Li Zhun (1928-2000), famous writer and screenwriter. The films written by him— Li Shuangshuang (1962), The Great River Rushing (1978), Wrangler (1982 adapted from Zhang Xianliang's novel Spirit and Flesh), Garland Under the Mountain (co-edited with Li Cunbao in 1984), and The Old Man and the Dog (1993) all had a huge impact on that year. Forty years ago, when the first half of his novel "The Yellow River Flows East" was published, it was at the beginning of reform and opening up...
He was the curator of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature and the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association
First, the breath of spring in literature and art
In the two or three years since 1978, the east wind of China's reform, opening up, and ideological emancipation has prompted a strong spring atmosphere to sprout in the field of literature and art. People generally believe that in today's literary and art garden, a hundred flowers are in full bloom, and socialist literary and artistic creation is full of vitality, presenting a thriving and prosperous scene. From the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" revolutionary poetry to the exploration of new poems in recent days; the short story has appeared unprecedented prosperity since the founding of the People's Republic of China, with outstanding achievements; the novella has flourished in the past year; and some films have also begun to flash new brilliance... Among the various types of literary and artistic creation, the novel has also been eager to try recently. Zhou Keqin's "Xu Mao and His Daughters" became a blockbuster and became famous throughout the country; followed by a number of books that have been published or will be published, such as Mo Yingfeng's "General Yin", Feng Jicai's "Divine Lamp", Luo Guoshi and Liu Dihua's "Black Water Soul", Ling Li's "Star Grass", Wu Yinyi's "Pear Garden Spectrum" and so on. Now, we have in our hands the old writer Li Zhun's "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part 1), which is a new attempt in the creation of a new batch of novels.
Many people feel more and more strongly that a new trend has emerged in socialist literature and art in today's new historical period. This trend, after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, became even more turbulent and unstoppable. This trend has a strong impact on and effectively promotes today's writers and works, and has brought about many new breakthroughs and new changes in literary and artistic creation. Among them, a very important breakthrough and change is to restore the realist tradition of literature, pay attention to writing people, writing about people who really live, people with full flesh and blood and full of vitality. This is the result of literary creation according to the reality of objective life, according to the laws of art itself. I think this is a significant sign of the true spring breath of literature and art.
Comrade Li Zhun has constantly explored in his life and in his literary creation. Following the film script "The Great River Rushes", his novel "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part 1) re-created with the same theme is a new result of this exploration. The writer said in the novel "The Opening Words": "The Yellow River Flows East" "writes about the fate of seven peasant families." Wrote about the joys and sorrows of each of their families. Wrote about the gold-like qualities and simple feelings that flashed out of them. "To write about fate is to write about the fate of people in life. Writing about joy and sorrow is not an end, it is a means; it is to shape the people who really live by writing about joy and sorrow, revealing "the life force on which our nation depends for survival and continuation." I think that "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part I) is trying to explore and advance according to this idea, which is a new attempt to write human literature.
The first volume was published in October 1979
Second, Li Zhun's new attempts to create
Li Zhun was familiar with farmers, and he wrote about farmers. However, the peasants in the novel "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part I) are neither the heroes and good men who have been common in the past, nor the artistic model of artificially elevated; neither the so-called "intermediate figures" who have gone from backwardness to transformation, nor the "toys" that have been added by people to carry a certain class pattern... They are ordinary peasants, but they really feel that they are all real people living. They may have shortcomings and faults of one kind or another, and even bear the imprint of life with certain traditional habits, but it makes people feel that life itself is like that. Therefore, such a figure, flesh and blood, vivid, he has real human feelings, human thoughts, human language, human customs, and perhaps they also carry a certain local atmosphere, revealing the color of a certain place. After reading the works, one by one the living characters seem to be visible and touchable, as if our countrymen, our close neighbors, and even like our fathers, brothers and sisters, so real, so kind, convincing, and moving. I think that one of the valuable features of "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part I) lies in the new explorations and new attempts it has made in shaping the image of the real peasants, which deserves our good study and full attention.
Hai Changsong and Hai Laoqing are typical images of Chinese farmers who are simple, kind and industrious. They love their hometown, they love the land, they regard the land as their own lifeblood, the livestock are distressed by their own children; they do not seek a false name, they are very responsible, they do not opportunistically, they do not slip and slip, but rely on their own diligence and hard work, and exchange years and months of hard work for a little pitiful necessity for the continuation of life. But they are not perfect, or have such shortcomings, or have such defects, or are simple and not flexible enough, or kind but lack of agility, or diligent, dutyless but too simple and simple. Li Zhun is skilled in portraying characters, good at selecting one or two at most three or four expressive details or specific plots, using a very refined literary language with the thick earthy atmosphere of the Yellow River, three strokes and two strokes and one sketch, the image of a character is very clearly presented to us. You see, Changsong made his home clean and his family surrounded by walls, just to realize a small wish in his life: to buy a few acres of "own land". The novel uses such a plot, no more language, and portrays the strong and deep feelings of a peasant who regards the land as his own life. Later, they were exiled to Luoyang City, and the two children pushed the foreign car uphill to earn a few yuan, but Changsong did not believe it, and he was angry, suspecting that the child's money did not come from the right way; the next day, he also secretly ran to observe the child's movements, and with just a few rough strokes, he wrote how vivid and vivid the image of a peasant who was upright, simple and kind! Hai Laoqing, who is as upright, simple and kind as Changsong, loves the calf like he loves his own eyes; he is greatly annoyed that his daughter loves and loves to go to the city to live for the family, beats his wife, beats himself, and insists on leaving the home he has been looking for for a long time... These two plots have already shown very powerfully that Changsong and Lao Qing have a rather similar point in common, that is, the pure and simple character of the Chinese peasants, and they both have distinct personalities and different weaknesses; Lao Qing is older than Changsong, and the burden of history and ideological baggage are also heavier than Changsong, so he thinks that the doctrine book is "humiliating" and not done by serious people. This is the deep imprint of the rings of history on him. Characters like Changsong and Lao Qing, their profound life basis and profound ideological significance, I think, are deeply felt by anyone who has read this book.
Xu Qiuzhai in the novel is said to be the writer's favorite and heavily depicted personal figure. This image is unique and distinctive. He was a well-informed, experienced, helpful, righteous, resourceful and upright old man. He gave Li Mai advice and cried loudly for his dead father, so that the rich man Hai Fuyuan had to bear the pain of buying a coffin and burying Li Jiazi; he was upset and made a big fuss for a few women who did not know each other, and asked for salt money; he also used a plan for Wang Pao to recover the full price of the donkey that they cheated on him from Chu Yuanhai, the head of the Japanese devil's security regiment... He gained a wealth of wisdom from books and from his own lifelong experience of falling and falling, and he gave advice to the poor people, spoke out in righteousness, and took pleasure in helping others, but never wanted any reward or reward. The most touching thing is that when he and Liang Qing and Xiao Chang'e's sister-in-law were exiled to the streets of Xi'an, they were seriously ill, and they struggled to carry a stick to the front of the zhongzheng gate, wrote a note, and wrote: "The hometown is flooded, a vast ocean, the children are separated, and the old wife is dead." I was seriously ill, my family was cut off from food, and I was a gentleman who passed by, begging for help. Then he fell to the ground and prostrated his head on the paper, "Reading this, I can't help but burst into tears!" This septuagenarian, ragged and begging, but what a pure heart, flashed a noble character, the beauty of his thoughts and the beauty of his soul, it was really touching and moving! If it can be said that the portrayal of changsong and Laoqing in the work carries a strong and seductive earthy atmosphere, reflecting the writer's pursuit of a beautiful moral concept, then the fine depiction of Xu Qiuzhai in the work shows the writer's strong love and hatred feelings and the writer's yearning for the lofty ideal of life.
In his later years, Li Zhun
The novel also uses humor and humor to portray the vivid image of Wang Run. He, with a brain, a lot of small ideas, will also drill camps, but some selfishness, love to play personal small calculations, love to take advantage of a little cheap. The writer has sympathy for Wang Pao, has whipping, deeply praises and demeans in humor, and is full of tears in ridicule. Wang ran away to find his mother's mouth and used a small donkey to catch his feet on the Dongda Road, but was tricked into taking his donkey by the guards of chu Yuanhai, the leader of the Han traitor regiment, and with the help of Xu Qiuzhai, it was difficult to get the donkey money back. If the plot of losing the donkey and asking for money is just a small joke for Wang Pao, then the tortuous experience of the "Xiping Stone Classic" is a severe punishment for Wang Pao's selfish and speculative psychology. Originally, he inadvertently dug up a bluestone in the midst of suffering, but he wanted to make a fortune with it; a landlord gave him twenty acres of water to water the land, and he asked for a price, asking for "an extra calf"; as a result, the chicken flew and egg was beaten, falsely accused of "adultery with the Communist Party," and detained for more than a month, and the "Xiping Stone Classic" was also given to Commissioner Liu in vain. Wang Pao not only did not get rich, but also caused a catastrophe, almost destroying the family. It is worth noting that the artistic brush and ink of the work about Wang Run are not satirical for the sake of irony, but for the sake of humor. While exposing the weaknesses and defects of the characters, the main pen power is to excavate the profound socio-historical reasons hidden behind the phenomena of life: the fate and encounters of this poor peasant in that kind of society, who has no way out, who runs into walls everywhere, and how complex the social class relations are and the darkness and unfairness of the society in that period! Through the shaping of Wang Pao's image, the novel shows a broader ideological content and a deeper social significance.
Although the writer is quite stingy with pen and ink for these characters in the novel, however, it is often just a few rough strokes that depict the characters so flesh and blood so full of vitality, their thoughts, qualities, morality, spirit, so concrete, so image, so vivid, so real. These characters are very ordinary, as if from their bodies we can feel the taste of the thick water droplets of the Yellow River, we can smell the fragrant and seductive smell of the earth, because they are all people who live in the land of the motherland! And these people are the creation of the writer's real art, the product of generalization processing and typicalization. Therefore, when I read "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part 1), I really have a kind of artistic aesthetic enjoyment. At the same time, in the enjoyment of this artistic beauty, I feel the power of thought, ethics and morality and the simple, deep and fiery feelings of the Chinese peasants, as well as the spark of wisdom and the flash of spirit that radiate from this power and feeling. This may be the "life force on which our nation depends for its survival and continuation" pursued and expressed by the writer. I think this is our national spirit and the spirit of the times at that time. This kind of ideological and spiritual power is not preached to everyone through the preaching of writers or the interpretation of certain political concepts, but through the depiction of flesh-and-blood and lifelike characters, through the subtle function of art, from the charm of art to infect and enlighten readers. In the final analysis, this is the result of the writer's loyalty to life and reality, the courage to write his true feelings, the courage to express his true insights, the courage to express his deep feelings, and the courage to constantly explore and pursue artistic creation. I think this is the fundamental reason for Li Zhun's success in making new attempts in creation, especially in the shaping of characters.
In 1985, the next volume was published and the first volume was reprinted
Third, explore and move forward in life
Indeed, Li Zhun was familiar with the peasants, loved them, and was a well-known writer who was deeply rooted in the rural areas of Henan. From the beginning of his first famous work, "Can't Take That Road", his pen has been diligently pioneering the fertile wilderness of the motherland's vast rural life. He is constantly exploring in his life and constantly making progress in creation. Therefore, when we read his "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part 1), we can't help but feel a strong earthy smell and local flavor coming towards us! Li Zhun's works are deeply rooted in the fertile soil of life and have profound national characteristics. You see, Hai Changsong threw away his life's hard work, almost ruined his family, no rice under the pot, only in exchange for seven acres of sand and brick land ——
That night, Changsong did not sleep, and in the middle of the night a person quietly ran to the head of the sandy ground, facing the stars, wanting to laugh and cry. He squatted on the ground, grabbed a handful of soil and put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, and there seemed to be a sweet smell in the soil; it was his favorite smell as a child. Finally he simply lay on the ground, his body pressed against the wet soil, and he felt very comfortable. The moon rose slowly, and this poor man in his thirties felt that the moon was so beautiful for the first time in his life, and he finally said to the moon like a child: "Grandma Moon, bless me!" On August 15 this year, my family steamed a big date cake for you! My sea long pine is now a 'household' of more than ten acres of land!"
(page 70)
Through delicate pen and ink and sincere psychological portrayal, the novel shows Changsong's deep feelings for the land. This feeling of his also deeply infected the reader. We seemed to be like long pine, smelling the sweet fragrance coming out of the soil, and felt the comfort and moisture of the soil! This is the natural flow of the writer's blood and sweat with the peasants' blood and sweat, and the pulse is beating in one place, but it is also a sentence with true feelings and words with true meaning.
Looking at it again, the novel is also very emotional about Hai Laoqing's heartache for his only calf, and his love for a bullock cart that he has worked hard to make. The Kuomintang officer loaded boxes of bullets and two bundles of rifles on his small ox cart; Hai Laoqing saw it in his eyes and hurt in his heart. "Every time I loaded something, Lao Qing's heart sank down"; the new car he had just oiled was "pressed to a squeak, and Lao Qing felt particularly distressed"; the plump and fat body of the battalion commander's wife suddenly sat on the car, and Lao Qing "looked at his cow again and couldn't help but sigh softly." Therefore, he himself preferred to walk and catch the car, but he could not bear to sit in the car again. This kind of peasant's deep feelings can only be experienced by writers who truly understand the true value of the cattle and carts that farmers have worked so hard to get, truly understand the psychology of farmers, and share happiness and hardships with farmers, and can write so realistically and movingly!
...... There are many more examples of this. For example, tianliang, regardless of life and death, also had to flee back to his hometown and report to the villagers the strong feeling that the Yellow River had been pickpocketed by the Kuomintang; the deep affection of the poor peasants in Chiyanggang who fled the village and helped each other in the midst of suffering; the refugees who were living in exile and still cherished their hometowns and looked forward to the beautiful vision of being able to return to the flooded countryside in the future to rebuild their homes; in the midst of great wandering and great tribulations, those ordinary croppers still had such tenacious vitality. They also emit precious qualities like gold... These many touching plots and vivid artistic descriptions are the real artistic creation of the writer who is faithful to the original appearance of objective life, and also the bold exploration and attempt of the writer to be faithful to the inner laws of art; it is the writer who constantly explores the way forward of society in life, and it is also the writer who constantly explores the way of artistic development in literary creation. Therefore, the work has become a true portrayal of the historical life of the people in the Huangpan Area, and an objective reflection of the era and social reality at that time.
I think this is the main experience of the success of "The Yellow River Flows East" (Part I), which deserves our serious summary and attention, and also the valuable point of the new attempts made in Li Zhun's creation.
"The Yellow River Flows East" won the first part of the second Mao Dun Literature Award in 1985 and was reprinted many times.
Revised in July 1980