Cultural Perspectives | Dip into the heart of real life from the urban frame

On social platforms, some netizens joked that "camping, skiing, and cross-country" have become the "three-piece suit" of current urban vacations; Sometimes they are described as an ambitious group, banished by ambitions and desires in the torrent of the times, pulled by the success within reach, and sometimes described as insecure, with highly sensitive nerves prone to falling into fear of falling down, and tired of switching between tension and relaxation.

Critics remind writers to accumulate enough courage and strength to deal with the hot and hot life experience, to refine and excavate the deep core of the material of rapid changes in social relations, and to open up a broad channel for realist urban writing.

Compared with the physical space, it is more necessary to go deep into the psychological space of the undercurrent

"The city sounds like a physical space, but for writers, it is a space of value, a space of concept, and a space of psychology. On the surface, urban writing is a question of what to write, but at the core of it is vision and understanding, and it is a question of how to write. According to Pan Kaixiong, a critic and deputy director of the Novel Committee of the China Writers Association, some urban literary themes look fashionable and playful at first glance, "but they still follow the old rural style in their bones, and their value judgments or global modern consciousness are very thin."

Some readers complained that some of the works were set in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, but they were "blurry" when they read. Some works under the banner of urban narrative, even if they write about shikumen, courtyard houses, or industrial reform and urbanization, are still lacking in truly showing the spirit of modern urbanites. The psychological state of self-confidence, superiority and anxiety of this group is becoming more and more evident in the frame of urban literature. Lai Yingyan, deputy editor-in-chief and critic of Shanghai Literature, hopes that more works can face the spiritual dilemma and pursuit of urban people.

Huang Yuning, deputy editor-in-chief and writer of Shanghai Translation Publishing House, tends to use special structures to stimulate a sense of absurdity, highlighting the unique situation of the "middle" in the urban ecology. In her view, the history of the development of fiction actually has its own "urban" attributes—the gathering of people, the exchange and sharing of stories. "The complexity, the multifaceted nature of the city, and the multiplicity of time and space that have always been what have drawn me to study it, to describe it, and to be fascinated by it. ”

From another perspective, the dislocation between people, things, cities, and the virtual and the real is precisely the gap where literature can grow. Taking the novel collection "Decent Life" as an example, critic Zhan Yubing believes that many stories in the book write "new people and new things" that are very iconic of the times, and provide insight into the more subtle living conditions and feelings of urban people. For example, in "Thirteen Don't Rely on", Kang Xiaoyu suddenly "ran wild" at the banquet, behind which was the accumulation and outbreak of mid-life crisis; in "September", Chen September's singing draft road was full of twists and turns, and under the cloak of popular themes, the dark tide surged the constancy and changes of the daily life and human relations of contemporary Chinese.

"In the past, some existing writings are not valid, but we don't have a clear answer to what is effective urban writing and how to express contemporary Chinese urban groups. Zhang Lingling's collection of short stories, "Night Cherry Blossoms and Four Seasons", explores women's growth and choices. She bluntly said that women in the modern transition are often in the midst of contradictions—they are educated, but their mental pace is still slightly behind the pace of the times, "they have difficulty understanding themselves, and knowledge, education, and experience still do not play a big role in the moment of encountering problems." And that's where fiction can make a big difference.

Many of his works are closely related to the writer's own experience of urban life. In the latest novel "The Man Who Built the House" by post-90s writer Zhou Wanjing, four young people who are connected by architecture spend a period of wanton youth in a foreign country, and their emotions are complex and intertwined under the whirlpool. Sorting out the context of Zhou Wanjing's work, her protagonists often have obvious cross-cultural and global backgrounds, which constitute a vivid intertextuality with the writer's trajectory of studying and working in many metropolises around the world.

Beware of falling into the "assembly line" writing trap

For a long time, local literature dominated the territory of local novels. Forty years have passed, and after the high development of society, the whole city is almost "full", and people have slowly shifted from the pursuit of material things to the search for spiritual satisfaction. Whether a writer can write about the spiritual profundity of urban people is a particularly big challenge.

"At present, urban writing needs to break the dilemma of empty content and narrow characters, and be careful to fall into the output line of life mode and spiritual temperament. For example, several characters with a particularly high degree of homogeneity smear the old kernel of sweeteners of love, hatred, and resentment around a small point that seems to be completely insulated from social reality, spinning back and forth in the closed loop of the story, like some characters wearing different masks in the same game on the same merry-go-round. Li Linrong, a professor at Beijing Second University of Foreign Chinese, believes that the social impact of urban lifestyle and urban consumer culture is stronger and more prevalent than in the past, and today's cities are more inclusive, complex and rich than ever before. Internet celebrity landmarks or some kind of lifestyle that follow the trend are particularly weak and weak, and most of them are entrenched in information cocoons and small circles of life, with a narrow mental space. ”

At this stage, urban literature urgently needs a new way of thinking and a new language. Zhang Pingjin, director of the Center for Urban Literature and Culture at Tongji University, said that the literature of urban middle groups should not be closed, but should be closely related to the actual conditions of Chinese society, various groups of people and various lifestyles. Li Weichang, vice president of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House and critic, pointed out that the emerging urban group refers to a mobile space or class, and the constant change leads to the psychological fragility of the group, which is easy to be in a state of "hovering". The structure of citizens' feelings has changed, and how to define "happiness" will become an issue that needs urgent attention.

In this regard, Chen Tao, deputy editor-in-chief and critic of People's Literature magazine, suggested that real life should be reflected in urban literary works, and be vigilant against "destroying all the way but not rebuilding". In other words, there is the courage to shatter and the courage to rebuild. For example, writer Zhou Hongxiang's novel "When Burning" focuses on the emotional relationship under "her era" and the female power under "her economy", outlining the dense fireworks in the mountain city of Chongqing. The three entrepreneurial women face the vortex of life together, which may also be a hot choice for the new urban group.

Text: Xu Yang

All photos are provided by the publisher

Editor|Wang Qiutong