In his lifetime, Mr. Jin Yong wrote a total of 14 martial arts novels, "Flying Snow Shoots White Deer in the Sky, Laughing Book Divine Hero Leaning on Bi Duck", which is widely disseminated and influential, which can be described as unprecedented.
However, mainstream culture does not seem to recognize Jin Yong's martial arts novels, believing that being able to ascend to elegance cannot be compared with serious literature. Wang Shuo called the Four Heavenly Kings, Jackie Chan movies, Qiong Yao TV series and Jin Yong novels the "Four Customs".
So how to evaluate Jin Yong's martial arts novels?
Looking at Jin Yong's martial arts novels, the deep impression left on readers is: there is an obvious historical background and a lofty ideological realm; the story is vivid and the plot is tense; the characters are shaped, the personality is distinct, and the image is realistic; the language is precise and the writing is fluent.
The martial arts stories reflected in the general martial arts novels are turned over and over, full of visits to teachers, treasure hunting, blood debt revenge, plagiarism and imitation, Chen Chen Xiangyin, always inseparable from personal grudges, self-expansion, until the martial arts novels are forced into a dead end.
Jin Yong is a martial arts anomaly, with his majestic and skillful pen, he writes the history of the rise and fall of the nation, depicts the spectacular changes of the times, and makes people feel the beating of the pulse of history, which constitutes a major feature of Jin Yong's martial arts novels. Jin Yong's martial arts novels often take major historical events as the background, important historical figures as the backbone, and the hatred of the country, the hatred of the nation, and the suffering of the people as the keynote, so that readers and the characters in the book can breathe together, share hardships, joys and sorrows, and share solidarity.
Taking the "Archery Trilogy" ("The Legend of the Archery Hero", "The Hero of the Divine Eagle", and "The Tale of the Dragon Slaughtering in the Heavens") as an example, it reflects the history of more than 100 years from the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty to the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, with the contradictions and conflicts between the Song, Jin, Yuan, and Yuanming as the main line. Important historical figures such as Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Chang Yuchun all occupied a place. Wu Mu's suicide note and the secret of the dragon slaughter in Yitian have become the context of the book, and many characters such as Guo Jing, Huang Rong, Hong Qigong, Quanzhen Qizi and Yang Kang, Ouyang Feng, Qiu Qianling, and Yan Honglie, these good and evil, loyalty and adultery, good people and bad people have all obtained obvious distinctions on the touchstone of ethnic contradictions, forming completely different levels on both sides.
Jin Yong's fourteen novels
Mr. Jin Yong once said: "This has to do with my love of history. History is very strange, it can let us know a lot of things, the past is not forgotten, the teacher of the future... Wuxia novels have always tended to be fictional, giving people a feeling of not being entirely real. I want to change that. Writing martial arts novels on the basis of history, that way, with a realistic background, readers will have a greater sense of reality when they read it. "The Green Blood Sword", "Deer Ding", "Book of Swords and Enmity", "Flying Fox Outer Biography", "Snow Mountain Flying Fox" and other five parts, although they do not have the plot and character coherence of the "Eagle Shooting Trilogy", they also reflect the major history of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In particular, "Deer Ding" is no longer much like a martial arts novel, rather a historical novel. The struggle for dynastic change and the success or failure of the peasant uprising became the clues of the tandem works. According to rough statistics, martial arts novels set in history account for more than two-thirds of Jin Yong's martial arts novels.
The storyline of wuxia novels also bears the literary function of expressing the evolution of contradictions and conflicts in works and the formation of characters. The plot story is rich and complete, tense and vivid, starting and turning, seamless, which constitutes another feature of Jin Yong's works.
Achievements in this area are not comparable to those of a generalist. Jin Yong's martial arts novels, drawing on the fine traditions of China's vernacular novels, have formed their own unique style of expression with the help of excellent foreign novels. Its stories mostly start from a single line, from one thing to another, laying the groundwork, causing suspense, forming a climax and then abruptly stopping, and the story is closed in a tense atmosphere. Among them, "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon Record" and "Tianlong Eight Parts" have the richest plots and the most complex structure. Taking "Tianlong Babu" as an example, the story starts with Duan Yu coming to Wuliang Mountain to watch the eight beginnings of the competition, introducing the second male protagonist Qiao Feng, and then leading to the third male protagonist, Huan Zhu. This feature is very similar to the "Wu Shi Hui" and "Song Shi Hui" in the classical novel "Water Margin" to separately explain the good men on Liangshan, and finally form a climax, in the Shaomu Mountain Qunying Conference, respectively, point out the different endings of the three protagonists. The climax and the compact plot make the reader love the volume and can't stop it, thus receiving a strong artistic infection.
Legend of the Eagle Shooter (Stills)
Literary works require character shaping, real images, and distinct personalities. Only in this way can it profoundly reveal its social essence. The success of the character portrayal in the martial arts novel directly affects the readability of the entire work and the evaluation of its literary value.
Mediocre martial arts writers can naturally only create a batch of mediocre character images, these images, often martial and not heroic, the heroine is always amorous and charming, the male protagonist is always charming. Either martial arts are world-class, unfathomable, three steps red, five steps of blood, or obedient personality, strange behavior, full of nonsense, full of sour taste. In short, Zhao Qiansun Li, the same.
Looking at the character images in Jin Yong's pen, each personality is distinct, vivid, the character image is vivid, and it is about to come out, it can be said that the high degree of unity of personality and commonality, the male and female protagonists in Jin Yong's pen, you have lofty ideological qualities and moral sentiments, they take the country as the more important than the interests, and take the heavens and the earth as the anti-brigade. Not tempted by profit, not afraid of rape, with the spirit of thinking about others everywhere and sacrificing in difficulties. So the tone of each work is relatively high.
Tianlong Eight (Stills)
Mr. Jin Yong said: "Among the many male characters I have written, Hu Fei, Qiao Feng, Ling Huchong, Yang Guo, and Guo Jing are the ones I particularly like. "Try to take these male protagonists as an example to analyze the characteristics of Jin Yongshuo's character image."
First of all, hu Fei, the male protagonist of "The Tale of the Flying Fox", is intelligent and lively, lives in the merchant fort, has suffered hardships, and is a heroic and righteous figure who is eager to overcome the heavens. For the sake of the blood sea of the four members of zhong's four families who were born in the ordinary life, he and the big local tycoon Nan Batian, who dominated the side, swore an oath to stand continuously, fought to the end, saw the road unevenly, and drew the sword to help each other, embodying the heroic nature of seeing righteousness and courage.
If Xiao Fei is just like a young swallow spreading its wings and not afraid of hardships, then Qiao Feng, the protagonist of "Tianlong Eight Parts", is an eagle soaring in the sky and proud of the crowd. Qiao Feng appeared, like the first exhibition of the morning sun, the light was overwhelming, the group of demons was easy to overcome, and they were invincible. Qiao Feng has a heroic personality, is as vicious as a vendetta, has a superb and terrifying martial art, and a manly spirit that stands tall in the sky, and can make a vigorous career. In Jin Yong's pen, he is the most tragic figure, and the origin of his tragedy is that he was parasitic in the Liao State, raised and raised in the Song Dynasty, and he became a victim of ethnic contradictions and conflicts. For the sake of millions of innocent beings, in the case of loyalty and righteousness can not be complete, resolutely insert a broken arrow into his chest, silently fell in front of thousands of troops and horses. Since then, the enmity, honor and disgrace, and the reputation have been written off, the heavens and the earth have suffocated, and the grass and trees have been sad, all of which have greatly shaken the reader's soul, and the feelings of shock and anger have surged and cannot be calmed for a long time, who caused Qiao Feng's tragedy?
Ling Fox Chong (stills)
The male protagonist of "Laughing Proud of the River" Ling Huchong is also a tragic character. Ling Fox Chong is dashing and debauched, and is a "hermit" type of chivalrous guest. Since his parents died in childhood, he has tasted the cold and warm taste of human feelings and the coldness of the world, people in the rivers and lakes, involuntary, he can't help himself, he can't help but be involved in the conspirators, ambitionists, hypocrites and martial arts fighters, according to the commission, repeatedly framed, but he can fight against fate, self-improvement, but also with absolute learning, martial arts, so he is like the American Hollywood can film "Western Gunner", a sword in hand, invincible. The author's intention to portray the character of Ling Huchong is very clear in his "Laughing Pride jianghu and afterword": "In life, full and complete freedom is simply impossible, liberation from all desires and enlightenment, is not the ability of ordinary people, those who are keen on politics and power, driven by the desire for power in their hearts, can't help themselves, do a lot of things that violate their conscience, in fact, are very pitiful." ”
Jin Yong's portrayal of a striking hero began with "The Legend of the Archery Hero", regardless of whether "Shooting Eagle" is Jin Yong's most successful work, but it can be bluntly said that "Shooting Eagle" is Jin Yong's most important and most influential novel. As soon as "Shooting Eagle" came out, Mr. Jin Yong received the title of "Jin Daxia" and established the status of the ally of wulin novels.
The layout of "Shooting Eagle" is ingenious, the character shaping is magical, the text is beautiful, and it is full of strong literary atmosphere, which has become a model of the new martial arts novel. The more important achievement of "Shooting Eagle" is that it has created a heroic character of Guo Jing, who is "for the country and the people, the hero is great". Guo Jing grew up in a yurt, because of his simple and kind nature, coupled with bravery and unrelenting character, he was deeply valued by Genghis Khan, made meritorious achievements, and was awarded the title of "Golden Sword and Horse". Later, he became aware of Genghis Khan's ambition to annex the Great Song Dynasty, and finally turned against him, and at the same time dissolved his marriage contract with Princess Huazheng, marrying the beautiful huang Rong as a lifelong companion. Guo Jing is serious and restrained, simple and thick. Loyalty to the country, filial piety to parents, respect for teachers, righteousness to friends, single-mindedness to love, moral character, perfection. Therefore, he can hate and love clearly, not be chaotic, and even deal with the private affairs of his children without taking it lightly. These great benevolence and righteousness, and the precious qualities for the country and the people, are that even dexterity such as Yang Guo, ethereal as Hong Qigong, arrogant as Huang Yaoshi, and powerful as Genghis Khan are admired by him.
Wei Xiaobao (stills)
Jin Yong successfully portrayed a series of characters, which can be described as diverse and distinctive: just like Chen Jialuo, elegant and luxurious, with absolute learning, both ability and political integrity, but depressed in his heart, hesitant in the face of things, empty and good hands, and finally nothing, the leopard returned to Xinjiang, there is a way: "Long makes the hero depressed"; Yuan Chengzhi is humble and hardworking, excellent in skills, and shoulders heavy responsibilities, but he has courage and strategy, is not good at flexibility, is sad and compassionate, loses good opportunities, is lonely behind him, lives overseas, and only ends up with "eternal remembrance of the sad white hair of the rivers and lakes"; Zhang Wujie is a good person. He is outstanding in martial arts, but he is random and ambiguous, dragging mud and water, not being dedicated to his feelings, being restrained by people everywhere, and withdrawing from the political stage indifferently, and eventually he cannot become a climate; Duan Yu is a gentleman and a gentleman, and he is elegant and elegant, but he is not familiar with human feelings, does not understand the affairs of the world, sees different thoughts, is ruthless everywhere, and is not a worldly figure after all; he is a vain bamboo house with a kind heart and pure thinking, but he has a foolish and cowardly personality, he is stubborn, and he only relies on the opportunity of adulthood to force him to succeed step by step, which is completely inconsistent with the common sense of the world; Wei Xiaobao is treacherous and cunning, greedy for money and lustful, and typical rogues in the city. But he is loyal to his friends, he is righteous, and he is not an undesirable person, he is circling in the official field full of murderous opportunities, the official room, the fierce and auspicious, the adventures are like yiyi, and finally the seven beautiful reunions, enjoying the blessings of the world, unexpected, unbelievable, it seems extremely unreasonable, and the reversal of things is caused by the upside-down society.
Mr. Jin Yong is a knowledgeable, versatile scholar and bamboo artist, and as far as his fourteen martial arts novels are concerned, they fully reflect Mr. Jin Yong's extensive knowledge of literature and history, and his profound understanding of ethics, morality and human nature and his skillful writing skills can write rich and true works with profound and reasonable general context.
Zhang Wuji (stills)
When commenting on the "state of mind" of literary works, Wang Jing'an said: "Lyricism is refreshing, writing scenes is in people's eyes and ears, and narration is like coming out of his mouth." "Mr. Jin Yong's martial arts novels are unique in lyrical scene narratives. It is like lyricism, that is, lyricism, and harmony in the scene can be sincere and natural, and words must be "heartfelt", just like the mood of children, it is also a mixture of water and milk, and the two feelings are dependent. Write the largest such as Jiangnan water color, desert scenery. Small as flowers and springs, valleys and wild forests, mo bu majestic, staggered. The narrative is twisted and changeable, suspenseful and retrospective, and it is like a drunken obsession, forgetting to eat. Yan Zhi expounds the analysis, is thorough and incisive, vivid enough to inspire people's hearts, stir up deafness, is enough to smell the chicken dancing, the middle stream strikes, the heart of the forgery is born spontaneously, and a sad and indignant feeling of historical rise and fall is surging into the chest.
Where there are Chinese, there are Jin Yong's martial arts novels, whether you recognize it or not, Jin Yong is destined to be a miracle, a monument.