The authentic local nostalgia touches the softness of the heart. In the spring, reading Xiao Qin's novella "The Hidden Boat" (published in the seventh issue of "People's Literature" in 2022), my mind flew and I was immersed in the space of "Moon Terrace". "Moon Terrace" is a typical environment that holds up "The Hidden Boat", showing Tucheng, Donghuang, Xishui, Chishui, Luzhou, Hejiang...... The local style and customs of the Chishui River area in this area concentrate on the historical stories here. The reason why I am so kind and attentive is because I have lived in this area for nearly 20 years, and in the 70s of the 20th century, the "Swan Pond", where I was a young intellectual, is located in the col on the top of the mountain peak on the east side of the moon platform.
The important sentence floating out of "The Hidden Boat", "Mulberry's chicken, Erlang's wine, and the girl on the moon platform", is naturally familiar, and the local popular one is "the girl in Tucheng", I heard this sentence in my childhood is "playful", and when I was young, I was casually relayed with ridicule, and when the years precipitated, the wind, frost, rain and snow went through the years, but I fell into deep thought, "Why?" The girls of the moon platform and Tucheng grew up and were nurtured in the "wharf culture", squatting or sitting or standing at dusk, eating on the street with rice bowls, watching the passers-by walking through the streets, there are rich businessmen and rich people, there are also peddlers and pawns, what kind of life is here, there must be a specific impact on these "girls".
Girls who grew up in this kind of place, most of them are spicy and capable, generous and hearty, the locals pull the "big two" (fighting cards) game entertainment, counting the hole cards to have "Luzhou Hejiang, the big girl, shouting to play cards, easy to play" the popular phrase, thirteen and turn a bottom, proper "fourteen", it is incredible to change places. I admire the writer's pen power, describe the customs and customs and human feelings, delicately stretch and enter the wood, and portray the cultural connotation of "girls and families" in this side of the water and soil and this side of the people, which is really vivid and endowed with rich aesthetic meaning.
It is a common truth that all literary works that readers call "good" always have a unique feature that attracts attention, and it is the literary existence of "this one" that is recognized by everyone, and the literary achievements condensed by the writer's painstaking efforts. "The Hidden Boat" describes "the state of the worldview of the mother and daughter generations in different periods, with strong local feelings (2022 People's Literature Award Speech)", and the "this one" of "Moon Terrace" grabs the reader about the "hometown plot" of "Fox Dead Head Hill". "No matter how far we go, the first step must be from our hometown. It is the umbilical cord of our emotions that always binds us tightly. "What Zhao Xuefeng said in the preface of "Flowers on Mo" is a practical and theoretical understanding, and it is also my deep feeling when I read "The Hidden Boat".
The author writes the secret love and kindness with his vigorous pen power and abundant literary atmosphere (the award speech of the reader's favorite short and medium story writer of "Selected Novels"), which depicts the artistic picture of survival, life and life, asks and thinks about the meaning and value of our life, and contains great feelings for the "present" era, which makes people deeply feel the "painstaking solitude" of creation.
The historical weight of "The Hidden Boat" and the strong local flavor expand the space for reading and interpretation. In the realistic portrayal of the realistic tone, the history of the moon platform for decades is artistically presented through the image of two generations of moon platform women, the solid historical facts and historical insights make the work stable and far-reaching, this "moon platform", just by the "long and wide" river, the women here "have been accustomed to seeing the men on the river since childhood, black and red oily chests, hard and powerful arms, at dusk, the muscles of the men's whole body are shining with oily red light in the sunset - that is the man", grounded, through the earth's veins, The regional atmosphere is blowing in the face, and the skillful use of dialects adds to its strong local charm, allowing the wings of literary and artistic imagination to fly in the air.
One of the keys to the success of a novel is character building. In "The Hidden Boat", it can be said that each character has left a distinct impression on the reader, with speech and actions, personality traits, and smoothness. The author skillfully designed the characters into several pairs of relationships, so that "they" "live" in the novel, corresponding to each other, complementing each other, and complementing each other. Among them, the seven girls and Haro "mother and daughter" love each other and kill each other deeply; Seven girls and Xiao He (Lao He, He Changsheng) "mother and son-in-law" experienced the collision of ideas; Harlow and Yunlai "mother and son", intergenerational "words of heart"; He Changsheng and Yushan are happy with "officials and businessmen", and the argument between officials and unclear officials; Between Haro and Lao Bao's colleagues, He Changsheng's "outsider" relationship with the bartender, and Harlow and He Changsheng's wife and husband...... The appearance of all beings vividly brings to life the fireworks in the historical era, and it turns out that they are "like this".
The characters shown in the novel and the emotional concern and compassion contained in it are enough to make people enter the artistic world of the light of hope. The seven girls of the mother are left behind for life (children), and they struggle hard in tenacity and forbearance, and their daughter Haro sails for her career (husband), moving forward bravely, without hesitation, and persistently pursuing, and she paints the images and factual footnotes of this side of the water and soil "the girl has every family", "The river that flows away does not flow backwards, and the girl who leaves does not look back", reflecting the stubbornness and even obsession of the "girl grabbing wine and drinking" here. This unique environment makes the "girl" often show a "fierce mouth" (knife mouth, tofu heart) character in daily life. It is completely conceivable that if the women here are not "fierce forks", how can she become the "ship boss"? How can you get the nourishment of life? How can you succeed in your career? From a historical point of view, most of the girls on this side of the water and soil have achieved their careers and realized the value of their lives in the "murderous fork".
The award speech of the People's Literature said that the image of the "boat" has the connotation of symbolism, which is appropriate. "The Hidden Boat" and life is a kind of metaphor use and description, which has the potential to deepen and expand the thinking and exploration of the value and meaning of life. The ship of one man, the ship of a group of people, the ship of one class of people, the ship of one era of people...... How to drive, where to go, and the significance and value of the ship...... We see the great feelings of the author's era and the idea and pursuit of optimism and goodness, the image of the "boat" symbolizes the spirit of struggle and exploration, the pace of life never stops, the mother and daughter two generations, watch or leave, stay or sail, as long as the dream sets sail, it will be indestructible, is dealing with the sky, the gentleman to self-improvement.
"The Hidden Boat" has a profound meaning and is quite interesting, and I experience the allegorical expression of Zhuangzi and the metaphorical use of "boat", which carries life in the "boat", the "gully boat" that unconsciously changes and migrates, the admonition that pushes the boat on the land and the ark and the river, especially the wonderful theory of "untied boat" that obeys the choice of the heart and experiences the truth and joy of life, and then reads the "bottomless boat" of the Journey to the West, and then aesthetically examines the "present", which should be a useful attempt, and it is a useful attempt to escape the "fireworks" in the "fireworks" Self", to distinguish the human being and the fullness of life, is it possible for us to obtain a little "ethereal"?
Text/Li Pei
Editor/Chen Jiangnan
Second Instance/Yao Man
Third Trial/Huang Wei