Since the new century, China's prose has made great progress, even unprecedented development. Its most obvious sign is that prose leaps from the literary background to the foreground, while poetry, novels and other genres that once occupied the leading role are no longer beautiful. Among them, Yu's "Great Cultural Prose" is overwhelming, with many beliefs and followers, and many people should get together. In this regard, there are many discussions in academic circles and the results are quite rich.
After the return of prose, we can think more calmly and rationally about the development of prose. The most gratifying thing is that although the torrent of great cultural prose has passed, it has not completely disappeared, but left traces and influences, mainly in two aspects.
First, the concept of "culture" is deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the liberation of prose is inevitable. Although it can't be said that there was no cultural prose including "Great Cultural Prose" before 1990s; But on the whole, political and social considerations are the main consideration, and the pattern of prose is relatively narrow, because the concept of marginalizing prose understanding and writing prose as a residual matter has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. However, after the baptism of great cultural prose in the 1990s, China's prose in the new century began to inject the connotation of "culture" consciously or unconsciously, and gradually stepped out of the mode of "writing scenery-expressing emotions-philosophical thinking", which should be fully affirmed. More representatively, historical, artistic, scientific, military and folk themes have gradually become the objects that writers pay more attention to and focus on, and their cultural connotations and implications have gradually emerged. In the way of expression, writers often pay more attention to the "big", one is "seeing the small with the big", and the other is "seeing the big with the small", thus making their works more open and atmospheric. For example, Feng Jicai's Ink Figures is not a big cultural essay, but you will feel a cultural atmosphere when you look at the topic. This is the mutual observation of ink painting and literature, and it is also the true feeling of artistic life. The author uses eight paragraphs to construct his works, making them continuous, open and comfortable. Another example is Liu Yeyuan's Details of Hub, which is about Australian education. Although it is not a cultural composition, the core is whether there is "cultural" education, that is, whether to pay attention to cultivating students' self-esteem, self-love, self-reliance, autonomy, freedom and beauty. Australia does, and China should learn from it. More importantly, the author uses textbooks and yearbooks to write, starting with details, thus achieving the functions of "reading from a narrow perspective" and "carving dragons with a literary mind". Just as after a spring breeze, all creatures on the earth are gradually opening up and growing up, China's prose in the new century (even if it is not a great cultural prose) is more or less endowed with the characteristics of "great cultural prose", at least in terms of ideology and aesthetic taste.
Secondly, some great cultural essays have been inherited and developed, thus leading to the emergence of representative writers and classic works. As we all know, after a storm, it may not go deep into the earth; But thunderous thunder and whistling wind can't make people indifferent, and the rain falling from the sky will also merge into rivers. The same is true of Yu's Great Cultural Prose. After entering the new century, on the one hand, it is waste heat after rapid cooling, on the other hand, it is further inheritance and development, and the latter is the most worthy of attention and discussion. That is to say, although Yu and most of his imitators left in the new century, the writing of "Great Cultural Prose" has been continued by some followers and has been carried forward after ten years of efforts. Representative writers are Wang Chonglv, Sun Yu, Han Xiaohui, Xu Gang, Fan Ceng, Li Guowen, Lei Da, Li Cunbao, Zhou Susu, He Xiangyang, Zhu Hong, Zhang Qinghua, Zhu Yong and Tang Yun. Taking Wang Chonglv as an example, he constantly surpassed himself and others with his erudition, perseverance, diligence and hard work, and made great achievements in the creation of "Great Cultural Prose". There are two representative articles, Taming the Heart and Breaking the Heart with Life, which are the songs of "Great Cultural Prose" inspired by the author's thoughts and soul. They reveal the light of modern consciousness, are not bound by material and prejudice, and highlight self-understanding and thinking, which can be described as rare masterpieces since the rise of "Great Cultural Prose". Sun Yu's Little People and Great Philosophy is mainly about Zhang Zhongxing, which is full of life wisdom and a sense of bosom friend without losing knowledge and culture. Ji Xianlin, Zhang Zhongxing and Wu Guanzhong, written by Han Xiaohui, combines knowledge, emotion, reason, interest, wisdom and beauty, which is another expression of great cultural prose. Among Zhu Yong's great cultural essays, my favorite is Kyoto in the Woods, which transcends ideology and public discourse writing and enters a realm of spirit, mind, feelings and even dreams. As the author wrote: "As an object with the closest relationship with geophysics, clogs provide reliable life. It conveys the will of the earth in time and will not lead travelers astray with false lies. Clogs have their own lives. They can feel the changes of the seasons with their sense of smell or touch. If a person stands for a long time, the clogs will take root and eventually turn people into trees. At least, the clogs are the intermediary between man and the earth, which not only protects the walkers from the harm of the earth, but also introduces the breath of the earth into people's bodies at any time. Feet are clogs' allies. They are strong and thick, but they are more sensitive than faces. Some monks never even wear socks, even in the cold winter. They are ascetic monks, who not only give their bodies endurance, but also gain extraordinary agility. "This is the fusion after digestion. We can see the fusion of blood, flesh and bone with essence, qi and spirit, without the disadvantages of many cultural articles, such as being eaten alive, indigestion and struggling. The most noteworthy is Xu Gang's Eight Volumes of Rivers, which is one of the best great cultural essays I have seen in recent years. It integrates knowledge, rationality, emotion, wisdom and aesthetics, and can think about environmental protection and human destiny, humanity and people in the world from the perspective of the vastness of heaven and earth. Most importantly, under the love and kindness of the author, the light of art keeps flashing, not to mention that the author can warm people, even plants and soil, and moisten them with the light of the soul. As if by God's will and revelation, the author smiled at the world like a fairy, spreading the wind and dew of love on earth. It should be said that the most touching thing about Xu Gang's Eight Volumes of Rivers is that there is treasure in the heart of heaven and earth, and the worries of the soul are written in poetic style. In short, from external writing to internal writing, highlighting personal unique feelings and thinking, digesting and integrating various styles and cultures is the greatest gain of great cultural prose in the new century.
The warmth of prose. Prose allows us to find the belonging of the soul and the real world, let us face it calmly in the noisy world, and have our own persistence in the materialistic world, just like there is an island to rest in the boundless ocean and a harbor in the drifting wind and rain. It is a place with cultural elites and a rich spiritual world.
The warmth of prose can still be reflected in these aspects.
First, it profoundly reflects and represents the social change and transformation in China in the new century, especially reveals the problems existing in this process, thus becoming the undertaker of social conscience and the promoter of national quality. This includes environmental protection issues, people's livelihood issues, moral issues, human nature issues, gender equality issues, urban-rural relations and so on. Representative essayists are:, Zhou,, Chen, Zhang Kangkang, Zhang Wei, Jia Pingwa, Feng Jicai, Shi Tiesheng, Tie Ning, Liang, Wang Jianbing, Wang Zongren, Zhou Ming, Shi Ying, Liu Meng, Xiao Feng, Yang Wenzi, Guo Qiuliang, Wu Kejing, Bi Shumin and Xiao Yu. For example, Wang Kailing's "Vibrant Man", talking about cemeteries, talking about life, earth ethics, "Looking Up: A Spiritual Attitude", "Spiritual Poster of House Slaves", "Jianghu of Modern People" and so on. They are all excellent works with a strong sense of problems, among which the most representative ones are The Man with Vigorous Spirits and The Jianghu of Modern People. The man with bright spirit is a cry for the end of the century. The author said: "No matter when and where, we can only find our curiosity and innocence like children, and only with bright spirit and clear eyes like children can we discover the world, see more things than usual, and see magic and beauty from the most ordinary things. Wang Zongren's appeal for kindness and fraternity (bowing down to the Tibetan antelope), Yao Wang's examination and criticism of the university education system (one's 80s), Jiang Zilong's admiration for China's ancient culture and its spirit (geomantic omen), Zhang Kangkang's concern for environmental protection and ecology (blooming flowers is the sky) and so on. What is worth paying attention to is Guo Wenbin's thinking about the fate of life. The author puts forward "serenity" or even "serenism" in order to cure modern people's anxiety and help them find their lost happiness. In the author's view, modern people are caught in various crises, which is more terrible than suffering from AIDS and cancer. He said: "anxiety like boiling water will become a collective disease, which will be more helpless than AIDS and cancer." In order to eradicate this disease, tranquility and serenity are very important, because this is "the way home and the home itself". It is actually very simple to say tranquility. Peace is nothing else. Quiet is to return to our' self', to the present, to the details; Live quietly; live healthily; live aesthetically; and live at low cost or even zero cost. Happy, happy, happy and satisfied. " (29) Of course, the author does not take tranquility and serenity as a one-sided understanding, but links it with the service era, dedication, modern civilization, science, humanity and so on, hoping that it will get a reasonable and sound development path! Indeed, tranquility is a kind of life wisdom, a kind of life experience, a kind of spiritual quality, a natural way between heaven and earth, which is most lacking in the current era and culture. The writer's thinking has a sense of the times, and there is no lack of metaphysical philosophical significance. Obviously, China's prose in the new century focuses on practical problems that people care about, showing high cultural quality and spiritual quality, and has also achieved many classic works.
Secondly, touching the soul with true feelings will make China's prose in the new century full of inner beauty and have long-term artistic vitality. Writers in this category include Yan Gang, Jia Pingwa, Zang Xiaoping, Zhu Hong, Xiao Hong, Sun Xiaoling,,, Wang Zhaosheng,, and Jiang. In recent years, many people pay little attention to the true feelings in prose, which is quite wrong, because the true feelings are like the blood of prose, and some people regard it as the lifeline of prose. For example, Lin Fei said, "Not only the narrow sense of prose should be emotional, but also the broad sense of prose should put forward such requirements, because this is undoubtedly the lifeline for essayists to decide whether their works can exist and be passed down to a large extent." (30) Prose without true feelings is often difficult to penetrate the hearts of the people, and it is even more difficult to sprout, blossom and bear fruit. Yan Gang's I kissed my daughter's forehead is a great achievement in the new century. It depicts the earth-shattering and touching love between father and daughter, especially the gratitude of the daughter and the simplicity of the son-in-law, which makes people feel worried and sublimates life and death in wisdom and art. At the end of the article, the author wrote: "Kiss my daughter goodbye, learn from the painful experience, and feel that death is nothing to be afraid of. After my death, I will see my daughter and all my beloved people who arrived there before me. Therefore, I will love people with conscience, love this mysterious universe, love life itself, love every open book, and have spiritual exchanges with world-class thinkers. " (3 1) This is a father's understanding of life and death from white hair to black hair. It is so clear, kind, warm and detached, and it is a humane Long song. This kind of works are traditional in content and writing, and it seems that there is nothing new; But what does it matter? Reading such an article is better than reading 100 irrelevant essays, which is the great power of prose and literature! Four years after her daughter died, Yan Gang wrote Thirty-eight Lotus Poems. This yearning, talk and praise, just like the filaments spit out by spiders, shook the readers' heartstrings, moved the hard-hearted people to tears, and caused an enduring sound in their hearts. Mei Jie's "Last Words" is about his beloved husband. Is the fruit of love, condensed with many ups and downs, but in the blink of an eye, suddenly fell from the tree. The author called "dear" in a circular way to express her grief for her husband. The sadness that she wants to cry is beyond words, so at the end, the author wrote: "Dear, the tears of sadness will always be wet when I think of you ..." (32) Yes, good things are always short-lived. Where are you going? How beautiful love is like a dying white swan. There is also Zhu Hong's "A Love Without Confession", which is euphemistic and touching, like crying. It is the author's pure, kind, elegant and sensitive face, and it is the blooming and shining of love flowers, although it is fruitless love. There is such a wonderful saying in the article: "This incident has infiltrated the years in its own special way like a drop of water. As for me, I have never written to her, called or contacted her, and I have never heard from Yao Ling again. Of course, I try to avoid knowing about her marriage and family. I'm not jealous that she has a good life, but I'm afraid she has a bad life. But the water that seeped into the years has not been evaporated by the years. Instead, it is stored in my heart, clear, crystal clear, pollution-free, and has always moistened my soul. " At the end, the author wrote: "All I can do is bless her, and God bless her!" (33) Although it is a love that has not been expressed and felt by the other party, the author has such a mind, self-cultivation, quality and realm, which makes the work full of moist, holy and charming brilliance, and it is fascinating to read. Metaphysics, true love is not possession, but giving and blessing, even if the other person knows nothing about it. This is the charm of Zhu Hong's prose and his own charm. Zang Xiaoping and Sun Xiaoling miss their father's prose, which is also affectionate, sincere and beautiful. This is a rare masterpiece. Hu Fayun's "I want to love you till I die" is an ode to faithful love, which is valuable in the social atmosphere of the new century! Especially worth mentioning are the family essays of Zhang Guolong and Wu Jiajun. Although the two authors are young, their feelings are rich and powerful, and their expressions are simple and natural, which can deeply impress readers. Zhang Guolong's The Distance from Home connects me, my father and my grandmother, forming an emotional attachment chain. Wu Jiajun's Ink Lamp and Ballads on the Laundry are profound and poetic. Their words all come from life, from the subtle experience of family, and also from a poetic candle in the hearts of ordinary people, so they can leave a deep impression on people.
Third, be close to the earth, appreciate the nature of heaven and earth, and make prose a flower of life. The more representative writers are Zhang Wei, Zhou, Guo, Zheng and Chu Chuhe. They write about the countryside, especially farm tools, with a kind of light moistened by the soul and the unique feelings and analytical skills of scholars. Xu's local prose is the most meaningful and is a representative figure of local prose in the new century. If Zhang Wei's local prose was written in the 1990s, I would recommend Xu from New Century. Although Xu's prose is not written much, it has the power of feathering, which is more natural, simple and powerful. There is such a quip in "Earth": "It has been beating for a spring and noisy for a summer. It was not until all the crops were sent away that the land lay down quietly and slept in the moonlight. The dense fog floating in the field is its long and soothing breath. There are still some crops that seem unwilling to go too far at once. They leave their roots in the soil, pull out scattered young crops (farmers call them' Yaqing') and hang crystal dew. So the cattle and sheep came, took a few bites, called out, took a few bites and called out again. The season is getting deeper and deeper in their cries. " (34) This is not only a poetic expression, but the writer's deep affection after he is integrated with the earth, a feeling of empathy, a harmony between the harp and the bosom friend, and a spiritual swim after the silkworm spins silk and turns into a butterfly.
This is the charm of traditional prose. Although it is out of date in the 2 1 century, it still shines brilliantly and becomes the main force of prose. Of course, compared with the past, China's traditional prose in the new century is not static. On the contrary, it is consciously or unconsciously influenced by various factors such as the ethos of the times and the prose of great culture. However, from the perspective of development, so far, the strength and inertia of traditional prose are really too great, and new factors must be continuously injected to make it full of vitality and develop healthily, which needs attention and vigilance. This is why we should not only give high praise to China's traditional prose in the new century, but also hope that it will be constantly impacted and gain greater vitality, because there is nothing constant.
Precautions:
Zhou Bingxin and Yu Jie: Cultural Lipstick-Interpretation of Yu Cultural Prose, Taihai Publishing House, 2000, pp. 142, 258-266, 1 18.
⑧ Yang Yongkang: Walking to Bloom, American Literature, No.8, 2005.
Pet-name ruby Zhou Xiaofeng: Your body is a fairyland, in Selected Works of China, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2004, p. 446.
Attending Xiong Yuqun: Passion Splashes the Living Stone, Rome Time Game, China Youth Publishing House, 2004, p. 13.
(1 1) Ouyang Youquan et al. Introduction to Network Literature, People's Publishing House, 2003, p. 199.
(15) Jing Li's prose, Yellow River Literature,No. 10, 2009.
(16)(25) Mu Tao: Gulls and Gulls in the History of Belief, Shanghai Literature,No. 1 1, 2009.
(17) Huang Yongyu: A Brief Introduction to Huang Shang, originally published in Xinmin Evening News on June 25, 2006, see Selected Works of China in 2006 edited by Li Xiaohong, Huacheng Press, 2006, p. 398.
(18)1October 5th 200 1.
(19) People's Literature, No.6, 2004.
(20)(2 1) Han Xiaohui: "How hard is it to be a civilian", "Selected Works of China in 2005", Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2006, pp. 222-223, p. 232.
(22) American Literature, No.8, 2009.
(23) Mu Tao: "Dance of ecstasy and loyalty", "Essays", No 6, 2004.
(24) Yu Xiaodan and other editors. : "Rose Tree", see Collection of World Prose (British Volume), China Social Sciences Press, 1994, p. 256.
(26) Wang Zhaosheng: "The Normality and Variation of Prose", "Literary Contention", No 6, 2009.
(27) Prose, No.6, 2002.
(28) American Literature, No 8, 2002.
(29) Guo Wenbin: "Peace is the Closest Way to Home", "Beauty in Haiyan City",No. 1 1, 2009.
(30) Lin Fei: On Prose, Lin Fei on Prose, Jiangxi University Press, 2000, p. 100.
(3 1) Prose, No.6, 200 1.
(32) Haiyan City Beauty, No.8, 2005.
Tianya, No.4, 200 1.
(34) Prose, No.3, 2007.