After Sunrise came out, it attracted wide attention without being staged. In addition, Ta Kung Pao organized a collective discussion, and successively published articles and collective criticisms by famous writers and critics such as Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao, Ba Jin, Shen Congwen, Zhu Guangqian and Li Guangtian. Among them, Zhou Yang was published in Bright March, Volume 2, No.8 1937. It is considered to be an important achievement of Cao Yu's early research. Cao Yu's view that "his creative vision has extended from family to society" has an important influence on later research.
The researchers' neglect of Yuanye began with the untimely birth of this work. These works were serialized in Wen Cong from April 65438 to April 0937, but they were not completed. When War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out, the whole drama industry was involved in the anti-Japanese national salvation movement, and all kinds of small drama works were given priority performance and comments. When people began to pay attention to vilen, it was the harvest period of Cao Yu's creation, but it was the silent period of Cao Yu's research. Only 1942 is an exception. This year, "Peking Man" was staged almost simultaneously in Chongqing and Yan 'an, two places with different political climates, and related comments were overwhelming. Some people even call this year the retrospective year of Peking Man, and the focus of discussion is mainly on the reality of the theme. Among them,
After the performance and publication of 1942 Cao Yu's House, the research on Cao Yu was still confined to the theory of works, and it was not until 1944 that Lu Ying's Road to Cao Yu and Yang Hui's On Cao Yu were published that Cao Yu's research entered the stage of "writer theory".
Before 1949, Cao Yu's research experienced a development process from shallow to deep, from point to surface, but the overall characteristics were randomness, different opinions, high and low, which failed to reflect the actual level of Cao Yu's creation.
From 1949 to 1966, with the reinterpretation of old works and the appearance of new works, Cao Yu's research constantly set off a new climax. In the study of old works, the discussion mainly focuses on some controversial issues, such as the concept of fate in Thunderstorm, the mysticism in Yuanye and Sunrise. Xu Gang published Cao Yu's Thunderstorm and Sunrise on 1958, and People in Talking about Thunderstorm on 1962. In the study of new works, Zhang Guangnian (GuangWilliam. J) has made new progress in Cao Yu's creative life ―― Comment on the drama Clear Sky.
After 1976, Cao Yu first focused on his three representative works, such as Tian's Thunderstorm Theory, Lv Xiang's Sunrise Theory and Peking Man Theory. Later, people began to pay attention to "Yuanye" and "Metamorphosis", which were neglected for a long time, especially with movies.
In recent years, there have been many new changes in Cao Yu's research. The general characteristics are broader horizons and more novel viewpoints, which are mainly manifested in five aspects introduced in the textbook: investigating Cao Yu's plays from the influence of Christian culture; To study Cao Yu's plays from the perspective of psychoanalysis; Introduce the method of comparative literature into Cao Yu's research; Deepen the study of Cao Yu from the influence of traditional culture on Cao Yu; Expand the study of Cao Yu from different levels such as reception aesthetics.
The phenomenon of "poetry" is a matter of style and style, and it is also one of the keys to grasp Cao Yu's plays as a whole. Some people think that from Thunderstorm to Wang Zhaojun, Cao Yu has been pursuing the integration of "poetry and drama" and the realm of drama poetry.
The poetic features of Thunderstorm and other works are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
First, Cao Yu always observes and describes life with extremely rich imagination and ideal emotion. He didn't have a theme at first, but grasped the most exciting creative impulse or inspiration in his hazy poetic feelings and imagination. His creation is similar to that of a poet, starting from experience, feeling and impression. For example, the creation of Thunderstorm is based on the premise of "one or two plots, several characters and a complex and primitive emotion". When I wrote Sunrise, the first thing that came to my mind was several poems: "The sun has risen ... we are going to sleep". Therefore, it has strong emotional color and subjective factors, showing strong lyrical characteristics. In Thunderstorm and Yuan Ye, there is an extreme feeling of "love or hate". Even if the flood of emotions turns to Beijingers and underground homes, emotions,
Second, the plot is not closely related to reality, and the logic of life expression is not strict. As I said before, Cao Yu is familiar with life, but he doesn't write trivial things around him. He is not satisfied with describing life only according to its true colors, but imagining and expressing his familiar life based on his profound experience of life, which reflects some essence of life, but often leads to the "fuzziness" of the theme of his works. In Thunderstorm, Sunrise and Yuan Ye, there is a mysterious power that makes people wonder and fear, and the themes of these works are only "ratified" after being studied by researchers.
Third, the sense of time and space is uncertain, which is often accidental or legendary. Especially Thunderstorm and Yuan Ye, although the time and place of the story have a general scope, the plot is ups and downs, the characters are fierce and extreme, the background design is symbolic, and the overall atmosphere is more poetic. This is directly related to the symbolic images in Cao Yu's plays. In the textbook, we talk about this.
4. The influence of foreign culture on Cao Yu's drama creation.
Drama is a foreign art form, and China modern playwrights are all influenced by foreign culture without exception. The success of Cao Yu's plays and the change of his later writing style depend to a great extent on the study and reference of foreign plays, which are mainly manifested in the following aspects:
First, the influence of Christian culture. When Cao Yu was a teenager, he came into contact with the Bible and often went to church with his stepmother. I also studied the Bible and Bible literature during my college years. After graduation, I taught the Bible in English at Hebei Women's Normal University. Christian culture had a great influence on his outlook on life and creation. In the prelude to Thunderstorm, there was a chorus scene of mass in the church. It is full of mysterious religious atmosphere. The motivation of Cao Yu's literary creation is to "persuade evil to be good", and most of his early works are social moral dramas that show the contest between good and evil. Thunderstorm shows the crime and punishment of lost life, Sunrise shows the destruction and rebirth of the soul, Yuan Ye shows the extreme love and hate between people, and Peking Man shows the right.
Second, the influence of the Greek tragedy. Cao Yu was fascinated by Greek tragedy when he was in college, and his Thunderstorm was conceived during this period. The three major Greek tragic writers all have outstanding views on fate. In their view, human tragedy is beyond human control and is caused by unknown fate, so Greek tragedy is also called "fate tragedy". In Thunderstorm, the world is cruel and cold, and people, especially Sifeng, consciously or unconsciously repeat the mistakes of her mother and Shi Ping. , all show some factors of fate tragedy. However, the influence of Greek tragedy on Cao Yu's drama is not only manifested in content, but also in artistic forms and techniques, such as concentration and rigor in structure, flashback method, plot setting and plot arrangement. The spirit of revenge in Yuanye was also influenced by Medea.
Third, the influence of Shakespeare. Some people say that what Cao Yu learned from Greek tragedy is mainly passion and tragic spirit, while what he learned from Shakespeare is "the complex variation of human nature, exquisite structure, beautiful poetry, rich humanitarian spirit and broad imagination". Shakespeare is known as "the first writer who wrote spiritual pain to the extreme". He rarely described the characters in a single or static way, but vividly and meticulously described their personalities and emotions. Most of his characters are complex and rich, rich in development and change. Therefore, Shakespeare's tragedy is also called "character tragedy". The tragedy of Thunderstorm is directly related to Fan Yi's thunderstorm-like character, and many characters (including minor characters) in Cao Yu's works have complex and paranoid characters. In addition, Shakespeare's poetic temperament and plays written in poetic style are also a fatal temptation to Cao Yu.
Fourth, Ibsen's influence. Cao Yu once performed Ibsen's plays in middle school. Cao Yu once said: "Ibsen was the first foreign playwright who had a great influence on my creation." "I was attracted by his rigorous structure, concise and clear language and sharp questions about the reality of capitalist society." Ibsen is called "the father of modern drama" and is right. A large number of "problem novels" and "problem dramas" appeared during the May 4th Movement, all of which were the results of studying Ibsen. Some people even think that Ibsen's influence is not limited to literature, including the whole society, and his Nora has almost become synonymous with "women's liberation". The main reason lies in his profound and powerful exposure of capitalist society, so Ibsen's plays are also called "social tragedies". Some people think that Cao Yu learned more from Ibsen than from Shakespeare. He not only learned how to pay attention to women's issues (Nora can be seen in Fan Yi and Chen Bailu), but also learned how to pay attention to social issues and face "what happened to us". Moreover, he learned how to arrange the complex relationship between characters and events, how to create suspense, how to deal with climax, how to use symbolism and so on. Like him. Write the minor characters as the main characters, so who is the protagonist in Thunderstorm becomes a problem. Fan Yi, Shi Ping and Zhou Puyuan are inseparable.
Fifth, the influence of O 'Neill. Some people think that Cao Yu is not so much Ibsen in China as O 'Neill in China, because their circumstances are more similar: both of them have studied Ibsen, are passionate, are good at writing tragedies, like to express the fate of characters, are keen on new styles and new skills, and have made special contributions to the drama cause of their country. They all have special status. The appearance of O 'Neill made modern American drama mature, and the appearance of Cao Yu marked the maturity of China's drama art. Cao Yu didn't like O 'Neill's later works, but his early Beyond the Horizon, Anna? Realistic works such as Christie and expressionist works such as King Jones (also translated into emperor jones or emperor jones) had an important influence on Cao Yu. Beyond the Horizon is O 'Neill's famous work, which mainly tells the story that two brothers dream of becoming sailors and their ideal life beyond the horizon, which leads to the tragedy. Christie mainly writes about the contradiction between father and daughter and the tragedy of a woman's unfortunate fate. In Cao Yu's plays,, Autumn Tiger, and Jin are also characters with strong desires and pursuits. His classic plays such as Thunderstorm, Sunrise, Beijingers and Home are also about the contradictions and conflicts between relatives, while vilen. The similarity between Cao Yu and O 'Neill is not mainly in appearance, but in spirit. They all like to attract the audience with unusual characters' fates, and they also like to accurately describe the characters' personalities and psychology, and handle their fates well.
Sixth, Chekhov's influence. No matter Greek tragedy, Shakespeare tragedy or Ibsen tragedy, they all attach great importance to the concentration and action of drama, and all require intense dramatic conflicts and tortuous dramatic plots. The central event in the drama is often rare in life, the characters are too strong and the drama structure is more compact. However, this traditional concept of drama has been changed here by Chekhov. Therefore, Cao Yu sighed after reading Chekhov: "There is another world in the world of drama". In "Three Sisters", "This drama is not intertwined at all. It is a living person with a soul, and there is no ordinary thrilling scene. The structure is very dull, and the characters in the play have no ups and downs. " "He taught me to understand the boredom of art." It is precisely because he can write the poetry of life in ordinary life that his plays are called "drama of life" or "drama of life". Cao Yu's drama changed from "dramatic drama" to "drama of life" precisely because of his study of Chekhov. Chekhov's influence can already be seen in Sunrise, but he did find a new way to explore Chekhov's style.
5. The connotation of classic plays such as Thunderstorm.
These contents can only be truly mastered by reading the original works. Reading can focus on Thunderstorm, and at the same time, we should learn more about Sunrise, Yuan Ye and Beijingers. In the process of reading (including before and after reading), you can also refer to some related introductions and comments.
6. The image and character of Zhou Puyuan and Fan Yi.
There are eight characters in Thunderstorm: Zhou Puyuan, Fan Yi, Shi Ping, Zhou Ping, Sifeng, Zhou Chong, Lu Dahai and Gui Lu. Among them, the first three were once regarded as the protagonists of this work, and they are also the three characters that should be paid special attention to.
Zhou Puyuan is a new capitalist, with both bourgeois ideas of freedom and equality and feudal autocracy. His personality characteristics are mainly manifested in his relationship with two female images, Shi Ping and Fan Yi, and his relationship with Lu Dahai. There have always been different views on the relationship between Zhou Puyuan and Shi Ping and their emotional problems. It is generally believed that Zhou Puyuan was only the younger brother of a feudal family from the beginning. His relationship with Shi Ping fully exposed his hypocritical nature. His behavior is a typical example of "abandoning from the beginning". He cheated Shi Ping first, and then abandoned her in order to marry a suitable lady. It was not until he learned that Shi Ping had committed suicide that he repented for his conscience. But now it is generally believed that Zhou Puyuan was also a young man influenced by new ideas when he was young, and tried to break away from the shackles of feudal families. In order to pursue the ideal of free love and marriage, his love for Shi Ping is sincere. However, just like the children of many feudal families such as Chueh-hsin in his family, there is also a weak side in his character. He could not completely break away from his own class, and finally returned to the feudal camp, betraying Shi Ping and his ideals. Therefore, his yearning for Shi Ping cannot be said to be hypocritical. It is also his cowardice not to face the reality and not to change the status quo. Through the relationship between Zhou Puyuan and Shi Ping, the author mainly examines his history, while through his relationship with Fan Yi, he shows his performance as a feudal autocratic parent in reality. His relationship with Lu Dahai, Gui Lu and others supplemented his essential characteristics as a capitalist from different aspects.
Fan Yi, like Zhou Puyuan, is a combination of old and new cultures. According to the implication in the play, she is an "old-school woman with a little new education", which is very important for understanding what this role has done. Because of this, she longed for free love, could not get rid of the cage of her family, and was willing to be humiliated by Zhou Puyuan. Although Yi is Zhou Puyuan Minmei's wife, he is the only one. The second is a celebrity, who got married after driving Shi Ping away. They are just husband and wife, but they don't feel like husband and wife. The details of Zhou Puyuan forcing her to drink medicine in front of her two sons, Zhou Ping and Zhou Chong, are proof. In such a woman who alternated between the old and the new, the writer consciously emphasized the "primitive wildness", and igniting this wild fire was the "love" that all young people yearned for and longed for during the May 4th Movement. We can also see that Fan Yi, like almost all concubines in the mansion, fell in love with the gentleman born by her husband's ex-wife, not because she was born abnormal, but because of the environment. None of the people she usually comes into contact with is cute. Moreover, she never intended to leave her family (in this respect, she is actually not as brave as Nora), which is also related to her being an "old woman". She doesn't want to leave this family. On the one hand, because she has no ability to stand on her own feet (this is related to society, and Nora's lesson is a good one), on the other hand, because she is unwilling to give up her pampered wife life. Therefore, in this sense, in Fan Yi, the writer doesn't want to embody the theme of "anti-feudalism and individual liberation" like many works in the May 4th period. Her love with Zhou Ping is not for anti-feudalism. In addition to satisfying one's own lust, it is more important to retaliate against one's husband for not respecting oneself. In her mind, there are many heavy and indelible feudal thoughts. For example, she attaches great importance to "birthright". Even if she falls in love with Zhou Ping, she has a sense of guilt that she wants to get rid of. For the love between Zhou Chong and Sifeng, she also felt that she was not the right person and had been a victim of feudal marriage. However, the standard of feudal marriage is still used to demand (actually kill) the next generation. Fan Yi's various performances clearly show that this character is not Cao Yu's ideal character, but the screenwriter is full of feelings for her, especially praising her "barbaric" original power, which is obviously related to the screenwriter's own life experience. The family oppression he suffered from childhood and the resulting weak character are all there.
7. The relationship between the success of Cao Yu's creation and the decline of creativity and his personality psychology.
Some people object to linking writers and works, but I always believe that "writing is like a person." To truly understand a work, it is not enough to lack an understanding of the writer's own situation. Therefore, we are often willing to introduce the writer's life with a certain length in counseling. Cao Yu's creation can prove his previous success and later decline. It is all related to his "personal life experience and emotional experience". There are many reasons for the success of works such as Thunderstorm and the decline of the level of works such as Clear Sky. However, from the specific perspective of the relationship between this success and the writer's personality and psychology, we can find that the environment in which he lived as a child has an important role that cannot be ignored. It can be said that "home" is an important role for Cao Yu in his early days. It only takes him a few years to conceive a work about family, and running away from home will become a potential theme that he repeats repeatedly in his creation. He will also be so obsessed with Ibsen, O 'Neill, Chekhov and other writers' works about affection, and he will devote all his efforts to praising those who can't be completely regarded as social ideal images (except Qiu Hu and Jin, etc.). Only when he was in a high position in the 1950s could he write incest emotions (including mother-child incest and brother-sister incest) so delicately and emotionally. However, the decline of his creativity is related to his complete abandonment of his previous creative personality and his own creative methods, and it is also the inevitable result of his cautious side being exposed everywhere.