Keywords: besieged city satirical dialectics
Fortress Besieged is a novel with unique style in the history of modern literature. Qian Zhongshu, a writer, expressed his unique life feelings with vivid and delicate brushwork in his familiar living environment, which is the representative work of critical realism in the new literature after the May 4th Movement.
Fortress Besieged tells the story of a group of intellectuals in 1930s. Focusing on Fang Hung-chien, a young man who returned from Europe, the novel describes the contradictions and entanglements encountered by a group of international students and university professors in their life, work, marriage and love, reveals the wretched souls and gray lives of intellectuals influenced by western culture, and shows the author's ruthless mockery of western intellectuals in old China and careful examination of western civilization centered on China.
The story of Fortress Besieged spans only over a year. Structurally, it can be basically divided into three parts, namely, Fang Hung-chien's experience of returning from studying abroad and falling in love; After failing in love, she went to San Lv University in Hunan to teach for half a year. Dissatisfied with San Lv University's intrigue and dark corruption, he returned to Shanghai, got married and got a job in a newspaper. After returning to China, he suffered setbacks in love, difficulties and obstacles on his way to San Lv University, infighting among faculty and staff of San Lv University, friction among family members after marriage, and chaos inside and outside the besieged city, which made him suffer blows and cold reception everywhere. When the world was cold, Fang Hung-chien felt that there was nowhere to hide. He can only be like an animal trapped in an iron cage, but in the end he can't find a way out.
The image of Fang Hung-chien, a western-style intellectual, stands out in the novel. He was born in a feudal family, and his father was a juren before the Qing Dynasty. He went on to study in Europe with the support of his dead fiancee (arranged marriage) father (manager Zhou of Dianjinyinhang). Because of "extensive interests, inexperience and lazy life", I changed to several universities in four years, but I got nothing and learned no professional knowledge. Seeing that his return to China was imminent, he finally had to spend 40 dollars from an Irishman. Influenced by western life, she lived a dissolute life. On the boat returning to China, she couldn't resist the temptation and had a relationship with frivolous Miss Bao. Although Fang Hung-chien's personality is not aspiring, it is one side of the dance academy, but it also has a positive and enthusiastic side. In an invited speech, he despised what western civilization brought to China except "opium and syphilis"; He rejected the romantic love of Sue, the daughter of a big bureaucrat, and repeatedly exposed each other's vulgarity, snobbery and hypocrisy. When I was teaching in San Lv University, I didn't like the dark personnel system and the intrigue among my colleagues. Also, when the Huamei News Agency where he worked was bought by the enemy and puppet troops, he left the newspaper without considering his own survival and the opposition of his relatives and friends. It can be said that he is an intellectual with certain democratic thoughts, but in real life, he runs into a wall everywhere and is given a cold shoulder everywhere. Fang Hung-chien's tragedy reflects the tragic fate of those active intellectuals in the dark society in the 1930s.
The novel not only focuses on shaping the image of the protagonist Fang Hung-chien, but also successfully shapes the images of other intellectuals. For example, Li, a feudal semi-old widow who is full of virtue and morality, but full of thieves and prostitutes; Sue, a hypocritical and vulgar lady who prides herself on means in love; Cao Yuanlang, a vulgar little fat "great poet"; Han, a fake foreign doctor with a wooden appearance and a dirty and humble heart; Gao Songnian, the hypocritical and treacherous president of San Lv University; Flatterers, shallow and obscene snobs, Gu Erqian, etc. These various figures, who are active in the new "neo-Confucian forest", truly reproduce the spiritual emptiness and mental illness of China intellectuals in semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
Judging from artistic achievements, superb satirical humor, a large number of ingenious and novel metaphors and rich and profound knowledge constitute the unique artistic style of Fortress Besieged.
First of all, in order to achieve the effect of irony and humor, the author jokes, ridicules, interprets and criticizes everything the hero sees, hears and feels. The playful writing style makes readers feel relaxed, humorous and refreshing. For example, the author joked about the diploma, "This diploma seems to have the function of the leaf in Adam and Eve's lower body, which can cover up shame and ugliness; A small piece of paper can cover up a person's emptiness, ignorance and stupidity. "On marriage and divorce, the author compiled a passage from Chu Shen Ming, a philosopher:" Marriage is like a golden lacquer bird cage, the birds outside the cage want to live in it, and the birds inside the cage want to fly out; So leave, leave, no games. "About libraries, the author quipped:" All libraries used to be like the brains when studying hard for the National People's Congress exam, and they were the graves of learning. "
Secondly, in order to achieve the humorous effect, the author often deliberately plays hide-and-seek with the readers in the plot arrangement. The plot obviously seems to be developing in this direction, but the result is a 180 degree turn, which makes people feel unexpectedly absurd. For example, in high school, in order to dissolve the feudal engagement, Fang Hung-chien wrote a sad letter to his father, and his father's reply was very harmful, and he was scolded like a dog. But in the end, this seemingly hopeless feudal arranged marriage was freed by the death of his fiancee. For example, when Fang Hung-chien was invited to give a speech, the prepared speech could not be used because of the wrong clothes, and the speech became a complete confession and farce; For another example, Zhao's plan to embarrass Fang Hung-chien at the banquet in order to compete for Su was almost completely successful, but it was finally proved mercilessly that Zhao had completely failed in love. In addition, Li tried to ask, prostitute, buying a ticket was a marginal success, but it ruined the rogue attitude camp.
Thirdly, the use of a large number of vivid and subtle metaphors also adds a lot of color to the satirical and humorous effect of the novel. For example, when Su Gang made her debut, the author described her complicated feelings like this: "At that time, Miss Su valued her love too much and refused to give it casually. Now it's like making a dress, reluctant to wear it, locked in a box, and suddenly discovering that the appearance and color of this dress are not fashionable for a year or two, and some feel sorry for themselves. " For example, Li's portrait reads: "Mr. Li's face is missing black eyes, and his big white eyes are like shelled boiled eggs." That's disgusting. Another example: "Hung-chien was so hungry that he couldn't sleep well. His body was like a briefcase. He didn't have any documents and almost touched his back." What a good image. Another example is the wedding scene of Su and Cao Yuanlang and their embarrassment: "Cao Yuanlang wore a black tweed dress and was so busy that he was sweating all over ... I'm afraid his whole fat body melted into sweat, like a foreign candle into a pool of oil. Miss Su is also nervous and ugly ... The bride and groom can't cry or laugh. It's not like a happy event at all. Like-no, not like the guillotine. Yes, just like those expressions under the "beware of pickpockets" sign in public places. It is lifelike, and its humorous effect is really unbearable!
Finally, rich and profound knowledge enhances the readability, interest and ideological content of the novel, which is also a major feature of Fortress Besieged. As the author is a knowledgeable scholar, the contents of the book involve literature, history, philosophy, biology and other disciplines. We also talk about classical poetry, new poetry, calligraphy and painting, Chinese and foreign allusions and many things of various religions. Profound knowledge not only increases the interest of the work, but also strengthens the satirical effect, and explores the significance of the theme of the work, making this novel have thought-provoking power!