"Mother and River" is a masterpiece of "telling the story of the Yellow River"
Text/Wu Fumu
(Web Photo)
"Ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin" has been elevated to a national strategy. Telling the story of the Yellow River well, keeping the right and innovating, and educating people are important tasks entrusted to us by the times. Shandong, a large cultural province, an important province along the Yellow River, doing a good job in the Yellow River article and telling the story of the Yellow River is bound to be the glorious mission of the writers and artists. Wang Tao's great essay "Mother and River" can be described as a coming into being, which aroused strong resonance among readers as soon as it was published, and was regarded as a masterpiece of "telling the story of the Yellow River". Of course, this work is a heavy gift to the mother river, the Yellow River, and the children of the Yellow River.
The eastern section of the Yellow River is 628 kilometers long, accounting for 11.5% of the total length of the Yellow River. Shandong is the only river-sea confluence area in the Yellow River Basin, the main battlefield of downstream ecological protection and flood prevention and disaster reduction, and has unique advantages in the fields of kinetic energy conversion, opening up to the outside world, and cultural inheritance. Dong'a is 57 kilometers along the Yellow River, accounting for 9.1% of the total length of the Yellow River in the Shandong section. In the upsurge of "ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin", the "Yellow River Story, Yellow River Culture" has blossomed in this land, and the sky is full of colors. Wang Tao, a national first-class writer from Eastern Albania who grew up near the Yellow River, is a true "son of the Yellow River", and he can be described as the perfect choice for him to write about the love affair of the Yellow River.
Wang Tao's name is often associated with the "Wulongzhen series of novels". But few people know his prose. There are two reasons, one is that he really does not write much prose, and people have little opportunity to read his prose; second, his popularity in fiction obscures the achievements of his prose. But I know his prose kung fu, more than a decade ago I read his long essay about the Yellow River sprinkled with 40,000 words, "Dahe Dong Ah Xing", and his other essay about natural ecology, "Children of the Earth", was shortlisted for the "Third Feng Zikai Prose Award" and finally won the "First Miluojiang Literature Award". This time, his latest favorite work, "Mother and the River", once again shocked me.
For this essay, the reason why it is "big" is that it is long and the whole manuscript reaches 15,000 words; the second is that the content is rich and extensive, and the historical reality is intertwined; the third is that the culture is profound, citing evidence, and is just right; the fourth is that the structure is grand, the opening and closing are large, and it is complete. I haven't read such a big prose in a long time, which really quenches my thirst. Many people on the Internet also competed to forward it, and the praise of "big money" was endless.
The prose has "little family jasper" works, and naturally there are also "everyone's girly show" works. Wang Tao is destined to be a writer who writes big essays, because in recent years he has "mainly attacked" long novels, and writing prose will inevitably be immersed in his style, and more importantly, he has great feelings and great compassion, so he cannot be suppressed, his passion is surging and he has the style of "a crane in a clear sky and a crane in the clouds, and there is poetry to the blue sky". His prose can always break through time and space, ancient and modern, both the coldness of reality and the brilliance of magic, and the quotation of scriptures, desk kung fu done enough, attach importance to research, examination, and show rich learning. Not only that, just like his novels, the grand and complex structure, the rich and turbulent language, is convincing. These styles are vividly reflected in "Mother and the River".
However, what touched my heartstrings in this essay was not only "big", but also "love". Why? That is, hometown feelings, patriotic feelings, family affection, dependents, fists, yin Yin, triggering readers to "resonate with the same frequency". Deep maternal love, the greatest love in the world, is the eternal theme of literary works. This theme is fully highlighted in "Mother and River". The title is well drawn, "mother" and "river" are closely linked, sometimes highlighting the mother, sometimes highlighting the Yellow River (also writing other rivers, since it is to set off the Yellow River), no matter how to write, it is two parallel lines, such as the gushing Yellow River flowing to the far side...
"Double-line" wording, "intentional" for it. The writer places the mother's individual life in the framework of a great river that brings important changes and influences to a place, so that the mother's fate is intertwined with the history of the Yellow River, and it is closely related to the development of the country and the reproduction of the nation, and the meaning of the mother's life is also revealed in the joy of sharing sorrow with the Yellow River. Wang Tao said: "My mother grew up on the edge of the Yellow River, so such a structure in the article was naturally formed, of course, it took some effort to find it. "That's very true. The two-line structure, which shines in harmony, is the biggest artistic technique of "Mother and River". The writer finds the "entry point" of "the relationship between a man and a river", and the nostalgia for his mother is naturally expressed. Therefore, it is more meaningful to put a person (mother) in a natural and cultural background with a specific influence, and the charm of "Yellow River Story, Yellow River Culture" is even greater. This is precisely the valuable point of Wang Tao's great prose.
There is a sense of rhyme, is for the high realm of the text, high standards. In "Mother and River", whether the author writes about his grandfather and grandmother, or his father and mother, even if he writes about himself, he is infiltrated with "love" and penetrated by "love". Her mother was an extraordinary woman who was strong and benevolent, who worked hard and complained, who knew how to read and be courteous, and who was willing to sacrifice; just after the war years had passed, she took part in the revolutionary work without hesitation and participated in the construction of new China. In the years that followed, as a woman and a mother, I made ordinary but also great contributions to the family, for the society, and for the country. In his mother, Wang Tao poured out deep feelings and painstaking efforts, showing the heart of a child like gold. A lot of plots, a lot of pictures, unforgettable, especially reading the passage where my mother drank bitter Chinese medicine and hiked to Qingping to study, I couldn't help but burst into tears...
"The husband who embellishes the text is emotional and resigns, and the viewer wears the text to enter the emotion, and asks for the source along the waves, although the shadow will be revealed." "Rhetoric stands for itself." "The first element of literature is language." Both Chinese and foreign literature emphasize the importance of "language", and require "sincerity" and "feeling". On this issue, Wang Tao is an active and accomplished practitioner. I have read many of his articles, and I feel that his writings are both spontaneous and wanton, and naturally flowing, and natural. The last paragraph of "Mother and The River" reads: "In that endless dream, the mother must have heard the rustle of the water washing against the walls of the house, and must have seen the moving scene of the fish jumping and the birds flying." Huang He, I said in my heart for my mother, your daughter has returned, back into your arms..." Such language, such imagination, such a love taste, such a wonderful combination of virtual and real, evocative and long...
Novelists write prose, which has its own special style, which has both the imagination space of the novel and the lyrical charm of the prose. The author is realistic, freehand fusion, rich in associations, imaginative and wonderful, dense and dashing, wandering in it, really happy.
In the process of enjoying "Mother and the River", I fully felt that the writer has worked hard to write this article well. Ancient classics, local chronicles, village names and rural appearances... None of them. "It's not easy to write a good article!" Such an article can be worth a hundred "oil", not to mention more than a hundred! There are no sick groaners, and there are bitter people. But Mr. Wang Tao said: "I actually can't write prose, I am just a duck who is caught on the shelf." "So modest, I don't know how many people are ashamed." After reading this article, we will sincerely sigh: how many "ducks" can write such an atmospheric, thick, and affectionate prose?
If you want to understand the history and culture of the Yellow River, if you love the mountains and rivers, if you also want to give a hymn to your mother, if you want to improve your writing level, if you want to appreciate the wonderful combination of realism and freehand, then please read Wang Tao's big essay - "Mother and The River"!
Shouzheng innovation, with cultural people, do a good job in the Yellow River article, tell the Story of the Yellow River, we have an unshirkable responsibility. At the same time, we also look forward to reading more of Mr. Wang Tao's big prose works.
February 18, 2022
【About the Author】Wu Fumu, a native of Dong'a, Shandong, is a member of the Communist Party of China and a senior teacher. He is a member of the Chinese Prose Literature Association and a director of the Liaocheng Critics Association. Published four books. Poetry, prose, and commentary are all covered.