Literary critic | Shi Zhongshan's "Ask the Vast Land": The Poetic Glow in the Long River of Human Nature

Author: Zhou Qilun

"Asking the Vast Land" (published by the People's Literature Publishing House) is the famous writer Shi Zhongshan's latest creation of the espionage theme work, in this suspenseful, thrilling exquisite structure, the author uses a majestic and calm brushstrokes, from the depths of the years of drifting away to salvage a colorful story, enthusiastically praising the charm of human nature in the long river of history in the poetic glow of the flashing, suspense twists and turns, the image is vivid, the language is in place, in the works of the same genre, it is particularly vivid and flexible.

My understanding of Shi Zhongshan began when I read his novella "Father Goes to the City". Since then, the author's very characteristic story construction method and easy-going and funny storytelling have become more vivid and vivid as he has gained a more vivid understanding of the "Shi Guangrong" family or the humanistic characteristics of a particular military family home. The more I read his works, the more I expected him to be rich in his literary creation. Therefore, many novels about Shi Guangrong's military career, about the life of the army, and the subtle emotions of ordinary people, with the theme of "The Years of Burning Passion", have been particularly able to arouse my lingering, which I think is a particularly difficult inner skill possessed by a mature author.

I personally admire Shi Zhongshan's novel cathartic instinct, his wandering path in the work can be very free, both have a strong military feeling, but also not too limited by the "olive green" tone, often can each work of the artistic dimension, very arbitrarily extended to every corner of our hearts and minds. When we appreciate his novels, in addition to feeling the tension emanating from the story itself, we can also taste and appreciate the breadth and breadth of the meaning of life. I remember that not long ago, when I wrote an article commenting on the novel works of military writers such as Tao Chun, Wen Qingli, and Qiu Shanshan, I once put forward a literary concept that military works should be more pan-military, and I especially admired that many authors could firmly stand at the forefront of the military theme, and the efforts to flexibly extend the tentacles and charm of novels to all aspects of people's daily lives.

I noticed that Shi Zhongshan's narrative characteristics are quite unique, he can often describe a very ordinary small person or a small event that people are not accustomed to seeing, both deliberately and inadvertently, and the entire narrative language is clean and condensed, never dragging mud and water. The construction of story sections in his works often gives people a sense of coherence, and reading often makes readers have a sense of urgency. The soldiers in his pen also have unique personalities, great emotions, and the cruelty of war and the bloodiness of soldiers are interpreted to the extreme, but he is more able to look at the vastness and brilliance of the world from the military world where he is based, and find the inherent rich potential of the work in the up and down movement of "people", which fully and clearly shows the relaxation of his novels.

"Ask the Vast Land" has a long time span, from 1948 onwards, until the present of reform and opening up, but also delicately depicts a long-standing anti-special story, but also delicately depicts the emotional ripples in the depths of the years, I think this is Shi Zhongshan in an effort to expand the horizon of the pan-military theme novel, another rebirth of literature wandering, reading the taste is still there.

During the Liberation War, Bi Jian, chief of the intelligence section of the Social Department of the Northeast Bureau, exhausted his efforts and did not succeed in finding a Kuomintang agent code-named "Lao Yezi"; after the founding of New China, Bi Jian and others were transferred to the Shenyang public security system, and the "old master" also changed his name to wang Shouye, a businessman, in order to avoid being pursued, and the game roles of "cat and mouse" were exchanged, and the fierceness of the struggle was still frightening step by step, and in the virtual and vicious snakes between Bi Jian and others and the "old master", the days passed quietly, and the plot peaked and turned. Zhao Jingru, the "wife" of the "old master" and spy reporter, accidentally discovered that Bi Jian's wife, Li Qiaolian, turned out to be her long-lost sister, and the intricate interpersonal connections connected the emotional waves of the two generations. The identity of the "old man" was exposed to a chance, and in the dying struggle, he thought about his wife and son who were far away in Shanghai day and night, while Zhao Jingru was obsessed with his adoptive parents and boyfriend who had been interrupted by the war, and the emotional ripples in the long river of human nature were bursting, and the poetic flying place was sunny and charming. The "old man" committed suicide after seeing his son grow up, Li Qiaolian and Zhao Jingru two sisters sighed and recognized each other, and finally ushered in a major turning point in the fate of the nation, the wheel of the changing times came from the depths of history, asking the vast earth, who is the master of the ups and downs.

In this life-exhausting "cat and mouse game" between Bi Jian and the "old master", the author does not focus too much on the strangeness of the story, but firmly grasps the hole in the depths of human nature and makes a big fuss, in the context of these sentient and righteous narratives of the novel, we are enough to rationally once again to stir up the fiery period sealed in the journey of the years, looking back at the process of new China from yesterday to the blossoming of today, the process is extremely difficult, and the feeling of empowerment and understanding will increase day by day.

As a spy war theme, "Ask the Vast Land", the author has carefully focused on the writing of the fate of the characters, and I think this should be a literary candle light that returns to the basics. Looking at the literary corridor that can always be remembered by readers, it must not be a mysterious plot, let alone an overly strange description, only the flesh and blood characters who can stand up and stand up are the only rules for achieving the touching and plump work. Shi Zhongshan's grasp of the positive and negative characters in the novel has left a broad space for the shaping of the characters. Of course, the author also describes the brevity of life in "Ask the Vast Land" and describes the unwillingness of the song to disperse, but the arrangement of these amiable and perceptible elements shines with the protagonist's indomitable faith in life, and only faith is so otherworldly in the world, and the poetic light it manifests will be so warm and pleasant.

Source: China Youth Daily client