"Trying to translate the words of intellectuals into their words"
In May 1943, Zhao Shuli wrote "Little Erhei Married", but the publication encountered a lot of resistance, until Peng Dehuai read the manuscript and wrote a note that "it is rare to write a popular story like this from the investigation and research of the masses", and the novel was published. It was the winter of that year, when Zhao Shuli read Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art, he was extremely excited. He also wrote "Li Youcai's Words" and "The Change of Li Jiazhuang".
Zhao Shuli told stories, and the language was vivid and vivid, and this writing method soon attracted the attention of Zhou Yang, Mao Dun, Guo Moruo and others, who wrote comments and praised them. In July 1947, the Jinji-Hebei Luyu Border District Literary Association held a 16-day meeting to focus on Zhao Shuli's works, and then Chen Huangmei wrote an article entitled "Moving Toward Zhao Shuli". This article not only distills the slogan of "Zhao Shuli's direction" and links Zhao Shuli's creative achievements with the implementation of the spirit of the speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum, but also discloses for the first time a statement by Zhao Shuli himself - "The people like to see and play a role politically." Since then, this statement has become a successful label for Zhao Shuli's creation, and has also become an effective footnote to "Zhao Shuli's direction".
Zhao Shuli Profile Picture
In the discussion of "rewriting the history of literature" in the late 1980s, this statement was once called "pediatrics", and some researchers even said: "Measured by the concept of literature and the level of art, Zhao Shuli's creation is a regression compared with his predecessors, from the high level of modern culture such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, to the low level of peasant culture." "This criticism is problematic. Obviously, critics lack "sympathy for understanding" of Zhao Shuli's creation, and his views are the product of a linear view of historical progress. In this way, complex problems are simplified.
Soon after Zhao Shuli "entered the city" in 1949, he wrote his first creation talk, and one of the statements was crucial. He said that since he had come from a peasant background and had gone to school, he had to speak to both peasants and intellectuals. However, when talking to the peasants, if they are not careful, they will bring out the "student style", and they will often talk about it, "If you are accustomed to nails, you will learn a little obedience, and even if you introduce the words of intellectuals to them in the future, you must try to translate the words of intellectuals into their words, and after a long time it will become a habit." Notice the word "translation" here! What Zhao Shuli wants to express is that there are actually two sets of discourse systems: one is the intellectual discourse system rooted in the ancient scholar tradition and nurtured by the European wind and rain; the other is the indigenous folk discourse system. These two sets of words were originally heard by chickens and dogs, and old and dead did not interact with each other, but Zhao Shuli tried to let the former enter the latter and let the latter know the former. So between the two sets of discourses, he began to act as a "translator" or "second hand". And because the peasants in the 1940s and 1950s were basically illiterate, Zhao Shuli, who was bent on writing for the peasants, had to simplify the story every time he wrote, and established his own narrative mode and formed his own expression system in the mode of "speaking-listening" instead of "writing-reading". This is the origin of "ordinary people like to watch".
The opera of the same name, rehearsed according to Zhao Shuli's novel "Little Two Black Marriage", was widely acclaimed and has been sung to this day. The picture shows the opera "Little Two Black Marriage" rehearsed by the Shanghai Opera House in the 1950s and 1960s. Profile picture
As for "playing a role politically", Zhao Shuli's intentions are obviously more far-reaching. For example, the reason why he wrote "Evil Does Not Pressure Righteousness" is because in the process of land reform, he saw that "hooligans mixed into the cadres and activist groups and still shake the wind on the heads of the masses", and at the same time, "a small number of cadres in power are prone to deterioration." Therefore, he "wanted to write about the various lessons and lessons learned in the whole process of local land reform at that time, so that the cadres and the masses in the land reform could read and avoid what they knew." Obviously, this kind of realistic concern is also the proper meaning of the topic of "political functioning". In this sense, Zhao Shuli is a writer of socialist realism and a writer of critical realism.
"I want to work with the masses in a village to the point where I can't walk away."
In the 1950s, "Going Deep into Life" was both a resounding slogan and a statute for all writers. Now it seems that the "deep life" of that year has formed two typical models, one is Liu Qing-style - directly settled in Huangfu Village; the other should be Zhao Shuli-style - although the hukou is in Beijing, he has been "going to the countryside" for many years, so that some people think: "Beijing is basically a hotel for Old Zhao." "When others go down, the purpose is to prepare materials for creation, and to go down as a writer; when Lao Zhao goes to the countryside, he does not take this as a goal; he goes to the countryside to participate in work, and he finds themes or problems in his work, and he can write things, but he never goes down for the sake of writing things."
In December 1951, at the home of Lao She (right), Lao She, Wang Yaping (middle), and Zhao Shuli (left) were discussing the method of writing novels. Profile picture
Indeed it is. In 1952, Zhao Shuli wrote an article entitled "Determination to Go among the Masses", expressing his desire to "go to the masses of workers, peasants, and soldiers unconditionally for a long time." From then on, going to the Shangdang area to "go to the countryside" became his main work. Eight years later, he talked about the experience of "going to the countryside", focusing on summarizing the benefits of "long", that is, long-term: long is pro, long is complete, long is general, and long is about. In his view, going deep into life is not to stay in one place for ten and a half days and a half, but to live for a long time. But to live is not to observe life, but to participate in it, to participate in it, to be able to "work together" with the masses. He wrote: "I think that if I can work with the masses in a village to the point of not being able to walk away, I can say that I have a certain degree of harmony with the thoughts and feelings of the masses. ”
The so-called "working together until we can't leave" means thinking about what the masses think and being anxious about what the masses are anxious about; thinking about the affairs of the masses day and dreaming about them at night; and the relationship with the masses can be described as "uncles and uncles, generations of relatives, broken bones and tendons." This is the highest realm of going deep into life. And when Zhao Shuli is so familiar with life that when the villagers say the first half of the sentence, he can guess and pick up the second half of the sentence, he can "write like a god". In his words, it is "a pout when it is written, and it often makes people feel a little energetic." "Dejin" is the local dialect of the southeast of Jin, and it is also one of Zhao Shuli's mantras, which should mean that the left and right are in an excellent state, and there is a trend of "being able to drink eight or two and drink a pound". Now it seems that Zhao Shuli's "rush to the task" can catch up with the short masterpieces "Registration" and "Exercise and Exercise", and write long works "Three Mile Bay" and "Lingquan Cave", which are obviously related to "Dejin".
Zhao Shuli's novel "Three Mile Bay"
Why can Zhao Shuli "go deep" to such an extent? The reason is that he loves the peasants deeply and loves them deeply. While others needed some "ideological reform" to get closer to the peasants, Zhao Shuli did not need this process at all, because he was originally a peasant among the peasants, or in the words of literary critics, the peasants were already Zhao Shuli's faith. Therefore, in his place, not only is there no problem of the transformation of "petty bourgeoisie", but he has always harbored certain ambitions and impulses, wanting to use peasant culture to transform intellectual culture. His achievements and limitations may be closely related to his explicit and implicit "transformation" moves.
"It is not for the sake of writing to experience life; it is only his own life, so he has a lot to say, so he says so well"
Zhao Shuli also wrote "not strong", especially since the late 1950s, his literary works are not too much, even if he barely writes short stories such as "The Hand That Can't Be Stopped" and "Selling Tobacco Leaves", it seems that he has written very hard, very unsure, in the words of Sun Li, "His creation is slow, restrained, tight, and cautious." Therefore, it has lost the power of youth and pungency in that year."
Zhao Shuli's "late style" is indeed thought-provoking, and the reasons are very complicated. Zhao Shuli is both a writer and an expert in agriculture, and in his heart, he actually does not put the former in the highest position. Especially when he "went to the countryside", the matter of writing took a back seat, and rural work became the top priority of his heart. Kang Mao once heard him say: "Writing a novel is not necessarily popular with the peasants; doing a day of rural work is sure to have an effect for one day. That is to say, in that era when the peasants were still short of food and clothing, Zhao Shuli always attached greater importance to the production of "material food", and its value was far above that of "spiritual food".
Since the early 1950s, the idea of capitalized heroes has also caused a lot of pressure on Zhao Shuli and brought a lot of trouble. He is familiar with the old people, old things, and old people, so "confused", "often reasonable", "iron abacus", "can not afford to provoke" can be vivid in his pen, but the social environment requires the presentation of the spiritual outlook of advanced figures. Zhao Shuli warned young authors: "It is not for the sake of writing to experience life; it is only his own life, so he has a lot to say and say so well." People who live seriously do not whimsically appear in untrue situations in their pens. Since he would enlighten young people in this way, he himself must be even stricter with himself.
Therefore, in my attention to Zhao Shuli, there is also a displacement process from "Zhao Shuli direction" to "Zhao Shuli spirit". If the "Direction of Zhao Shuli" focuses on releasing the leading function of a writer, then the "Spirit of Zhao Shuli" focuses on revealing the spiritual temperament of an intellectual. Only by allowing the two Zhao Shuli to communicate with each other and allowing the "direction" and "spirit" to refer to each other can our understanding of Zhao Shuli be comprehensive, rich, meticulous and profound.
(Author: Zhao Yong, Vice President of China Zhao Shuli Research Association, Professor of College of Literature, Beijing Normal University)