Li Guowen is a famous contemporary writer. Born in 1930, a native of Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. After graduating from the Nanjing Drama College in 1949 majoring in theoretical screenwriting, he participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea as the leader of the creative group of a certain literary and labor troupe of the Volunteer Army, and shortly after publishing the short story "Re-election" in 1957, he was mistakenly classified as a "rightist" and shelved his pen for a long time. After smashing the "Gang of Four" in 1976, he revived his pen and wrote... The first thing that caught my attention was his short story "Lunar Eclipse" (People's Literature, March 1980 issue). In 1981, his novel "Spring in Winter" was published by the People's Literature Publishing House, and the response was enthusiastic, becoming one of the typical representatives of the arrival of literary and artistic spring that year. As soon as the novel was published, I published relevant recommendations and reviews, and on the occasion of the book's publication forty years, I chose a special one to commemorate it.
Li Guowen
Spring is wonderful.
People long for the warm sunshine, the fresh air, sucking in the fragrance of the fresh soil that dissolves the frozen, and watching the flowers and trees that are proud of the frost and the cold. But how did spring come? What is the relationship between the sweetness of spring and the harshness of winter? For the warm spring king's landing on the earth, how many heroes and benevolent people have fought hard and fiercely? How many precious sacrifices have the masses of the people made? -- This is the philosophy expressed in Comrade Li Guowen's novel "Spring in Winter", the profound meaning it contains, and the ideas and themes that it wants to enlighten people.
Li Guowen's Spring in Winter (Shangxia) People's Literature Publishing House, 1981, first edition
The striking part of the novel is that it focuses on outlining the splendid pictures of the water towns in jiangnan, and also shows the magnificent scenery of the northern scenery; although it is written from today, the bottom of the pen is rolled with the revolutionary smoke of the past; although it only writes about the activities of the protagonist Yu Erlong for only two or three days after his return to Shihu, it contains the old guerrilla leader's tortuous and complicated combat experience for thirty or forty years, and at the same time unfolds a series of moving events and character depictions around the protagonist. Because the arrangement of the storyline of the work is relatively concentrated, the expression of the theme ideas is quite prominent, so it is impressive, has a strong artistic appeal and rich practical significance.
It was published in hardcover after winning the first Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1982
The novel focuses on the portrayal of a guerrilla leader of the year, today's party secretary and factory director, Yu Erlong, and depicts in many ways the glorious image of this flesh-and-blood, profound and moving Communist Party member. Forty years ago, in order to make a living, this protagonist once chiseled open the frozen lake ice, drank the medicinal wine mixed with arsenic, and sacrificed his life to touch the fish; almost his family was destroyed, there was nowhere to live, thanks to meeting the old Red Army, he was able to escape from death; they lit the seeds of revolution in Shihu Lake and held high the banner of struggle; the struggle suffered for a long time, and the revolution was full of twists and turns; until the chaotic years of chaos and darkness and the upside-down of the demons in ten years, when the "four monsters" were captured, and only then did the bright scenery of winter and spring appear... The work begins with the protagonist's revisit to Shihu lake in the spring of 1978, and through his various thoughts and associations of touching the scenery and recalling the past, he reviews and summarizes the revolutionary experience of the past few decades. The writing of the struggle and the ink contain revolutionary pride not only reflect the profound historical content and strong ideological significance, but also create a typical image of Yu Erlong shining brightly.
In 1982, he won the first Mao Dun Literature Award, and in 1983, the Humanities Society republished
Therefore, the dragon returned to Shihu after the harsh winter cold. At that time, the remnants of winter are coming to an end, the remaining cold has not been removed, and the counter-revolutionary forces, which have been enemies of the revolution for decades and have stubbornly fought for a long time, are still using cunning duplicitous tactics in a vain attempt to continue to resist and wait for an opportunity to counterattack. Therefore, Long returned to Shihu in order to mourn the martyrs who died, visit his father and fellow countrymen, pursue revolutionary relics, and relive revolutionary traditions, and even more in order to uncover the secret of the death of the female instructor Lu Hua, find out the reasons for the arrest of Zhao Liang, the old Red Army who spread the seeds of revolution, and find out the mastermind of Xiao Shi's tragic death and the culprit of Yu Dalong's murder. All in all, it was to dig out the time bomb hidden deep inside the revolution, the maggots and termites that eroded the revolution. In this way, the work passionately praises the protagonist Yu Erlong's tenacious revolutionary will and tenacious spirit of struggle.
The People's Literature Publishing House has reprinted many times
The breadth and depth of novel ideas and art are included in: the artistic depiction of life, which not only reveals history, but also excavates reality; the image portrayal of characters, which not only attaches importance to positive description and praise, but also focuses on the inner reaction to complex contradictions and the perspective of the heart. From the former point, a variety of colorful and unique typical environments are arranged; from the latter point, typical characters with flesh and blood, vivid and touching and unique style are created. This typical environment and typical characters blend and harmonize in the work to form an artistic whole. The success of the work strongly shows that the writer has a solid foundation in life, rich cultural literacy, skillful artistic skills, and diverse performance talents. Because, when the work shaped the artistic image of Yu Erlong, it did not write him as an otherworldly sage and a prophetic sage: in the decades of competition with Wang Weiyu, the "second mr." of the high-gate building, he did not see through the disguise of the other party at a glance, and even once confused his illusion, although Lu Hua reminded him many times, he still failed to recognize that although he was often suspicious when the revolution suffered setbacks, he failed to grasp the key to unlocking the puzzle for a long time, until after liberation, he also ran for wang Weiyu who had made a mistake Directly arrange For Wang Weiyu to be his deputy and so on. Through these artistic depictions, the intricate real face of social real life and the rich changes in the characters' spiritual world are displayed, thus deepening the thematic significance of the work, expanding the ideological depth of the novel, enriching the strong sense of reality and the times, and giving people a profound artistic infection and education.
After winning the award, it was republished in a number of publishing houses, which is the edition of Guizhou People's Publishing House
"Spring in Winter" has been successful in the excavation of realistic themes and the shaping of heroic characters by using new expressive techniques. That is, it supplements the description of real life with ups and downs of imagination and narration, and perspectives the complex hearts of the characters with diverse associations and memories; although it writes reality, it even uses the revolutionary waves of decades as the background, although it paints portraits, but uses colorful revolutionary smoke clouds as the background; reality and history are fused into one furnace, and the inner activities of the characters and the real actions are seamlessly integrated. This is what we have seen in "Lunar Eclipse", which won the National Award for Outstanding Short Story in 1980, and in the writer's new novel "Spring in Winter", we see its distinctive artistic characteristics more clearly. Is this expression realist, or is it borrowed from foreign modern art, such as stream of consciousness and other expression methods? The work pays attention to the combination of learning the appreciation habits of foreign and national traditions, which is undoubtedly of great benefit to revealing the rich and complex inner activities of the characters and deepening the ideas and themes of the work. This is the study and inheritance of tradition, but also the bold innovation and experimentation of writers. If the writer has been quite successful in the creation of short stories, then in the creation of long stories, it has exposed certain flaws in this method that are not mature and thorough enough. For example, due to the lack of clarity in the arrangement of some retrospectives, the inevitable connection between different time and event development is not very clear, making it difficult to see the inevitable connection within it, so it seems a bit messy; some places are too big, some plots are too coincidental, especially some of the descriptions in the next volume of the work, there are axe chisel marks, so that the pen and ink are distorted... Nevertheless, these explorations by writers in their creation undoubtedly make this work one of the representative works of ice-breaking significance in the field of literary creation in the early days of reform and opening up, so that the book won the first Mao Dun Literature Award in 1982.
A collection of novels named after Lee Kwok-man's award-winning short story "Lunar Eclipse"
Revised according to a review written on November 25, 1981