A book with roots and feelings
——Reading Li Wenjin's essay collection "Chasing Dreams in the River"
Text/Yan Jiexiong
Mr. Li Wenjin is an alumnus of Central South University, graduated from the 771st class of Tuankuang, got his new book "Chasing Dreams in the River" (Northern Literature and Art Publishing House, January 2022), I first turned to the chapter of "Negative Pipe Zhongnan", I did not expect to read it very feeling, and even read fascinated, emerged from the deep corridors of Central South University and the Heping Building and the smell of laboratory ore, that building gave birth to several academicians, as well as excellent entrepreneurs such as Li Wenjin. Then, I expanded to other chapters such as "Family Prosperity and Decline", "Five-Flavor Childhood", "Magnificent Youth", "Three Years of Tempering", "Fiery Years", etc., and many days were immersed in this collection of essays. I replied to the author with a message: "Received the big book, the initial impression is very good, very feeling, somewhat unexpected." "Why does it feel good to read? Because this is a book with roots and feelings, the roots are the roots of classical literature and the roots of Chinese culture, and the feelings are the feelings of struggle and the feelings of home and country.
First, the book is a true account of the life history of the individual.
This collection of essays has autobiographical overtones, each chapter is a stage of life, composed of more than a dozen essays, each of which is independently written, and connected to form a biography of the author's youth and youth. According to the author, the book was written during the epidemic in 2020 and reminisced about the lost years. To my surprise, the quarantine of the epidemic has completely revived and restored his life memories. This is not a brief report-style memoir, but full of an individual's complex, rich, subtle, precise and even secret life experience in the process of growth, and establishing in front of us an image of a life that is constantly evolving, constantly conflicting and constantly perfecting in the transformation of the times. The author's feeling is sensitive and delicate, and the details of those past lives are completely preserved in the memory, and they are excavated through writing, as if in front of them, there is a sense of presence in the here and now. For example, he wrote about catching Zhou at birth: "I reached over with both hands, grabbed a copper coin in my left hand, and grabbed a pen in my right hand." Although it should have been later recounted by his parents, with the author's unconscious life intuition and constant imaginative reproduction, he opened the journey of life with a typical rural experience, carrying a mysterious foreshadowing from birth. Write about the scene of eating ice when I was a child: "Under the eaves hung a string of crystal clear ice pillars, I lifted the bamboo pole high and smashed it hard into the ice under the eaves... I picked up the ice on the ground with both hands, held it in the palm of my hand, and held it in my mouth. "Reading such details, I feel deeply affectionate, such a childhood life scene before the 80s people have, rural life and nature have a natural material relationship and spiritual connection, accept the gifts of nature, and find fun in communication with nature." There is also writing that the mother before the college entrance examination said that "there is no cooking pot today", which is of course a psychological appearance of rural blessings, but the heart-to-heart match between mother and son reflects the inner vitality of rural teenagers growing upwards and rushing outwards, reflecting a silent, tenacious, self-seeking Chinese life character. In the chapter "Negative Flute Zhongnan", the author writes about the state of life consciousness after the conflict of rural life, he knows what he wants, and he knows to follow the correct trajectory of life to the future. For example, when it comes to the various life details of the "Five Tiger Generals" in the university dormitory, several of them have an interesting nickname, and the true life state of the seventh-grade college students jumps out of the paper, which makes people can't help but be funny. The love of university classmates avoids the infestation of the world and is the purest. When writing about the endeavor of individual life, writing thirst for knowledge, self-engraving mimeographed teaching materials, queuing up at Xinhua Bookstore to buy English reference books, and studying from the teaching building to the mining building at night until twelve o'clock at night, these details all carry the youth memory of the author's self-improvement struggle. At the same time, it also records the poetry of life in pain and pleasure, such as looking at the stars in the sky in front of the mineral processing building (Peace Building), watching the fashionable movies "Lushan Love" and "The Second Handshake"; climbing up to the top of Yuelu Mountain in the dark at five o'clock in the morning, reading English texts in the winding woods. Here, there is not only the yearning and fornication of that generation of young people for modern civilization, but also the intimate spiritual connection established by a living individual and the geography of the campus, which is so beautiful and long-lasting. The author's memory is amazing, from childhood to contact with the names of relatives, friends, teachers, colleagues can be written down, sometimes list a long list of real names, all those who have experienced in life, are left indelible imprints in the mind, reflecting the deep sense of life and the heavy weight of life experience.
It should be pointed out that in the cultural structure of the unity of the Chinese nation and the country, especially in the storm of China's modern and contemporary history, the life history of individuals is "closely linked to the times and closely related", individual lives are grown breathing in the air of the times, and personal destiny is linked with the fate of the nation-state, so everyone's life history is also the history of the times and the specimen of an era. In this book, the author is a witness, witness and promoter of the times. After the positive writing of the individual's life course, there is a general background of the era, which either implicitly or explicitly conveys most of the information of the development of the times. Almost every epoch has a stinging or stimulating effect on individual life, which is a common encounter of the author's generation. For example, in October 1977, when the state resumed the college entrance examination, high school classmates rushed to tell each other, what was the author doing at this time? I am bending down in the river to touch the pebbles used as the foundation of a new house. Hearing this news, "I stood up from the water", "excitedly clapped my palms in the water, and jumped naked on the riverbank." "The description here seems to be a description of the individual's body movements, but it is actually very symbolic, and it is the individual's induction response to the major changes of the times." He realized that a moment had come to change his destiny, both physically and spiritually.
Second, the book continues the traditional context.
In the book, the author writes about "Zhuangzi" many times, such as "Remembering hometown": "Put down the "Zhuangzi" in my hand, I stared at the green tea leaves in the glass for a long time. Drinking tea in the study and reading "Zhuangzi" is the author's daily life scene, a spiritual home for himself in the busy enterprise hard work. It can be seen that he loves ancient Chinese books, especially pre-Qin classics. The pre-Qin classics are the source and essence of Chinese culture and Chinese philosophy, and the author's long-term concern and immersion in them have given his prose a deep depth, with excellent Chinese cultural heritage and ancient Chinese philosophy. In this book, the author's life experience often carries the potential influence of traditional culture, such as "The Revelation of the Fish", and the author associates the catch of fish when he was a child to Zhuangzi's "Fish Saying": "One is the fish of Beiming who incarnates as Kunpeng, one is the happy fish of Haoliang's argument, and the other is the accompanying fish of the same foam." He believes that Zhuangzi's three fish represent the highest state of life, "the pain of life often comes from the involuntariness of life; the happiness of life is to choose a way to live in a way that you like." This reminds me of the three major dilemmas of life that the famous contemporary writer Shi Tiesheng said -- loneliness, desire, and death. The dilemma that Shi Tiesheng said is actually the dilemma of modern people and the dilemma of Western civilization, which does not necessarily exist within the Chinese cultural system. In this book, Mr. Li Wenjin embodies the wisdom of Chinese culture, uses Chinese philosophy to solve these three dilemmas, and proposes that "things" overcome "things in things", "no waiting" to overcome "waiting", and Zhuangzi to "mix with each other, it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes" to dissolve the real life's trapped feelings. In addition to Taoist culture, the traditional cultural elements contained in this essay are rich and diverse. In my opinion, at least it contains Yixue, Taoist thought, Confucianism, the Four Books and Five Classics, benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, and mysterious culture (numerology and metaphysics culture), which are connected to the words of those sages: "Thick virtue carriers", "Since ancient times, Dacheng is in virtue, Xiaocheng is in wisdom", "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, and all things are dogs." Confucian thought is embodied in the feelings of joining the WTO and struggling, young people read for the "rise of China", young people stand up professionally and go to the production line to exercise, and people must rush out of the siege and serve the country in industry in middle age.
Interestingly, when I read this book carefully, I could feel a sense of joy between the lines, and there was a kind of auspicious atmosphere overflowing and diverging. This has deep roots in traditional culture, is the embodiment of China's philosophy of "heaven and man and harmony", and is also a unique concept of perfection in Chinese culture, embodying a calm temperament of being happy and happy with the situation. Born around 1960, this generation, the path of life is with the development of the country to the bumps forward, how many setbacks experienced, how much loss is self-evident, but no matter how many twists and turns the author writes, how sad things, even if the closest relatives leave, his words are no grievances, no sadness. This reminds people of the old Chinese saying: "The wise man enjoys the water, the benevolent one enjoys the mountain", "the wise man is happy, the benevolent one lives" and "stops at the highest good." Know and then settle. In his writings, a tradition of mourning and not hurting has been silently continued since the Book of Verses. It is also reminiscent of the neutralization philosophy of traditional culture: "To neutralize, the heavens are in the position of heaven, and all things are nurtured." It embodies the spirit of life and development of all things in heaven and earth, and is close to the principle, way of life, and heart of life that all things are born of. In addition, the traditional context is also reflected in the inheritance of the century-old family style of the Li clan in the north gate of Liling and the inheritance of the culture of the villagers. In the prose, cultural symbols such as family training, ancestral halls, clan elders, clans, doorways, ancestors, and tablets continue to appear. And that bed of green military blankets is a relic of Li's modern family style, representing a modern spirit of the Li family.
Artistically, the book is presented as a pure language.
The author's writing is fluent and natural, and he sees the timelessness, the context, and the literary tone in simplicity, showing the beautiful Chinese; in the overall simple documentary, there are poetic fragments from time to time, and the words emit rich emotions between the lines, and some chapters such as "Remembering the Hometown" and "Renyuan Qingsi" are simply prose poems. There are many four-word sentences, which is related to the author's hard work in memorizing idioms when he was a teenager: "Every night, under the dim kerosene lamp, I lay in bed and looked at these formulas, theorems, and idioms." Idioms are specimens of Chinese literature, since the beginning of the "Book of Poetry", the four-character sentences have begun to be indiscriminately extended, containing the essence of Chinese literature and Chinese culture, and the author uses more, making the text of this book appear quaint and concise. In addition, it reflects a good classical poetic literacy. In the book, classical verses are readily available and blended with modern vernacular writing. There is also the use of the artistic conception of classical poetry in the description of the scenery of the hometown, all the scenery language is love language, and the landscape description permeates the subject's emotions. For example, "Father's Vegetable Garden" writes: "Every morning, my mother carried a bamboo basket, waded through the dew, and walked into the misty vegetable garden. The blooming hibiscus flowers attract the attention of the mother. She plucked the hibiscus flowers from the fence one by one, and in a few moments, she picked a basket of dew-stained hibiscus flowers. This description reminds me of my grandfather's back garden in Xiao Hong's "The Legend of Hulan River": "People are together with heaven and earth, how big and far the heavens and earth are, and you can't touch the sky with your hands." And what grows on the land is so prosperous, at a glance, it is impossible to see, only feel the bright green in front of the eyes. Xiao Hong writes about the scene of people and heaven and earth sensing and all things competing to grow, which depicts a poetic scene of rural labor, with natural writing, calmness, and a natural beauty. Under the halo of the author's memories and imagination, the scenery of the rural vegetable garden is full of vitality, and the mother who works in the vegetable garden has a soothing and beautiful movement, how beautiful! Rural nature is nurturing, hearty, healthy, and low-cost. The beauty of agricultural civilization, the beauty of labor, and the beauty of nostalgia emerge from the author's pen, presenting the interdependence and harmonious state of man and nature in poetic language.
Yan Jiexiong, born in 1976, is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the China Literary and Art Critics Association, a doctor of literature, a postdoctoral fellow in aesthetics, a professor of the New Institute of Literature and Literature of Central South University, a doctoral supervisor, a member of the 10th Hunan Provincial Federation of Literature and Literature, a director of the Chinese Contemporary Literature Research Association, a standing director of the Hunan Modern and Contemporary Literature Research Association, a vice president of the Hunan Literary Criticism Society, a vice president of the Hunan Provincial Prose Literature Society, and a vice chairman of the Changsha Writers Association. He is a visiting researcher of the Fifth Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, a candidate for the first "Three Hundred" Project of Literary and Art Support Talents in Hunan Province, a contracted writer of the Fifth Dongguan College of Literature, and a student of the 26th Lu Xun Literature College Advanced Research Class. The collection of literary criticism was selected into the "21st Century Literature Star Series" of the China Literature Foundation in 2013. He won the 9th China Federation of Literary and Art Criticism Awards, the 14th Outstanding Achievement Award for Contemporary Chinese Literature Research, the 29th Hunan Youth Literature Award, and the 2nd Hunan Provincial Literature and Art Award. Mainly engaged in contemporary Chinese literary and art criticism.