. Is there any truth that does not need to be tested by practice?However, the reason why this issue has become so complicated in China is that it has become a topic that requires a lot of effort to repeatedly demonstrate, and it cannot be separated from the specific Chinese national conditions and political and cultural reality.Based on my personal experience, in the autumn of that year, on September 2, 1978, the "Literary News" held a meeting on the ninth floor of the Peace Hotel in Beijing, cheering for a large number of short stories written about scars, such as "Class Teacher" and "Sacred Mission". This move shocked the national literary circles.That day, I was assigned to be the recorder who had just stepped into the Literature and Art News. For a whole day, I kept swishing my pen, and my hands were sore from memorizing, but I didn't realize it.At that time, there was no convenient recording equipment.After the meeting, Senior Brother Yan Gang and I compiled the 8,000-word minutes of the meeting, and published it under the title of "New Atmosphere and New Breakthrough in Short Stories" in the name of "reporter of our newspaper".This report has been cited as a source of information by some literary history works.On December 5th of this year, at the Xinqiao Hotel, a meeting with greater influence was held. It was jointly held by the "Literary News" and "Literary Review" to rehabilitate a large number of "poisonous weeds". There are so many works, from "Liu Zhidan" to "On the Bridge Construction Site", etc., too numerous to mention.More than ten days later, from December 18 to 22, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of great historical significance was held.Looking back on those years and those days, as a small person, I also have a strange sense of tension and excitement of melting into history and creating history, as if I can hear my own heartbeat resonating with the thawing sound of history.At that time, a lot of waste was waiting to be done, there were many ideas, and the higher-ups didn't care about literature, and there were no specific instructions. In the literary newspaper, some motions that affected the national conference were all chattered by everyone. The decisions of the editor-in-chiefs Mu and Kong Luosun are inseparable.In this year, for the literary world, the May Fourth literary tradition has begun to revive, the identity of writers as the spokespersons of the masses has been reaffirmed, the elite consciousness of intellectuals has gradually risen, and literary creation has returned to the tradition of realism.

Thirty years later, in 2008, history seems destined to make this year the most arduous and tragic year and at the same time the most elated. The Wenchuan Earthquake and the Beijing Olympic Games are a huge test of the Chinese nation's ability to withstand and innovate. The world looks at China, and China looks at it. The world, China has played an unparalleled great movement for the world.But as far as literature is concerned, everything seems to be very ordinary, and nothing major has happened.I just noticed one detail: The Nobel Prize Committee for Literature is looking for a writer from all over the world to receive the prize and honor of the year.This honor was finally won by the French writer Le Clézio.In this regard, the mood of Chinese literati may be complicated (and the literati in other parts of the world are probably the same).Some people say that he is just a third-rate writer, others say that the mystery of the Nobel Prize for Literature is disappearing, and some people further believe that the whole world has entered an era of deauthorization, decentralization, and decentralized interest. "Literary master" is unlikely to be produced again.In fact, in recent years, Chinese readers hope that Chinese writers of Chinese nationality will be included in this list, hoping that Chinese literature will have a greater and greater influence in the world.This is also a healthy and open mind that seeks to integrate into the world as a result of the rapid development of China's economy, politics, and culture in the past 30 years of reform and opening up.If we say that thirty years ago we were always used to examine our own literature from the perspective of China itself, then today we have gradually learned to stand in the context of world literature, or in other words, from the perspective of human civilization and world literature. From a broad perspective, I have made an inventory of Chinese literature in the past thirty years.This historic progress is palpable.Because since the "May 4th Movement", the great tradition of Chinese literature has been seeking to converge with the great tradition of world literature, no matter the openness of realism in the 1980s, or the conflict between left and right of avant-garde literature, or in recent years The continuous award-winning writers abroad, and the increasingly frequent literary exchange activities between Chinese literary societies and the whole world, all show that the context of literature is no longer purely Chinese, but globalized.

Here, I would like to take a look at the spirit and changes of literature in the past thirty years from three aspects: "the main line of thought and soul", "the spirit of artistic exploration" and "the connection with world literature".I think these are three important aspects that can represent the development of literature in the past thirty years. In the past thirty years, has there been a main thread of the soul of thought that runs through Chinese literature?Or, is there a mainstream of it?Some people think that there is no main trend and no theme, but I think the main trend still exists.In my opinion, looking for people, discovering people, and affirming people are the thread that runs through.This is from a philosophical point of view.From the perceptual form and social form of literature, it is the discovery and recasting of the national soul.

In 1980, the song "China, My Key I Lost" moved all Chinese youths. "That was more than ten years ago / I ran wildly along the red street", isn't it talking about the catastrophe of the past ten years? "Red Street" and "Crazy" were the characteristics of that era, but the key to "my" soul was lost.This was the general mental state of the Chinese people in that era.The poet expresses this kind of existence keenly, and "walking in this vast field / I search along the footprints of my heart / all that is lost / I am thinking seriously".Here, it is not enough to reveal the status quo of an era, but also to find new values ​​and new constructions.

Not only in poetry, but also in scars, reflections, root-seeking novels and avant-garde novels, writers have consciously or unconsciously entered the depths of existence, the sensitive places of human nature, the viscera of history, searching for "people".Accompanying it was a great discussion on issues of human nature, humanitarianism and alienation.The 1980s was an era in which human nature, human rights, and human dignity were constantly raised and questioned.The thoughts of Freud, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Fromm, Heidegger, Sartre, and Benjamin were translated and introduced, and they reverberated in the palace of Chinese literature.Some novelettes and short stories by Wang Meng, Zhang Xianliang, Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa, Han Shaogong, Li Rui, Su Tong, Can Xue, and Wang Xiaobo bring us into a literary world different from the past, where the complexity of human nature is revealed in the lowest survival, and human The relationship with sex, and the relationship between man and history are presented in a tense and even magical form.

In literature of different periods, thinking about the fundamental issues of life varies greatly. For example, in the literature of the 1980s, love is a major theme beyond its own meaning, and it is an important occasion for searching for and discovering "people".Regarding love, literary works of different periods reflect the understanding and expression of different periods.When educated youth literature and root-seeking literature express the love between men and women, they are actually looking for a new ethics different from traditional Chinese ethics.This kind of ethics is first of all advocating the value of love itself.In traditional Chinese ethics, there is only marriage, not love.From Zhang Jie's "Love Can't Be Forgotten", Zhang Xianliang's, Wang Anyi's, Tie Ning's, Wang Shuo's "Love You Didn't Discuss", Su Tong's "Guide to Divorce", the literature of the 1980s has gone through the first time about sex Exploration and questioning of love and marriage into the 1990s.From the sex-related novels written by Jia Pingwa, Wang Xiaobo, Chen Zhongshi, Chen Ran, Lin Bai, Wei Hui, Mian Mian and other female writers, we can see that love is no longer a matter of spiritual thinking, but a matter of the union of soul and body. Discussion about avoiding sex.Sexual culture becomes a focus.The commonality of all related works in this period is to discover, display, and explore the relationship between sexual activity and human nature, and turn it into the strongest, most concentrated, and sharpest voice.

However, it must be noted that a "person" is not an abstract person, but a concrete, realistic person who bears a deep imprint of national culture.When summarizing the ten years of literature in the new era, the author once pointed out that the main trend of literature in the new era is "the discovery and recasting of the national soul", and believes that "the main clue to explore the national soul is not the author's imagination, but many writers' Breathe and receive the thick air of the awakening of national self-consciousness, reflect on the living conditions and spiritual states of our nation, and anxiously seek the reflection of the road to strengthen the national soul."Now it seems that this induction is applicable to the penetration of modern and contemporary literature.Why don't we say that realism is the running thread, don't say that humanitarianism is the running thread, don't say that the conflict between civilization and ignorance is the running thread, but say that the discovery and recasting of the national soul is the running thread? It is not limited to a certain creative method, nor is it a philosophical concept, but a kind of induction that is closer to literature as anthropology, more scientific, and has a long-term strategic vision.It is closely related to the theme of the Chinese nation's pursuit of the revival of the great national spirit for a hundred years.

During the "May 4th" period, Mr. Lu Xun inherited the "new people" proposition of Liang Qichao and others in the late Qing Dynasty, put forward the idea of ​​"establishing people", and consciously took "reform of national character" as his creative purpose.He said: "When it comes to why I write novels, I still hold the enlightenment of more than ten years ago, thinking that it must be for life, and to improve this life... So my materials are mostly collected from unfortunate people in a sick society. , which means exposing illness and suffering and attracting the attention of treatment.”Although Mr. Lu Xun's pursuit cannot be inclusive of all, it is extremely representative and shows the dominant ideological thread of modern Chinese novels.For example, "The True Story of Ah Q" fully embodies this pursuit, and Ah Q became the common name.In the interpretation of Ah Q, some people pointed out that it shows the weakness of human nature. Although it is not unreasonable, it still firstly draws the soul of the silent Chinese people, writes about the inhuman and miserable situation of Chinese farmers, and their state of unconsciousness. The theme of "discovering the soul of the nation" has not been interrupted after the founding of New China, but it is hidden in a more hidden form under the cover of the huge voice of political ideology.For example, in Liu Qing's "History of Entrepreneurship", the three old men of Liang are actually a high-level summary of the image of farmers in China who shoulder the traditional spirit of the private ownership society for thousands of years. Typical state of mind.Even at that time, this image was considered by some to be the most successful, and its charm has not been lost until today.In the new era, Gao Xiaosheng's "Chen Huansheng Goes to the City" is unforgettable. Some people commented that "Chen Huansheng's character" is a mirror of the virtues and weaknesses of the national character.From Qiu Hu in "The Wilderness" to Zhu Laozhong in "Red Flag Spectrum" to Yu Zhanjiao in "Red Sorghum", we can clearly see the heroic dreams passed down from generation to generation by Chinese peasants and their desire for primitive strength.In the works on the subject of intellectuals, the developmental context is also tortuous and complicated, but the continuity is clearly visible.Through Lu Xun's crazy words of a rebel, a madman, he makes us feel the tremendous pressure and the tension of discovery of an individual who "fights the mediocrity alone", and the desolate state of mind that has to compromise with reality in the end; In Qian Zhongshu's novel, Fang Hongjian is a character full of self-contradiction and a "superfluous person" among Chinese intellectuals.And in Wang Meng's "Moving into Human Shape" several decades later, Ni Wucheng staged another tragedy of cultural character. He yearned for Western culture, but was surrounded by traditional culture all the time, and was tossed to death by a few surly women. , abused and abused, enduring inextricable pain.In Yang Jiang's book, there is an analysis of the weakness of Chinese intellectuals' personality; in Zong Pu's book, there is a question about the integrity of intellectuals, all of which are extensions of this theme.At the same time, we can see in works such as , , , "Ben Hua", , etc., which not only deeply excavate the inert factors in the national cultural character, but also explore the modern qualities in it, such as persistence, tenacity and aggressiveness. Carry forward and enrich these excellent characters as the spiritual source of the Chinese nation. In particular, it needs to be pointed out that the historically developing human nature decides that the main clue of "discovering and recasting the national soul" is not single and static, but dynamic and developing. , from the discovery of national character to the deep thinking of modern national character and national spirit, from a narrow perspective to a broad cultural vision, and will continue to deepen along with the modern transformation of Chinese literature. In the past thirty years, the environment of the times, social trends of thought, values, and aesthetic awareness have all been constantly changing. Although our literature has obvious deficiencies, bubbles, and many deficiencies and dissatisfaction, overall, the literature The breadth of humanistic connotation, the all-round development of literary functions, the variety of literary methods, themes, styles, and styles, the excavation and development of Chinese narrative potential, the liberation of production mechanisms and writing methods, and the rich composition of writers. In particular, the impact brought by the fourth media, the Internet, is not the same as it was thirty years ago.No matter how much interference there is and how much restraint we have suffered, our literature has still experienced a process of liberating itself, realizing itself and expanding itself in the past 30 years. Enriched and independent.So how did this situation come about?There is a kind of spirit that may be crucial, and it exists tenaciously all the time, implicitly or obviously, that is, quite a number of writers and critics are struggling with how to make literature approach itself, return to the literature itself, and defend the freedom and independent existence of literature. tenacious effort.This kind of effort ensures that the most important aspects of literature in the new period, its humanistic spirit content and artistic skill and taste, have reached a corresponding height.The so-called "literature itself" here can be regarded as an idealized pursuit of literary laws and aesthetic spirit, as well as the maintenance of the value and significance of literature itself.After losing its sensational effect and becoming marginalized, literature is still tenaciously alive. In fact, there can be no so-called pure "literature itself" in any era. Pure literature itself belongs to the other world, and literature is always realistic, concrete, individual, and ever-changing; The literature that history inevitably requires is powerful and has returned to its own literature; and "literature itself" as a state can only continue its own development in the process of historical development, and can never be finalized and perfected. type.It is in line with the fact that we describe the development of literature with the complex crossover process of constant return, dissociation and return. Looking back at the changes in aesthetic consciousness in the past thirty years, we can use the following key words to express them: Enlightenment, Pioneering, Secularization, and Dailyization.Thirty years can be roughly divided into three periods. The first period is from the late 1970s to the late 1980s.This period can be divided into three sub-sections: the recovery period, the prosperity period and the turning period in 1985.At this stage, the return of realism, humanitarian or human literature, and the discovery and recasting of the national soul became the main lines.The second period covers the entire 1990s, mainly manifested as literature expanded with secularization and aesthetic tastes of popular culture under the background of marketization and commercialization.The third stage refers to the literature from the new century to the present.This stage is a period when globalization, marketization, mediaization, and informatization have greatly changed and affected the production mechanism of literature, and literature has emerged with many new qualities and new characteristics. Under the banner of Enlightenmentism and inspired by the tradition of the May Fourth Movement, scar literature was once the first wave of surging literary trends in the new era. "Tiananmen Poems" and the first batch of political lyric poems were the earliest rebellion against literature that served ultra-left politics.The poet complained angrily, "In the name of the sun, the darkness is plundering openly", so he called for "Save the children".From today's point of view, these poems are still the most heavy and powerful iron voice in the history of contemporary literature.Scar novels positively describe the psychological trauma left by the Cultural Revolution, and reveal personal or family tragedies. It breaks through the ultra-left cage of the Gang of Four and returns to the tradition of realism.At the time when scar literature was flourishing, a group of experienced writers who dared to think independently provided a group of works that were more rational and thoughtful, and that looked back and reflected on history on a larger scale.This is the emergence of reflective literature.It greatly expands the field of vision of literature, increases the depth of history and the capacity of thinking, deepens realism, destroys various forbidden areas, and plays an active role in intervening in reality and intervening in the soul, opening up reflective consciousness.Later, with the rise of reform literature, writers turned their attention to historical reflection to the boiling real life, focusing on the deepening of economic system reform, as well as the changes in people's ideology, ethics, and psychological structure during the reform.Another group of writers went beyond the social reality and politics into the depths of history or regional culture, and carried out literary or anthropological thinking on the national cultural character, leading to another literary trend of thought: "root-seeking literature". "Eighties" is like a nervous thinker.In the agitation of realism and modernism, 1985 became a boundary marker of literature in the new era.Literature has broken the pattern of dominance of realism, showing a momentum of diversified development, sorting out and analyzing the original literary thinking and concepts, and launching a big discussion on "methodology".Some writers carry out text experiments from the aspects of survival, time and space, narrative, language, perspective, etc. While deconstructing the enlightenment rationality, avant-garde novelists try to provide a new view of reality and interpretation of the world, and advocate "evil" the power of.Neo-realism was the most important literary phenomenon in the late 1980s, and it was a powerful blowback to the avant-garde. Its philosophical foundation is still existentialism, but due to the indifference to narrative and the flow of life in the original ecology, it has affected the thinking of the work. Depth and cultural spiritual value. Here, the significance of avant-garde literature seems worth mentioning separately.It not only refers to the novel world created by Ma Yuan, Yu Hua, Su Tong, Can Xue, Ge Fei, Sun Ganlu, etc., but also includes the poetry kingdom of Yu Jian, Han Dong, Li Yawei, etc.Han Dong's "Big Wild Goose Pagoda" is liberated from the formatted reading of the grand narrative mode, and restores the reality of an ordinary individual.For ordinary people, when climbing the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, they don't have to "tear down their tears" like the ancients, just take a look at the surrounding scenery and then come down, that's all.A totally personal feeling.Yu Jian's "Sixth Shangyi Street" unfolds the daily life of him and his friends like a family routine; Li Yawei's "Chinese Department" reads today, and it seems that I can still smell the stinky socks in the university dormitory .These avant-garde poems mean that literature has descended into people's most real daily life, or in other words, lifted the shield of concepts and restored the daily reality of individual people.To this day, the success or failure of avant-garde literature is still a topic of disagreement in the literary world.A reassessment of avant-garde literature is necessary.Like the fate of human beings, literature should not judge heroes by success or failure, but should explore its value.This is the spirit of avant-garde literature for Chinese literature.Avant-garde literature emphasizes language, structure, and Westernized humanistic concepts and philosophical concepts, interprets them, incorporates certain methods and concepts of modernism, and pays special attention to exploring psychological depth.In a specific social and cultural situation, pioneer writers switched from "what to write" to "how to write", which is a great progress from the perspective of discipline construction.In the past, we mostly used linear thinking to understand "necessity and essence", but the avant-garde literature said that fate is non-linear, accidental, and even unknowable. There is not only one kind of fate, but also many kinds of fate.In this way, the spirit of contemporary Chinese literature has changed from always questioning the political themes and group consciousness of the times to exploring the meaning of individual existence. From collective people to individual people, people are restricted by current politics and various social environments Under the circumstances, the real person is transformed into an abstract or even simulated person.It is inevitable that avant-garde literature will be questioned or even ignored later.In the end, avant-garde literature was too obsessed with text forms, indulged in hollowness, abstraction, and narrative gamification, which made avant-garde novels farther and farther away from the real people of the times, and became a "cold landscape" outside of readers; not only novels, but also poetry Similarly, the spirit of literature was assassinated by the sword of technology in this experimental field. The literature of the 1990s ended amidst the noise and commotion.Marketization was the most important event in the 1990s, and this decisive turning point changed the flow of literature to a certain extent.With the acceleration of the marketization process and the general trend of global economic integration, literature has formed a three-legged pattern: official dominant culture, folk mass culture, and academic elite culture coexist and penetrate each other.Mass culture has entered the room, and its influence on culture and literature is particularly significant.The world of fiction is constantly breaking through, and the world of poetry has no heroes.Literature not only lost its sensation, but also its banner.Especially in the middle and late 1990s, the voice of ideological enlightenment was weakening day by day in both life and literature. Literature generally bid farewell to illusory rationality, political utopia and romantic passion, bid farewell to sacredness, solemnity, and boldness, and moved toward secularization and desire. In a word, it leads to the road of deconstruction and escape.The stimulation of the market has promoted the obvious growth of commercialization, entertainment and consumerization factors contained in literary writing.However, it must be noted that although the market is inducing people, only by catering to the public's social ideals, moral paradigms, and aesthetic tastes can they occupy a larger share and avoid being ruthlessly eliminated.However, there are many writers with a lonely spirit of artistic exploration, and excellent works with rich aesthetic content often stand out amidst the noise of the market. The works of the 1990s were broader in terms of themes than before. The narrative positions and humanistic attitudes of the writers changed subtly. The vision of observing life and aesthetic consciousness, especially the value system and spiritual pursuit, showed obvious differentiation: idealism , radicalism, cultural conservatism, feminism, and even quasi-religion all coexist.This is precisely an era of re-discussing the spirit of literature. The discussion on the humanistic spirit in 1996, the writing of intellectuals, and the power of folk writing were all further explorations of the spirit of literature.Everyone agrees that literature at the end of the century needs a new humanistic spirit, and that literature is the spiritual home of human beings and the habitat of "poetry". Since the new century, literature has continued to differentiate with the segmentation of the market and audience.With the deepening of the marketization, modernization and globalization of Chinese society, literary narratives have turned to the city again.Compared with Mao Dun's "class city", Shen Congwen's "civilized city", Zhang Ailing's "human cruel city", and Lao She's "cultural city", the new century literature city is a "secular city" that is materialized, desire-oriented, and routine. ".A period of daily aesthetics has come.First of all, "sub-native narrative" deserves attention.Cities are places where various social and cultural value conflicts meet in contemporary China. A large number of floating population floods into cities, and the two cultures collide, resulting in alienation, loneliness, wandering and other spiritual phenomena.These works generally focus on the urban-rural fringe, describing the floating state of souls of rural people in the process of entering the city, and reflecting the spiritual changes that farmers must experience in the process of modernization.Of course, it is not limited to migrant workers. In writing at the bottom, writers start from focusing on material living conditions, and then pay attention to their spiritual ecology and the needs and expectations of their souls. , because spiritual poverty is far more terrifying than material poverty.Secondly, people have to admit that the themes of youth and growth, together with the post-80s writing, have quietly occupied a place in literature.The third is the ecological theme. Due to the needs of survival and development, Chinese people have not paid enough attention to their own ecological problems, resulting in ecological damage, and their own health and sustainable development have also been severely restricted.Of course, this is just an appearance.From Ma Lihua's "Walking Through Tibet" series, Jia Pingwa's, Jiang Rong's to Yang Zhijun's, etc., writers pay more attention to the relationship between man and nature, man and other forms of life.A group of commentators not only drew beneficial nutrients from western ecological thought, but also began to discover the ecological thought in the spirit of Chinese culture.Although ecological literature and ecological thinking have not yet formed a big climate in the Chinese literary circle, it will surely become a force that cannot be ignored in future literature.Because the rise of eco-philosophical thoughts will extensively affect the ethical relationship between people and between people and other lives, and will inevitably have a profound impact on people's daily life. In short, in the past thirty years, between the imprisonment and liberation of human nature, between desire and aestheticization, between secularization and sublimeization, between dailyization and idealization, between urbanization and folkization In the meantime, literature is looking for the spiritual home of mankind in a unique way, and exploring the development direction of literature itself. The development and changes of literature in the past thirty years are mainly reflected in the creation concept, ideological connotation, cultural heritage, stylistic experiment, narrative mode, language style, etc., and many of them have undergone major changes. For an all-round aesthetic perspective, the following will start with my personal experience and reading experience, and theoretically sort out and summarize the above issues. First of all, the themes of literary works have become more abundant, and a number of works with high ideological and artistic standards have appeared on historical themes, rural themes, urban themes, and intellectuals.In terms of historical themes, compared with the literature of the 17 years, the literature of the past 30 years has explored a large area in the field of history, with outstanding performance in depth and diversification.Many works retell history and rediscover the spirit of history that is beneficial to modern people. The perspectives and methods of writers are different, either restoring history, or deconstructing history, or consuming history. A grand scene of carnivalization of history has emerged .In fact, what kind of mysterious spiritual connection history has with today and literature is a question that needs to be further studied.Retelling history and rewriting literary history is the spiritual appeal of people in the period of social transformation.Generally speaking, the treatment of historical themes in contemporary literature has gone through the process from capitalizing class struggle and capitalizing peasant wars in those days to today capitalizing efforts to govern and capitalizing sages and virtuous ministers, accompanied by subtle changes in the view of history, highlighting the spirit of reforming the old and reforming the past .It is obviously a historicist attitude to include sages, kings and virtuous figures into the ranks of the people in creating history, and to recognize their role.The orthodox and integrated history of the past has become a diversified history that can be interpreted in multiple ways, thus showing the richness, complexity, contingency, and even fragmentation of history. As a result, the field of history has become unprecedentedly complicated, and aesthetic taste has become increasingly complex. Of course, there are many issues that can be debated.Er Yuehe obviously broke some norms.His series of emperors of the Qing Dynasty does not have the staid state of being too rigid with historical facts. On the contrary, it gives people a sense of freedom and unrestrained indulgence.This involves his handling of a series of relationships between reality and imagination, official history and unofficial history, elegant literature and popular literature, cognitive function and entertainment function.Tang Haoming seems to be walking the opposite path to Er Yuehe. In terms of the relationship between history and literature, he focuses on history. He is good at accumulating historical facts and profound historical knowledge, and is particularly sensitive to capture the spider-like typical of complex historical relationships. figure.This kind of person is not an emperor, but he surpasses the emperor in terms of spiritual and cultural coverage. He uses such a person as the key to open the heavy door of history, such as Zeng Guofan, Yang Du, and Zhang Zhidong. "White Gate Willow" uses the hands and eyes of contemporary literati to express the embrace of scholar-bureaucrats, to describe the rugged bones of a group of intellectual elites in the era of "the collapse of the sky and the earth" at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and to write about the women who do not give up to men when the catastrophe is imminent. The unique cultural atmosphere has strengthened the traditional Chinese humanistic style.We have seen many works, the clues of historical laws are too clear, the main characters are some kind of representatives of social forces, like symbols; Some kind of negative and passive deductive tool is used, at most a layer of personality paint is applied.But now it has already broken through. Like "Shengtianmen Gate", its structure has a loop of big history and small history. The small one is about the revolutionary history of Shengtianmen Gate and Dabie Mountain, and the big one is about creation history and regional history. , the author strives to take a middle path that is compatible with official history and unofficial history and optimizes reorganization.The strokes of the work point to the hidden corners of history, so that blood and violence are not avoided, but survival, life, desire, and survival have become the keywords of many characters' motivations.Like "Coloratura", it revolves around the whereabouts of a revolutionist, through the perspectives of several people, the tone of several people, and several different interpretations, making it confusing, intertwined with truth and falsehood, and completing an innovation in historical narrative in a unique way. It also questioned and questioned the authenticity of the history being told in the confusing plot. In the past thirty years, local literature has also been expanded, updated and deepened.This is an old topic, but it is an important topic that cannot be bypassed.Rural narrative is a field with the thickest accumulation, the most masterpieces and the longest history in modern and contemporary literature.Mr. Lu Xun created two types: peasants and intellectuals.Farmers and the countryside have always been the main objects of expression in modern and contemporary literature, and the farming cultural tradition is a solid and profound ideological and cultural aesthetic resource.现在的书籍市场和大众文化领地，“文学都市”无疑已占了优势，覆盖面大，出现了文学想象中心从“乡村”向“都市”的转移，80后的写作，已基本与乡土无缘。但是，在纯文学领域，乡土叙事凭借惯性仍占有很大比重。一些公认的文学精品和获奖作品，仍多以乡土题材为主力。许多作家仍坚实地立足乡土，守望乡土，讲述中国乡土的忧患、痛苦，裂变，苏醒，转型，讲述现代性的乡愁和新人格的艰难成长，因为在他们看来，即使描绘现代化的中国也无法离开乡土这个根本通道，不了解乡土，就不了解中国。乡土叙述向来有三大模式，即启蒙模式、阶级模式和田园模式，各有一大批代表作。那么现今有些什么根本性的变化吗？ 我以为，现在的相当一批作品超越了启蒙意义上的政治的和经济的乡村，而进入了文化的、精神的、想象的、集体无意识的乡村，很多作品不仅关心农民的物质生存，更加关心他们的精神生态和文化品格；文化作为一种更加自觉的力量和价值覆盖着这一领域。由于中国社会向来以家族为本位，家族小说成了传统结构模式之一，也许作家们觉得，唯有家国一体的“家族”才是最可凭依的，故而乡土与家族结成了不解之缘。不妨以观之，作品以宗法文化的悲剧和农民式的抗争为主线，以半个世纪重大的阶级斗争和民族矛盾为背景，正面观照中华文化精神及其人格，探究民族的历史命运和文化命运。它的创新和超越主要表现在：一、扬弃了原先较狭窄的阶级斗争视角，尽量站到时代的、民族的、文化的高度来审视历史，诉诸浓郁的文化色调，还原了被纯净化、绝对化的“阶级斗争”所遮蔽了的历史生活本相。二、除了交织着复杂的政治、经济、党派、家族冲突之外，作为贯穿主线的，乃是文化冲突激起的人性冲突——礼教与人性、天理与人欲、灵与肉的冲突。这是此书动人的最大秘密。三、开放的现实主义姿态，比较成功地融化了诸多现代主义的观念手法来表现本土化的生存，在风格上，又富于秦汉文化气魄。事实上，看清了文化秘史式的写法，也就基本看清了1990年代以来家族小说审美特色的所在，那就是“文化化”。还有一点也很重要，那就是对乡土生存中的集体无意识的探究与揭示，这也是以往不曾有的。如《羊的门》等都涉及到深层的“权力恐惧”心态。在《羊的门》里，作者从土壤学、植物学入手，把人也视为同一土壤上生长的物种之一，它要揭开的是民族生存中更惨烈的本相和民族灵魂的深层状态。从呼天成的驭人拢人之术中追溯探究专制文化根基和民众心态哺育等方面的历史生成，与其说这是一部官场小说，不如说是寻根小说的深入与拓延。还应看到，不同历史时期里人们对土地的情感各不相同，也就决定了传统与现代的冲突这一母题具有常写常新的基质。我读，一个最突出的感觉是无名状态，也就是再也不能用几种非常简单而明确的东西来概括今天的乡土的性质和型态了。“鸡零狗碎的泼烦日子”在粘稠地缓缓流动着，作者打捞着即将消失的民间社情和语言感觉，弥漫着无处不在的沧桑感。贯穿全书的意象有两个：“土地”与“秦腔”，它们由盛而衰，表现了传统的乡土中国的日渐消解，结构上则以实写虚，原生态的写法造成了一定的阅读障碍。 其次，近三十年文学审美意蕴的丰富与作家文体意识的进步和表现能力的提高关系密切。文体并不是通常意义上形式的同义语。在我看来，文体是作家认识世界、把握世界和表现世界的方式，其重要性不言而喻。具体地说，它是一种艺术地把握世界和言说世界的方式。在优秀作家那里，它总是打着个人的鲜明印记。近三十年来的文学作品，不但在哲学内涵和精神价值上有了重大突破，在文体上也有重大的突进。 文体意识的变化势必带动作品意蕴空间和表意方式的变化。近三十年文学在现实主义的社会性、人性反映之外，出现了一些表意性、象征性、寓言型的富于探索精神的作品，一些作品在写实性与表现性的结合上发生了很大转变。很久以来，我们的文学总是缺乏超越性和恣肆的想象力，热衷于摹写和再现，虽有平实的亲近，却难有升华的广涵。说到底，作家的根本使命应该是对人类存在境遇的深刻洞察，一个通俗小说家只注意故事的趣味，而一个有深度的作家，却能把故事从趣味推向存在。当代性不应该只是个时间概念，主要还是作家对当下现实的体验达到的浓度是否能概括这一时代。很多作家都在情感和故事上浪费了太多。1980年代出现了一批先锋小说，有过一次大规模的冲击，功不可没。然而，不久就因走向形式主义的怪圈，失却了现实生命的血色，渐渐搞不下去了。这主要是在中短篇小说领域。先锋文学尽管暂时落幕了，但它所开启的文学形式方面的探索，表意方面多样化非生活层面的努力，还是在很多作家的创作中留下深深的印记，丰富了文学的表意空间，提升了文学的艺术品位。到了1990年代压倒性的时尚是写实主义。但是，有一些作家仍不满于写实的局囿，努力拓展小说的功能，追求哲思，诗化，独异，人文情思与形而上意味，强化艺术感觉和语言个性，注重叙述策略，既重视写实，又摆脱写实，注重渗入独特的个人化经验，扩大了时空的涵盖面，使作品面貌一新。 比如，借麦其土司家“傻瓜”儿子的独特视角，兼用写实与象征的表意手法，轻灵而诗化地写出了藏族的一支———康巴人在土司制度下延续了多代的沉重生活。作者对各类人物命运的关注中，呈现了土司制度走向衰亡的必然性，肯定了人的尊严的宝贵。小说有浓厚的藏文化意蕴，轻淡的魔幻色彩，艺术表现开合有度，语言颇多通感成分。史铁生的的叙述者在一座古园一棵死去的柏树下偶遇两个不谙世事的小孩，思绪如泉，引起了对往事、生命、真实、死亡等人生永恒主题的终极思考。小说艺术上的一个显著特点是结构的自由开放，作者自由地出入于小说与现实，叙事与思想之间，从而形成了一种全息性结构，不可拆解开来分析。另一个特点是悬置现实主义的写实成规，至少包含故事的叙述、对人的命运的哲性思考、对小说艺术的文论性思考等三个层次，彼此交织在一起，不实写故事而虚写情境，离开了日常谈话而大量设置形而上性质的对话。它在文体上是十分独特的，有如空谷足音。创造出一种内在时间，开创了长篇小说中罕见的“倒放”式结构，从司马蓝的死逆向叙述到他的回到子宫，依次描写了他的死亡、中年、青年、童年和出生，文体正好与生死游戏仪式对应。作者重新编排生活，建立自己的本体寓言框架。生活的正常时序被“颠倒”着进入小说的叙述，时光倒流使故事完全寓言化了。莫言的写了五十年的乡村史，他以人变驴变狗变猪的六道轮回式的幻化处理，曲折表达了作者对中国农民与土地关系复杂性的深刻理解。这些作品都有足堪称道者。 再次，与文体变化无法拆开的是语言。汉语的叙事能力有没有提高，回答应是肯定的。这是一个较少谈论却是非常根本的问题。现代白话文的历史并不长，但事实证明，现代汉语有丰沛而深厚的质地，其艺术表现力是深潜的。这些年来，随着社会生活的急遽变化，随着创作经验的累积和对外来文学的借鉴，以及对民间新语汇的学习，近三十年文学从现代性的角度，探索着世界化——民族化的道路。文学的历史是变化的历史而非进化的历史，新的未必胜于旧的，这是对的，但就现代汉语而言，总体来看现在胜过以往。 我们看到，近三十年，汉语的叙事潜能得到了进一步挖掘和释放。一些风格独具的作家，一出手就有自己独特的语感与语调，把自己和别人区别开来。如果留心会发现，语言的时代性变化是最大的，不管是先锋小说还是非先锋小说，都在变，而传统的叙述姿态、叙述语调和叙述语汇，不少已濒临消亡，有些语调今天看来甚至是可笑的。在这背后是其语境的消亡。比如，人们厌烦那种教训性、独断性、夸饰性、指路性的语气和语调，与教化性话语保持距离。莫言的纷繁错杂的语词搭配能力，人们已经熟知。在里，作者放弃了传统小说的表现方式，借词典的方式为马桥立传，使马桥的人、马桥的物、马桥的历史、马桥的生活方式、马桥的文化思想得以以标本状态存留。汉语这种表意文字与人类生活的互证关系得以阐释。作者在文中不时渗入对自己知青生活感受的反刍，其思绪因词典的形式和故事的穿插而得以成形固化。贾平凹是一位语言感觉特别敏锐的作家，他在谈及他在小说中越来越自觉地化用家乡“土语”时说，语言是讲究质感和鲜活的，向古人学习，向民间学习，其中有一个最捷便的办法是收集整理上古语散落在民间而变成“土语”的语言，这其中可以使许多死的东西活起来，这就如了解中西文化的比较，在那些洋人写的关于中国的书里和中国人写的外国人的书里最能读出趣味一样。这也算是一种心得。 近三十年来，随着中国的崛起，中国文学与文学中国正在实现双重超越。我们需要总结，既给予求实的肯定，同时需要清醒的反思。把今天的创作放到历史的长河里，放到广大读者坦诚的反聩中，放到世界文学的大背景下，就会发现，它还是存在缺失和。我们还没有多少公认的、堪与世界文学对话的、能体现本民族最高叙事水平的大作品，所以，当代文学的任务还很艰巨，要走的道路还很曲折漫长。 在思索近三十年文学精神的构成时，自改革开放以来，中国文学就不断地向世界文化和文学靠近和学习。这种学习是全面的，影响是重大的，从哲学观念到艺术技巧，从把握世界的角度到价值取向。就文本来看，也许突出表现在先锋文学中。马原是先锋小说的开创者之一，人们总是将他喻为“中国的博尔赫斯”。不仅是他，人们还把“中国的马尔克斯”，“中国的卡夫卡”，“中国的福克纳”分配给他们喜爱的不同作家。这些指称的流行无疑是中国作家向世界文学学习的证明。鲁迅先生的“拿来主义”在先锋作家那里得到了比较完足的实践。有人说，没有开放，没有向西方文学的借鉴和学习，就没有现在这个样子的中国文学，不是没有道理；还有些外国文学翻译家骄傲地说，正是他们在实际上引领着文学的新潮，翻译家的语言甚至已经严重地改变了中国作家的文风。部分的事实也确乎如此。比如，我们会在不止一部中国作品的开头，读到对那段著名开头的模仿和改写。所以，不夸张地说，近一百年来西方文学的思潮在新时期三十年文学中被中国作家一一摹仿或借鉴过了。在小说界，普鲁斯特、乔伊斯、卡夫卡、马尔克斯、博尔赫斯、昆德拉、纳博科夫、渡边淳一、罗伯格理耶、格拉斯、帕慕克等等，成为中国作家学习的榜样；在诗歌界，叶芝、艾略特、瓦雷里、里尔克、奥登、帕斯捷尔纳克、萨克斯、辛格、埃利蒂斯、卡内蒂、戈尔丁、塞弗里斯、布罗兹基、帕斯等一大批世界诗人成了中国诗人的标杆和偶像；在批评界，荣格、弗莱的原型批评学说，巴赫金的复调理论和狂欢化诗学，德里达的解构主义，本雅明、马尔库塞、弗洛姆以及伊格尔顿，哈贝马斯等西方马克思主义的文论、俄国形式主义批评以及后现代主义、后殖民主义理论等等都成为批评家学习和依凭的学说甚至理论资源。在中国文学史上，从来没有任何一个时期像这三十年一样，如此众多的世界明星与流派在中国的文坛上交辉，组成了一个光辉闪耀的星群。中国的文学再也不是独自一统的文学江湖，再也不可能用一种文学的传统来统一了，它已与中国的经济、文化一道，融入了世界之中。 整个八十年代，就是一个中国文学向世界文学学习的年代。“西化”是显而易见的。中国的传统文化成了一种隐性的存在。汪曾祺、阿城的小说虽然受到赞赏，却并没有得到广泛的认同。当汪曾祺去世时，有人说中国最后的一个士大夫死了，中国的传统文学精神也随着汪曾祺走了。先锋小说、先锋诗歌以及先锋戏剧和电影在八十年代基本都是实验主义，“你方唱罢我登场”，各领风骚三五年。当时的批评界也一样，在新的文学样式刚刚上场时，就惊呼新的文学生成，文学进步了，不久，就有批评家批评这种走马观花式的实验主义。从今天来看，这种朝三暮四的文学景象就像一个人青春期的多场恋爱剧一样，是必然要走过的。一个人不经历青春就老去那是多么的悲哀，但一个人始终处于青春期的亢奋状态也未免令人担忧。文学总是要走向它的成熟期的。 整个九十年代，是在一片噪杂声中度过的，或曰众声喧哗，多元并存。对于“西化”现象，评论界终于达成一致，先锋小说家们要么收场，要么改弦易张，不要再当“中国的博尔赫斯”，而是要做自己。中国的文学终于在迷失自我的状态中逐渐向自我回归，但这种自我已不是先前的自我了，而是一个从世界文学中回归的自我。“民族的”与“世界的”这种关系虽然还在争议不休，但多数作家和评论家还是赞赏以“世界的胸怀”来关照“民族的”这样一种关系。难点在于，什么是世界的？难道就是欧洲中心主义？中国作家的诺贝尔奖情结来自向世界融合的心情，但中国作家对诺贝尔奖的反感情绪则来自强权的欧洲中心主义。在这种文学精神的感召下，中国文化传统终于进入了文学家的视野。 于是，一批向中国传统文化进军的作家终于出现了。汪曾祺等人不可能带走中国的传统，只要是有生命力的文化，在历史的某一时刻，它总会重新发芽、开花、结果。中国的传统文化在毛泽东等的批判下已经与中国人分开得太久了，然而，在日常伦理生活中，我们遵循的却仍然是我们已然忘却了的传统。阿城的小说将道家精神在一篇中传出了神，张炜、陈忠实则向中国的儒家(还有道家和佛家，但以儒家为主)伦理进军，试图在我们久违了的儒家精神中找到我们中国人的传统的“人学”来。李锐的朴拙里不仅有道家，也有儒家，他似乎走得还更远一些。近年来，他的一些小说似乎在寻找海德格尔所说的原初命名的文化源头。 此外，中国文化也不仅仅指儒家和道家文化，还有多民族文化，特别是藏族文化和伊斯兰文化。从八十年代末以来，有自省力的作家已经埋头专注于自身脚底下的土地和自身的文化中。马丽华的《走过西藏》系列、阿来的以后近年来出版的范稳的《水乳大地》等，将藏汉文化交融中的西藏文化生态尽情地展现了出来。张承志的和石舒清等人的小说则将神秘的伊斯兰文化凌厉地展现了一番。 虽然这些作家的作品大多还是在中国本土流传，中国文化的独特魅力在世界文学中也才露出了很小的一点，但是，中国作家与世界当代文坛的交流日益频繁。余华、莫言、李锐、苏童、贾平凹等作家在西方有了一定的知名度，中国文学也日益受到世界文坛的关注。在今后的一段时期里，中国当代文学与世界当代文学的交流将成为日常，中国文学也不再是自成一体的小系统，而是与世界文学相互交融的大系统。 我们向世界的学习，不可避免的是要向强势主导的欧洲中心文化学习，也就是“西化”。随着大众文化的洪流，这种学习变得更为汹涌。相反，自身文化的觉醒，以及用自身文化与异质的西方文化对话、重组又来得相当缓慢。然而，它毕竟在20世纪末和新世纪初来临了。这也就是近年来人们常说的后殖民文化现象。虽然从严格意义上来讲，中国不是西方帝国主义的殖民地，但在文化意义上仍然属于弱势。不可否认，我们目前的文化基本都是西化的，包括我们的主流文化马克思主义也是一种拿来主义的文化，只不过是中国式的马克思主义。一夫一妻制、男女平等的家庭伦理观念，男权文化下的女性主义，市场经济，商品文化主导下的经济模式，消费主义等，都是西来的产物，相反，中国的传统文化一直潜伏着，直到九十年代以来强调复兴民族精神之后它才慢慢地抬起头来。近年来，随着中国经济在世界经济中的强大影响，中国人的自信心开始恢复，中国自身的文化也苏醒了，国学受到重视，儒家文化、道家文化、佛教文化一时在恢复中国人的文化记忆。 在民族自身的觉醒和用民族文化与西方强势文化对话而最终建立一种新的文化，还需要很长的路要走，这首先需要一批对自身文化传统有认同感的作家。世界文化从文化形态上大致可以分为基督教文化、佛教文化、中国文化和伊斯兰文化。前者属于西方文化的范畴，后三者属于东方文化的范畴。恰恰有趣的是，后三者正好是第三世界的文化。从文化心理学上来看，基督教文化和伊斯兰教文化有一些共同的特征，都起源于犹太教文化，更早则起源于不稳定的游牧文化和海洋商品文化，按钱穆先生分析，这些文化因天然的生存不足造就了文化的侵略性，而佛教文化和中国文化则由于稳定的农业生存而造就了和平的文化心理。假如我们都认定人类最终的追求在于和平和稳定，那么，东方文化特别是中国文化已经成为人类可持续发展的重要文化资源。基于这样一种认识和理想，我以为，中国文化与世界文化的对话应该在更大范围地进行，文学家应该更为敏锐地认识这一点，从而在这方面做出贡献。这种文学的形象的探索肯定是极为有益的，它必将为中国人未来的文化生活开拓出新的前景。