Good books to read | During this time, he treated it with sincerity - reading Chen Tao's "Between the Mountains"

Chen Tao, the author of "Between the Mountains," hung up his post in Lintan County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, for two years as the first secretary of Chigou Village. This book is based on his tenure as first secretary to lead the peasants in mountain villages out of poverty as the main line, and presents the style of this remote town, the social situation and the author's thoughts in many ways. Such a theme is actually not very easy to write, easy to write into work notes and other things, flowing flat and direct narrative. And this book is intimate and touching to read, which is very rare.

The reason why this work can touch people's hearts, I think it is mainly related to the author's sincere attitude, he faces himself and the reality of rural society, not vain and beautiful, not hidden evil. There are two things that impressed me a lot.

The first is the author's depiction of his own loneliness and weakness. Qian Zhongshu said in "Chinese Poetry and Chinese Painting": "The wind is invisible, and the shape of the wind can be seen from the flying sand, wheat waves, and ripples." The same is true of inner emotions, which are often manifested and shaped through concrete things. Alone in a remote and backward highland town, it is inevitable to be lonely. In "Twenty-Four Months of Life" and "Between the Mountains", the author devotes a large space to describing his loneliness through a series of daily life behaviors. He developed an affection for the teapot because he drank tea alone, writing: "When I am extremely bored, I will place all the purple sand pots on the tea table, put different tea leaves into them, fill them with boiling water one by one, cover the lid, and gently moisten the pot with hot water." I love them, and they always stay with me. In countless late nights, we stared at each other, in loneliness, we told each other, in the company, the pot became more and more transparent, the lights were colorful, they were like my closest friends, in this way accompanied me to witness and record this time. Friends who often use purple sand pots know that there is a saying of "raising pots". The author not only raises the pot, so that the body of the pot becomes more and more transparent, but also can talk to it, which may be a meditative state that can only be found in extreme loneliness for a long time. He gradually learned to live with loneliness, so that he surpassed his low mood and better entered the working state. He also wrote about the fragility of solitude, such as the young daughter calling on a snowy night, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.

The second is to face up to the psychological state of backward peasants. The author talks about his creative pursuits in the Afterword: "From the moment I wrote the first word, I knew that this was not just a record of the environment and work, I tried to penetrate the surface of life, to show the image of different groups and to think about complex human nature in an effort to reveal the eternal dilemma." In the fight against poverty, he saw the goodness, simplicity and self-motivation of the peasants, and also tried to face up to and understand their shortcomings; he saw the hardships and helplessness of the grass-roots cadres in the townships and towns in the face of backward peasants. The backwardness of peasant education has always been a problem facing China's enlightenment, revolution and rural reform. This is profoundly reflected in "The Death of Mangla Township". The low-income Family Yang Decai and his wife wanted to make the whole family enjoy the First and Second Types of Minimum Insurance, but they did not meet the conditions, and even dragged the eighty-one-year-old mother to the courtyard of the township government on a snowy night, resulting in the death of the old man. Yang Decai and his wife posted videos in the circle of friends and WeChat groups, causing great pressure on county and township cadres, and making local leaders have to compromise and give in. "The Visitor from the Mountains" is about a woman in her fifties. When the town cadre charged, he mistakenly gave her six hundred yuan. Later, she reluctantly repaid the money, but because of her self-esteem, she and her son repeatedly went to the town government to make trouble. The result also ended in a compromise by the town cadres. The article analyzed and commented: "Poverty is certainly a reason, but for this woman, face is more important, and few people in the neighborhood can bear it." The description and comments on the above characters reflect both the character of the group and the depth of human nature. The author does not simply criticize, but tells the story with sympathy and understanding, revealing a common problem faced in poverty alleviation. Both stories are vivid and realistic, making it feel like they come from the hot life itself.

Although some argue that prose can be fictionalized in order to improve its literary character, the charm of prose is mainly derived from authenticity. Authenticity is inseparable from the author's sincere attitude. In a long series of prose works, the author will intentionally or unintentionally create a self-image as the main body of creation, and the reader's understanding and evaluation of this self-image largely restricts their perception and attitude towards the authenticity of the work. The author of this book frankly faces his own inner negative emotions, does not avoid the dark side of the real society, and creates a trustworthy and sincere self-image. As he said in Twenty-Four Months of Life: "I have been kind to this time. ”

The authenticity of the work is also closely related to its stylistic style. "Between the Mountains" shows a distinct style of the times and a personal style, which can be roughly said to be: simple, fresh, and the combination of sensibility and intelligence. The author Chen Tao has a conscious pursuit of his own stylistic style. He cultivated his logical thinking skills in his work, and his way of thinking further influenced his stylistic style. He said: "I am less and less fond of beautiful but empty articles, I will look at the core of the article, look at the author's thoughts, thinking, see how the author uses the most accurate words, rather than blindly stacked words to express." (See "Between the Mountains") Not long ago I read the updated edition of "Things on earth." Chen Tao's words remind me of Reed's pursuit of prose style, and I think there is something in common between them. Reigan said in the preface: "Personally, I am more inclined to the simplicity, accuracy, vividness, and intellect of prose texts; I advocate writing the largest articles with the least words. In My And Thoreau, he wrote: "Thoreau's writing is 'organic', and this is one of the reasons I love his writings." When I say 'organic' of words, I mainly mean that in such writings, the words themselves seem to be alive, rich in texture and blood temperature, and the thoughts are not directly expressed but expressed with the help of corresponding natural things (so as to facilitate the understanding and acceptance of more people), embodying the harmony and unity of the original people and all things in the spiritual world. I thought that Wei An's concept of "organic" was applicable to the evaluation of Chen Tao's works—his language was "organic", rich in texture and temperature, accurate, vivid, and a combination of sensibility and intellect, which was consistent with the object of his writing.

Regarding prose, there is always a difference between "quality wins" and "literature wins". Chen Shidao's "Houshan Poetry" Yun: "Bao Zhao's poems are gorgeous but not weak. Tao Yuanming's poems are cut to things, but not to the ear. Chen Tao's language is "cut to things", or "things". "Between the Mountains" can be said to be polite and polite, but it is more qualitative - it has its own hard core, which belongs to the quality of the text.

Article author: Huang Development, Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Beijing Normal University

Editor's review: Publicity Department of Liaoning Publishing Group