When I gave a lecture to college students and talked about the transition from the "Left-Wing Writers' Alliance" through "Chairman Mao's Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" to the literary and artistic achievements in the Liberated Areas, due to the limited time, I usually only analyzed one work and one writer, and this writer was Zhao Shuli.
In the 1940s and 1950s, whether in the Liberated Areas or throughout the country after the seizure of power, Zhao Shuli was undoubtedly a banner flying high, his works were well known, his creative experience was distilled into "Zhao Shuli Road", and his writing style was condensed into the "Yam Egg Sect" (of course, he was not alone, there were also groups of writers formed by Ma Feng, Xi Rong, Sun Qian, etc., but it was undoubtedly led by Zhao Shuli).
Zhao Shuli
In college classes, time is limited and for the convenience of lectures, I mentioned the "true honesty and honesty" side of Zhao Shuli and his works, of course, there are some limitations on the Internet, which does not affect his status and brilliance in the history of Chinese literature. In fact, no one in the current writers has imitated Zhao Shuli, and almost no young readers have read his works, which can only evoke the memories and resonance of those elderly readers who are more than half a hundred years old.
Compared with Zhao Shuli, the literary creation of those left-wing writers in the Kuomintang area has no foundation, how to understand the revolution and shape the artistic image of the revolutionaries, superficially satirized by Mr. Lu Xun as "revolution + love", this kind of fast food literature is finished, divorced from society and practice. This style of writing was changed after Zhao Shuli appeared.
Movie poster
According to one of them, Zhao Shuli is essentially a peasant, he is completely a writer who emerged from the countryside, and Lu Guo Maoba Lao Cao and others are not. They are spectators of the Sannong issue, and Zhao Shuli is like a poplar tree deeply rooted in this land.
According to the second, Zhao Shuli is not a simple peasant, and to engage in literary creation is to have a level of knowledge. His learning experience is now equivalent to the level of the Chinese Department of Shanxi Normal University, and he is very familiar with folk art works and expression methods, such as Shangdang Zizi, Bowl cavity, etc.
According to the third, as a revolutionary, he joined the Communist Party of China and consciously practiced Chairman Mao's literary and artistic thinking and the spirit of his speech, so after the release of the "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art," he quickly stood out. The main characters of the times and such works, he just caught up, in fact, there is a foundation, but also a sentence: success is for those who are prepared.
Another film poster of the same name
Judging from Zhao Shuli's works, taking "Little Two Black Marriage" as an example, in addition to the language and the writing method of the story set, which is more conducive to peasant reading, what is important is that the character image created by the work is also true and credible. For example, the two people "Er Zhuge Ge" and "Three Immortals", as well as the rural social landscape and management level at that time, such as Jin Wangxing's occupation of rural power, so his works were evaluated as "problem novels". In contrast, the two characters of Xiao Erhei and Xiao Qin, who have no problems, are not very prominent. That's fine.
Finally, let's talk about the limitations of Zhao Shuli and his works. When the Chinese revolution was still encircling the cities in the countryside, Zhao Shuli and his works appeared and came into being. But the Chinese revolution will not remain at this stage forever.
The nation was victorious
After 1949, when the Chinese revolution had to enter the city and learn to manage the city, Zhao Shuli obviously could not keep up with the rhythm of the times. When he was a leader in Beijing, it was difficult for him to adapt, and later he moved to his hometown in Shanxi, which was still not possible.
His new work" "Three Mile Bay" was criticized in its first edition, and he could not adapt to the cooperative movement and the countryside of the Great Leap Forward era. What do you want such an honest man to say? It had to become more and more silent. When the Cultural Revolution broke out, he was simply overthrown by criticism and died himself. It seems that he is not suitable for the ultra-left, in fact, he is not suitable for the city, which is the real Zhao Shuli.