Written by | Blue Ice
Modern intellectuals writing about rural subjects almost inevitably have a strong elegy, because they are gazing at a huge oriental quaint agrarian society slowly sinking in the process of a mighty modern society. Such a vast fatalistic curtain is extremely poignant and irreparable, making it even more filled with strong sentimental grief and mourning. Lin Xianzhi's book "The Old Garden" is like a chinese society that has been suppressed for a long time and tried its best to spray thin, pouring out the anger of the times and the anger of the lonely book that has been suppressed in the heart.
Kenji Lin, poet and scholar. Born in 1948, a native of Yangjiang, Guangdong Province. He is the author of the poetry collection "Camel and The Star", "Dream or Sorrow"; the collection of essays "The Messenger of the Commoners", "The Sorrow of the Kuang Dynasty", "The Lonely Foreigner", "Fire and Ruins"; the commentary collection "The Case of Hu Feng Group: Political and Spiritual Events in China in the 20th Century", "Notes of the Night Watchman", "Self-made Charts", "The Soul of May Fourth", "Portraits of The Times and Literature", "The Love and Death of a Man", "The Ghost of Midnight", "The Sound on Paper", "The Collection of Night Listening to the Tide"; the literary history works "Fifty Years of Chinese New Poetry" and "Fifty Years of Chinese Prose". He is the chief editor of dozens of series of books.
1． Looking at the rural land from a cultural perspective
The book "The Old Garden" uses simple language, patience and restraint to unfold the depiction and contemplation of a southern village. The fates of many tiny people unfold before the magnanimous curtain of history. These rural figures, who seem to have a deep self-color, are inevitably shrouded in a layer of gray fog of the times, and they are all tiny components in the mighty river of the times. As the author puts it, "All of this is just a detail embedded in a history of rural destiny." As a writer who is also a member of a fate that is tied to his bones, Mr. Lim Kenji's pen tip is full of affection and at the same time deeply rational. On the one hand, he felt the natural beauty of the rural land and received the protection and kindness from the land and its relatives. On the other hand, he cannot but examine such a existence from the cultural level from the perspective of modern intellectuals, and precipitate the pathology and the root of sadness in it. It is a thick and painful glue, with a cold self-analysis.
For example, in the chapter "And the World" about mothers, the author has this speculation about mothers:
Mother is a realist, does not rely on logic, association, formalism, and cannot be a metaphysician. In the face of the world, she repeatedly confessed her stupidity and ignorance; but this was not a Socratic strategy, she did not use strategy, never knew how to plan and calculate, that was the business of a wise man. She could only see the world quietly with her own eyes and feel the world. She uses her knowledge and intellect in a limited scope, comparing herself to others, not seeking perfection and perfection, not possessing arrogance, not seeking to surpass herself. Let others go beyond, she is not envious, nor jealous. She just wanted to stay alone, in fact, she had never even thought about it, but it was there in the past, and it was still there.
Mother and child. Illustration of "The Old Garden".
Everything is deep and self-contained, with an original hue. And this tone is extremely tragic. It has a simple, native beauty, but it also exhibits a serious lag. It cannot withstand the rational and sharp scrutiny of a modern man. There is a great rupture in this, and the author makes a good summary: the mother is, after all, a pre-modern person. The isolation between "pre-modern" and "modern" and "postmodern" may be the real cause of all pain. There is a layer of constant warmth and blood ties in this world, and at the same time a serious cultural barrier, almost severe communication, so that each other completely live in the world of two visions. So, it's also a tough goodbye. This farewell seems so solemn, pious, and ceremonial that while giving them dignity and respect, it is also difficult to turn around, let go, and break away.
This deep rationality reinforces the book's strongly modern color. It shows the grand and profound thinking of a modern scholar and thinker. Therefore, at the same time, this is also a book of writing the times, and we can see the turbulent social storm colliding and unfolding in the fate of individual characters. The whole book is like a rushing river with a huge amount of sand and stones rolling in, causing an impact and impact on the fate of the characters, before the life of a tiny individual, society once showed its vicious and vicious face, making people fall into depression and pity.
For example, in the article "The Road to Mother", a character Agen wrote about him, writing about the impact of the political storm, showing the fragility of small people in the storm of politics. Agen was a young man in the village, from a relatively wealthy family, with a large body, who lived a peaceful and quiet life in the township, because of a colloquial phrase "water melon beats the dog, a large section is missing", was judged to be dissatisfied with cooperatives, and was singled out to criticize the fight. A dozen years later, Agen suddenly went crazy, his abnormal behavior was very politicized, and he died a year or two later. His child Aki also went crazy and died shortly thereafter. Such a very different phenomenon of life suddenly appears in front of us, and we can't help but feel frightened.
"The Old Garden", by Lin Xianzhi, Edition: Deer Bookdeerbook| Wuhan University Press, October 2020
2． Analyze the fate of individual characters in the context of the times
In a "A Mao" by Ms. Zheng Huijie (Mr. Lin Xianzhi's wife) included in this book, the A Mao recorded in this book was only one year old when she was affected by social and political turmoil, and her life was bleak and full of pain and sorrow. After his father and grandmother died in the movement, and his mother was subjected to endless criticism, little Ah Mao was trapped in fear from an early age. The article reads, "What is different is that there is often a flash of panic and doubt in those big eyes." And those proud poor children who make her happy are not only the evil of the individual, but also the evil of society, the evil of the group, with a certain meaning of human nature.
Also affected by politics were my father, "I," and countless innocent and inexplicable people, all of whom had the horrors of that era and influenced their later psychology and behavior, resulting in a generation of mourning and decline.
This is a kind of conscious introspection, which is the essence of this book that distinguishes it from the general nostalgic theme. In the context of the times, candlelight, analyze the fate of individual characters, draw out their inner implications, and lead us to gain a deeper understanding. It is appropriate to call the book "an anti-pastoral realist masterpiece", which is also in line with the author's own assertion that "the southern village without idyllic poetry, the noisy, conflicting, and torn rural destiny history".
"The Old Garden" with pictures.
Therefore, this book can be read not only as prose, but also as a history book (rural history). Each of these characters is both individual and contemporary, extremely historical. Each of them is inevitably stained with the colors of the times, comedic and tragic, and with their individual fates, they indicate the direction of an era. The fall of the father's evening scene, the mother's life of toil and foolishness, the sadness of the third sister's life, and the fate of such characters as Fa Sanmu, Gui Ermu, Junhan, Mei Fen, etc., and even the final "loneliness" of "I", the fate seems to carry some kind of indescribable thirst. This thirst stems from the burning and fumigation of the social era, light or dark, making human nature appear a certain bitterness, urgency, and desolation. And all this, in the end, can be attributed to a secret term: the old garden.
3． A mask hidden in the depths of history
In the extremely gray oriental vocabulary of the old garden, there are extremely rich and complex feelings of modern Chinese intellectuals. It is not only the source of their nostalgia, the way for their souls to go, but also the birthbed through which they can self-reflect and spiritual nirvana. It all started here and will end here. Therefore, the scenery in the old garden is, after all, the sunset smoke in the eyes of a generation of modern people, which is rejuvenated from the deep dream of five thousand years of history, and interprets a scene of tragic songs of the world, making people indulge and sing, and cannot but wave away from the moments of history. A generation of scholars, not only want to taste it deeply, but also feel wandering, depressed, eager to get out. "The Old Garden" is the sad sound they emit. It is full of mourning, but at the same time comes a painful awakening, and this is all at the cost of the wounds of the heart on the blade of time. It was the pain that broke out in the bone that finally burst out such a low cry that cut into the heart, shouting again and again, and bursting into tears again and again.
"The Old Garden" is like a deep well in our hearts, waving some past times, and reflecting a round of bright moon above our heads, so that we can faintly see a glimmer of light, as well as earthly scenes of joy or sorrow, but everything seems to be caged in a layer of fog, not so clear, clear, with a touch of cold. We always feel that we want to drink, but the weak spleen and stomach of modern people are overwhelmed with misery.
So, reading this book requires preparation, earthly preparation, spiritual preparation, and cultural preparation. "The Old Garden" is such a book, its sparse writing, the fate of small people seems to show some lightness, but the more you sink into it, the more you will feel a heavy arrival, a weight of time, the weight of fate. And with the help of the author's hand, we have lifted the corner of the historical veil and been able to explore the true face.
Beach vegetable garden. Illustration of "The Old Garden".
"Old Garden" is like a mask hidden in the depths of history, it reflects the map of our hearts, the genetic code of culture, and flashes a mysterious light. It constantly creates a certain sense of depression and desolation in our minds. "The flow of time is deep and wide", perhaps, at a distance, through the way of writing in words, in the interpretation of the fate of others, we can see ourselves more truly, know ourselves, figure out our comings and goings, and salvage ourselves from the desolation of history. This may also be the value and reason for the existence of "The Old Garden".
What belongs to the present is life, and what belongs to future generations is history. Every look back may be destined to devote all your efforts and drain your mind. "The Old Garden" is such a kind of nostalgic, affectionate and sad looking back. Time flies, things flutter, and rise and fall in the wilderness of time. A small village on the southern coast, a group of tiny people like crow dots, but carrying the memories and thoughts of the homeland, the suffering and spiritual burden of a nation's soul, constitute a huge historical tension between the small and the huge, the light and the heavy, the distinct and the obscure. And those who write all night, they are a bright moon hanging above our dim home, or the oil lamp that reflects our stormy night, constantly being lit, extinguished, and lit again.
Editor | Zhang Jin
Proofreading | dangerous