Zhang Haiqing's Expert Comments: Colorful and Thick Kanto Cultural Meteorology

-Mr. Zhu Jing, a famous literary critic, talks about "Kanto"

Great Guandong is a new achievement of China's regional literature creation. In recent years, literature and film and television have set off a "Kanto fever", and many works have been written about it, but I have never seen a novel with such a long history and rich cultural connotation as Kanto. The term "regional literature" here is redefined in the study of contemporary literature and culture, and its concept is between "regional literature" and "national literature". )

It is said that this is the author's first novel, and it's really amazing, and it's worth sitting up and taking notice. Based on the fate of Geng Shi brothers, descendants of Banners and their descendants, through the rise and fall of the two families in the eastern wasteland, from the Republic of China to the new era, he wrote heartily the local accent, customs and homesickness of the Kanto land, showing the suffering and struggle, joy and sadness of the Kanto people, and showing the author's high historical control and broad humanistic feelings.

I think there are at least three breakthroughs in Kanto.

One is the chain structure. This novel is different from traditional writing: it is divided into five units, and each unit begins with an overview of a major historical event. Although GengShi and Wu Bai run through, each unit intercepts a certain historical segment, and the story is relatively independent. In this way, the sense of historical hierarchy is clearer, the narrative is more flexible and selective. The disadvantage is that it may weaken characterization. Looking back at the book, it seems that the integrity and three-dimensional sense of the main characters in the novel are lacking.

The second is the historical concept-nature. The author's thoughts are cutting-edge and open. Creativity starts from the regional prototype, not the preconceived mainstream model. For example, replacing "landlord" with "big grain grower" and "owner" avoids the stage of tenant farmers fighting the landlord; Numbers are not always the dominant producers; In dealing with man and nature, man and animals, man and the unknown world, and mysterious phenomena, there are also many unexpected strokes.

The third is to spread the cultural atmosphere of Kanto in combination with stories.

I want to emphasize this point (which is also related to the second point). This is what Kanto is most concerned about, and it is also the main achievement of Kanto.

This cultural atmosphere mainly refers to the folk customs and survival wisdom formed by Kanto farmers in dealing with the relationship with society and nature under certain historical conditions, and it is a kind of life norm and lifestyle gradually formed by them. The exhibition of Kanto regional culture in Great Kanto surpasses previous works with the same theme in terms of coverage, novelty and exquisiteness, and of course it has great integration and folk value. But it is not a folk record, but a literary situation and artistic writing closely combined with the story, so it will have unique attraction and impact.

1, a complex figure of the Kanto bandits.

Bandits are prevalent in troubled times, and at the beginning of the novel, it is written that "bandits are rampant" in Kanto. Bandits disturb the people and even harm the people, but in that special historical background, the survival of bandits is complicated. They oppose big grain growers, the government and the Japanese invaders. The death of Mr. Song written in this article stems from the evil of the Japanese, and the counterattack of Motianling is just. This happened four years after the camel dragon entered the scorpion. The first unit is about camel dragon, which is not popular. Not only describes her misfortune, but also describes her viciousness. The writing style should be said to be objective.

In the meantime, there are many descriptions involving the culture of Hu bandits, such as "smashing kiln" and digging the ancestral grave of Jijia; Redeem Ji Guangyuan, mobilize the "rules" of various reinforcements, and so on.

In particular, ten methods used by camel dragons to "kidnap" and torture "God of Wealth" are listed:

One of them is "biting fart" (prisoners are connected head to tail); Second, "worship the god of wealth" (bow their heads and burn incense); Third, "ants climb trees" (buried in ant nests below the chest); Fourth, "take a pillow" (dig a hole in the wall and stuff it into people, get stuck with stones and wood, and pour manure); Five "hanging chamber pot (the two grandparents who were caught, one urinating and one urinating); Sixth: boiled eagle "(prisoners run around the fire and don't let them sleep); Seven "melon skins" (cutting eyelids, nose and ears); Eight "hungry tigers pull out their crotch" (stuffing civet cats into their crotch); Nine "The old man looks up to the sky" (young trees pick people in the air); Ten "by train" ...

2. Detailed explanation of folk customs.

The description of this custom and ceremony runs through the whole article and is a part of the novel's great efforts. Give a few examples.

(1) Hundreds of "separation". (division and failure, this plot is well written. )

Grandpa four white is the successor designated by the old man. When the old man died, he was just "seven years old" and several brothers were about to get married. * * * Zhao Ye, a blind man, presided over the supervision. After careful calculation and deployment by Master Zhao, the plan of separation of the five brothers was put forward. (See page 7 1)

The remaining question is, "What about the White Family Ancestral Temple? Who will take over the immortal hall? " Nobody said yes. In the middle of the night, Master Zhao suggested: "Whoever goes to the house where the rooster crows the stone fish jar in the front yard will be obliged to accept Jiashantang." As a result, something incredible happened. The weasel lifted the fish tank ... This absurd plot is one of the "mysteries" left by Kanto. Of course, the specific handling methods can be divided into different opinions. Turning "moving" into the boss's illusion seems to change your mind more.

(2) The custom of celebrating the New Year in the White House.

Eight Bowls (P78), New Year's Eve (P9 1), invited troupe, twisting high radiation, dry boat, yangko, etc. , have vivid descriptions.

③ Geng Yulin's "pandering" ...

3. Bold exposure of legends, folk songs, dreams and foxes.

This is a major feature of the narrative description in Kanto. In my opinion, these are all important elements that constitute the profound cultural background and modern concept of this novel, which highlights the writer's courage.

Legends (so-called lies among the people) and folk songs add color and atmosphere to the novel, which is not difficult to understand. For example, (P77) Huang tells the story of a peddler and a broom (hanging on the wall of a barn), (P99) Grandma tells the story of "an old dog (an old bachelor) and a big rat wrapped in jiaozi", and (P 184) Xu Sansuoer tells the story of a black blind man hitting a tiger, some of which are well known to Kanto people.

Shanhaiguanwai (P65), Kitchen God (P77), Old Corn (P296) and other folk songs have touching power.

The description of dreams and hallucinations in Great Kanto deserves special study. I can only say a little superficial feeling here.

In addition to the dream of the White House living apart from the old man and the dream of the weasel moving the fish tank, I will give several more examples in the book: (P94) Dai Yunnian's nightmare (confusing Bai's third wife and saving her from hanging); (P209), Zheng Xueli's dream of looking at the ground; (P229) The illusion of Zhao Xiezi on the Songhua River (the owl has long been barking, listening to the woman in white, watching the red willow standing on the shore, and the snakehead in his hand turned into a coffin board, saving the red willow, but sinking into the river himself); (P279), the dream and premonition of begging for the moon; (P289) Geng Zijian's illusion ... In addition, (P 144) Geng Yukun's adventure of shooting foxes; (P 175) Bai Fengming had a bad feeling that weasel and civet cat were fighting outside the office window; (P228) recorded meteorite shower in the northern suburb of Jilin City, suggesting the fate of China.

What do you think of these amazing and even creepy descriptions?

In the postscript, the author said that "Shaman culture is essentially different from feudal superstition", and he obviously wanted to "make it exude its own dignified and solemn atmosphere through Great Kanto".

The example I cited does not seem to stem from the phenomenon of "shaman culture".

What I want to emphasize is the rationality of the existence of fantasy in this kind of literature.

First, there are many supernatural and unknown phenomena in real life that human beings cannot explain; Faced with problems that cannot be solved by human technology and understanding, human beings will inevitably make various conjectures, fantasies or psychological reactions to these fantasy phenomena.

Second, Chinese and foreign serious literature and art, such as Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Latin American magic realism and American science fiction movies, have built a colorful fantasy art world;

Thirdly, on the basis of exploring regional and national cultures, contemporary literature has the freedom to exert its imagination and inject absurd and fantastic elements into realistic texts.

The above description of Great Kanto has undoubtedly created a colorful and heavy Kanto cultural atmosphere.

4. The fate of several women and the tragic style of their works.

Reading Great Kanto makes me feel quite heavy. Most of the characters in the works reach the same goal through different routes and come to the end of their lives (this may be related to the five-unit chain structure? )。 The deaths of Rau fueizohi and Liu Hong and the frantic begging for the moon are particularly worrying. Ingenious Rau fueizohi, her ex-husband Zhan Zhilian (deputy head of Wuliqiao) was killed by the landlord. After marrying Geng Yulin, she died in childbirth in just a few days (P 129).

The beautiful and pungent red willow sympathizes with Guan and devotes herself to the Rightists. She was repeatedly persecuted by Wu Si Langer and was rescued by jumping off a cliff (P23 1).

The worst thing is begging for the moon. She loved Geng Zijian wholeheartedly, and married a hard-working farmer to heal her past wounds, but she suffered a catastrophe: her husband was crushed to death by her Hummer, and her several-year-old daughter was killed by a big white pig (P29 1).

The psychological description of Zijian before her visit to the moon in the novel makes this kind of pain incisively and vividly.

However, after Zijian met the crazy, dirty man begging for the moon with his hair stuck together, he read "Old corn, golden yellow …" at the end. Who can have a good mood of "How beautiful the sky is"?

But I think this tragic style is the best interpretation and commemoration of the souls of Kanto people who watered the black land with flesh and blood.