Abstract: Shen Congwen is one of the most influential writers in the history of modern Chinese literature, and "Border Town" is his representative work. Under the simple and vivid words of "Border Town" are the simple and sincere customs of Xiangxi. "Border Town" embodies Shen Congwen's aesthetic ideals of "beauty" and "love". The beauty of Xiangxi's customs, human relationships, nature and ideal beauty are vividly and exquisitely displayed. "Border Town" depicts the idyllic world of border towns with a pastoral mood. It is both a lyric poem and a style painting. The novel uses the earthy Xiangxi dialect to show the rich local characteristics of Xiangxi. "Border Town" mainly takes the social life of Western Hunan in the 1930s as the background, takes the Chadong Ferry at the junction of Hunan, Guizhou, and Chongqing as the description object, and uses the life experience of the old boatman and his niece as the carrier to show the simple customs and unique environment of Western Hunan The ideal beauty that arises from it. Shen Congwen did not use dense needlework to weave ups and downs of the plot, nor did he use gorgeous words to deliberately describe the beauty of the mountains and rivers in Western Hunan. Instead, he used pure and lovely life pictures to take you to experience the most beautiful scenery in Western Hunan. The novel does not win with plot, but with details to impress readers, and with poetic artistic conception, it gives readers a strong sense of artistic beauty.
Keywords: "Border Town" Shen Congwen, Xiangxi customs, scenery, beauty, humanity, customs, ideals and beauty
? Shen Congwen (1902-1988) is one of the most influential writers in the history of modern Chinese literature. First, he is also one of the most prolific writers among modern writers. He was born in Fenghuang County, western Hunan, and was influenced by the culture of western Hunan. His novels are most distinctive in that they reflect the lives of the lower class people in western Hunan. The novel is written in a calm, sad and beautiful way with a long pathos. He wrote about the country people in western Hunan, loving the people who were not polluted by the city, but he was also tired of the shadow that modern civilization casts on human nature. His famous work "Border Town" expresses the beauty of natural folk customs and human nature with the graceful writing style of both lyric poems and essays. It provides a poetic and picturesque picture of rural customs, full of pastoral mood and local color, forming a unique lyrical rural novel. "Border Town" has a strong flavor of the life of Xiangxi people, and the entire work can be regarded as a microcosm of the daily life of Xiangxi people. The mountains, rivers, people and shadows there, the lingering pathos of the love story, the frankness and simplicity of the characters, under the touch of Shen Congwen's wonderful pen, create a vivid picture of folk customs.
Beautiful scenery - bright and moving
In the beginning of the novel, Shen Congwen let go of his pen and drew beautiful and moving landscape paintings. Chadong, this small mountain city surrounded by mountains and rivers, has green mountains and green waters, green cliffs and green bamboos, streets and piers, ferry cables, and the small white pagoda in Bixi Tsui... The author's thick and understated descriptions make people feel It's like being in the mountains and waters of western Hunan. For example: "The reeds and willows by the stream, the sparse vegetables in the vegetable garden, are all prosperous and luxuriant, with a bit of wild vitality. Green grasshoppers are flying everywhere in the grass, making a sound when their wings beat the air, and there are new cicadas on the branches. The sound has become louder and louder, the two mountains are deep and green, and there are yellow birds, bamboo sparrows and cuckoos singing in the bamboo bamboos. "These words are all vivid, and the scenery of Hunan and Chu is moist and transparent everywhere, and there are simple and sincere flavors and human feelings everywhere. It makes people feel that the mountain city in western Hunan is full of quiet, lively and vibrant scenery. The sky is clear, the wind is light, the water is clear, what a beautiful and moving world.
? Mr. Shen Congwen uses scenery to represent people, and uses delicate brushwork to depict the simple and ordinary life in the border town, which is full of poetic charm. The description of the scenery in the border town is full of the colors described in ancient literature and poetry, and the quiet, realistic and peaceful living environment of the border town is the paradise on earth that everyone longs for. Like a prose-like painting, the combination of words and scenery is very beautiful, which seems to dilute Cuicui's love tragedy, making people indulge in the prose style of writing and forget to leave.
? Pan Xunan, professor of the Chinese Department of Fudan University, once said: The poetic flavor of "Border Town" first comes from the strong local flavor of western Hunan. Through the love story between Cuicui, Nuosong and Tianbao, the writer intricately presents the natural scenery and living customs of Chadong in front of readers. The crystal clear river, the small town leaning on the water and the mountains, the stilted buildings on the river streets, the ferry boats with cables, the white pagoda that is related to the feng shui of Chadong, and the birds in the deep green bamboo poles. Hand over the tweet,...these scenery rich in local color are natural and beautiful, graceful without being overshadowed.
This bright and moving scenery is the most attractive thing about Xiangxi. It is like a paradise and attracts people. The people who grow up in such a fairy tale-like environment must be extremely beautiful and excellent. The mountains and waters of Xiangxi have given birth to generations of Xiangxi people. The beautiful scenery described by Shen Congwen is a portrayal of the local customs and customs of western Hunan, and carries his infinite love for western Hunan.
Beautiful customs - innocence and simplicity
? The soil and water support the people, and the remote but beautiful border town breeds the simplicity and kindness of the people in the border town. The simple and unpretentious folk customs have a long and moving charm. The lights on the Lantern Festival, the dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival, the moon appreciation on the Mid-Autumn Festival and the singing of men and women under the moon... these all form a colorful picture of Xiangxi folk customs. "Border Town" is based on the three Dragon Boat Festivals, focusing on the love story between Cuicui, Nuosong and Tianbao. Furthermore, there is the custom of courting through antiphonal songs. Cuicui's parents fell in love in antiphonal songs, and Nuosong and Tianbao also used antiphonal songs as a competition to win Cuicui's heart.
This all shows that the real feature of Xiangxi culture is the Miao culture, which also contributes to the uniqueness and heterogeneity of Xiangxi culture, which is a major feature of the Chinese nation. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, young men and women express their love in antiphonal songs under the moonlit night. During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household locks its doors and goes to the riverside or stilted buildings to watch the dragon boat race... These custom brushes like mountain flowers and flowing water exude the fragrance of earth. It shows the unique local color of the mountain city in western Hunan...
Wang Jialiang, deputy director of the Academic Committee of Zhejiang Normal University, and Li Biaojin, director of the Chinese Department of Hangzhou Normal University, once wrote: Shen Congwen's novels have unique local characteristics. His themes, The characters, natural scenery, customs, and language are all marked by Xiangxi. The subject matter is drawn from the daily life of Xiangxi society; the characters are "idiots" in rural areas of Xiangxi, a group of native "country people"; and the scenery is the charming scenery of Xiangxi's mountains and rivers. Shen Congwen is a master at depicting local customs and customs. He painted long scrolls of customs, weddings, customs, costumes, myths, legends, beliefs, etiquette... everything is included and everything is strange, making him a "conventional figure" in modern China. Genre Painter". He is particularly good at revealing these ancient customs and human feelings that have been passed down from generation to generation. The beauty of human feelings and humanity shown is fascinating and amazing.
The beauty of human nature - romantic simplicity
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In "Border Town", the author writes about three kinds of human relationships: family affection, nostalgia and love, and combines these three kinds of human relations. The beauty of human relationships, the beauty of natural scenery, and the beauty of border town customs are integrated into one, and the human beauty of the children of border towns is written in fresh and bright colors. In the depiction of the image of Cuicui, "Border Town" downplays the darkness and pain of social reality, and deliberately expresses an idealized simplicity, honest beauty of humanity and the beauty of human feelings. The large number of descriptions of environmental scenes in the work are mainly to contrast Cuicui's inner restlessness, loneliness and desolation when her love first emerged. In the work, Grandpa tells Cuicui her mother's poignant love story, which brings Cuicui inner heaviness, depression and fear of love. On the one hand, "Border Town" consciously praises the primitive human beauty of the border people, but on the other hand, it seems to unconsciously reveal the worry that this human beauty will be polluted and destroyed by feudal civilization and "modern civilization".
The protagonist of the article Cuicui is innocent, kind, gentle and pure. She and her grandfather depended on each other and cared deeply about him. Because her grandfather did not understand her thoughts, she fantasized about running away and letting him find her. However, thinking of her helplessness when her grandfather could not find her, she became worried about her grandfather and was afraid of blaming herself for the consequences of her thoughts. She fell in love with Nuosong, her feelings were pure and sincere, and her love was persistent and deep. My grandfather was an outstanding representative of the working people in ancient China. He is kind, hard-working, simple, honest, loyal to his duties and fulfills his duties. Although he lived in poverty, he was never greedy; he was charitable but never asked for anything. Serve others all your life without expecting anything in return from others. He loved his daughter and granddaughter very much and gave his whole body and soul to them. Nuo Song, on the other hand, is simple, kind-hearted and considerate; he dares to pursue his love; he despises money and abides by traditional morality. Nuosong has the beautiful character of his mother, who is delicate. Nuo Song pursues love alone, "duels" with his brother, and sings love songs in the middle of the night, but is not known by his sweetheart. In the end, he ran away alone, wandering to nowhere.
? Viewed as a whole, "Border Town" highlights the harmonious beauty of human relationships in differences; the altruistic beauty of human relationships in dilemmas; the forgiveness beauty of human relationships in broken promises; and the forgiving beauty of human relationships in misunderstandings. Highlight the kindness and beauty of human feelings; highlight the indifferent beauty of human feelings in giving and receiving. (from Ruiwen.com)
Ideal Beauty - Beauty and Sadness
Shen Congwen’s social ideal is to use the ancient Xiangxi culture to bring a fresh breath of fresh air to this decadent and corrupt Chinese nation. Breath, a kind of vigorous primitive vitality; Shen Congwen uses his imagination to reproduce the simple life forms of creatures in western Hunan for readers. However, in "Border Town" Shen Congwen is not describing the Xiangxi society that actually existed in the 1930s, but using romantic techniques to "try to recreate the fascination and intoxication in his own mind for the past Xiangxi.
< p> ? Regarding Shen Congwen’s social thoughts, Su Xuelin once explained: “What is this ideal? I think I want to use the power of words to inject the blood of barbarians into the senile, decadent and corrupt body of the Chinese nation, so that they can become excited and youthful, so that they can compete with other nations for the right to exist on the stage of the 20th century. “He really wanted to use this barbaric temperament as a torch to ignite the youthful flames of the entire nation, so he talked about ‘strong’ and ‘robust’ all day long. He loved to write about the lower class of the people in western Hunan. From their dirty, despicable, rough, and promiscuous characters, he discovered that... they also have the same humanity as us. "In "Border Town", the author writes a dream-like mood with a romantic mood and poetic touch. He writes about a relationship that he has accumulated in his spirit and is unforgettable. This is a sad dream song, but the author also We are always paying attention to society, hoping to find a prescription to change the national spirit, and promote the ruggedness, strength, simplicity and primitive vitality of human nature in Miao culture. However, there are some dark sides of human nature in the original Xiangxi culture, such as superstition. , ignorance, belief in karma, etc., and Xiangxi is no longer as pure as it used to be. It is being impacted by modern civilization, and people's values ????have created profound contradictions in Shen Congwen's social ideals.Generally speaking, the customs and customs of Xiangxi in "Border Town" are original and simple and beautiful.