Chapter 37 Chapter 10 The Spiritual Main Trend of Contemporary Novel

A nation without worries cannot survive; a nation that has worries but does not know how to reflect is destined not to be strong.In an essential sense, literature is spiritual, but if it does not have the courage to assume the responsibilities of the times and society, and play the function of criticizing and criticizing reality, it will eventually become a "handmaid" of politics and power and lose itself. existence value.As the contemporary mirror image of the Chinese nation, the novel begins the construction of the nation in the modern sense from the reflection and criticism of "national character".

Of course, starting the theme of reflection and criticism of "national character" is not a whim, nor is it chasing fashion, but has deep historical origins and realistic demands. Since modern times, the Opium War has awakened the dream of the "Heavenly Dynasty" and "Yelang's arrogance". The stimulation of blood and the shattering of the dream of a strong country have taught the Chinese to think and worry.Yan Fu, Liang Shuming, Chen Duxiu and others generally believe that the root of the national crisis lies in "the accumulation of people's hearts, the weakness of the national character, and the defects of the national quality." ", (3) and after various practices have been thwarted, the Chinese nation's "modern awareness of original worries" has been formed internally.In this process, Lu Xun not only learned a profound lesson, but also started the great "Establishment Project" based on this.In his view, it is precisely because "there are so many races of people who only know what is responsible and who do not know how to reflect." (4) Therefore, the primary task and basic measures of the "Liren Project" lie in the reflection and development of "national character". clean up.When talking about "why I started writing novels", he believed that "drawing the souls of the silent Chinese people" was aimed at "exposing the sufferings and arousing the attention of treatment", and he worked hard to construct novels with his life's creative practice. The "deep critical mechanism" of literature.

Since Lu Xun introduced "national character" into literary creation, it has been like a crucible, constantly gathering the rich literary practice of many writers, vividly interpreting the deep connotation of "literature is human learning"; it has become an invisible network The target constantly filters the value orientation and realistic practical spirit of the new vernacular literature.From the point of view of the relationship between literature and the nation, the modernization of any nation, as summarized by Liang Qichao, starts from the "awakening" from the catastrophe (deficiency), but the "fundamental" is not the reform of "artifacts" and "systems" , but the reflection on national character including cultural psychology, national quality, ethics, values, etc.; (6) Literature, as the "spiritual birthmark" of the nation, not only touches the sting of the nation's soul, but also generates Its modernity with unique aesthetic features.Judging from the voluminous literary history, this is exactly the case for literature in the new era, especially for novels that bear the strength of national literature.

Since the new era, when people are bitterly complaining about the harm suffered by themselves or the country, they have to ask: What triggered the "Cultural Revolution"-this historical catastrophe?Because of the special stylistic form, the novel unhesitatingly undertook this responsibility of reflection, and deeply analyzed the root of the "Cultural Revolution" from multiple levels: on the one hand, it penetrated the "blind personality cult after the founding of the People's , the increasingly radical leftist trend of thought and deep-rooted feudalism" and other social factors directly penetrate into the master-slave root and lack of self-consciousness in the Chinese cultural character; on the one hand, it consciously returns to the "May Fourth Movement" Tradition, especially the "Spiritual Victory Method" as the core, "selfishness" as the internal logic, and "retreat, inertia, cowardice, servility, self-deception, numbness, forgetfulness, and good face" constructed by Lu Xun's whole life. , No special operations 'as an obvious representation' to reintegrate the inferiority system and use it as a potential reference. ⑺Relying on such a profound background and spiritual resources, the novel also embarks on a journey of criticism that is not without bumps and bumps with the symbol of the nation—"people".

Just like the cultural logic of literature in the new era, novels also have a spiritual connection. First, they continue the literature’s release of social emotions and survivors’ angry complaints about inhuman treatment, family tragedies, and life and death during the “Cultural Revolution”. Then it is extended to the questioning and reflection of its origin, and finally to the "human being".The original major works include "The General's Song" and "Xu Mao and His Daughters".Most of them focus on the "Cultural Revolution". After going through various curtains such as the origin, cultural foundation, and traditional constraints of the "Cultural Revolution", what we see is that "people" are "reversing right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, and evil". The character struggles and performances in the "running rampant" environment, and human nature is extremely distorted and deformed.In terms of intensity of self-reflection, these works show irrepressible anger and passion.After going through the emotional ceremony presided over by the times, a group of reform works represented by "Heavy Wings" broke out, such as "No. 5 Huayuan Street" and "Men's Style".In the mid-1980s, works with a broader vision such as "The Yellow River Flows East" came out.Later, the masterpieces came together, "The Ordinary World" and the other two were extremely sensitive to social, cultural and psychological changes, and paid great attention to the historical fate of farmers.At the same time, "Ancient Ship", "Moving into Human Shape", "Invisible Companion", "Breakout Show", "Golden Ranch", "Homeland", "Waste Time" and "Road of Life" have emerged one after another, and the lineup of novels is even more spectacular. They all open up a new path of critical examination of the psychological structure of national culture. ⑻ Either put "human beings" in the context of reform and opening up, or start from the perspective of history, or in daily life, to torture the inner composition of human nature, to find the way to return to "national character", and to dig out "sickness" root.These criticisms generally tend to be rational, rich and deep, and even consciously restrained.

After all, "people" are the main body of the nation, and the self-reflection of the nation is ultimately carried out on the "people".However, unlike Lu Xun's essay style, which selected a number of "national characters" for bitter satire and negation, and Smith's poetic cultural analysis of "Chinese character" based on impressions, the novel is embodied by typical characters. On the "national character" of the discussion.It not only includes the above-mentioned "prototypes", but more vividly manifests the animal nature of the characters after breaking through the basic norms and moral bottom line of being a "human being", the anti-historical nature of the evil, hypocritical and vicious factors in the characters, and the improper survival of the characters. The destructiveness of activities to human ideals and other phenomena to arouse readers' value judgments, and to reflect on "national character" with affirmative or negative attitudes.Because it points to the modern construction of the Chinese nation, it always maintains a sense of neutrality, and of course it is not without internal struggles and pains.In the pedigree of characters including "political dignitaries, business tycoons, social celebrities, scholars and professors, workers and peasants, monks and priests, prostitutes and beggars, all kinds of people, etc.", the novels of the thirty years in the new era mainly realize their own dreams through three types of characters. "Critical Strategies".

The first type of person is the "denier".It's not the same as a popular villain.In the creation of novels, villains refer to those "people" who are mentally and physically depraved, and they are the embodiment of the "evil" of history.Deniers are a summary of the negative values ​​of human beings. In addition to including the meaning of "evil", they also broadly point to all the inert factors that hinder human progress.Many writers consciously create it as a symbol of "national character". Like positive characters, it also embodies the author's ideology and ideal pursuit, but it only adopts a negative attitude to expose "ugly objects" and criticism only.In ancient and modern Chinese and foreign novels, such characters emerge in endlessly.Just as Romain Rolland once said that Ah Q is French, aren't Tarituff, Oblomov, and Karamazov Chinese? !Since the new era, in the novels, images of negative characters such as Zheng Bairu, Wang Qiushe, Lu Xirong, Wang Weiyu, Wu Zhong, Tian Shoucheng, Lu Zilin, Hu Bingchen, Guo Zhongyao and Zhao Duoduo have also appeared.Their morals are corrupt, their personalities are degenerate, they have no standards of right and wrong, and their highest goal is to realize their personal desires; they are good at disguising, have a dark heart, believe in false, evil and ugly life principles, and openly trample on human ideals of truth, goodness and beauty; they are good at gaining power, and even manipulating Power makes waves, showing the "ugliness" of human nature to the fullest.Through them, the authors not only express their righteous indignation towards the chronic disease of human nature, anxiety about the reflection on national character, and enthusiasm for the modernization process of the Chinese nation; and unearth their roots.Specifically, Wang Qiushe, the "root of the movement", was "a rogue proletarian with the bad habits". During the "Cultural Revolution", he was lazy, ignorant, arrogant and shameless; Insidious and vicious; especially Lu Zilin, who is almost synonymous with "indulgence", "in matters of men and women", he is completely disrespectful, "actually a beast"; He also "robbed" the taxes of each insurance; in terms of power, "official addiction is harder to quit than smoking addiction." ⑼Some people think even more angrily that Zhao Duoduo was cruel, ignorant, rude, and reckless by nature. Under the manipulation of Bing, he maintains the "rules" of Wali Town with his own "excessiveness". He is just a tool; Crazy jealousy, despicable lust, and insatiable nature in consciousness make people incapable of being "human".They seem to be like a "magnetic field", which involves the infinity of "human nature", and we can conduct multi-angle analysis.In short, the novel uses the "denier" to criticize the national character, as mentioned above, it is the result of Chinese and foreign literary traditions, which expresses the directness and thoroughness of the author's introspection; " state, can make us vigilant in "purification".However, in specific reflections, there is also a tendency in the novels of the past thirty years to replace value judgments with moral judgments, such as unstoppable righteous indignation, excessive exaggeration of national chronic diseases; or the dualism of good and evil, refusing to understand or Go deep into the irrational world of "human beings" and deny the possibility of national character beyond rational experience; or turn introspection into emotion and judge the value of national character based on one's own right and wrong likes and dislikes.Therefore, no matter in terms of breadth and depth, these "deniers" still lack the "symbolic capital" comparable to "characters" such as Ah Q, Oblomov, and Tartuff, and the spirit of reflection expressed by Depth is cut unconsciously.

The second type of characters is the "middle character".Since Shao Quanlin proposed the "intermediate person" in 1962, which is "good or bad, good or bad, and indistinguishable among all living beings", its definition has been continuously delayed, and academic circles have also conducted various discussions on it, but But basically ignored the significance of Shao Quanlin's "intermediate figure" as the reflection of national character.In fact, the middle character is a "hybrid" of traditional personality and modern personality. On the one hand, he can constantly adapt to the progress of society and change some outdated, backward, and inert "human nature" factors with the times. Some of the ills that we hold on to appear to be more hidden and deeply harmful, and they are precisely the ultimate root of introspection; "Associated with, and showing different properties in changing times and situations, it is inevitable to pay a "price" for its criticism, and this "price" is the most introspective and difficult.That's why Shao Quanlin consciously agreed with Lu Xun, advocating the display of the dark spiritual truth and "trauma of enslavement" of all beings, such as the ignorance and numbness of farmers, the selfishness and obscurity of ordinary citizens, and the self-preservation and admiration of ordinary intellectuals. . ⑽In the history of contemporary literature, the "intermediate characters" have also experienced the changes of "Liang San Lao Han", "Chen Huansheng", and "Sui Baopu".As far as most people's personality factors are concerned, just like Hugo's dialectics of beauty and ugliness, they are all complicated.Among the novels in the past thirty years, there are Xu Mao, Sun Shaoan, Siquan, Bai Jiaxuan, Yue Pengcheng, Wang Qiyao, Hang Jiahe, Lu Chengwei, Liang Bida, Han Ziqi, Tong Shuangwei, etc.We see the unreasonable conservatism and stubbornness from Xu Mao's hard work and kindness. Behind Bai Jiaxuan's face of "introspection, self-motivation, prudence and independence, and benevolence" lies his oppression of human nature and love for his children. Autocracy and the cruelty of maintaining ethics, in Yue Pengcheng's shrewdness, flexibility, and tolerance, are also cruel and unreasonable.In the tragedies and tragedies of Ni Wucheng, Jiang Jingyi, mother-in-law and sister-in-law's marriage, suicide, and running away, I saw their inner division, distortion and pain.As well as Si Yiwen's pursuit of family, political society, and revolutionary masses, the heroine's ideals of sincerity and justice, and her control and transcendence of "evil" in self-awareness, etc., all profoundly demonstrate The "grey area" of Chinese character that has been obscured for a long time.In a word, these novels transcend the political and economic levels, and reveal deeply whether they are nostalgic for the warmth of traditional culture or longing for the richness of modern culture.However, when criticizing their national character, they also have strong practicality. For example, some award-winning works target "problems", aim at practical solutions, pursue the social effect of reflection, and unconsciously reflect on national character. A misalignment of values ​​occurs and may weaken the intensity of introspection.

The third category is "charisma characters".In Wang Yichuan's book "Modern Chinese Charisma Typicals——A Rhetorical Interpretation of the Characters in Twentieth-Century Novels", in novels, charisma typicals always appear as special characters, which is an art constructed by writers. The common feature of fiction and language fiction is that it is sacred, original, compelling, admired, and followed, and has the appeal and cohesion produced under certain historical conditions. Such characters are generally at the center of the structure of the characters in the novel. Other characters have the functions of looking up, deterring and domesticating, and even the source of power for the stories of other characters. ⑾ But in Max Weber's view, charisma authority is fundamentally the most unstable and "abnormal" form of government, not only because of its "lack of rational stable organization and its inherent anti-economic "Sex", but also in the leader's own life limitations and lack of character.Through the "veil" of social contradictions and crises, the deep "cracks" of human nature and other negative factors, charisma characters not only focus on historical introspective consciousness, but also potentially have the function of self-criticism.Of course, this kind of introspection and criticism does not lie in negating the characters themselves, but in finding the inner focus and "rich" levers for their spiritual construction.For example, Li Gaocheng's psychological and spiritual transformation from indifference, estrangement to identification with the municipal party secretary Yang Cheng, and from trust to his wife to exposure, the hesitation, anxiety, guilt, pain, and even despair, shows that people have to overcome their own "" "Inertia" is so difficult, it includes not only the traditional cultural shackles, but also the devilish factor of being a "human being".But "man" is a rational animal after all. Through dialectical "choice", it peels off its "mask", "eliminates" and "creates", and makes reflection and criticism go deep into the hidden place of "man". And there are "targets", others such as the image function of Liang Daya, Zhang Juzheng, Lu Chengwei, Xiaoshui, etc., the symbolic meaning of the home and dream of "Altan Nutg" in "Golden Ranch", "Homeland" "The same is true for the exploration of the true nature of human nature.

Generally speaking, the reflection on national character in these novels is similar to that of Lu Xun, Ba Jin and others. Of course, this does not mean that they have reached the height or depth of Lu Xun's essays or Ba Jin's "Caprice".In fact, according to these novels, introspection is not the ultimate goal after all, but only the historical starting point of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, digging out the root causes of our diseases, overcoming them on the road to national modernization, and transforming our human nature to improve the soul of the nation.Therefore, in addition to being practical and moral, this kind of introspection and criticism also shows a historical tendency.At the same time, it takes the "deformation" of national character in the times as the starting point, and takes the actual needs as the potential norm. Therefore, this kind of introspection has a strong timeliness.However, in any case, in the spiritual long march of "recasting the national soul", the sense of urgency run through by this kind of introspection still provides us with the historical starting point of "construction of national culture".