Wang Shoude served in the Aviation Corps of the Navy's East China Sea Fleet in December 1973. In September 1978, he was admitted to the Department of Chinese of Peking University. After graduation, he was transferred to the Ministry of Culture of the General Political Department. He successively served as deputy director and director of the Arts Bureau of the Propaganda Department of the General Political Department. He retired in November 2008. He is engaged in literary writing, research and criticism in his spare time, and has authored more than ten anthologies and monographs of various kinds, and published hundreds of literary criticisms in various newspapers and periodicals across the country.
——Read Zhou Ming's novella "Rush, After the Wave"
■ Wang Shoude
Perhaps because of the relationship with an old army, I paid more attention to Zhou Ming's literary writing. I have read some of her novels that reflect the life of the real troops, as well as a number of works on science fiction themes, and I can't help but praise her talent and strength. From the general law of literary creation to speculate, Zhou Ming is undoubtedly a very characteristic writer, from being admitted to colleges and universities to becoming an authentic science and engineering student, to entering the military and becoming a veritable professional and technical soldier, it cannot be said that he must be isolated from literature, at least the distance between them should be very far away. It is precisely such a highly technical specialist who has developed a strong interest in literature and seems to have left the time and space outside of completing his work to literature, and the long list of works is a clear proof of the cultivation of literature. The nature of her work is closely related to the combat readiness training of the troops, and it also has a certain degree of relevance to the daily life of ordinary people, and the difficulty caused by its complexity and hardship may not be well understood by ordinary people. But on the other hand, it is her unique location advantage and important resources for writing, and once she chooses to devote herself to creation, she will bring literature a new life, new content, new breath, and even new expression that is different from others.
Zhou Ming must be loving and attentive to the world where she works and lives, that is to say, her performance in her post is qualified and excellent, otherwise the title of senior engineer is by no means a white evaluation, which contains how much hard work and effort in the business, and how much achievement and glory condensed with responsibility, sweat and wisdom. But at the same time, her eyes are not only tasks and techniques, but often with the mind and eyes of a writer, to quietly observe, feel and think about life, capture various appearances from life, and discover the various meanings and mysteries hidden under the surface of life, which has a different kind of harvest in addition to her work and life, that is, the accumulation of writing materials and the superposition of works. The people and things that are presented in his own life and experience, at the end of his pen, are all familiar to him, and they are deeply perceived and tasted about life or life, which may be strange and interesting to others. She is a member of the life of the naval aviation, truly "fighting" in the turbulent life, what she feels is not comparable to the general so-called "deep life", and any wind and grass in life is deeply affected by the bittersweet love in her heart. At the same time, as far as its writing itself is concerned, the subject matter it involves, there is no ready-made template or paradigm for reference in similar works, it is necessary to explore and explore without reference, there are difficulties and thorns when it is natural, but there is no established box and limitation, and some are the freedom and happiness of creation from the heart.
Now we have read Zhou Ming's new novella "Rush, Back Wave" (published in "People's Liberation Army Literature and Art" No. 3, 2022), which is still a praiseworthy masterpiece. It uses the first-person narrative of the newcomer protagonist Niu Haitao to tell a small army unit with a small number of people, but a special and important role, and the story of its past and present. The young and shallow calf is naturally a "back wave" in people's eyes, and he is facing a number of "front waves" with old qualifications and profound achievements, and his military career and employment experience begin. Military life is not a simple and pure place, but also a kind of interpersonal complex workplace, the difference is only that this is the military workplace, in addition to the basic characteristics of the general workplace, there are special characteristics, requirements and norms of military units, so his entry into the job is destined to enter a kind of gravitational field full of swirls, his life, his work, his personality, his emotions, must all be integrated into this seemingly marginal but indispensable unit, and the relevant people have a very close connection and entanglement, in a kind of "generation gap." In the environment, he carried out a helpless and tenacious spiritual trek, interpreting and writing his own life story. The novel also uses this to portray several literary images of "back waves" and "front waves", and depicts a realistic picture of life in a certain military camp.
Those who belong to the same workplace as Xiaoniu are Lao Lu, the brother of the same division, as well as the old Gao, the eldest sister, the old Zheng of the unit, and the latecomer Xiao Du and others. In this small unit with a small number of people, it is still inevitable to involve many tangible and intangible constraints such as status level, promotion and honor, personnel turnover, charter rules, etc. The gains and losses of the interests of the characters, the speed of progress, and the depression of the mood are all tightly twisted in a certain network-like relationship. The novel does not seem to be a major event, and the most important narrative focus is on a central task that is hardly a unit, that is, to send a person to complete the long and boring task of going to sea with the ship. The work uses a certain span of time to write a certain kind of mental mechanism hidden as the "front wave" Old Lu, and writes a certain vigilance of the "back wave" calf gradually realized. Around how to continue to carry out this task, the entanglement of all the characters on this matter is written, and a more real workplace ecology is written. This is due to Zhou Ming's long-term, immersive observation and speculation, thanks to his refinement and excavation of daily life, so that he can reproduce and depict life faithfully and subtly and subtly in a white-painted realistic pen and ink, from which he can see the psychological activities of the characters and their subtle changes, which are both through-through and traceable, and are shaped and dynamically changed with things, and then in a calm atmosphere, sometimes in a fierce state, every character under the pen is placed on the cusp of the event. Accept the soul-like torture, so that it gradually shows its own different personalities and hearts. The author's narrative is both sharp and cold, but also maintains enough rationality and moderation, showing the characteristics of authenticity, objectivity, idealization and warmth, and the image of the characters is then vividly and accurately, flesh and blood, and exquisitely portrayed, becoming the "this one" of the army's unique workplace. What is particularly worthy of affirmation is that the novel's descriptions of "houlang" and "qianlang" are quite intriguing, that is, they have their own advantages and differences with each other, the "former wave" is rich in experience because of maturity, and the "houlang" is young but has a new knowledge structure, and there is an inevitable inheritance and transcendence relationship between the two. The intention of the work is not to focus on the hooks and grudges between the characters, but to hope for the rush of the "back wave" and increasingly provoke the beam of the career, which is the real theme of the novel.
The emotional description of the novel is also its very important content, which not only contrasts with the narrative of the workplace as the main body, but also complements it very organically, which effectively enhances the epochality and richness of the character image and connotation. The characters and lives in the work are in the WeChat era, so the love life has the distinctive characteristics of the WeChat era. Like all people living in the present, the author Zhou Ming must also be an excellent player of WeChat, and will skillfully apply this skill to the work, using WeChat as a carrier to tell stories and portray characters, which has been fully reflected in the description of the three emotions of The Calf, and then reflects that WeChat, the most fashionable and convenient way of communication, has been ubiquitous and deeply involved in people's daily lives and secret emotions. The calf's unrequited love for the "school flower", seemingly because he is busy with work and loses the beautiful and charming love of the rainbow, but in fact, he is different and inevitably breaks up, and he cannot get the frustration of lasting love, which causes him to go crazy to fight with the glasses man who wins love, all of which have the salient characteristics of young reckless impulses; and the positive result of the marriage with Xiao Yun, who seems to be relatively humble in status, simple in appearance, but quite hearty, pragmatic and stubborn, is a calm and rational reliable choice for the calf in the face of reality, and the housing problems that follow. Fertility problems and various family trifles constitute the tone and quality of life that they should have; after knowing each other with Pan Xiaoxiao, whose network name is "Blue Sea and Blue Sky", and if they are about to leave, the "Platonic" style of interaction reflects a certain imagination and passion that the calf hides in his heart, and the encounter and effort of the two to do the "Shore Sea Information System" project with the ship is the real arrival and depth of their respective life situations and inner emotions, and this kind of beautiful emotion that is both heart-to-heart and does not cross the thunder pool. In front of the barrier of reason and under the norms of morality, the pinch is maintained very appropriately, which shows the sublimation and purity of the spiritual character of the calf as a "back wave" from another side. The emotional description of the novel is also expressed between colleagues, teachers and brothers, and friends, reflecting the symbiotic relationship between competition and concern in the workplace. Old Lu gave admonitions and exhortations to The Calf as a person who came over when he encountered emotional setbacks, Old Gao enthusiastically introduced the target to the Calf when he was in emotional difficulties, the wife of the old Lu Kai Company tried to arrange work for Xiao Yun even under the epidemic situation, the newcomer Xiao Du helped Xiao Niu take care of his wife and children during the time when the Calf went to sea with the ship, and when the Cow accidentally fell and took him to the hospital for stitches, etc., all reflected a strong sense of comradeship, and the small unit written by the author is undoubtedly a warm collective.
It is worth mentioning that the narrative background of the novel is not only the WeChat era that has become fashionable, but also in the scorching new crown pneumonia epidemic situation, especially in the face of the severe military struggle environment, many social elements are naturally and skillfully integrated into the narrative and lyricism of the novel by the author. In the daily and ordinary events, the gripping waves are always gripping, and in the silent narrative, they reach the essence of characters and things, so that the reader's reading of the work becomes a real sense of "pleasant reading". And it is not limited because the writing is a corner of life, but it makes people feel that the work is an empathy because it is sought and expressed, which makes people feel grand and profound. His courage to face and penetrate, the ability to control and grasp, as well as the refinement of the plot and the eternity of the language, all make the ideological weight and artistic tension of this novel have been significantly strengthened, showing Zhou Ming's unique temperament and extraordinary courage as a mature writer.
——Published in PLA Literature and Art, No. 4, 2022
Title Calligraphy | Zhu Xiuhai
Original editor | Wenqingli
Coordinate the review of | Whoa
| issued Wen Qingli