Lu Xun's Appreciation of Articles

Lu Xun's essays are very combative, showing profound ideological content and strong artistic charm. It is the harmonious unity of logical thinking and image thinking through concrete materials. Lu Xun said that essays must be "vivid, provocative and beneficial, and can also change people's feelings." (1) and said: Essays must be "a dagger, a spear, something that can fight our way out with readers; But naturally, it can also give people pleasure and rest. " Lu Xun has always emphasized the ideological and combative nature of essays, as well as their artistic appeal, and emphasized that readers must enjoy art through the image of life and the charm of language. Naturally, the pleasure and rest it gives people is by no means soothing and paralyzing, but "rest, preparation before work and fighting", which is unified in the battle and also for the sake of fighting. So this is essentially different from the so-called art emphasized by art supremacists. Lu Xun put forward an outstanding view of essays, which is a summary of his long-term creative practice. All his essays perfectly embody these views. Next, we will focus on analyzing the artistic features and expression methods of Lu Xun's essays.

Essays are the artistic expression of political theory and need the power of logic. However, Lu Xun's essays are very convincing, and the long arguments are rigorous, and the short stories hit the nail on the head, all of which can make the truth clear, full and profound in limited space. This is because it always reveals the essence of the problem in the most critical place, showing clear, affirmative and irrefutable logical power. This is a main feature of Lu Xun's essays.

The process of argumentation and conclusion of Lu Xun's essays is often to concentrate on exposing the internal contradictions of things themselves, so that the problems can be completely solved. Comrade Mao Zedong said: "The analytical method is the dialectical method. The so-called analysis is to analyze the contradictions of things. " Lu Xun is good at this kind of analysis, so his argument can control the enemy in siming. For example, Liang Shiqiu once said cunningly that he didn't know "who is the master" and that he was not a capitalist's lackey. Starting from the thought of class theory, Lu Xun deeply realized that the essence of running dogs' behavior is to serve the whole class, not individual capitalists. Therefore, Liang Shiqiu's complaint about "who is the master" is the key to grasp. He hit the nail on the head and pointed out: "This is a vivid portrayal of' capitalist running dogs'. Every running dog, although raised by capitalists, actually belongs to all capitalists, so it is docile when it meets all rich people and barks when it meets all poor people. ..... even if no one grows up and goes hungry, ... but all the rich people are very docile, and all the poor people are shouting, but he doesn't understand who is the master. " Because Liang Shiqiu doesn't know who the owner is, he belongs to the "black sheep" and "capitalist lackeys". The profundity of Lu Xun's thought lies in his discovery that Liang Shiqiu, as a literary lackey, has nothing to say in the debate and can only help his literary criticism with the help of the reactionary violence of the Kuomintang. So, "we need to add a descriptive word to the flatterer:' lack'." Another example is that someone compared the two sentences "this student or that student" and "this life or that life", proving that classical Chinese is concise and "labor-saving" and superior to vernacular Chinese. Lu Xun retorted with the same example that there are at least two explanations for this life or that life: one is this scholar or that scholar (student); Second, this life or the next life. "So, although the vernacular uses more words, its meaning is accurate and clear at a glance." Why save effort? " ①

The contradiction between things is universal, and sometimes it is a phenomenon of life, which is heard and seen by people, but not taken seriously. Lu Xun is good at capturing this phenomenon, dyeing it with color and analyzing it with reason, making it particularly distinctive and attractive. For example, there is a kind of person who speaks vernacular every day and uses it freely, and does not feel vulgar and ridiculous. Now, he opposes vernacular Chinese on the grounds that it is "vulgar and not worth learning." This is a contradictory phenomenon. Lu Xun wrote, described and improved, and immediately revealed the true face of this kind of person: "The butcher now." Because they don't want it now, but they groan with zombies. Some people said nothing about the Kuomintang's non-resistance, but tried their best to publicize the story of Yue Fei and Wen Tianxiang in juvenile magazines. Lu Xun grasped this contradiction and pointedly pointed out that these two were a little too pedantic for teenagers, because the enemy was in the head. I suspect that those stories were originally written for publications of adults and grandparents, but somehow they were mistakenly published in children's books. And with the title of "wrong writing", this phenomenon is effectively satirized.

Contradictory social phenomena are sometimes not concentrated on one thing, but expressed in a scattered form, which is easy to be ignored by people, which especially requires the concentration and generalization of writers. Lu Xun is good at discovering this phenomenon and exposing the contradictions in social life from their comparison. In "I don't know the taste of meat, I don't know the taste of water", he summarized two opposing phenomena. On the one hand, the rulers are preaching Confucianism and playing Confucius' little music of "I don't know the taste of meat in March" to whitewash peace; On the other hand, this is a disaster caused by drought. Villagers fought for well water, and some people were killed. Lu Xun grasped these two phenomena and made a profound analysis of them: "Lack of literature is a world, and thirst is a world." Eating meat without knowing the taste is one world, and sharbat is another. There are naturally many gentlemen and villains among them, but' you can't afford a gentleman without a villain'. Finally, you can't let them kill each other and die of thirst. "This profoundly exposed the cruel reality of class oppression and effectively tore off the curtain of the rulers whitewashing peace. In New Autumn Miscellanies (II) mentioned in the previous section, Lu Xun also caught the strange phenomenon that society did not save people, ghosts, land and the moon at that time, and profoundly revealed the root of this contradiction, that is, the Kuomintang reactionaries did not allow people to resist Japan and save the country. Because the author has grasped the phenomenon of sharp opposition, and particularly emphasized its opposition in the expression method, it has been endowed with a very distinct and powerful logical force, which makes readers feel completely convinced.

Exposing the contradiction of things is an important task of logical thinking, and it is also a key issue about the persuasiveness of essays. Lu Xun's work in this field is very hard, and his methods of exposing contradictions are varied, all of which change with different objects. For some secret and complicated contradictions, he sometimes does not rush to draw conclusions, but can draw conclusions after careful thinking, analysis and description; Sometimes the method of dissecting the truth of things layer by layer is adopted, so that readers can understand a conclusion naturally from the process of argument, rather than literally. For example, the article "On Mrs. Qin Lizhai" discusses why suicides commit suicide, which is an example of the latter situation.

Lu Xun's early essays have simple dialectics. When he became a Marxist, things were different. Comrade Mao Zedong said: "Lu Xun's essays in his later period are the most profound and powerful, without one-sidedness, precisely because he learned dialectics at this time." This is the essence of Lu Xun's later essays. For example, the adoption of the old form has been discussed many times, but no one can say for sure about all kinds of lawsuits. Lu Xun advocated adoption and innovation. He said: "The old form has been adopted and it must be deleted. If you delete it, you will gain something. This result is the emergence of new forms, that is, changes. " This is "just like eating cattle and sheep, discard hoof hair and keep its essence to nourish and develop new life, so it will never be like cattle and sheep." This opposes the two one-sidedness of total negation and total copying, and insists on materialist dialectics-scientifically clarifying the problem from the unity of opposites between old and new forms. The example of "this life or that life" mentioned above is also a victory of dialectics, which strongly refutes one-sided views.

Lu Xun used logical thinking to reveal the contradictions of things, often through artistic images. As Comrade Mao Zedong said, he painted the faces of the dark forces with his pungent, humorous and powerful pen. He is simply a high-level painter. Comrade Mao Zedong praised the combativeness of Lu Xun's essays and accurately pointed out their vivid features. Although he wrote a time and a place and painted the face of a person and a thing, it has universal significance. This is because he "often takes different types of disadvantages", and the images he describes are not only vivid and vivid, but also general. This is another feature of Lu Xun's essays.

Compared with other literary forms, the image-building of essays is not to portray complete characters through actions and dialogues, but to "write a nose, a mouth and a hair". Its methods are diversified, which can be directly described by metaphors and stories, and can also be described according to the characteristics of the object. Lu Xun's brushwork in this respect is like a sketch of a famous painter, with only a few strokes, but vivid and vivid. He captures the image depicted by the characteristics of the object and often leaves an indelible impression on readers. For example, according to his behavior of helping idle literati, he vividly drew an ugly face. This is the role of a boxer or a diner who plays his son. "He is a little gentlemanly, ... relying on the emperor's door, Ling looks down on the people. Whoever is oppressed, he sneers and is carefree. Whoever is framed, he scares and shouts. But at the same time, he turned around, pointed out his son's shortcomings to the audience, shook his head and grimaced and said, look at this guy, this time it's bad luck! " Lu Xun also profoundly pointed out that this last skill is the characteristic of two ugliness. This is a fascinating art, which is not only vivid and profound, but also has typical significance. "Crawling and bumping" depicts people crawling desperately, but there are many people crawling and squeezing, so "bumping"-speculation and adventure. If you hit it, you will make a fortune. If you don't play well, you can climb when you fall to the ground at most. That's it. Climb and bump. If you can't bump, climb again. In this way, Lu Xun summed up an important social phenomenon at that time and all the life philosophy and life experiences of some people with vivid images. His description of "Xi in the Country" is "wandering between China and foreign countries, wandering between master and servant", depicting a writer who was born in a class society and wanted to become a super-class, "pulling his hair with his own hands and leaving the earth", with vivid image, concise language and humor.

Lu Xun often uses his own books or stories to form images and express his thoughts. Because it is not a false fabrication, but a real life experience, the story is permeated with personal profound experience, so it is vivid and thought-provoking. Debate (2) describes a family that gave birth to a boy and treated him at the full moon. Some people say that children will be rich and become officials in the future, while others say that children will die in the future. Telling the inevitable death, telling the rich and telling lies. But liars are rewarded, and they will fight if they say so. The content of this story is simple, as if it were a joke. It's so vivid and interesting, but it raises a serious question: what should I say if I want to "neither lie nor be beaten" This is the secret pain of a fighting realist writer, because it is really difficult to tell the truth in the old society of self-deception.

It is determined by the criticism of prose to use metaphor and other means to create vivid images and explain problems with images. There are many successful examples in Lu Xun's essays. For example, he criticized the preservation of "national quintessence", first of all, that "national quintessence" must be something unique to a country and lacking in other countries, but it is not necessarily good. Then he said, "For example, a person with a tumor on his face and a sore on his forehead is really different and shows his special appearance, which can be regarded as his essence." However, in my opinion, it is better to cut off this' essence' and be as good as others. "① There are also similar insects and wild animals, such as bulldogs." Although it is a dog, it is very similar to a cat. It is eclectic, fair, harmonious and just. It is all extreme, but it has a face like the' golden mean'. "This image, because of its high generality, has entered life and become a common noun that people like to use. In addition, the genius cultivated by society is compared to a plate of mung bean sprouts emerging from the soil, and the feudal society is compared to zombies and so on. , are expressive exact metaphor.

This visualization technique is used to express complex and profound thoughts, especially to show its strong vitality and Lu Xun's artistic creativity. In Friends, the author tells us two things: children like watching magic best, and it is boring to learn it; A similar situation is watching movies. When I learned how to make a movie, I knew that those who climbed the cliff were actually only a few feet from the ground. From then on, I don't use movies as magic, but pay attention to its flaws everywhere and feel bored. Instead, I regret reading a book that explains secrets. This is a very common and simple thing. The author asks you to think about its meaning, and then leads you to face a life truth at that time: "Exposers reveal all kinds of secrets and think they are good for people, but boring people are willing to be deceived and deceive themselves for fun, otherwise they will be more boring." If I want to use conceptual reasoning to write such a truth, I really don't know how many words to say, and I'm afraid it's hard to say clearly. Now, starting from life, we have only written two things that confirm each other, and the readers are completely convinced. A similar example can also be cited as "scribbling under the lamp". The author changed from the devaluation of paper money to cash, but he was complacent. Suddenly, he felt that people could easily become slaves, and he liked it after the change, thus reflecting a major theme about the historical destiny of the people of China. This kind of expression is approachable, which makes an abstract and profound idea very easy for readers to accept.

Lu Xun's visualization techniques all show the characteristics of appropriateness, simplicity and freshness. No matter which one his image is, it always conforms to the real image of things and does not go out of shape at all. Appropriateness is a vivid life, while inappropriateness loses the value of image existence. Moreover, he is good at analogy nearby, which makes readers feel more cordial. As we all know, all figurative metaphors must be based on things that are shallow, familiar to readers, far-reaching and difficult for readers to understand. But superficial and familiar things, if not handled well, can easily become cliches and arouse readers' interest. We should use it from a novel perspective, discover the artistic conception that our predecessors have not discovered, and make the image unique and unconventional. Only in this way can the two be well combined, concise and fresh, and give readers endless aftertaste.

The power of images is to appeal to emotions, thus appeal to reason. So some people think that image is the starter of feelings. Lu Xun is good at visualizing narration and comments, and he is also good at putting feelings into images. His strong love and hate are always hidden between the lines, hitting people's hearts with his image. Strong emotional color is not only prominently reflected in some of his lyric prose, but also in many of his chapters that pay attention to narration and criticism. In a word, with images, Lu Xun's essays show strong emotional characteristics.

Some of Lu Xun's essays are lyrical. In these articles, the author often uses images to express feelings, and vivid images and real feelings are combined into one, which strongly attracts and excites readers. For example, Ode to the Night describes night and day: "Night is a mysterious garment woven by nature, which makes all people feel warm and safe. Unconsciously, they gradually took off their artificial masks and clothes and wrapped them naked in this boundless black flocculant. ..... Now in broad daylight, bustling, it is this dark decoration, the golden lid on the sauce jar of human flesh, and the vanishing cream on the face. Only the night is honest. " These two images have entrusted the author with deep feelings. Compared with day and night, he hates the "real darkness" in broad daylight and all artificial masks and clothes. In some commemorative articles, the author often uses this technique to express his feelings for the deceased, such as In Memory of Liu Bannong. When writing about Liu Bannong's achievements during the May 4th Movement, it was mentioned that he was criticized for being "shallow" at that time, but the author praised this "shallowness": "His shallowness is like a clear stream, crystal clear, even though there is much sediment and rotten grass, it does not hide its general clarity. If it is full of mud, you can't see its depth for the time being; If it is a mud pit abyss, it will be even worse than a shallow pit. " Finally, he said, "I love the semi-farmer ten years ago, but I hate him these years." ..... I would like to show his achievements with anger, and not let a group of sand-trapped ghosts drag his former glory and dead bodies into the abyss of mud. "Here, the image description, sincere friendship and solemn historical judgment have reached a harmonious unity, giving readers unforgettable feelings.

Lu Xun expressed his feelings in various forms, not limited to images and metaphors. He is good at using rhetorical devices such as parallelism and repeated chanting to vent an irresistible feeling. After describing the fact that people were killed, he wrote in memory: "But the Duan government ordered them to be' thugs'! But then there were rumors that they were used. I can't bear to see that terrible sight; Gossip, especially when it reaches my ears. What else can I say? I understand the reason why the decadent nation is silent. Quiet, quiet! If you don't break out in silence, you will perish in silence. " This kind of parallel and repetitive sentence pattern strongly pours out the author's passion and strongly arouses readers' hatred of reactionaries. In political commentary articles such as On the Surprise of Friends, the author often uses this technique to expose reactionaries and express distinct class feelings.

Sometimes, the lyricism of Lu Xun's essays does not depend on metaphor, parallelism and other techniques. He just drew a line according to the real image of things, and in his unpretentious prose, he entrusted a true feeling. For example, a description of Rou Shi said: "Rou Shi had no money, so he borrowed more than 200 yuan to make a copy. Apart from buying paper, he did most of the manuscripts and chores, such as running the printing bureau and proofreading drawings. But often unsatisfactory, when you are sad. ..... he believes that people are kind. I sometimes talk about how people cheat, how to sell friends and how to suck blood. His forehead sparkled and his nearsighted eyes opened in disbelief. He protested, "Will this happen? "I don't like it very much." (1) Here, the author's heartfelt admiration and nostalgia were written at the same time as Rou Shi's purity, kindness and hard work, which also moved us.

The emotional power of Lu Xun's essays is especially manifested in irony. He thinks: "The satirical life is real; It is not necessarily a fact, but it must be a fact. " "What it writes is blatant and ordinary", but it is "unreasonable, ridiculous, contemptible and even hateful." Ironically, the author's ability is to put forward such a thing that "no one is surprised" and "refine and even exaggerate". For example, the image of crawling and bumping mentioned above and the story in dispute all belong to this category, which is obviously ironic and contains the author's goodwill and enthusiasm, which makes readers laugh and get profound education. For the enemy, Lu Xun often ignited an ironic anger, but in order to burn them. For example, "Refutation in Name Only" quoted the words of a Kuomintang platoon leader in the newspaper, and compared it with real life, mercilessly lashing it. Almost the whole article is written in an ironic way, which has a very strong ironic effect. Lu Xun said: "I am good at using irony. Every time there is an argument, I will ignore the willy-nilly and hit the head." Being good at using irony is a major feature of Lu Xun's satirical art in his essays. This is especially true in the pen battle with the enemy.

Lu Xun also has some essays, which express his thoughts and feelings in a subtle and tortuous way through "Qubi". As we all know, "Qubi" was originally the product of reactionary political persecution in old China. Lu Xun once said in the preface of Lace Literature: "It was really powerful at that time, so it was impossible to say that it was unsuccessful ... Under this assassination, I was able to survive and meet the readers. So, what is a slave article? " Knowing this situation, we can understand some of Lu Xun's essays, so it is a last resort to adopt "bending the pen". Some people regard "bending the pen" as Lu Xun's brushwork, as if Lu Xun had always liked to write like this, which is a great misunderstanding. In fact, whenever possible, Lu Xun always tries his best to make his articles clear. "Qubi" is the product of political persecution, so it is not a disciplined artistic technique. It needs to adapt to different themes, respond to different political environments and adopt different expressions. There are metaphors throughout, such as modern history. The content is juggling, and they squeeze money from the audience again and again. Today this batch has gone, and tomorrow that batch will come again. There is not a word in the full text about politics at that time, but everyone with a discerning eye knows that this is the modern history of the reactionary Kuomintang government. There are many ways to use irony in the whole article, such as telling stories, quoting classics and comparing modern people. For this kind of essay, we mainly know its fighting function and significance, but don't learn its obscure and tortuous form, because today is fundamentally different from Lu Xun's era.

In short, Lu Xun's essays are rich in forms, eclectic in techniques, fresh and unique, giving readers meaningful artistic enjoyment. This is not only the advanced and profound ideological content, but also because he has rich life experiences and inexhaustible treasure house of knowledge. In addition, his careful conception and tempering in the writing process are also very important conditions. "Even if it is a short comment of three or five hundred words, it will not spread the paper and start writing." He once said: "People say that these short articles deserve such lace, but I don't know that although these articles are short, I have twisted my brains a lot, exercised into an extremely elite blow, and read a lot of books. These material resources for purchasing reference books, plus my own energy, are not casual. " This attitude of hard work and Excellence is worth learning. Let's seriously study the militancy and artistic expression of Lu Xun's essays, and give full play to the role of essays in educating the people and the enemy.