Starting from "The World of Man"——A review of the classic works of the Mao Dun Literature Award

The spring tide surges and emerges towards the sun.

CCTV's new year-end drama "The World of Man" triggered a ratings boom with its "authenticity, warmth and profundity". The play cuts from the perspective of a commoner, insights into the essence of life in the subtleties, and witnesses extraordinary state affairs from ordinary family affairs.

People's Daily commented: "The pattern of "The World of Man" is so big that it contains an epic tension. "Everyone is carving the trajectory of life and assuming family responsibilities, but also resonating with the history of the times."

Hot Drama: Serious Literature Support

Good drama comes from good stories. The TV series "The World of Man" is adapted from Liang Xiaosheng's novel of the same name that won the Mao Dun Literature Award. The novel takes the changes in the fate of the three generations of the Zhou family as the axis, records major social and historical events such as going up to the mountains and going to the countryside, the construction of the third line, the restoration of the college entrance examination, reform and opening up, anti-corruption and clean government, etc., and depicts a picture of contemporary Chinese social changes, which can be called a "fifty years of Chinese people's life history".

"Writer, instrument of the path also." Liang Xiaosheng conveyed a simple, sincere and compassionate emotional torrent in "The World of Man", which deeply touched and warmed thousands of readers, and can be called a spiritual epic of contemporary China.

Speaking of the original intention of creation, Liang Xiaosheng said, "No matter how the times and environment change, kindness and bravery are always the simplest and most important qualities." It is the purest and softest part of the heart of the Chinese people that has added a bright and warm background to the changes of the times.

Original: The characters love to read

"Reading a book breaks through ten thousand volumes, and the next pen is like a god." Liang Xiaosheng was able to write "The World of Man" thanks to his rich reading experience. Attentive readers can also get a glimpse of his characters.

First of all, Zhou Bingyi, in addition to reading the books of Mao Zedong and Lu Xun, he also pulled Bingkun, Zhou Rong, and Cai Xiaoguang to organize a reading club to read "War and Peace", "Tess of the Debord Family", "Red and Black" and so on. He believes that "War and Peace" is a literary work that reflects the relationship between war and people. The book not only describes monarchs such as the Tsar and Napoleon and marshals and generals such as Kutuzov, but also depicts Russian aristocrats such as Andre and Pierre, and portrays rare group portraits of Russian aristocratic women in the context of the war. More importantly, Tolstoy also wrote in large rafters the fate and psychological feelings of junior officers and ordinary soldiers of the two armies, especially the citizens, peasants and even serfs of occupied Russia—it is Tolstoy's most character-writing novel, almost depicting Russian characters in the context of the war. Without such an epic novel, Tolstoy would not have been "a mirror of Russia," and it is estimated that Lenin would not have evaluated him in that metaphor.

In terms of love, Zhou Bingyi is more like André and Pierre in "War and Peace", hoping to be a gentleman and a nobleman. He thinks that Hao Dongmei is born with a bit of Madame de Reina's legacy in "The Red and the Black".

In foreign exchanges, Zhou Bingyi was able to talk with Soviet cultural envoys in fluent Russian about Pushkin, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Gorky and Mayakovsky, memorize fragments of "The Quiet Don" and "Resurrection", and express his love for Soviet novels such as "The Young Guard", "How Steel is Made", "Seven Days and Seven Nights", and "The Brothers of Yersov".

His sister Zhou Rong, in terms of reading, does not let her eyebrows be shaved. Her self-evaluation is ethereal: "I am a game of God's whim — Esmeralda's heartlessness and lungs are a little bit in me, Carmen's willfulness is a little bit in me, and Mathilde's rebellion is still a little bit on me." I also have Natasha's innocence, Qingwen's fierceness, Daiyu's solitary self-congratulatory melancholy, And Baochao's roundness..."

Zhou Rong greatly appreciated "Dream of the Red Chamber", some famous passages in "Liaozhai Zhiyi", Tang and Song legendary novels, and folk tales such as "The Legend of the White Snake", and believed that only those who wrote those books respected women.

She liked Tang poetry and Song Poetry, admired the cultural contributions of Confucius and Mencius, but did not like Zhuangzi, believing that it was just a novelty and sensationalism. She believes that Lao Tzu is the same as Zhuangzi's text, and it is inevitable that he will ask for "Xuan" too much.

In Marseille, France, Zhou Rong strolled through the old port of Louis XII, where the Fort d'If, famous for its "Count of Monte Cristo", and the equally attractive Longchaysau Palace. She is familiar with the works of famous French writers and thinkers such as Hugo, Flaubert, Voltaire, Rousseau, Balzac, And Alexandre Dumas.

Compared with his brother and sister, Zhou Bingkun is slightly inferior in reading, but his association ability is superior. When he saw the public security officers at the execution site where Tu Zhiqiang was shot, he thought of Zhang Yide, who was holding a spear and holding a spear and guarding the bridge alone in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"; when he read "The Brothers of Yersov", he put himself in the seat with the old third Sergey, and the blind teenager Guangming thought of Stepan for the first time; when he missed Zheng Juan, he repeatedly read Chernishevsky's "What to Do", imagining himself as Ropphov and Vera as Zheng Juan; when discussing Lü Chuan's employment problem with everyone, he thought of the "Red Flag Spectrum" The peasant struggled with the landlord' contradictions; when he was frustrated, he would recite poems by the American writer Mark Twain about whooping cough and measles.

Liang Xiaosheng also designed the link of "Book in the Book" in "The World of Man": the long novel "Our Generation of Children" written by Zhou Rong is like the spiritual history of the protagonists, and also leaves a deep memory for this group of readers.

Award: A masterpiece of the record era

In August 2019, 70-year-old Liang Xiaosheng won the Mao Dun Literature Award, the highest honor in the Chinese literary world, for "The World of Man". Looking back on the past, the Mao Dun Literature Award has also gone through a 40-year process. During this period, a total of 48 novels by 48 writers won awards. These writers strengthen cultural self-confidence, reflect the changes of the times, the progress of China, and the call of the people with their works, and convey the spiritual connotation of bones, morality and temperature.

Among them, the youngest winner was the first Guhua, who was only 40 years old at the time. His award-winning work "Furong Town" tells the story of Hu Yuyin, a female vendor who got rich by labor, but was persecuted in a series of political movements, and she and the intellectual Qin Shutian saw the truth when they were in trouble, and finally ushered in the rectification of chaos. Later, the film "Furong Town", based on the novel, was directed by Xie Jin and starred Liu Xiaoqing and Jiang Wen, and won the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award.

The most awarded works of the Mao Dun Literature Award were the third edition in 1991. At that time, a total of 7 works won awards (including honorary awards), including Lu Yao's "Ordinary World". This is a novel that shows the social life of contemporary urban and rural China from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, depicting the group portraits of all levels of society at that time and the difficult roads they have traveled with the changes of the times. In 2015, director Mao Weining put the novel on the screen to attract attention. The People's Daily commented on the theme of "Where is the Upward Mobility Road?", saying, "The struggle and cultivation of the Shao'an and Shaoping people are the youth samples of that era."

Good works not only transcend the ages, but also cause shock in different forms. "White Deer Plain", which won the 4th Mao Dun Literature Award, was created by Shaanxi writer Chen Zhongzhong over a period of 6 years. The novel is based on the Village of Bailu in Bailuyuan, Guanzhong District, Shaanxi Province, and shows the historical changes from the end of the Qing Dynasty to more than half a century after liberation by telling the disputes between the three generations of ancestors and grandchildren of the two major families, bai surname and lu surname. The novel was selected into the "New China 70 Years and 70 Novels Collection" and was adapted into a variety of art forms such as films, TV series, dramas, dance dramas, and Qin Cavity of the same name. Among them, in 2017, the TV series "White Deer Plain" won the Best Chinese TV Series Award for Magnolia with "faithful masterpieces and perfect presentation".

Good work resonates. The works of many mainland writers have also been put on the big screen by Hong Kong directors: in 2005, Hong Kong director Kwan Kam Peng made a movie of "Long Hate Song" by Wang Anyi, winner of the 5th Mao Dun Literature Award, and Wang Qiyao, played by Zheng Xiuwen, showed a legendary life like "splendid smoke and dust"; in 2012, Hong Kong directors Mak Siu-fai and Zhuang Wenqiang directed "The Wind Listener", adapted from the "Dark Calculation" of the 7th Mao Dun Literature Award winner Mai Jia, in which Liang Chaowei interpreted the blind hero.

A good work comes from life, but it can move the world because it shows the common emotions of human beings. Jiangsu writer Bi Feiyu suffered from cervical spondylosis because of long-term writing. To this end, he often received massage from blind people, began to pay attention to this special group, combined with his previous experience in Nanjing Special Education Normal School, created a long novel "Tuina", won the eighth Mao Dun Literature Award. In 2014, director Lou Ye made the novel into a film and won the Silver Bear Award for Best Artistic Contribution (Cinematography) at the Berlin Film Festival.

Mao Dun once said: "A person who writes a novel must not only have extensive life experience, but also have a trained mind that can analyze complex social phenomena." These award-winning works reflect the sonorous voice of Chinese literary and art workers who are in keeping pace with the times, breathing with the people, sharing a common destiny, and connecting hearts.

Epilogue: World Book Day

Goethe said that to read a good book is to talk to many noble people. Whether it is a world masterpiece or a contemporary classic, it is a fertile field to enhance the mind, broaden the horizon, delight the spirit, and soothe the soul. Once you fall in love with reading, it will benefit you for a lifetime.

In 1995, UNESCO designated 23 April, the day on which Cervantes and Shakespeare passed away, World Book and Copyright Day (World Book Day). Its keynote statement reads: "I hope that the people living in the diaspora around the world, whether you are old or young, whether you are poor or rich, whether you are sick or healthy, can enjoy the pleasure of reading, and can respect and thank the masters of literary, cultural and scientific thought who have made great contributions to human civilization, and can protect intellectual property rights." ”

This year's government work report pointed out that "enriching the spiritual and cultural life of the people and deeply promoting reading for the whole people." This is the ninth consecutive year since 2014 that "reading for all" has been written into the government work report.

In this spring-beating April, we will celebrate the 27th World Book Day. Whether reading a paper book or facing the screen, I hope that every reader can harvest the nourishment of the spirit and the light of the soul from the good field.

This article was published in The Finance Expo, Issue 4, 2022