Is it contradictory to say that prose is expensive and prose is taboo?

The embryonic form of prose should be traced back to the oracles of Shang Dynasty at the earliest, which has a history of more than 3, years. Over the years, prose has undoubtedly changed from form, structure, expression of content and application of language. Needless to say, the prose changes in ancient prose writing in the past dynasties, only from the "vernacular movement", prose has undergone several makeovers: first, it was born out of ancient prose, forming a mixed text, although it is neither fish nor fowl in form nor empty in content, but the language still has a unique charm; Then imported from the west, the wrong view of "writing prose as you speak" misled many writers, and as a result, many essays were more superficial and tasteless. After that, from the founding of New China to the reform and opening up in the late 197s, the so-called prose completely became a big-character newspaper, with no structure, no layout and no rhyme. The whole is a list of slogans, and the venting of extreme emotions is the whole text. At that time, there was a jingle that could well explain the image of prose at that time: "At the beginning, the situation was excellent, and in the middle, books and newspapers were copied at random, and at the end, loyalty was shown and slogans were shouted." After the reform and opening up, all walks of life began to get on the right track, and literature also ushered in the spring of life. Mao Mu, Bacon, Hugo and other foreign literary masters' prose, especially the translation of essays and essays, broadened our writers' horizons, enriched our writers' imagination, and at the same time inspired our writers' courage and wisdom to explore boldly. That is, before and after this period, there appeared model prose represented by Yang Shuo's prose. This kind of prose is full of enthusiasm, and the eyes are full of gratifying scenes of prosperity. Therefore, the pen is naturally full of words that sing praises and are full of joy. Although these essays are seriously inconsistent with real life in terms of ideological expression, they are still desirable only from the perspective of literature and art, and they are unique in terms of the continuity of their texts and the beautiful and fluent language. However, compared with some prose works that followed, such as Tao Siliang's A Letter Finally Sent, and Ba Jin's Random Tales and The Collection of Truth, the realm is too far away. It can be said that the appearance of a number of prose works in the same period as Random Thoughts has a milestone significance in China's prose writing. These essays are based on the historical events experienced by the author personally, with sincere feelings, speculative blending and strong spiritual demands. That is, from this time on, prose developed healthily and began to be juxtaposed with novels, poems and plays, becoming one of the four styles in the literary family.

There is a very famous experience in the previous prose writing, that is, the form is scattered but the spirit is not scattered. For a long time, this experience was regarded as the golden rule. Write essays according to this writing experience, so that all essays are carved in the same mold. All words and ideas should be carefully laid out around the "God" of the article, that is, the center, just like women in old-fashioned families, who can't move their skirts and smile, and you are free only if you don't go beyond the scope of the ethical dogma of "Three Cardinals and Five Permits"; More like a donkey whose eyes are covered with black cloth and circling around the stone mill, it can walk forward or backward, but it will never exceed the radius of the rope tied to it. The works written in this way can obviously make people feel that the author is holding a big posture. Exquisite is exquisite, but he always can't let go of his hands and feet-the traces of thinking and carving are too heavy.

in the 199s, influenced by the writing styles in some southern regions, the "little woman prose" and "philosophical prose" became popular, and some life magazines helped to cheer, so for a time, the literary world was full of gentle and charming winds and preaching winds. The choice of subject matter in prose writing is still very critical. Gu Si, a famous critic, analyzed in The Four Dimensions of Prose Innovation: "When a writer confines his speech and expression to a narrow and unchanging spiritual or living space, it is not only easy to form the monotony and stagnation of the prose world, causing readers' aesthetic fatigue, but also may encourage the writer's own psychological inertia and inertia, leading to the dullness and aging of artistic feeling. On the contrary, if a writer can actively and consciously adjust the external and internal perspectives of observing life and make the images and contexts in his works mottled and diverse, it is enough to effectively block until the above drawbacks are eliminated, and then the characteristics and new realm of art are nurtured. " The "little woman prose" only pays attention to the people and things around you, and it is written in writing, either seven aunts and uncles, or "your family has a son" or "my family has a daughter who has just grown up"; Either sesame seeds and watermelons, cats and dogs hurt each other, skirts from the year before last, handbags from last year, or tears, sad geese, secrets in my heart, and resentment in the world of mortals outside ... Prose has become a punching bag and running account in disguise. Philosophical prose has gone to the other extreme: pretending to be profound. In fact, its author is obviously shallow in knowledge and pale in thought, and doesn't even understand many common sense truths in life. However, he insists on pretending to be knowledgeable, making up an impossible thing at random, and then using this false thing to give birth to some far-fetched nonsense philosophy, which makes people get goose bumps all over, so that some people clamor for "refusing to read 1 kinds of prose": the whole prose is too lush in vocabulary; Calcium-deficient prose that sticks to a small family and a small mood; Serious, old-fashioned, smooth prose with no waves; Write prose as a novel, and devote yourself to putting on airs in the length of the text; Long-sentence prose with complex sentences and parallelism and twists and turns; Show off the famous essays that have eaten with a celebrity and have been to a master's home; What is written, recorded and described are all false essays made up by themselves; Ancient costume prose that is neither ancient nor modern, neither written nor white, and is hard to pull; In order to express the depth and thickness, the unfamiliar prose with rare words and phrases is specially selected from the dictionary; Friendship prose with both the meaning of "visiting here" and the suspicion of "advertising widely".

in the mid-199s, prose finally ushered in a mature period of unrestrained personality. The concept of "Great Prose" was put forward, and the literary idea was spared no effort to promote and practice, which made Jia Pingwa leave a heavy mark in the literary history of New China. Although "Great Prose" is not perfect in theory, although the boundary of "Great Prose" is still in dispute, and whether "Great Prose" is the necessity of literary development or the overcorrection in a hurry is still inconclusive, it is an indisputable fact that under the influence of the concept of "Great Prose", prose writing has experienced unprecedented prosperity. With Jia Pingwa's practice of "Great Prose", Yu Qiuyu's "Great Cultural Prose" soon appeared, and Zhou Tao's "Frontier Prose" devoted to the vicissitudes of northwest China appeared, and the "Great Prose Movement" represented by Zhu Yong, Zhou Xiaofeng and Pompeii appeared, and later, there were "Original Ecological Prose" and "Present Prose". Prose in this period mostly takes social culture, historical culture or childhood memory as the background, from which they try their best to dig out humanistic connotation and focus on the deep thinking of individual spirit, on the one hand, they show their unique life experiences to readers; On the other hand, it leads readers with a profound cultural accumulation background, or gives readers a kind of spiritual bath, just as Mr. Wang Bisheng's understanding of prose: "Prose is a text that expresses the spirit, at the same time, it is also a moral and persevering text, which can not only beat the pulse of the times, but also see the author's heart. Prose can describe the changes of life in time, record the pulse of social change, mobilize the public complex, connect the cultural spirit, and also recognize the humanistic spirit of a period. "

indeed, the writing of "great prose" in the context of the new era does not need to be confined to the rules of traditional prose, let alone to extract a distinct "central idea" from the text. For the author of "great prose", his mind is infinitely broad, his emotions are healthy and abundant, his vision is unconstrained, his text structure is free and unrestrained, and his language is vivid and vivid. It can be said that for the writing of "Great Prose", the author's talent can be used to enrich and perfect the shortcomings of his theory, and the only requirement is his unique life experience and persistent humanistic feelings.

so, how to write prose? Is it necessary to "disperse in form but not in spirit"? Or do you want to be scattered? In fact, there is no point in dealing with the relationship between "form" and "spirit". Tightly tied to it, dare not cross the line, of course not; It is even more forbidden to believe that the horse is going in the opposite direction-this is also wrong, and that is also wrong, which is equal to not saying it. Both Lao Zi and Zhuangzi talked about the reflection of Tao, but "man should observe the earth, the earth should observe the sky, the sky should observe the Tao, and the Tao should be natural", and Tao can't be said. "The husband's Tao is sealed before it begins, and the words are always before it begins, so there is a cup for it." (Zhuangzi's "On the Homology of Things") In the final analysis, "Form" and "Spirit" are like a person's body and shadow. If you really know the meaning of prose writing, "Form" and "Spirit" will be impartial, detached, hidden and seemingly absent. Good articles flow naturally from the deep heart of enlightened authors. Can they be squeezed out with a frown according to some laws?