"The Lychee of Chang'an" is a historical novel with a light comedy nature created by Ma Boyong, with the vision of a small person, it vividly tells the hardships and difficulties of "riding the red dust concubine laughing, no one knows that it is the lychee", and reflects the luxury of the court in the Tang Dynasty, the sourness of the grassroots officials and the pain of the working people.
The protagonist of the novel is Li Shande, a petty official from the Shanglin Department, who has worked hard in the capital for many years, and finally saved money and bought a small mansion with a fragrant loan. In order to transport the fresh lychees from Lingnan to the capital, Li Shande borrowed the power of wealthy businessmen, mobilized a large number of official resources, and used various methods to preserve the freshness of lychees.
The content of the novel is not complicated, and the narrative structure adopts two lines, one bright and one dark, the bright line is the twists and turns of Li Shande's 5,000-mile process of buying lychees, and the dark line is that Li Shande bought a house and became a house slave and had to take the risk of going out to buy lychees. Li Shande, who bought a house with a fragrant loan, and the current house slaves formed a reflection of history and reality, touching the sensitive and soft place in the reader's heart, and people couldn't help but empathize with it after reading.
I think the most striking thing about this novel is that the author's familiarity with the history and culture of the Tang Dynasty adds thickness and weight to the novel. The novel cleverly intersperses the official hierarchy system, administrative operation system, post station transportation, food life, clothing, taxes, customs and other contents of the Tang Dynasty, and describes a large number of advanced agricultural technologies at that time, showing a facet of social life in the Tang Dynasty for ordinary readers, and becoming a window to understand the society at that time. These rich knowledge of history, culture, and social life have stimulated readers' curiosity and made people want to stop reading.
For example, in the novel, the operation process of the official document at that time is described in detail, and it is obvious that the author has done a lot of in-depth research, and the text reads: "Li Shande picked it up in confusion and looked at it carefully, and found that it had been in the hands of the Shangshi Bureau, Taifu Temple, Gongshi Envoy and Lingnan Chaoji Envoy, and then sent it to Sinong Temple." And Sinong Siqing didn't say a word, and directly sent it to the Shanghai Forestry Department. In just a few sentences, it was introduced that the procurement of lychees would have to be approved by six departments, including the Shangshi Bureau, Taifu Temple, Gongshi Envoy, Lingnan Dynasty Envoy, Sinong Temple, and Shanglin Bureau.
Regarding the preservation of lychees, an important part of the transport of lychees in the novel, the author explained in the "Explanation after the Text": "As for the many preservation methods mentioned in the text, they are actually taken from various records from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, such as urn wax sealing, water and ice, bamboo seed storage, cutting branches into the soil, small plant transplantation, etc. Considering that there were not many differences in ancient Chinese science and technology, it is not impossible for the Tang Dynasty to achieve this even if there is no record. It can be seen that the author has a wide range of knowledge, a large amount of reading, and a large grasp and full use of agricultural science and technology knowledge, which enriches the content of the novel and opens the reader's eyes.
The success of the novel "The Lychee of Chang'an" is not only due to the ingenuity of the author's narrative, the novelty of the subject matter, and the high attention to the content, but also the author's professionalism and profound historical and cultural literacy are important guarantees for the success of the novel. Because the author has a clear understanding of the social structure, bureaucratic system, and cultural life of the Tang Dynasty, and skillfully uses it in the novel, it expands the depth and breadth of the novel, increases the knowledge and interest of the novel, and successfully attracts readers. This is particularly important at a time when the quality of the whole people is improving, especially when the education of readers is generally improved and the reading needs are diversified. Because a simple literary narrative is no longer enough to attract the attention of readers, a writer can only stimulate readers' interest in reading by providing readers with broader knowledge and richer content.
Ouyang Xiu said in "61 Poems": "Gai Qixiong is erudite in literature and has more than enough pen power, so there is no way to do it, not like the poets of the previous life, just in the wind and clouds, grass and trees, etc., and those who are trapped by Xu Dong." The "Xu Dong is trapped" in this sentence comes from an allusion. There was a Jinshi named Xu Dong, who once gave a poem title to nine famous poets and monks in the early Song Dynasty, and agreed that they could not use common words such as "mountain, water, wind, clouds, bamboo, stone, flower, grass, snow, ......" when writing poems. "Xu Dong is trapped", in fact, the irony is that the poet at that time had a narrow writing scope, a narrow vision, and insufficient knowledge reserves, resulting in only the creation of works of wind and snow, snow and moon, Shizhu Mountain Birds, and sad spring and autumn, but could not create novel and unique poems that had not been written by predecessors.
How to solve the "dilemma of Xu Dong" is an important challenge for writers. In addition to having a subtle grasp of words and a proficient grasp of literary technical skills, a writer also needs an accurate and detailed understanding of the content of his creation, and it is best to become an expert in one or more professions, or even an expert writer, in order to express his insights in the field of creation and increase the connotation and tension of his work.
Many years ago, writer Xu Kun's novel "Football on a Dog's Day" left a deep impression on me. The novel is vividly written, the characters are vividly portrayed, especially some of the professional terms about watching football in the novel, for me, a football layman, it is completely a "football strategy", I don't know if this female writer can play football, even if she can't play football, she must be a die-hard fan. Writer A Lai has studied botany, is familiar with the names and Xi of more than 1,000 plants, and in "The Ideal Country of Plants and Trees: Phenology of Chengdu" and "Stairway of the Earth", a large number of alpine plateau plants are described, highlighting the majestic and open atmosphere.
There is a saying in the journalistic profession that a good journalist should be an expert journalist. The same should be true of good writers. Only by becoming an expert writer can we provide readers with richer knowledge, broad horizons, and profound thinking, and can we avoid following others and "chewing on the buns that others have eaten", and can we avoid "being trapped by Xu Dong" and write unique literary works.
Source: "Reading Times" Issue 01, 2024
Author: Tu Yuguo (The author is a special contributor to this magazine)
Editor: Wu Xicheng
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