There are many ancient myths and legends in China, and many classics have been passed down through the ages. They seem to be carved into our DNA.
Throughout the ages, there have been many writers who have compiled new stories of the past, and "New Compilation of Stories" is a collection of short stories written by Mr. Lu Xun on the theme of ancient myths and historical legends.
The language of these works adheres to Mr. Lu Xun's consistent style, humorous, tactful and ironic.
Although the theme of the story comes from history, it only uses a little reason, and after the author's dyeing, what is displayed in front of us is a wonderful and curious picture.
This week, we will follow Lu Xun and see the world in mythology through the kaleidoscope of "New Compilation of Stories", like a dream, ancient and modern.
On the first day of intensive reading of "New Edition of Stories", Mai Jiajia will accompany you to read, 11 minutes
Hello everyone, today is the 2234th day that the Mai family has accompanied you to study, and the 317th book is read - Lu Xun's work "New Edition of Stories".
"New Story"
If you like it, you can share it with more friends who love to read. The Mai family accompanies you to study, read together, and grow together.
New Stories is a collection of historical novels written by Lu Xun from 1922 to 1935.
These novels are all set in ancient times and are known as "the pioneering works of modern Chinese historical novels".
Among them, the early works include "Filling the Sky", "Running to the Moon" and "Forging Swords"; His later works include "Non-Attack", "Lishui", "Caiwei", "Exit" and "Death".
Lu Xun's "New Compilation of Stories" inherits and develops the ancient Chinese theater tradition, as well as the intricacies of ancient and modern, with mythology as the theme and rich imagination.
Although it is a collection of historical novels, it is very different from the serious historical novels of the past, and it is written in ancient times, but the shadow of modern times can be seen everywhere.
In the past reading, we have read the two novels "Casting the Sword" and "Kong Yiji", and we already have a certain understanding of the author Lu Xun.
Lu Xun once wrote: "This very small collection, from the beginning of the handwriting to the compilation, can be regarded as a long time: a full thirteen years. ”
There are countless things that have happened in the past ten years, why did Lu Xun bring up the old "old things"?
In January 1936, Lu Xun collected eight historical novels into "New Edition of Stories", published by Shanghai Cultural Life Publishing House, and wrote a "Preface", reviewing the process of writing a book, summarizing the experience of writing historical novels, summarizing the characteristics of "New Edition of Stories", and refuting some erroneous comments at that time.
This preface can be said to provide us with a key to understanding the New Edition of Stories.
The first part of the New Edition of Stories, "Mending the Heavens", originally called "Buzhou Mountain", was written in the winter of 1922.
Lu Xun meant to count it "as a beginning, that is, an end", so he had no intention of writing it further.
However, this work reflecting ancient life quickly attracted attention.
At that time, the critic Mr. Cheng Fangwu single-handedly recommended "Buzhou Mountain" as a masterpiece.
In response, Lu Xun responded: "I am not thin 'vulgar', but also willing to be 'vulgar'; for historical novels, I think that Bokao literature, words must have a basis, even if some people ridicule it as 'professor novel', in fact, it is difficult to organize the work, as for only taking a little reason, arbitrarily dyeing, laying out an article, there is no need for any kind of wrist." ”
In the preface, he confessed:
"At that time, the opinion was to take themes from both ancient and modern times to make short stories, and "Buzhou Mountain" was the first to take the myth of 'Nuwa refining stones to make up the sky'. First of all, it is very serious, although it is only taken from the theory of Zorot, to explain the origin of creation, which is human and literary.
I don't remember how, I stopped writing halfway through, went to read the daily newspaper, and unfortunately saw who, now I forgot my name, criticized Wang Jingzhijun's "The Wind of Hui", and he said that he would tearfully plead and ask the young man not to write such words again.
This poor insidious made me feel funny, and when I wrote the novel again, no matter what, I couldn't stop a little husband in ancient clothes appearing between Nuwa's legs. This is the beginning of the slippery slippery from seriousness. Slippery is the enemy of creation, and I am very unhappy with myself. ”
"Oily" is not what is called "greasy" today, in the "New Edition of Stories", it mainly refers to the characters and things that are actually written in the creation of seemingly ancient themes, ancient and modern, ancient and modern.
And this unique art form that blends the past and the present is not done in one step, but gradually explored and developed.
At this time, Lu Xun was obviously not satisfied with the "slippery" in the infant stage, but he had not yet found a more mature way.
After Lu Xun wrote "Mending the Heaven", he wrote "Running to the Moon" and "Forging Swords".
He said: "Until the autumn of 1926, a person lived in a stone house in Xiamen, facing the sea, flipping through ancient books, almost lifeless, and empty in his heart.
The unknown society in Beijing, on the other hand, kept sending letters urging magazine articles. At this point I don't want to think about the present;
So the memories were unearthed in my heart, and I wrote ten articles of "Picking Up the Morning and the Night"; And still pick up ancient legends and the like, and prepare eight "new compilations of stories".
But as soon as I wrote "Rushing to the Moon" and "Forging the Sword"—which were titled "Ruler Between the Eyebrows" at the time of publication—I rushed to Guangzhou, and the matter was completely put on hold again. Later, although I occasionally got a little subject matter and made a sketch, I never sorted it out. ”
In fact, "Running to the Moon" and "Casting Swords" did not attract much attention at that time.
It was not until 1936, when "Exit Customs" was published, that a small wave of reviews was formed. Some people think that Lu Xun is targeting someone for sarcasm and abuse. To this end, Lu Xun responded in the <出关>article "Guan".
Lu Xun pointed out that it is a shallow opinion to say that "Exit the Customs" is attacking a certain person. Of course, literary creation must have models, but the image in the work is not exactly the same as the model after all.
There are two ways for writers to choose models, one is to dedicate one person, and the other is to combine various people into one.
However, even if anyone enters the novel as a whole, if the author is skillful and the work is passed down for a long time, what the reader sees is only the person in the book, and the original real person is irrelevant.
In 1923, Mr. Cheng Fangwu commented on "The Scream": "Buzhou Mountain" is another work that is extremely noteworthy in the whole collection. It shows that he is not willing to stick to the realistic portal. He wants to enter the court of pure literature. ”
He believed that "Mending the Heavens" was not a work of realism.
The romantic element is indeed a major feature of "New Edition of Stories", but Lu Xun must also have thought carefully from reality when writing the novels in "New Edition of Stories".
The spirit of realism in this is first embodied in "having a code to follow".
For "New Edition of Stories", Lu Xun humbled himself:
"It's finally a book now. Among them, there are also mostly sketches, which is not enough to call the so-called novel of 'Introduction to Literature'. Sometimes the narrative has a bit of an old book basis, and sometimes it is just lip service.
And because his respect for the ancients is not as good as his sincerity for today's people, it is still inevitable that there will be slippery places from time to time.
After thirteen years, there is still no growth, and it seems that it is really 'nothing more than the "Buzhou Mountain" and the like'; but it does not write the ancients more deadly, but there may be room for existence for the time being. ”
However, "New Edition of Stories" is by no means "just talk", and every sentence in it has historical support.
For example, the article "Replenishing the Heavens", the record of Nuwa's refining stone to replenish the sky, can be found in Liu An's "Huainanzi Yan Xian" in the Han Dynasty;
"Rushing to the Moon", the ancient stories about Yi and Chang'e are also rich, and most of the materials in "Lishui" are from "Shiji Wudi Benji" and "Xia Benji";
"Caiwei" basically takes the materials of "Shiji Boyi Lie" and "Yin Benji" and "Zhou Benji".
The "Sword Casting" that we have read together is mainly based on the materials in Jin Ganbao's "Search for God".
The myths and legends in "New Edition of Stories" are not only "traceable", but the creativity of the writer contained in it is the real "finishing touch".
We can see modern things and characters everywhere in the "New Compilation of Stories", which shows that Lu Xun's new compilation of these myths and legends is based on the reality of the society at that time.
The "New Edition of Stories" was written from 1922 to 1935, from the twenties to the thirties, from the Beiyang warlords to Chiang Kai-shek, from bureaucratic comprador capital to the capitalist economy.
In the increasingly colonial and semi-colonial society of old China, politicians and literati of the landlord-comprador class, as representatives of imperialist and feudal interests, as China's extremely murderous rulers and accomplices of the rulers, rampantly moved everywhere, exposing and attacking this group of unscrupulous figures, which was the extremely important goal of Lu Xun's fighting life.
In fact, in addition to ancient books and social reality, the support of Lu Xun's novels often lies in "human nature".
In the profound or absurd, Lu Xun's deep excavation of human nature is the deeper support force of his works.
Old things urge people to be old, and new editors are renewed.
Tomorrow, we will start a "newly compiled" literary journey from the ancient myth of "Nuwa Replenishing the Heaven", so stay tuned!