"Mourning its misfortune, loving its struggle"——Commenting on Wang Meng's novel "Monkeys and Youth"

□ Li Hengchang

Newly published by Huacheng Publishing House, "Monkeys and Teenagers" is the latest masterpiece of "post-80s teenager" writer Wang Meng, and is an "echo of long live youth" that "steaming with the times". The work writes about the special experience of Shi Bingyan, a foreign literature expert and "elderly man", who was sent to labor in 1958, including the arduous labor of building roads, carrying baskets, afforestation, raising livestock, etc., as well as the mental process of being struggled, criticized and transformed by the soul, through his story of learning monkeys from teenagers in walnut yu and the village teenagers to go to trees, and the villagers' "three young" monkeys eventually led to insanity, successfully shaping the "unforgettable" monkeys, "three youngsters" and Shi Bingyan's special "characters" group portraits. Although the work is written in the difficult and difficult years of life, it is the suffering and glory of life, but it is extremely relaxed, humorous and free, flashing the brilliance of wisdom, containing the power of deep love, showing the author's extraordinary ability to "laugh and ridicule into articles".

The greatest achievement of "Monkeys and Teenagers" is that it has successfully shaped the typical image of Shi Bingyan, a contemporary intellectual, whose biggest feature is that it not only has sufficient professional knowledge, but also has extraordinary wisdom in life, relying on its "wisdom method" and the powerful force containing the love that follows to overcome the difficulties and dilemmas of life, so as to obtain a very elegant and "relishy" life.

Literature is about the study of man, and the novel focuses on revealing the fate of man. "Monkeys and Teenagers" is undoubtedly a study of man, and it is also a study of revealing man's destiny. As we all know, for most people, it is inevitable that people will encounter misfortune and sorrow in their lives. In the face of unfortunate and tragic fate, how should we look at it and what should we do? This is a big problem, but also a fundamental problem of a person, and it is also a social problem that literary works should pay attention to and reveal. Mr. Wang Meng discovered this problem with a keen eye, and found the basic weapon to solve this problem - "Wisdom Method", and at the same time deeply excavated the source and motivation of wisdom.

Professor Shi Bingyan, an intellectual who is an expert in foreign literature, was characterized overnight as a "problematic" person and a person whose soul needs to be transformed, and was sent to rural labor, which is undoubtedly an unexpected misfortune and a great misfortune. In the face of similar life misfortunes, for many people, either through the A Q-style "spiritual victory method" self-anesthesia, reckless and secretly live; or long-term into grievances, pessimistic emotions can not come out, to depression and depression, or become extra nervous and crazy, resulting in greater life tragedies. The protagonist of "Monkeys and Teenagers" is not like this, he does not learn A Q, self-deception; second, does not fall into pessimism, always can not come out; third, does not hate others, revenge society. He took the initiative to learn wisdom from the monkeys in the real world, so as to obtain some kind of weapon to overcome misfortune and doom, and realize the great transformation from "mourning its misfortune, hating its indisputable" to "mourning its misfortune, loving its struggle".

The monkey is the "image" that the author strives to write, which is actually a symbol of wisdom. Although monkeys are animals, they are sensitive, witty and good at thinking. As the work says: "The appearance of the monkey is never subordinate, never defeated, the consciousness flows, and there are many ideas." Instantaneous, and forgetful, suddenly broken, prank at any time, witty, intended to express, live out of self, carefree. It is precisely for this reason that the protagonist Shi Bingyan is willing to learn monkeys to climb trees from villagers in the peak tree; it is also this reason that in the hard work, he pays special attention to the living conditions of the "three youngsters" who raise monkeys; it is also this reason that prompts him to live extremely hard, even humiliated, but still feel that he lives "with relish".

Shi Bingyan's fate is tragic and unfortunate, but we are fortunate to see that his life is not sad and pitifully negative like some people, but happy and positive. Because he carries a powerful "wisdom method", doom is no longer a simple misfortune, and misfortune is no longer a simple misfortune. He confronts failure and frustration, arguing that "great causes begin with setbacks." He had his own logic of victory, "struggle, defeat, fight again, defeat again, until victory." He has his own "view of heaven and earth", "with high vision, open and kind". He has his own "view of destiny", "This is a chance encounter, no, a great opportunity." "Wonderful times, wonderful lives, wonderful destinies." He was incomparably tenacious in his will, "a word, like stone like steel, like a spell like a trick, opens up new possibilities and quietly shows the power of concealment." "He's changing his body, he's changing hands and feet, and he's still keeping his fiery heart." His "seven i's," like the "Sun Monkey, who can be divided into twins," shows the transformation of a wise man's multiple roles adapted to society. All of these profoundly and in many ways embody the positive attitude of life advocated by Mr. Lu Xun of "greeting the most tragic misfortune with a smiling face and greeting all misfortunes with a hundred times more courage", discarding the rational elements of the "spiritual victory method" and abandoning its self-deception and indisputable drawbacks, thus rising to a higher realm of life.

Where does this wisdom of life contained in the protagonist Shi Bingyan come from? Did it really come from monkeys? Not all of them, of course. In fact, this "wisdom method" revealed by Mr. Wang Meng is a concentrated and profound embodiment of the excellent traditional Chinese culture. It comes from the classical philosophy of the East, from the teachings of Laozi, Zhuangzi and Confucius, and from thousands of years of humanistic inheritance and practice. More importantly, it also comes from the strong love power and unique life complex of the protagonist Shi Bingyan, including love for the people, labor, hometown, land and life. Although the protagonist Shi Bingyan has encountered misfortune, this love is everywhere and has never been extinguished. Because he loves life, despite his misfortunes, he still feels that life is "relished" and is always full of the belief in victory. Because of his love of labor, he truly felt that decentralization of labor was not so sinful, but more deeply appreciated the incomparable correctness of the theory of "labor creates man". Because he loved the people, he helped the town where big walnut village was located to achieve the goal of literacy in the most difficult days, and did his "modest efforts". Because he loved this land deeply, he was able to return to his dream many years later to find the monkey boy of that year.

It should be noted that this "wisdom method" and "love complex" embodied in the works are actually the artistic refraction of the inner spirit of Mr. Wang Meng, the people's artist. This novel is written about the life of Mr. Shi Bingyan, in fact, it is also writing about the author himself, as well as the typical image of the intellectuals of the author's era. Looking at Mr. Wang Meng's life experience, there are striking similarities and similarities with the protagonist of the work, Mr. Shi Bingyan, and he does have a life experience of decentralization. So, how did Mr. Wang Meng himself survive the difficulties of life and grow into an "ageless teenager" and a generation of people's artists? It depends on his "monkey nature", on his "wisdom method", and on the great power generated by his "love complex".

I have conducted an in-depth analysis and confirmation of Mr. Wang Meng's identity and inner spirit in the book "Treasures on the Earth: A Commentary on Wang Meng's Creation", "Introduction: The Wise Man of the East", and concluded that his first identity is not a writer, a scholar, nor a politician who understands politics, but a wise man - a person with great wisdom. Because, his biggest feature is that he is good at thinking and full of wisdom. This kind of wisdom is a philosophy of life, an art of life, and a realm of life, which guides and influences Wang Meng's ever-changing and extremely difficult life path and large-scale and lasting literary creation. In Wang Meng's life and creative career, there are still "five complexes" surrounding his heart, which profoundly affects his concept of life and creative background. They are the early revolutionary complex, the Xinjiang Ili complex, the Communist Youth League work complex, the former Soviet Union complex and the world complex, and these complexes all reflect his deep and persistent love for the people, labor, hometown, land and life.

Based on this understanding, it can be concluded that Mr. Wang Meng has shaped the image of Mr. Shi Bingyan according to his own image. Why did he do that? Because he is a veritable people's artist, he will unreservedly dedicate his wisdom and love to the people and his time.

"Monkeys and Youth", by Wang Meng, Southern Publishing Media Huacheng Publishing House, published in January 2022. 】