Chapter 46 1991 "Chicken feathers all over the place"

Genre: Novella Author: Liu Zhenyun Original publication: "The Novelist" Published: Issue 1, 1991 (Written by Yang Zao) Before Liu Zhenyun published "Unit" in the second issue of "Beijing Literature" in 1989, most commentators regarded the novelist who worked for "Farmer's Daily" as a member of the series of realist writers, just more than the average The young author appears to be mature, and his works are "almost all simple and breezy line drawings, without lengthy narratives, and never talk about a long story" (Zeng Zhennan's "Flowers, Blooming in the Thorns of the World", pp. "Youth Literature" No. 4, 1985), from a series of short and medium-length works in the early days, to, Liu Zhenyun's style was rated as "close to the original color of life and loyal to the realist spirit of life truth" (Radar).

Compared with the so-called "new wave of 85 novels", Liu Zhenyun appears "as simple as bread", describing "the most ordinary things that happen to the most ordinary people in the most ordinary life", which is interpreted by some comments as "Belief in the tradition of realism and its power", and the narrative style of "realism" has always been considered to be closer to readers and the public (Fang Keqiang, "Liu Zhenyun: Dreams, Crime and Sentimentalism", "Contemporary Writers Review" Issue 3, 1989).This change was a major turnaround at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, which we will mention below.

Before the 1990s, Liu Zhenyun seemed to be a little bit ambivalent.Although it looks no different from traditional realist writing, there is always something different about this new writer.Judging by the standard of classical realism, commentators inevitably put forward such criticisms: "Pure life emotion appears isolated and lonely in the huge background of life. It is more about the feeling of individual life, and has not been integrated into a strong social spiritual background” (Wang Bisheng, "Restless Soul and Difficult Life", "Contemporary Writers Review", No. 5, 1988) .

Critics who have just experienced the compressed literary process of "root-seeking literature" and "modernism" are somewhat dissatisfied with Liu Zhenyun's conservative and restrained writing style.Li Yang's "Culture: As the Appearance of Will——On the Cultural Connotation of Liu Zhenyun's Novels" can be regarded as a representative of this view.In this comment published in 1990, he gave Liu Zhenyun a final assessment: Reading Liu Zhenyun's novels often makes people feel that his thoughts are better than his expressions, and his knowledge is higher than his life sensibility... On the one hand, his knowledge and thoughts give his novels a certain depth, but on the other hand, they also It suppressed his keen feeling for life and the ability to generate literary language, which led to rough language in Liu Zhenyun's novels.Therefore, against the trendy novels of "feeling explosion", his novels appear clumsy; while for literary critics whose "stylistic awareness" is gradually increasing, his novels appear so ordinary; this may be because Liu Zhenyun has not been widely noticed important reason. ("Contemporary Writers Review", No. 3, 1990)

There is somewhat of a confusion here.This confusion stems from the inability to effectively name and explain Liu Zhenyun's creations.Therefore, when "New Realism" was proposed and named, Liu Zhenyun was quickly listed as one of the representative writers of this new trend, and his subsequent creations also seemed to confirm the accuracy of this judgment and made this trend Push forward even further. The concept of "New Realistic Fiction" was put forward in 1989, and its representative works appeared much earlier.There are different opinions on the exact time. Some think it was the second half of 1987 (Radar), while others date it back to 1985 (Chen Juntao).The critics also failed to reach a consensus on the naming of "New Realism", which were called "New Realistic Novels" (Zhang Ren, Wu Fang), "New Realistic Novels" (Xu Zhaohuai, Ding Fan), "New Realistic Novels" and "New Realistic Novels". Some are called "post-realism" (Wang Qian) or "modern realism" (Chen Juntao), and some insist on the term "ecological novel" (Shao Jian).However, after the editorial department of "Zhong Shan" launched the "New Realistic Fiction Exhibition" in the third issue of 1989, the title of "New Realistic Fiction" was gradually accepted by most people.

As for the definition of "New Realistic Fiction", the critics have different opinions and cannot agree.The first two representative viewpoints appeared in the "Realism and Avant-Garde Literature" seminar jointly organized by "Literary Review" and "Zhong Shan" in October 1988.One is Chen Juntao's "return theory", which believes that this return of neo-realism shows three new features compared with traditional realism: (1) It attaches importance to the expression of the living conditions of ordinary people, showing a kind of seeking True consciousness; (2) From creating typical to typical dissolving, from writing about the outside world to writing about the inner world; (3) Openness and inclusiveness in artistic concepts and expression techniques.The other is "post-realism" by Wang Gan, who also summarized three characteristics: (1) restore the true life; (2) create from the zero degree of emotion;

The editorial department of "Zhong Shan" gave a relatively broad definition in the "New Realistic Fiction Grand Exhibition·Foreword": "The so-called new realistic novels, simply put, are different from the realism existing in history, and also different It is based on modernist 'avant-garde' literature, but a new literary tendency that has emerged in the trough of novel creation in recent years. The creation methods of these new realistic novels are still characterized by realism, but they pay special attention to the original form of real life. Restore, sincerely face reality and face life. Although the new realistic novels can still be classified as a large category of realism from the perspective of the overall literary spirit, they undoubtedly have a new kind of openness and inclusiveness, and are good at absorbing and learning from modern novels. It not only has a distinct contemporary consciousness, but also clearly permeates a strong historical consciousness and philosophical consciousness. However, it has faded away the political color of the past pseudo-realism that is straightforward and eager for quick success. And pursue a richer and more extensive literary realm.”

In addition, there are comments that "new realistic novels" have "striking similarities" with naturalism, and thus believe that this is "a return to naturalism" and "sublates naturalism at a new level." , has reached a new level, a new realm" (Ding Yongqiang, "The Return of New Realism and Naturalism", "Art Wide Angle", No. 2, 1990). There are endless disputes based on concepts, and there are different opinions on the works covered by "New Realistic Fiction".Except for Chi Li, Fang Fang, and Liu Zhenyun, who are less questioned, other writers such as Liu Heng, Li Xiao, Zhu Xiaoping, Wang Shuo, Yu Hua, Ge Fei, Su Tong, Ye Zhaoyan, Li Rui, etc. Controversial, some comments include some works of Chen Rong, Zhu Sujin, Zhao Benfu, Gao Xiaosheng and other writers.There are also comments that "'New Realistic Fiction' was not a conscious literary movement or genre from the very beginning, but a literary phenomenon that 'does its own thing'. This is different from the 'obscure poetry' and 'root-seeking literature' of the new era ' and other literary phenomena", so "new realistic novels" symbolizes that Chinese literature has entered "the stage of 'post-new era literature' in which there is no mainstream, no authority, and criticism and creation all go their own way and talk to themselves" (Chen Xuguang's "New Realistic "The End of the Novel", "Literary Review" No. 1, 1994).

The author believes that "New Realistic Fiction" as a critical nomenclature and a concept of literary history is basically established, but its direction should be limited to works, not writers.Take Liu Zhenyun as an example, his early works (including, ) can still be classified as traditional realism, "Unit", "Officials" and so on can be regarded as typical "new realism" works, and the later novella and novels may be classified as traditional realism. It is more appropriate to be included in the "new historical novel", not to mention the super long novels in the later period and new works in recent years such as,,,, etc. - the writer has his own creative development process, but the needs of the times will develop and shape the writer's work.

The naming of "New Realism" is not only a kind of upward thrust, but also a kind of intentional or unintentional cover for Liu Zhenyun at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.It not only highlights Liu Zhenyun's transformation and subversion of traditional realistic techniques, but also defines Liu Zhenyun's creation at that time as a kind of "commonness" according to the definition of "new realism".This kind of framing also greatly affected the cognition and evaluation of Liu Zhenyun's works at that time. If there is indeed a transition from realism to "new realism" in Liu Zhenyun's writing style, then this turning point is undoubtedly "Unit". Shi Cong, the original editor of Unit, recalled that his initial feeling when he read the manuscript of this novel was "a kind of joy that only an editor can experience, which made me uncontrollably excited." I admired them too much, so I was not prepared enough for them to be surpassed, so I was so surprised when I saw "Unit"." ("What Happened in "Unit"-Reading "Unit" Notes", "Selected Novels" 1989 August issue)

"Unit" and two years later are sister articles in terms of content. "Unit" is written about a certain department, a certain bureau, a certain place in this "unit", where "officials" and "people" are not easy to live.Zhang, the former director of the department, was promoted to the deputy director, and the deputy director, Lao Sun, immediately moved around to fill the vacancy left by him; Colleagues were at odds again, which made Xiao Lin lose sight of the other, and at the end of the day, he was still fighting with chicken and eggs, and nothing was achieved.Shi Cong described Liu Zhenyun's changes in this way: After reading and reading "Unit", one of my outstanding feelings is that the author has a new way of observing the world.No longer divide the world into two opposite poles, no longer look for "typicality" from a single person, but regard the world as a unity of contradictions.The focus of attention is no longer the fate of individual characters, but the living conditions of groups.The difference in this point is that there are no opposing camps in this group, and no one can completely control the fate of others.In the group composed of Lao Zhang, Lao Sun, Lao He, female Lao Qiao, male Xiao Lin, and female Xiao Peng, although there are some grievances and resentments that are endless and chaotic, there is no fundamental relationship between anyone and another. conflicts of interest, and no two individuals have the same interests. The problem pointed out by Shi Cong is exactly where "Unit" is very different from traditional realist creations: it no longer forcibly concentrates, intensifies, and portrays the contradictions in life, but reduces the narrative of life to trivial, The original ecology is vague and uncertain, and the author's emotional tendency is extracted to the greatest extent, which is the so-called "zero degree of emotion"-of course, "zero degree" is compared to the clear love-hate attitude of traditional realism- In other words, it does not presuppose a pre-existing value judgment, such as broad, profound, lofty, beautiful, etc., it just uses the wording of "life flow" as much as possible to present a "fluffy original ecology", thus It resonates with countless readers who are in the same situation. Chi Li, another representative author of "New Realism", once said that when it came out, all the workers in WISCO said they were Yin Jiahou.Similarly, we can also say that the small staff in the government office, everyone thinks they are Xiao Lin or Lao He. Turned the attention to Kobayashi's family life.Low income, low status, and "unable to mix" made Xiao Lin unable to enroll his children in a good kindergarten, unable to arrange for his wife's transfer, and even having a meal with the rural teacher who saved his life when he was young, he had to quarrel with his wife... ...The degree of trouble in his life is almost the same as that of Yin Jiahou, a worker of Wuhan Iron and Steel Company described by Chi Li.He seems to have started to "turn around", but it was caused by a series of "dislocations": his wife's unit opened a shuttle bus for the convenience of the leader's sister-in-law to go to work; Yes, thanks to Xiao Lin helping his college classmate "Xiao Li Bai" sell roast ducks.In the end, Xiaolin took advantage of his position to get a microwave oven as a reward, and he felt at ease: "In fact, things in the world are also very simple. As long as you understand one truth and act according to it, life is like running water, and you can go on day by day. , and quite comfortable.” What is the reason for this? "In the past, I always said that the affairs of the unit were so complicated and difficult to handle, but it was easy to handle the wife and children on the kang. In the past, you had grand ideals, which can be forgiven, but you were naive and immature, and you didn't understand the law of development of things. A journey of a thousand miles, It starts with one step, Kobayashi, let’s start with the rotten tofu.” This is the same as the “Unit” said, “If you want to get involved, be like a person, be a deputy chief staff member, chief staff member, deputy director, and director , deputy director...you have to start with cleaning, turning on the water and cleaning up the pear peels" is a truth.In this way, Xiaolin "woke up". There was a slippery employee in the unit, and a vulgar citizen in the society. The former energetic college student was finally transformed. Liu Zhenyun used a lot of irony when describing these "chicken feathers" in life.For Xiao Lin, he is sympathetic in irony, and for Lao Zhang, Lao Sun, and daughter Lao Qiao, he is not mercilessly ridiculed, but has understanding and sympathy in it.He said in his creation talk: "Leadership is not easy. You are torn and entangled all day long. You have to take care of everyone up and down. They need to be thoughtful. Besides, they are human beings with emotions and desires. Subordinates are not easy, and leadership is not easy. This is called dialectical materialism." ("Telling the Heart", "Selected Novellas" No. 4, 1991) In "Unit" and "Unit", Liu Zhenyun is not mainly referring to bureaucrats, big and small, but As Chen Xiaoming pointed out: "Liu Zhenyun tries to use 'irony' to unravel the secret of the combination of human nature and institutionalized existence....The result of people's conscious identification with power is enough to make power permeate our every moment of existence. ("Comic Commentary on Liu Zhenyun's Novels", "Contemplation of Literature and Art", Issue 1, 1992) This corresponds to Liu Zhenyun's self-proclaimed "my novels mainly reflect the shaping of human destiny by the living environment". The representative works of "new realistic novels" do have a relatively consistent narrative motivation and narrative posture, and their common points can be summarized as "documentary spirit", "civilian vision" and "anti-hero".Fang Fang said at the beginning of "Landscape": "Please forgive me for watching them toil and rush, their hardships and distress with very calm eyes." Chi Li said: "The details in the book are very real. , the time and place are real, and I don’t tamper with objective reality. So what I do is imposition, not editing, I don’t use scissors, I don’t add oil and vinegar.” Liu Zhenyun’s expression is more direct: “What I write is life itself... ...New realism truly embodies realism, and objective existence does not guide people what to do, but gives readers feelings." This determines that new realistic novelists give up their efforts to "depict typical characters" and instead "treat everyone as as an ordinary person".Many works of new realistic novels, including "Walking Clouds and Flowing Water" by Chi Li, Fang Fang, and Liu Zhenyun, mocked intellectuals' lofty ideals to varying degrees. It is conceivable that this posture will encounter isolation and criticism.Immediately after it was published, it was selected as the headline by "Novel Monthly" (this was a great treatment at the time), and some readers wrote to "Novel Monthly", expressing their confusion in reading: "It is also very readable, but it is hidden. Thinking deeply, I really feel that the "chicken feathers" and garlic all over the article are placed on the headlines. I don't know what enlightenment and lessons can be given to readers? The article "comes from life" but is it "higher than life"?" This kind of view shows that It poses a new challenge to the inherent literary aesthetic habits.Radar, a senior critic who has been following and admiring Liu Zhenyun, also has similar concerns: "Is he staying too superficial in life, too 'physical'? On the other hand, is he too excluding the improvement of thoughts and emotions, the aesthetics? Has it been excavated? Without the backbone of thought, without the strong light of aesthetic feeling, I am worried that the spread out primitive life will become a bloodless body." ("A Talk of Four People in "One Place of Chicken Feather"", "Works and Controversy" No. 6, 1991) While affirming the artistic achievements of Liu Zhenyun's novels and his attempt to "defamiliarize life", Jin Huimin criticized his novel creation as "slow and slow work of the spirit" based on the concept of "literature is human learning". Irresistible Regression": "He is more and more identified with the dark side of 'life'; more and more obsessed with the darkness of human nature, obsessed with exhibiting the trivial, humble and evil in human nature that cannot see the sun. In his works, people seem to have become You can’t be a human being.” In Jin Huimin’s view, this is nothing more than “a slander” of human beings who have never stopped striving for good (“Towards Eternal Darkness: The Course of Liu Zhenyun’s Novels”, Beijing Social Sciences, Issue 4, 1992) . More criticism is that "new realistic novels" are a spoonful, and some accuse new realistic novels of reducing "troubled life" to some trivial problems, as if happiness can be found after solving the problems, and become "problem novels" in disguise; Some people think that the original intention of these works is to criticize the secular and mediocre, but in the narration "unintentionally loses the power to counterbalance, and unknowingly indulges in this mediocrity and forgets to return"; (Xie Fengkun, " Talking about Liu Zhenyun's recent novel creation", "Literary Critic" No. 2, 1992) Some people even claim that after the "initial resonance", there is a deep doubt, because "in new realistic novels, after the hero goes away, people follow In the place where the heroes disappeared, a group of survivors stood up, interpreting the philosophy of life of the survivors with different behaviors." (Li Xinyu, "The Survivors and Their Philosophy of Life", "Hebei Literature", No. 9, 1991) Some people also criticize the "realistic technique" that is the symbol of new realistic novels: "The so-called 'life flow' is actually caused by the author's lack of artistic means....Under a specific literary situation, the lack of artistic color and the monotony of artistic expression It has become an advantage—summarized as the characteristic of expressing the "primary form"." (Liu Na, "Helpless Reality and Helpless Fiction", "Literary Review", No. 4, 1993) If you have some understanding of the reality of China at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, it is not difficult to understand why the mental state of the whole society has a rapid downward curve. This is the big reason why "new realistic novels" appeared and became popular The background is also why these gloomy and helpless narratives have sparked criticism that today seems somewhat exaggerated. The "New Realism" was preceded by the turbulent 1980s, followed by the "Humanistic Spiritual Discussion" that expressed the intention of intellectual salvation and self-salvation. The low state of spiritual life. Specifically, there are at least three writing styles that became popular after the 1990s, and clues can be found from them.One is the first of its kind in "official novels", covering the suppression and alienation of human nature by the system, the concentrated communication of complex interpersonal relationships and ways of doing things, and the explicit description of power operations, all of which have been involved, especially its "non-official novel". The second is concern and tolerance for civilian life, which was caused by the promotion of the entire ideological trend at the time. Literature no longer emphasizes the distinction between good and evil, and tries to look at the "spiritual bottom" of society as much as possible. Of course, this gesture It also brings a certain cynical tendency; the third is to subvert the evolutionary historical and realistic picture by returning to the traditional and folk perspective.Chen Sihe once pointed out based on his consistent "folk writing" point of view: "Since the "Unit", Liu Zhenyun's novels have become a 'myth' text... The stories it narrates are different in time and space, but they repeat the same archetype. Archetypes include Two complementary and opposite modes can be expressed by ancient Chinese fables: 'A fire at the gate of the city will bring disaster to the fish in the pond' and 'When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman will benefit', and a series of sub-modes are derived from this" ("Winter's Topic ——About Liu Zhenyun's Novels", "Wen Wei Po" February 18, 1992).Liu Zhenyun's later fascination with "retelling history from reality" and his willingness to extract clues of various powers (politics, discourse...) from history and reality can all be found in "Unit". For a writer like Liu Zhenyun, perhaps his old classmate Li Shulei's evaluation is more pertinent: "There is something unique in Zhenyun among contemporary writers, that is, his relatively thorough and ruthless view of the world. He firmly believes that structure is a Cage, man is a worm, living in the structure is like a worm wriggling in a cage.... Man is such a colorless existence, bright or gray is an illusion. This idea cannot be right, nor can it be It doesn’t matter if you say something wrong, it’s right or wrong, what’s worth noting is its thoroughness; the thoroughness of this kind of idea makes it finally reach a state of peace of mind, and makes Zhenyun’s criticism of people and society a kind of eloquence. The coldness that comes out of the story is not the intensity of the teeth and claws or the sentimentality of the flowers. Once something is thoroughly played, it has brilliance, and it appears to be perfect. This kind of skill is indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people." Free Talk, No. 1, 1993) Liu Zhenyun's future literary practice, including his film and television creations that take into account the market, may all come from this thorough "seeing through". Liu Zhenyun: "Unit", "Beijing Literature", No. 2, 1989 Chi Li: "Shanghai Literature", No. 8, 1987 Li Yang: "Culture: As the Appearance of Will——On the Cultural Connotation of Liu Zhenyun's Novels", "Contemporary Writers Review", No. 3, 1990 Li Shulei: "Liu Zhenyun's Activities", "Literature Freedom Talk", No. 1, 1993 Chen Sihe et al.: "Liu Zhenyun: How long can the satirical spirit in contemporary novels last", "Writer" No. 10, 1994 Mo Luo: "Liu Zhenyun: A Critic of Chinese Life", "Contemporary Writers Review", No. 4, 1997