What does Qian Zhongshu's Fortress Besieged tell us and what do we learn from it?

A good novel, a novel with profound meaning, can be interpreted and analyzed continuously, and opinions vary. When we read novels, we can completely trust our feelings, and we don't have to be educated before reading them.

1, social reflection level

On the first level, I use the common sociological criticism, that is, the theory of reflection. Chinese teachers in middle schools like to let students generalize, which is necessary and also a kind of training. Generalization is "what is reflected by what", and its theme is what is expressed. Judging from this critical method, Fortress Besieged does have its realistic side, that is to say, it reflects life, and its description of life can really reflect some scenes of social life during the China War in the 1940s. Indeed, I think by reading Fortress Besieged, we can learn something about China in the 1940s, such as the situation of education, such as the situation of cities and the state of intellectuals. In other words, it describes some life scenes in modern China. In fact, Qian Zhongshu said in the preface at the beginning of the novel that he wrote about a certain part of modern China society and a certain kind of people, which can be said to be human feelings. This is what we should pay attention to when reading Fortress Besieged. Some critics wrote that Fortress Besieged is a small whirlpool in the old society, which profoundly reflects a corner of that society, a vivid portrayal of that society that is about to collapse, and a protest against that decadent society. Now some young critics may disagree with this statement. In fact, I think Fortress Besieged has this meaning, that is to say, Fortress Besieged has a revealing side, that is, it describes the social life in China in the 1940s, especially the bad habits in society, and some descriptions are very true.

From the perspective of sociological criticism, Fortress Besieged does have a cognitive function, which is called the level of life description. The level of life description can help us understand some unfamiliar things in modern China, which is of great value to understanding history. Usually we say "what reflects what". For example, this description reflects some situations in China in the 1940s. Don't hate this sentence from the beginning, it still has its reason. This kind of criticism used to be the mainstream criticism, which has its functions and characteristics. It pays more attention to education and ideology, and regards the work as a mirror, which is a state often caused by sociological criticism. It has its functions. A general formula of this criticism just now is what reflects what. The first level can be understood by sociological criticism. This Fortress Besieged is indeed a bit backward, closed and chaotic in China in the 1940s, which we can easily notice when reading. But this level of life description is common in novels, and it is relatively shallow. Better novels, deeper novels, there may be second, third or even countless layers. Fortress Besieged has at least two layers, so what is the second layer? It is the level of cultural criticism.

2. The level of cultural criticism

The literary world constructed by Fortress Besieged contains Qian Zhongshu's world outlook and his cultural position. The starting point, or "viewpoint", of his writing this novel. Good novels often have unique "viewpoints". Qian Zhongshu constructed this literary world from his viewpoint, that is, cultural criticism, or critical culture. Qian Zhongshu is more of a criticism of culture. He criticized the culture of modern China, whether it is the traditional culture left over or the new culture introduced from abroad, whether it is old or new, whether it is popular or not. And the criticism is very spicy. He wrote his Fortress Besieged as a "new scholar". We know that there was a novel "The Scholars" in ancient times, which exposed the ugly phenomenon of the imperial examination system. Then the second level of Fortress Besieged written by Qian Zhongshu is actually a new scholar. Intellectuals in literary works since the May 4th Movement are mostly heroes, pioneers and visionaries of social development, with high status. But Fortress Besieged is not like this. In Fortress Besieged, intellectuals are in the position of being satirized and criticized.

Qian Zhongshu's criticism does have its own characteristics, and his criticism targets are all new intellectuals. He wrote about the difficulties and weaknesses of intellectuals, and he looked at the oldest and most pitiful things in them through their "newness". Let's analyze how he wrote this "new scholar". He mainly analyzes the cultural mentality of the characters. The first character is Fang Hung-chien. Fang Hung-chien is not necessarily a bad person, nor is he necessarily a bad person. He is quite kind. He also cheats, but there seems to be a limit. He is honest, unrealistic, smart, courageous, useless and arrogant. There is a saying that he is knowledgeable and shallow. He knows too much and can speak, but he has no knowledge of his own. He is eloquent, has no opinion of his own and is indecisive in everything, so many people can criticize him. Su Like Wan Wen, he criticized him, saying that he was cynical in big places and serious in small places. Zhao is his good friend, and the so-called "sympathy brother" also criticized him, saying that he didn't hate it, but it was useless. In addition, a man named Liu Dongfang criticized him, saying that his essence was too bad and he was very clever. His wife, Sun Roujia, criticized him, saying that she likes to be smart, but in the end she is self-defeating. In a word, Brother Fang is kind and useless, smart but indecisive. In the face of life, his greatest feature is cowardice, indecision and like nonsense, so he keeps losing opportunities.

When Fang Hung-chien was in college, he envied his new love, but his old father was frightened and chickened out. He is an indecisive man. His attitude towards Sue is the same: if you don't, just say so, but he is too timid to fall into that trap. There is a plot in the novel in which Fang Hung-chien is not an old maid in Su Like, but he can't refute other people's faces, so he can't help kissing Su when dating Miss Su. The kiss area is very small and gentle, just like in the Qing Dynasty, when drinking a big bowl of tea, gently touch the edge of the teacup with your mouth to show your meaning. Don't do what you obviously don't want to do, you will be responsible for what you do. As a result, Brother Fang fell into this trap. Finally, when Sue learned the truth, she slandered Fang Hung-chien in front of another girl whom Fang Hung-chien missed, which destroyed his relationship with him.

But don't treat it as a general love triangle, not just young men and women playing house, there is a cultural criticism. The nature and principle of Fang Hung-chien's love originated from a cultural criticism. Fang Hung-chien's character and life principles on the issue of love come from a culture. In Qian Zhongshu's mind, it is the combination of Chinese and western cultures that crystallized such an indecisive and indecisive Fang Hung-chien. In addition, it is obvious that Qian Zhongshu is critical of some descriptions of Fang Hung-chien. For example, Fang Hung-chien is lazy and doesn't want to do anything. He likes to muddle along and comfort himself, a bit like Ah Q. Is this a cultural inertia? I think this is Qian Zhongshu's point of view. He believes that the combination of traditional culture and western civilization will form a lazy personality, which is brand-new in name, drinking milk, coffee, eating bread and dancing, but old in bones, or a mixture of old and new, which is actually very important. Many characters in Qian Zhongshu's works can find the intention of cultural criticism. For example, Miss Bao, who was playing the sensual game of "glass of water" on the boat, was obviously criticizing Qian Zhongshu, and Fang Hung-chien was of course the center of criticism. Fang Hung-chien looked down on traditional culture, but he was nostalgic, so his mentality was actually a contradictory mentality caused by the cultural conflict between China and foreign countries. He had no support and no backbone.

When reading Fortress Besieged, it also reminds me that in our social life, many people are now in a mental state, and sometimes some of them return to Fang Hung-chien, as if they are helpless and don't know what their goals are. Is making money the purpose? After making money, he felt boring. Fang Hung-chien is like this. Money is also a besieged city. For example, I have no money now, and I dream that one day I can have one million or two million, buy a house and a car, and maybe I will become the happiest person in the world. But after all your goals have been achieved, you may not be as happy as you are now. There is no persistence and no goal in life. Fang Hung-chien is such a person. Then, in Fang Hung-chien's body, there is Qian Zhongshu's reflection and criticism on culture. Therefore, Qian Zhongshu's criticism is very personal and sharp. Unlike ordinary writers at that time, everything brought by the May 4th Movement was good anyway, so was the liberation of personality, democracy and things from the West. He doesn't think so, but he is very picky. Writing about Fang Hung-chien is actually writing about a cultural phenomenon.

In addition, the novel describes a large number of the latest intellectuals, which actually has some characteristics of rural urbanization, that is, the so-called backward fashion. Don't you see that there is a lot of urbanization in rural areas in Beijing now? Qian Zhongshu used a metaphor, which was also "damaging". He said it was like a tailor in China making his first fake suit. The countryside is urbanized. He learns everything from foreign countries, but he doesn't like it. On the surface, he still criticizes others in the west, but in fact, he keeps dripping water and wearing away stones. After learning it, he doesn't like it. Qian Zhongshu criticized this in his novel. Of course, this criticism is mainly aimed at1940s, but it is also instructive to the present. For example, behind his satirical fake doctor and diploma, there is Qian Zhongshu's critical vision. Why worship foreign things and flatter foreign countries? Worshipping foreign things and obsessing over foreign things is a superstition in itself. Of course, some advanced civilized technologies and some good systems in the West can be learned. But everything is good, and what we often learn is a superficial thing, so we have no backbone, which is the mentality of rural urbanization. This is all criticism, and there is such a cultural criticism of Fang Hung-chien, including those characters around him.

Next, I want to talk about a character, which I think is the most successful character in the novel, and that is Sun Roujia. Qian Zhongshu has his profound thoughts about Sun Roujia. Originally, this sophomore was in the best years of her life, but in Qian Zhongshu's eyes, she described the little girl as particularly sophisticated and talented. Fang Hung-chien is no match for her at all. Sun Roujia was a figure who influenced everything of Fang Hung-chien. At the beginning of the novel, I wrote about this girl. She is so weak, so naive and so docile. I am afraid that my face will turn red if I say a word. But on the other hand, it is very artificial and melodramatic. Qian Zhongshu sharply criticized this. Before marriage, Sun was very gentle and weak. After marriage, he became a completely different person, bossy, jealous, selfish and mean, and Fang Hung-chien was not allowed to make friends with anyone outside. Not only can you not make friends with women, but you can't even make friends with men. Psychologically understandable, but Qian Zhongshu wrote it from the perspective of cultural criticism. Sun Roujia was originally a person with a college degree and received the education of the May 4th New Culture, but she is very old in her bones, not the oriental female beauty. She is completely mean and purely possessive in family life. This character is very successful in writing.

But I wonder if the author has gone too far. Girls are sometimes a little coquettish, which is a manifestation of a specific identity. Maybe it's normal and beautiful for her boyfriend or elders, although it's a bit artificial. But Qian Zhongshu can't allow it. Qian Zhongshu wanted to criticize culture, so I said that he sometimes wrote a little too much. But on the whole, why did he write about Miss Sun like this? It is a kind of cultural reflection, such as Fang Hung-chien and Sun Roujia. They are not bad people, but ordinary people in the living area and "non-heroes". Looking back on our modern literature, there are too many heroes and too many people write heroes after the May 4th Movement, so why do I always think of Lao She when I see Qian Zhongshu's novels? Mr. Lao She's works are also many "non-heroes", and the heroes after the May 4th Movement are all "non-heroes" in his works. This "non-hero" has a new cultural viewpoint and a criticism. These "non-heroes" and ordinary people constitute a new "Confucian forest" that the author should examine and criticize. In fact, it is such a group of people under the conflict between old and new civilizations and Chinese and foreign civilizations.

Just now we talked about "viewpoint", that is, the viewpoint of writing. Qian Zhongshu's point of view is very special. He wants to criticize China's traditional culture and new culture through these new intellectuals, overseas students and college students, and by depicting their mentality. He believes that the new culture also has many shortcomings, especially copying the west. Unlike other writers, this angle is critical, but not overwhelming. This is different from Wang Shuo now. Wang Shuo criticizes everything, and Qian Zhongshu certainly criticizes everything, but he stands tall and writes calmly. Wang Shuo himself said that he was a "code word", and he had to code 5,000 words a day, all of which were calculated and he wrote everything. Sometimes he can write a TV series, which is well written and acceptable to ordinary people, but he constantly challenges the avant-garde and curses the elite. Now even Lu Xun scolds him. This is not necessarily a cultural criticism. Qian Zhongshu did use a very special writing angle. Just now, he also said, the first level, from the perspective of sociological criticism, what kind of life surface situation Qian Zhongshu wrote in his works, whether it is revealing and critical, and whether it has cognitive value. Then the second floor is deeper. Through this group of people, he wrote what was in their bones and wrote about Chinese and foreign cultures. He really has Qian Zhongshu's own special vision.

3, the level of philosophical thinking

So does the work have a third theme or meaning? We can still dig down, so we are trying to dig again now, just to the third floor. The third layer is the philosophical thinking level, which is very abstract and special. We can dig through the first two floors to the third floor. How to dig? Just now we said that the first layer used sociological criticism, the second layer used cultural psychology criticism, so we tried to use structuralism or semiotics in the third layer. Of course, this is not a natural structuralism and semiotics, but a modification to see if it can be partially used in our reading of Fortress Besieged. Let's talk about the structuralist approach first. This structuralism does not consider the details of specific descriptions. How good, lyrical and ironic the description here is, he doesn't consider this. What does it mean to the characters? It doesn't consider any psychological activity. It analyzes a work very roughly and macroscopically, to see how many components it has, to simplify the complex, to simplify it comprehensively, to extract the most basic elements of a work very concisely, and then to see what the author wants to write. What is his blind spot? This is the general method of structuralism. I use a more popular language to say this method, that is to say, structuralism sometimes has something to do with western semiotics, and only pays attention to the basic elements in the work, regardless of how artistic it is and whether it is profound or not. What we are using now is not the original structuralism, but a little bit. It can be said that we are imitating structuralism or semiotics, and let's see if we can explore the third level of Fortress Besieged.

The story of Fortress Besieged just now is meaningless if we read it. Very dull, very trivial. There are no heroes, no big conflicts, and no bloody battles and legends as tragic as martial arts novels. Only ordinary people are eating, getting married, getting divorced and so on. And everyone has "failed" and there is nothing to do. What is Qian Zhongshu going to write? If you simplify the novel enough after reading it, I think you can focus on two words or two actions. One action is called "entering the city" and the other is called "leaving the city". These two movements appear repeatedly, entering the city and then leaving the city, entering the city and then leaving the city. This is the whole novel. Therefore, if the structure of Fortress Besieged is simplified into a formula, that is, Fang Hung-chien = entering the city+leaving the city+entering the city+leaving the city. The ship at the beginning of the novel is actually a besieged city. Surrounded by the sea, there is only one boat left at sea. Everyone on the boat wants to get off. When they are tired, they all want to dock and disembark early. Are they out of town? I am in Shanghai, and I am in the city again. Besides, Fang Hung-chien can't stay in Shanghai any longer. He went to Hunan again and went to the mainland countryside. Isn't he out of town? So when you go to this San Lv University, it's not much worse than Shanghai, or even worse, and then you go to town. So Fang Hung-chien's whole action, his experience, is to go into the city, out of the city, out of the city. Besides, so is their love and marriage. Fang Hung-chien wanted to get married before he got married. Of course, it was not ideal. Miss Su was not ideal. Miss Tang was ideal but failed. Finally, he married Sun. It is the wish of normal people not to marry. Got married and wanted a divorce. Moreover, many of these descriptions in the novel want to get married and not get married, and then want to get divorced. Then marriage becomes a besieged city in the novel. People outside want to go in, and they want to come out when they get in. A western critic said, "Fortress Besieged" is about the weakness of human nature in marriage and love, and people are like this. But I don't totally agree with him, because many marriages are also very happy. However, there are indeed many unhappy marriages, so it is probably a weakness of human nature to want to divorce after marriage, or to always think about things outside the city although there is no divorce. So the whole siege is like this. Going into the city, going out of the city, going into the city, it seems that this kind of going in and out, this kind of repeated action is blind, dominated by an instinct, and even a strange coincidence. If you come in and want to go out, go out and go in, then it is three words: "useless." Just like life, it is often like this: useless. The whole novel gives a feeling. In-depth analysis, you will say that life is full of besieged cities. Those outside the city want to enter, those in the city want to come up, rush in and come out. What do you mean? In other words, the whole life is besieged everywhere, but everyone is driven by instinct. Everyone is looking for a dream, everyone is looking for a dream. On the day when you had no dreams at all, you had no dreams at all, and you were particularly awake. You're too sober. Most people can't reach that level. I think this is meaningless.

Therefore, if the whole Fortress Besieged is abstracted, highly generalized and structured, it is found that it is actually written in two words, called Fortress Besieged. Most people read this novel, but they don't pay much attention to it. They think that this besieged city of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is also a scene of life. In fact, after reading it, the secret of the novel is written on the cover of the book, which is the title of the book. After reading the whole book and thinking through the two levels just mentioned, I found that Qian Zhongshu is a smart man. He thought about life and wrote Fortress Besieged.

In fact, Qian Zhongshu has pointed out the significance of this novel in an emotional description in the book. One day, Fang Hung-chien was drinking with his friends. Fang Hung-chien had no capacity for alcohol, so he got drunk after drinking a little. He gradually felt as if the soul was talking away from his own body and heard what others were saying. A philosopher named Chu Shen Ming said, I also talked to her about your marriage and divorce. I want to quote an old English proverb, marriage is like a birdcage. Birds outside the cage want to go in, birds inside the cage want to fly out, but the result is divorce, divorce, no games. Teacher Su also wrote a sentence. She said that there is such a saying in China, but it is not a birdcage, but a dilemma, a castle. People outside the city want to rush in and out, and people in the city want to escape. Fang Hung-chien was already drunk. He doesn't know. He's confused about these conversations. In fact, the secret of the whole book is pointed out here. The so-called password is hidden here. If you don't look carefully and go through the two floors just now, you may not find it. This is a deeper philosophical excavation.

This novel really shows that everyone has weaknesses, so there is a bitter feeling, that is, what are you living for? Is it just doing nothing, that is, going into the city and going out of the city? Are people always doing something because of this instinct? Of course, this world view is not necessarily correct, but Qian Zhongshu does have deeper thinking. He is not discussing political issues, nor is he discussing the general philosophy of being a man. He is thinking deeply about some human weaknesses and blindness. So after reading this novel, sometimes I also have a sense of bitterness and separation. Of course, there are some younger children here. We don't want you to understand the third level of Fortress Besieged at such a young age. You can read level two. This Fortress Besieged is not mainly for young people. This is a novel suitable for middle-aged people. You can only experience it after some life. Just now I talked about three levels and three critical methods. Anything else? There may be, for example, psychoanalysis and criticism, and even feminist criticism that is very fashionable now. Can it be used to analyze Besieged City? I think we can all try. However, if we use feminist criticism, this Fortress Besieged may be untenable. Why? From the feminist point of view, Qian Zhongshu's writing attitude is very typical of male chauvinism. Read his novels. Fang hung-chien was surrounded by him, Su, Su and others. , plus Miss Bao. It seems that everything here exists for him. Is this the men's center? If he had more respect for women, their married life wouldn't be so bad, would it?

Therefore, when discussing problems, we should never regard novels as a philosophy of life. For example, Fang Hung-chien or Qian Zhongshu's description of Fang Hung-chien has a very profound view of life and thinks that life is even meaningless. Life is just going into and out of the city, blind and useless. This is just an understanding, a sensitive or poetic philosophy, but this philosophy is not necessarily used to intervene and guide our lives. After all, this is a novel. Let's go back to what we just said. A good novel, a novel with profound meaning, can be interpreted and analyzed continuously, and opinions vary. When we read novels, we can completely trust our feelings, and we don't have to be educated before reading them. Of course, students should be educated, but there is always such a mentality that everything in the world exists for education, which is also very sad.