Li Mingchun: The crosshairs of literature are always aimed at the next part
——Read the long novel "Chuanxiang Biography" Notes
◎ Cao Wenrun
Before reading Li Mingchun's novel "The Biography of Chuanxiang", the limited reading of Chinese rural themes did not bring me much pleasure of reading.
Writer Li Mingchun is my respected elder brother, and at the end of last year, during his participation in the Ninth Congress of the Sichuan Writers Association in Chengdu, he was awarded the "Biography of Chuanxiang" by Brother Mingchun. When I saw the back cover of this new work published by Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House, the words "Key Publications of the Central Propaganda Department in 2021 Theme Publications" and "China Writers Association 2021 Key Works Support Project" were prominently marked, and I couldn't help but wonder, what kind of work will this be?
Li Mingchun's "Chuanxiang Biography"
Li Mingchun, a member of the Chinese Writers Association and vice chairman of the Dazhou Writers Association, has published many novels, some works translated into foreign languages for publication, and won the Sichuan Literature Award.
I first read the author's words on the cover and title page of "Chuanxiang Biography": "The countryside is like a burden on a peasant household, a material form marked by soil, a dirt bowl on the tushan tulu road... A cultural form that blooms with the title of a village character, a nostalgic nostalgia for the countrymen... I use the burden of peasants to interpret the causes and consequences of rural reform, and take root in the countryside to tell the stories of my characters. Isn't this the author's clear-cut, full-fledged literary manifesto? I suddenly understood: It turned out that this time Li Mingchun wanted to establish a legend for the land he had always loved.
I quickly finished reading the first two chapters of Kawago Biography. Unexpectedly, I was immediately attracted by the author's rural funeral event intertwined with complex interpersonal relationships, undercurrents, and constant contradictions and conflicts, its text is concise and vivid, with the smell of earth that comes to the nose, especially the temperate selection of agricultural proverb slang, so that the rural customs of the Valley of the People who he depicts are more cultural charm with the characteristics of the eastern Sichuan region. I suspect that Li Mingchun, who is good at storytelling, must have been well thought out for choosing to start his novel by handling funerals. The people of Chuandong call life and death a red and white happy event, and it is also a major event in life. He wanted to take advantage of the stage to run the funeral, invite a large group of novel characters to appear on stage, weave a meticulous and clear character genealogy for the novel, and also lay the groundwork for the development of the story and the character logic of the characters.
After reading the entire work of "Kawago Biography", I was intoxicated by a long-lost pleasure of reading. It brought me great surprises at the same time, but also made me cover up and meditate, and I felt a lot of feelings. Along the context of the development of the plot of the novel and the trajectory of character shaping, it is not difficult to find that in this novel, Li Mingchun tries to take the protagonist's life situation at the rural grassroots level for more than forty years as the main story line, interspersed with the twists and turns of the fate of the huge Zeng family and the changes and development of the land in the Churen Valley in eastern Sichuan, reflecting the great changes in the countryside in the past 40 years of China's reform. The novel captures the time span with the deepest influence in China's rural areas, from the production of production to the household to the poverty alleviation, from Ouyang Sheng's individual fate and life trajectory, reflecting the development process of a village, a township, and even the entire Chinese countryside and the fate of the vast number of farmers.
In "Chuanxiang Biography", there are many characters, with distinct personalities and full images. Among them, the main characters are Ouyang Sheng and Mr. Da, Secretary Wang, Daweiya, Zeng Fanqin, Minister Zhang, Hu Gong'an, etc. These characters are not imagined and fabricated, most of them come from the living prototypes of life, so the appearance, character and destiny of each character, in a few strokes, are sketched vividly, flesh and blood.
In my opinion, "Chuanxiang Biography" is a profound, affectionate, vivid, vivid, philosophical, and accurate epic masterpiece that tells the causes and consequences of China's rural reform, and is also a brilliant and magnificent symphony that Bashan writers have placed on China's rural revitalization and looking forward to a better future!
As Mr. Hu Ping, a famous literary critic, said: "The legend of Chuanxiang has a rich life, rich worldly feelings, full characters and a vivid sense of language, which is enough to refresh the artistic height of excellent novels in the new era in China in recent years." It is no wonder that "Chuanxiang Biography" can win the honors of "2021 Theme Publication Key Publication of the Central Propaganda Department" and "2021 Key Works Support Project of the China Writers Association".
Li Mingchun, the author of "Chuanxiang Biography", has a similar life to the protagonist of the novel, Ouyang Sheng, who was born in Zhiqing and served as a production captain, the secretary of the brigade branch, the deputy director of the commune revolutionary committee, the director of the commune management committee, the secretary of the township party committee, and even the secretary of the district party committee. His familiarity with rural life and his understanding of the peasants is by no means obtained by ordinary writers through indirect interviews and experiences, but he himself was once one of them, he knew them as if he were familiar with his own palm prints, and it is precisely because of this that Li Mingchun's characters can be so vivid, ready to come out, and vivid! His creative process and rich and thick life experience are not replicable, and they are also lacking and envied by many writers. The success of "Chuanxiang Biography" once again confirms the completion of an excellent work, relying on rich life accumulation, life experience and deep thinking, and is by no means a closed-door study, relying on so-called writing skills and blind compilation.
Li Mingchun is like an excellent athlete in the track and field field, from "Half Can Director" to "Mountain League" to "Chuanxiang Legend", this three-step jump that accumulates energy, each step is a bold attempt, a brave leap, and a successful leap! We have reason to expect and believe that his next work will bring new surprises to readers who pay attention to him.
Edited by Li Jie
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