Chapter 15 1958 "Lily"

Genre: Short Story Author: Ru Zhijuan Original publication: "Yanhe" Published: Issue 3, 1958 After it was published in the "Yanhe" magazine in March 1958, "Lily" was loved by readers and praised by experts.In particular, Mao Dun and Hou Jinjing's high evaluation not only brought great reputation to this excellent work, but also prevented it from serious misreading and severe criticism that may be encountered.Mao Dun affirmed the "fresh and elegant" style of Ru Zhijuan's novel and the mature technique of detail description in a tone of appreciation ("Mao Dun on Creation", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1980).Hou Jinjing also accurately pointed out its overall characteristics: "The color is soft but not strong, the tone is beautiful but not high-pitched" ("Hou Jinjing Literary Review Selection", People's Literature Publishing House, 1979); When you see your own feelings in the works, the two are unified to form a lyrical tone that is euphemistic, soft, delicate and beautiful.” (Ibid.)

From the point of view of literary genealogy, although most of Ru Zhijuan's works were written according to the model of "Soviet literature", the unique "Lily" has inherited another literary tradition, that is, the tradition of Lily.This is actually a very natural thing.Because it was Ru Zhijuan who read the earliest and the most, and it was also the work that best suited her spiritual temperament. "She Comes From That Way" is Ru Zhijuan's longest novel, and also the most autobiographical work.In this novel, the little girl named Yebao "borrowed a copy from Mr. Liu, and read it fascinated whenever she was free" ("She Came From That Road", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1983).In fact, Ru Zhijuan himself read it in this way.She said, "I have read it nine times, and I have memorized all the poems in it. Although I didn't understand many things at the time, I liked them. After reading and memorizing them, I gradually understood" (Dong Xiao, "Female Writer Ru Zhijuan Talks about Short Story Creation", "Kaijuan" No. 7, 1979).She wrote an article titled "Reading "Red Mansion" under Ziyang Mountain", which recorded in detail the huge impact on her inner life: "At that time, under Ziyang Mountain, 'Red Mansion' was really like a spring, nourishing He helped me and supported me, so that I mustered up the courage in such a world. Not only did I survive, but I was able to leave a good memory of that kind of half-starved and half-cold life, together with the naked Ziyang The mountain is inside." ("China Youth Daily" April 1, 1980) In fact, the influence on Ru Zhijuan is not limited to this.The gentle and delicate emotional attitude towards life, the calm and elegant narrative tone, the subtle feeling ability and poetic expressive ability for beautiful things that she showed in "Lily" are all well-known. Undoubtedly the result of being affected.Although, in that era when all horses were silent, as Ru Zhijuan said in an "Postscript": "Even I put on a 'yellow' hat, my little thing is nothing. !” However, Ru Zhijuan still took advantage of women’s unique sensibility, and with her outstanding talent, gained enough experience and support from it, and finally put her work "Lily Flower" into the honorable category of mental spectrum.

From the perspective of style and technique, although "Lily" is full of poetic flavor, it is pure and natural, without embellishment, embodying a kind of admirable simplicity and elegance.Reminiscent of 1958, when it was produced, and the noisy, exaggerated, and frivolous atmosphere of that era, the restraint and calm it shows are really commendable. So, from an artistic point of view, what is the successful experience of "Lily"? The successful experience of "Lily" is to use the line drawing method to describe the characters and objects concisely and accurately.This descriptive technique inherited from "Historical Records" and other classic works greatly filters the author's simple and random subjective judgment, excludes the author's negative imagination that lacks authenticity, and instead uses a practical and objective Use the method to write the demeanor, language and actions of the characters.Nie Hualing commented on Ru Zhijuan's "The Story of Wrong Editing" and said: "This novel expresses the objective 'truth', not the subjective 'truth' of the author's own experience." A Breakthrough in the World——Talking about "The Story of Misediting"", "The Seventies" November 1980 issue) In fact, as early as in "Lily", Ru Zhijuan had already started to write like this, and reached the Extremely mature realm, achieved admirable narrative effect.Ru Zhijuan is a person who can use words to draw portraits, and a person who can use words to convey voices. Her description of the new daughter-in-law gives people a vivid and realistic impression that only paintings can have:

We walked into the fellow's courtyard, and saw the quiet hall. On the door of one of the rooms inside, there was a curtain of blue cloth and red forehead hanging, and bright red couplets were pasted on both sides of the door frame.We had no choice but to stand outside and shout "big sister, big sister-in-law" to the inside, and we didn't see anyone answering, but there was a sound.After a while, the door curtain was lifted, revealing a young daughter-in-law.This daughter-in-law is very good-looking, with a high nose bridge, curved eyebrows, and a fluffy forehead.Although they are made of coarse cloth, they are all new.I saw that her head had been twisted into a bun, so my sister-in-law apologized briefly to her, saying that the comrade who came here just now didn't speak well, so don't take it for granted.She listened, her face turned inward, and she bit her lip and smiled.After I finished speaking, she didn't make a sound, she still lowered her head and bit her lip, as if holding back a full stomach of jokes and didn't finish laughing.This made me a little embarrassed, what should I say next!I saw the correspondent standing aside, looking at me without blinking, as if he was watching the company commander demonstrate.I had no choice but to bite the bullet, and asked her to borrow a quilt in an embarrassing manner, and then told her that the Communist Party's troops fought for the sake of the common people.This time, she stopped laughing and kept looking into the room while listening.After I finished speaking, she looked at me and at the correspondent, as if weighing the weight of what I just said.After a while, she turned around and went in to hug the quilt.

The correspondent took this opportunity and said to me rather unconvinced: "She just refused to borrow the words I said just now. Look at it!..." Here, all the descriptions are simple and plain, full of the sense of reality as they are. No object is abstract and vague, and no description of the movements and expressions of the characters is specious, but , everything is as it is at present, we are like a participant and witness, standing nearby, hearing the "sound" in the room, seeing the "quite unconvinced" look of the correspondent, and peeping into the heart of the new daughter-in-law The secret of "biting your lip and laughing".

So, what is the theme of "Lily"? From the outside, the theme of "Lily" seems to be a single and pure "military and civilian fish and water situation".This is also what many scholars and critics said almost unanimously.Mao Dun once said that it "expresses a young peasant woman's sincere love for the People's Liberation Army vividly and layeredly; It shows the simple thoughts and feelings of the peasants, not the thoughts and feelings of the intellectuals." In his opinion, "Such simple stories and characters reflect the PLA (through that respectable and lovely correspondent), and the people's love for the PLA. Sincerity (through the young woman who served in the dressing). This is a theme to which many writers have labored, and the author of "The Lily" has his own style in joining the long procession with such a short story."( "Selected Short Stories of 1958", Writers Press, 1959).Mao Dun's analysis and judgment were obviously restrained by the times. Therefore, although he also saw the distinctive "fresh and elegant" style of "Lily", he was not satisfied with the richness and richness of the themes of this novel. The depth of emotion, the lack of sufficient understanding, and even a simple negative attitude towards "intellectuals' thoughts and feelings".In fact, the feelings expressed in "Lily" not only go far beyond the narrow opposition between "farmers' simple thoughts and feelings" and "intellectuals' thoughts and feelings", but also richly express some universal human nature and eternal life. emotional content.

In fact, from the tortuous and difficult publishing process of "Lily", it can also be seen that it does not quite conform to the literary fashion of that era. Not only is it not a novel simply praising the relationship between the military and the people, but also there is a distance from the evaluation scale at that time. .Ru Zhijuan later recalled the difficult process of "Lily" and her uneasy and heavy mood at the time: I sent it to other publications, but it was sent back, and then sent back, and their opinion was that the work was dark and could not be published. In this way, there is no room for revision. .I was sad for "Lily", and at the same time, I also found that there was a gap between my views on literature and art and those editorial departments. This made me very distressed, and I even doubted whether I could write. ("This Spring", "Liberation Daily", May 17, 1962)

Expressing normal humanity and beautiful emotions in a poetic way is regarded as "darkness of emotion", which shows that "Lily" is not a novel that conforms to the standards of the times, nor is it a purely "singing" work. It is also enough to prove that the praise of "military-civilian relations" cannot summarize the theme of "Lily".In fact, reflecting the "military-civilian relationship" is only a very limited part of the emotional content carried by this novel, while the deeper and richer thematic content is a reflection of normal interpersonal relationships and humane daily life scenes during the war. The description is a compliment to the ordinary and warm "maternal love", and an affirmation of the expressed life sentiment and ethical attitude. It is these aspects that make "Lily" so far memorable. Feel kind, warm and beautiful.

In fact, the writing of "Lily" also contains a mood and attitude that is in sharp contrast to the mood of the times: it not only expresses the disappointment of the reality that everyone is in danger, but also expresses the nostalgia for the passionate years of the past.She said: "When I wrote "Lily", it was at a time when the anti-rightist struggle was in full swing. This was the case in society, and so was my family. When Xiaoping was in danger, I could not save him. I could only treat the children every night. After going to bed, I thought sadly about my life during the war and my comradeship at that time. It was like playing a movie in my mind, showing all kinds of people I came into contact with during the war. The war makes it impossible for people to have long conversations, but the war But it can make people have a deep friendship. Sometimes it only takes a few tens of minutes, a few minutes, or even a glimpse, and then it passes by in a flash, but between people, at this moment, they can be sympathetic to each other, and live and die together." ("How I Wrote "Lily Flower", Issue 11, 1980) In "Lily Flower", what Ru Zhijuan strives to express is the relationship between people who share weal and woe and help each other, and the harmony and closeness. Feelings.

The core theme of "Lily" is to praise the simple feelings between people, especially to express the pure and beautiful "love without love".In the novel, "I" loves the correspondent, and the new wife also loves this child-like soldier.Here, there are two women's love for the correspondent based on maternal awareness, and also the vague love between the opposite sex—it's just that the latter is like a spark, which just flashes and then goes out. As it passes away, it becomes more beautiful and more precious.This shy and restrained emotion of love is the most successful and touching emotion described in the novel.It can be said that Ru Zhijuan was taught to perceive and describe this kind of pure love. Because of the support of her experience, she was able to narrate almost perfectly in "Lily". She wrote about this kind of emotion of a special nature, just as she herself said in "The Process of Writing "Lily"": "... I feel fortunate that at that time, the kind of turning left, turning left , and turned left again, I stood still and didn’t move in time (I moved later, how dare I not move!) The reason is definitely not my own knowledge, but a kind of numbness out of youth and ignorance. In that kind of Under the circumstances, I fell in love with the idea of ​​having a bride. Why should there be a bride, no girl and no sister-in-law? Now I can confess that the reason is that I want to write a happy vortex in love To contrast this young, little soldier who has not yet set foot in love." (Ru Zhijuan said in "My Experience of Writing "Lily Flower"": "...let 'I' establish a relationship with the correspondents. A feeling that is more intimate than comrades and fellow countrymen. But it is not love at first sight between a man and a woman. "I" look at him and care about him with a kind of brotherly love and a motherhood unique to lesbians. This The more convincing the relationship is established, the more convincing the character of the little correspondent will be in the minds of readers.") So, what is the purpose of "contrasting" with "beauty god"?It is to show the beauty of youth, and to express tender love and pity for young life. In Ru Zhijuan's words: "A young man who has just started life, when he gives everything, he also gets Everything. Pure white love, crystal clear tears... At that time, no wonder some editorial departments dare not use it, it is really a love idyll without love." "Love without love", this is the same as fat Isn't it somewhat similar to what Yan Zhai said when he commented on Jia Baoyu?Isn't that what characterizes the best and purest "love" among the characters in the novel?Isn't the relationship between Baoyu and Qingwen exactly like this?Isn't Baoyu's concern for the senior officials of "Hua Qiang" exactly like this?

The "love" story told in "Lily" is just as accurately explained by a scholar who has studied literature for seventeen years: "The end of the song is so light that there is no trace, but it breaks the love between the two unintentionally." , it must be a cliché of 'great reunion', revealing a kind of sentimental beauty." (Dong Zhilin, "Old Dreams and New Knowledge: "Seventeen Years" Novel Draft", Guangxi Normal University Press, 2004) This kind of "loveless "Love", because it surpasses the secular nature of "combination of love", and because of its spotless purity and beauty, it can easily be sublimated into "maternal love".The natural tendency of maternal love is to treat life with an attitude of tolerance and care.This kind of love is the love that seeps into the details bit by bit.It tends to be thoughtful and caring about people in the smallest aspects of life.Although the "I" in the novel is a soldier, what we see in her is not a female soldier with a facial makeup, but a kind woman; in her conversation with the correspondent, there is no generally popular " Hate speech", but a familiar and homely saying. The reason why the dialogue of the characters in "Lily" makes people feel interesting and friendly is the word "casual".A mother-like big sister, facing an ignorant, shy and cute little fellow, casually chatting about family affairs, making people feel humane and real.This is the most common expression of maternal love in daily life.One of the great characteristics of the author is that he is good at writing "homely words", that is, in ordinary dialogues, he writes the beauty of human nature and the sentiment of life. Like "I"'s family routine, the new daughter-in-law sews clothes for the correspondent, which is also a detail in "Lily" that best expresses "love without love", especially maternal love.This is very similar to Chapter 52, when Qingwen Kuiye was ill and gave Baoyu the "queen gold fur"!In the novel, Cao Xueqin uses this touching and unforgettable detail to show that the "fair and dexterous" Qingwen has another side besides the aloof and even too sharp "daughter nature", that is, she can be tough, hardworking, Self-sacrificing "maternal love": ... (Qingwen) sat up, pulled back her hair, and put on her clothes.I just feel my head is heavy and my body is light, my eyes are full of gold stars, and I really can't hold it.If you don't want to do it, you are afraid that Baoyu will be in a hurry, so you have to grit your teeth and stand next to him.He ordered musk moon to only help twist the thread. ... For a while, I only heard that the self-ringing clock had struck four times, and I had just finished mending; then I used a small toothbrush to slowly pick out the fluff.Sheyue said: "This is very good. If you don't pay attention, you won't be able to see it." Baoyu hurriedly asked for a look, and said with a smile, "It's really the same." Qingwen coughed a few times and finally finished it , and said: "Although it's mended, it doesn't look like it after all. I can't do it anymore!" With an "ouch", I fell asleep involuntarily. It can be said with certainty that without the plot of Qingwen mending clothes, Qingwen's image would not be as cute, amiable, and respectable as it is now.Like Lily, the touching "maternal love" of the new daughter-in-law is expressed through the plot of mending clothes: With her head down, she was stitching up the hole in his shoulder one by one.The doctor listened to the correspondent's heart, stood up silently and said, "There is no need for an injection." I went to touch it, and it turned out that my hands were cold.The new daughter-in-law didn't seem to see or hear anything, she still took the needle and sewed up the hole carefully and densely.I couldn't stand it anymore, and said in a low voice, "Don't sew any more." But she gave me a strange glance, lowered her head, and continued to sew stitch by stitch.I want to pull her away, I want to push away this heavy atmosphere, I want to see him sit up, see him smile shyly.But I accidentally bumped into something next to me, and reached out to touch it. It was the meal he had prepared for me, two dry steamed buns. ... It is also certain that if there is no such classic detailed description, then "Lily" will definitely not touch the hearts of readers as it does now, and it will definitely not make people feel warm after reading it half a century later. and moved. Fromm said: "Only in the kind of love that does not serve any purpose, true love begins to reveal." (Translated by Liu Futang, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1986) In the spirit of love, "Lily" and are related, close.Ru Zhijuan narrates a modern story with classical spirit, confirming the eternal essence of love with modern stories. "Lily" is not only a "loveless idyll", but also a remembrance of the warm days gone by, and a distant response to it, a solemn tribute to this great novel. (Written by Li Jianjun) Ru Zhijuan: "Lily", People's Literature Publishing House, 1978 Edition Ru Zhijuan: "Reading "Red Mansion" under Ziyang Mountain", "China Youth Daily", April 1, 1980 Ru Zhijuan: "My Experience of Writing "Lily Flower", No. 11, 1980 Ru Zhijuan: "She Came From That Road", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1983 Edition Mao Dun: "On Recent Short Stories", "People's Literature", No. 6, 1958 Nie Hualing: "Breakthrough in Techniques of Novels in Mainland China——Talking about "Stories Wrongly Edited"", Hong Kong "Seventies" November 1980 issue Dong Xiao: "Female Writer Ru Zhijuan Talks about the Creation of Short Stories", Hong Kong "Open Volume" Literary Magazine, Issue 7, 1979