Chapter 11 1957 "Red Bean"

Genre: Short Story Author: Zong Pu Original publication: "People's Literature" Published: Issue 7, 1957 For quite a long time, contemporary narratives in China have had to face the conflict between these two forces, that is, the "internal ethics" that the author deals with the relationship between himself and characters, and between characters, and the "internal ethics" that embodies ideological requirements. The friction between "external statutes".This conflict is so common and strong that we say that if we ignore the attention and research on this conflict, we will not be able to reveal the main contradiction in contemporary novel creation, and we will not be able to explain the important factors that affect the development of contemporary novels. It is impossible to explain why so many talented novelists are helpless and unable to move an inch.

The internal ethics of the novel means that when the novelist creates characters, he must regard the characters as the absolute center, respect the emotions and personality of the characters, and let them love and hate, think and act in their own way.In fact, respect is not enough. A writer should also love the characters in his works. Even if he faces a character with serious personality flaws and sins, he must write about his humanity that has not yet disappeared, and write about his character. Character and temperament, write his pain and sorrow.If a strict and narrow "external statute" system is formed in an era, then the internal ethics of the novel will face the embarrassing situation of being distorted or even torn apart, and the characters in the novelist's works will inevitably be simplified or even demonized. Destiny, as Hegel said when talking about the epic: "If there are abstract beliefs, well-established dogmas, and fixed political and moral basic principles in an era, it will leave the epic. Requires a specific (the general and the particular have not been separated) and homely and intimate (get rid of the shackles of foreign culture) mental state." (Hegel: "Aesthetics", three volumes, volume two, Commercial Press, 1981)

From the perspective of the conflict between "internal ethics" and "external regulations" in contemporary novel creation, Zong Pu's short stories are undoubtedly a typical case.When writing this work, Zong Pu was still an inexperienced young man.She tried her best to create according to the "political" principles and "literary" standards formulated in the new era, but the influence of traditional Chinese culture and the influence of Western classic novels made it difficult for her to completely abandon another kind of human nature that is more human and reasonable. Viewpoints and principles of novel writing, it is difficult to follow the same pattern all of a sudden.

Now, looking back, Zong Pu's writing is both lingering and uncomfortable, as if endless emotions were about to be uttered, but then swallowed back.Its reluctance to the characters is very real, but later, according to the narrow "struggle philosophy", it divides a pair of lovers into "good guys" and "bad guys", falling into the "intimate or not, class classification". "The cliché. In the 1950s when false and boring stereotyped narratives were rampant, Zong Pu’s slightly sentimental poetic beauty in the novel is refreshing: The weather was gloomy, and snowflakes were flying in groups.The originally desolate winter world is covered with white and soft snow, which seems to be rich and warm.Jiang Mei was carrying a small box in her hand, and she was walking along a winding path on the campus of X University.The rockery beside the road is still in the same place.The wisteria trellis is still looming behind the rockery.There is also the maple grove, which is jokingly called Amulin by the classmates. At this time, every tree is covered with white snow.Snowflakes rushed towards her face, Jiang Mei felt refreshed and light.She thought of the scene when she walked this road, left school, and took a revolutionary job six years ago, a smile appeared on her thin lips.Unconsciously, I walked faster and faster, and the West Building where I lived for four years was getting closer.

At the beginning, instead of talking about the general trend of the world, nor explaining the "background of the times", but describing the snow scene in a fresh way, it seems extraordinary.In the author's writing, the snow on the ground is not only "white and soft", but also makes the "winter world" appear "rich and warm".This kind of description not only well expresses the mood and attitude of the characters at this moment, but also establishes a slightly sad lyrical tone for the whole novel. In the following narratives and descriptions, there is no lack of deviant style of writing, and even subconsciously broke through the highly ideological external regulations of the time:

…Jiang Mei stood up and stretched out her hand to touch the cross, but as if she was afraid of touching a painful wound, she stretched out her hand and then retracted it. She was stunned for a while, and then pressed Jesus' right hand hard. The cross opened like a door.A small hole appeared in the wall.Jiang Mei stood on her tiptoes and looked in. Her face, which had been blushed by the cold wind, suddenly turned pale.She whispered to herself: "It's still there!" Then with two fingers, she pulled out a small black velvet box with an ivory holder.Sitting by the bed, Jiang Mei lifted the lid of the box with trembling hands.Two red beans that looked like blood spots were exposed in the box, set on a ring made of silver thread, there was no dazzling light, but the color was very even and bright.Time has left no trace on them—

Jiang Mei knew how much joy and sorrow there was.She picked up the two red beans, the past rose from her heart like a layer of smoke, tears covered her eyes—— The description of objects here is even more out of line and even taboo.Because, starting from the 1950s, religion was basically used as a tool to fool the people, as a feudal superstition that must be opposed and criticized.The world has been turned upside down, the world has been changed, the "Great Savior" has replaced the "Savior", and the "Kingdom of Heaven" on the other side has been replaced with the real "Happy Paradise". And superfluous, moreover, is actually the "opium" that "numbs the people".However, in the literary narrative of the "New Era", religious images such as the "Cross" and "Jesus" are no longer allowed to be described with praise or even a neutral attitude.However, Zong Pu seemed completely unaware of the existence of these "taboos" when he was writing.She connected these two most representative religious images with the nostalgia for past love. Although this is in line with the emotional logic of an emotional college student who has come from the old days, it helps to strengthen the "red beans" The symbolic "joy and sorrow", and then endow these emotions with a solemn color and the nature of suffering, but it is difficult to escape the suspicion of promoting bourgeois lifestyle and feudal religious superstition.

However, writing "class enemies" as ghosts, or writing them as neither human nor ghost, is required by the new narrative statute.Different from the popular narrative mode at that time, Zong Pu didn't write Qi Hong as a person who was ugly and had an ugly soul at the beginning, but truly wrote about his elegance: On this quiet road, a young man is walking quickly to the piano practice room.He is tall and slender, wearing a gray silk robe and a blue cloth gown, with his head half down, his eyes looking at the place three feet in front of him, as if the world does not exist to him.Maybe it was Jiang Mei's lively atmosphere and the bright color on her face that disturbed him, so he raised his head to look at her.Jiang Mei saw that he had a delicate ivory face with well-defined outlines, long eyes, and a bewildered dreaming look.Jiang Mei thought, although this person raised his head, he must not have seen me.For some reason, this thought made her feel very sorry.

According to the author's suggestion, Qi Hong lacks enthusiasm for the outside world and tends to be self-interested, but his appearance is lovely, and his temperament is also curious and even fascinating.He knows music and has a high appreciation ability.He yearned for a purely ideal life, "a real world, a scientific and beautiful world", however, the world he was in was "so empty, so disordered, and so ugly".He is dissatisfied and disgusted with everything in reality.This kind of adolescent anxiety disorder is actually quite normal.This short-term despair will soon get rid of.However, the author represents his own time and imposes a crippled world view on this "reactionary" youth.She asked him to understand "freedom" in this way: "People live for freedom. Freedom, these two words are really good. You are yourself, and freedom means you can do everything by yourself, and you can do whatever you like." In the new In the ideological lexicon, "freedom" is basically regarded as a synonym for "selfishness", "willfulness" and "individualism".Those who distort "liberty" and oppose "liberalism" limit and kill "freedom" by giving it a negative character.Zong Pu unconsciously accepted this prejudice against "freedom".She uses incomplete "freedom" to deny the "villains" in her works.

In this way, it is impossible for Zong Pu to write Qi Hong as a person with dignity, personality, and thoughtfulness. Instead, he writes Qi Hong as a pathological hater based on his misunderstanding or even negative attitude towards "freedom" in his own era. cosmopolitan: They walked along the deserted causeway, free and happy because there was no one else.Jiang Mei raised her smiling eyes and whispered, "Qi Hong, we'd better live on a deserted island, surrounded by the vast sea, and you are the only one,—" Qi Hong yelled happily and put his hands around her waist. "Then I would! I hate humans! Except you!"

When Zong Pu writes about the love feelings of two young people, sometimes she is real and delicate, but she seems not very good at writing the thoughts of the characters, or in other words, she has not followed the principles of objectivity and authenticity of the internal ethics of the novel to let the Characters express their thoughts and pain by themselves. "I hate humans! Except you!" Why "hate humans"?What traumatic memory drove him into this horrific mental state?The author simply does not give the character the opportunity to defend himself, to give him an adequate explanation of his thoughts.She simply wrote him as such an inexplicable and repulsive person as the times suggested and demanded. In the following narrative, Zong Pu wrote almost completely in accordance with the external regulations of the times.She asked the "progressive" Xiao Su to give Jiang Mei a revolutionary enlightenment and educate Jiang Mei on the proletarian outlook on life: "The road of life is not smooth. If you want to fight against bad guys, you must also fight against yourself—" Xiao Su It is the "positive character" in this novel, representing light and direction.Struggle is her religion.For those who believe in this religion, the liberation and salvation, hope and happiness of all people can only be realized through "struggle".In the teachings of this new religion, people are divided into different "classes". The "proletarians" are born pure and noble, while intellectuals are born dirty and sinful. As a representative of the new statute power, Xiao Su is obviously a high-ranking enlightened person and leader, very confident in making moral evaluations and moral judgments on the world and others.She calls Jiang Mei a "little bird," which is not so much an expression of intimacy as a sign of moral superiority.With an almost disdainful arrogance, she made a simplistic evaluation of Qi Hong's qualities and personality, seeing him as a person "whose soul is selfish, cruel and barbaric", thereby reducing this character to a symbol, a " Representatives of the "reactionary" class.At the same time, she uses a new "revolutionary" concept to guide Jiang Mei's life, trying to save this weak "lost" from the soul, so that she can "really come among us": Xiao Su stopped writing: "What are you doing? Little bird? You will ruin yourself like this. Can you see it? Qi Hong's soul is selfish, cruel and barbaric, why torture yourself? It's over, your Love! Really come among us, we all welcome you, love you—" Xiao Su came over and wrapped her arms around Jiang Mei's shoulders. "But, Qi Hong—" Jiang Mei didn't fully understand what Xiao Su was talking about. "What Qi Hong! Forget about him!" Xiao Su shouted almost angrily, "You are a good boy, kind-hearted, smart and capable, but this love will poison you to death! Forget about him! Promise me! Little bird. " From such a description, we can see the inequality between the characters, and feel the powerful spiritual dominance of the "enlightened ones" over the "lost ones".This kind of description that violates the spirit of the novel is essentially the result of compromising with the external regulations at the expense of the internal ethics of the novel.This simplification has reached an unimaginable level in shaping Qihong's image.In the author's narrative language, Qi Hong's "face became more and more anxious and nervous, and his eyes revealed a kind of ferocity".The dialogue between the characters is purely stereotyped "class struggle". For example, Qi Hong "lowered her voice and said word by word: 'I wish I could kill you! Put you in a coffin and take you away!'" Jiang Mei The answer is also tit-for-tat, and also chillingly cold: "I would rather hear that you are dead than know that you are not living like a human being." Logical, but without the slightest human touch. "Ice and charcoal are different for a long time", they finally parted ways.Jiang Mei finally "has really grown into a good party worker".This fits the narrative conventions of the era.However, looking at it now, her portrayal of characters, especially her handling of their emotional conflicts, is simple and lacks inner depth. However, even this kind of writing that is almost completely "obedient" is not acceptable.Because, measured by a strict ideological standard, those sentimental descriptions are obviously a manifestation of the "bourgeois life sentiment", which is obviously far from the "proletarian revolutionary spirit".In this way, in the 1950s, when the struggle against culture and literature was in the ascendant, it was bound to be doomed. In order to cooperate with the "Anti-Rightist Movement", the ninth issue of "People's Literature" in 1958 published several critical articles with a strong flavor of gunpowder.The headline was "Qin Zhaoyang's Bankruptcy (Speech at the Enlarged Party Group Meeting of the Chinese Writers Association)" by Liu Baiyu.From the very beginning of this article, it will show an extremely fierce struggle posture: "The struggle to criticize Qin Zhaoyang, who is an out-and-out modern revisionist, is a profound class struggle on the literary front. The struggle teaches us once again: Only by thoroughly Only by thoroughly removing the influence of bourgeois ideology can we establish true socialist literature. The differences and struggles between us and Qin Zhaoyang are a fundamentally irreconcilable struggle.” Qin Zhaoyang, as a “rightist and revisionist hidden inside the revolution ", has obviously become a "class enemy" that must be liquidated. The "Editor's Note" of the 9th issue of "People's Literature" in 1958 said: "More than a year ago, Qin Zhaoyang, a rightist, once stole the position of deputy editor-in-chief of this magazine. This magazine has become an anti-party and anti-socialist position. But he misread the situation and underestimated the power of socialism. After the vigorous anti-rightist struggle since last year, this anti-socialist "hero" with "great wisdom and courage" finally He has come to an ignominious end, and at last he has been paid for all his crimes." It was against the background of the "anti-rightist struggle" and the "liquidation" of Qin Zhaoyang's "crimes" that Zong Pu's death became an unavoidable problem, a serious event worthy of attention, or, rather, a serious event. The "struggle" that had to be fought. On July 28, 1958, exactly one year after its publication, the Literary Review Group of Haiyan Literature Society, a third-year student of the Chinese Department of Peking University, held a symposium on this novel.Zhang Tianyi, then editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", and Zong Pu, the author, also participated in the symposium.This is a discussion that begins with a conclusion.This conclusion does not come from anyone who participated in the discussion, but from that era itself, or in other words, from the absolute power and supreme will of that era. Why did you invite some college students to criticize it?This is because the characters in the novel are all college students, and the poetic sentimentality it expresses can easily move those young hearts. The purpose of this symposium organized by "People's Literature" is to eliminate the poison that this novel has spread among college students, and to overcome its "bad influence on readers."For example, the young Xie Mian was so deeply moved that after seeing it, he went to pay homage to the Yudai Bridge in the Summer Palace, the place where the protagonist Jiang Mei and Qi Hong made love, and recalled how they were in the past. Here to make love.Wang Zongzhi also said that the artistry and landscape descriptions that he admired in the past were very poetic; he thought that the description of Qi Hong smashing the red bean hairpin was the author's clever symbolism - foreshadowing the love tragedy.I even admired Jiang Mei’s tears, and thought it was sour, sweet, and exciting ("What’s the Problem with "Red Bean"?—A Summary of a Symposium", "People's Literature", No. 9, 1958 ). Among all the people who participated in the discussion, Xie Mian was the most tolerant in his understanding and evaluation. He tried to defend the rationality and authenticity of the author's description of the characters' emotions: "The author's ambivalence towards the protagonist Jiang Mei's love is It is true and reasonable, because Jiang Mei was not a proletarian fighter at the time. While she was looking forward to revolution, she was also nostalgic for her lover who was so individualistic that he went on the road of betraying the motherland; Completely broke with the darkness (finally broke). This is in line with historical reality. At the same time, she is in the middle of a fanatical first love, and it is difficult for her to have a calm head. It is understandable that her heart is full of contradictions." (same as before) It should be said , such an analysis is more reasonable. However, "many comrades disagree with this view" because they "cannot see the growth of revolutionary power in Jiang Mei from the works, and how she overcame bourgeois feelings and became a good Communist Party member".Some believe that Jiang Mei is "actually a distorted image of a Communist Party member. If she is portrayed as a critical figure, it will have some meaning"; It destroys personal love and happiness; party and individuality are opposite and contradictory”; some people think that works do not conform to the “laws of life” and “writers must be highly conscious of educating the people in the spirit of socialism, and we are exactly First of all, use this political standard to measure the work. If you talk about "truth" in the abstract without this premise, you will inevitably make mistakes."Others said, "The author affirmed what should be denied, and beautified what should be vilified. The author not only beautified Jiang Mei, but also dressed up and whitewashed Qi Hong, who has fallen into a traitor to the motherland. Not only his despicable thoughts and criminal behavior Instead of expressing condemnation and criticism, the protagonist Jiang Mei shows his "cuteness" through his infinite affection and attachment."Finally, extending from the work to the criticism of the author, "In the final speeches, comrades all agreed that the wrong ideological tendency shown in the work is inseparable from the author's standpoint in the final analysis.  … The author used assets To understand revolutionaries from a class point of view, and to sell bourgeois goods under the guise of revolution, so the works played the role of propagating bourgeois ideas when the revisionist mudslide hit us last year.” (Ibid.) Faced with such fierce and ruthless criticism, Zong Pu had no choice but to bow his head and admit his mistake.She admitted on the spot that her novel "spread bad influence among readers, and I feel very guilty".Later, she also admitted in the "written supplementary speech" that "there are many unhealthy things in her ideology. When writing this novel, she was also attracted by this love story. ... Although she wanted to criticize it intellectually Yes, but I still appreciate those things in terms of emotion—the romance, the old poems... Sometimes the appreciation is subconscious, and it is naturally revealed in the work... Comrade Zong Pu finally said: It is a bad work, and its publication is of course a It was a bad thing, but it was a good thing for me. It allowed me to get criticism and help from everyone, to realize my major shortcomings in thinking and feelings, and to realize the importance of ideological remolding.” (Ibid.) From these severe denunciations and self-blame, we can see the strong restraint of the new literary regulations on the narrative of contemporary novels, and we can see the enormous pressure faced by the internal ethics of the novel.It is already very difficult to freely shape characters according to their original conditions and objective attitudes.As a result, real novels gave way to false novels, and novels about people gave way to novels about "creating gods" and "painting ghosts".The narrative of Chinese novels has entered the anti-literary era of "false big space". In a place where the internal ethics of the novel are completely disintegrated, writing in the true sense is almost impossible, so whether it is those elders who have made outstanding achievements in the 1930s or 1940s, or the rookies who have emerged in the "new era", they must Don't put down the pen in your hand.Zong Pu can only do this.Therefore, she said: "The Cultural Revolution is approaching, and I deeply feel that writing is not free, and I can't keep up with it no matter how I transform it. I decided not to write false and ordered words, so I made up my mind not to write anymore. At that time, I commented on "World Literature" As the leader of the group, I thought that I could engage in research and survive without writing." ("Zong Pu Anthology", Volume Four, Huayi Publishing House, 1996) For a writer, such a way of living is obviously a helpless choice, and it contains endless sorrow. Like many writers who have been deprived of their freedom of writing, Zong Pu has been "liberated" again, and it has been twenty years since he picked up a pen again and began to write in a real sense. (Written by Li Jianjun) Zong Pu: "Collected Works of Zong Pu" (four volumes), Huayi Publishing House, 1996 edition Zong Pu: "South Crossing", People's Literature Publishing House, 1988 edition Zong Pu: People's Literature Publishing House, 2001 Edition Zong Pu: "The Story of the Western Expedition", People's Literature Publishing House, 2009 Edition Fromm: Worker Press, 1986 edition Unamuno: "The Tragic Consciousness of Life", Northern Literature and Art Publishing House, 1987 Edition