Looking at this new book "The Garden of Resting" further confirms the above observation. Dostoevsky likes to set some small stories in a big story, which are often the epitome or foil of the big story. For example, The Poor Man describes the distance of love, and there is a great disparity between a girl and a scholar in the middle. "Crime and Punishment" describes that people are blamed by their conscience, and there is a little secretary in the middle who is willing to be beaten up by his wife to ease the trauma of the soul. Ba Jin's Resting Garden is similar in this respect. He wrote a novel about a driver and a blind girl living in a friend's house (the place seems to be Chengdu). A friend's family has an ex-wife's son, Master Hu, who is arrogant for his grandmother's family. Because of his arrogance, he finally drowned while swimming. This friend's home is called the rest garden. At the same time, there is also a young master, the son of his former employer, who often comes to fold flowers for his father who was expelled from his family and lives in a temple. This father is Master Yang San, because he was once absurd and was punished by his heart (how like Dostoevsky! ), and later escaped from the temple, leaving only a pencil note, so that even the young master could not find him. The author says here: "Human nature is revealed before my eyes" (page 1 14). From then on, the young master never knew the trace of his poor father, but the author occasionally found him among the prisoners who picked up stones. However, when he changed his name and tried to save him, he soon died of illness. The author kept this tragic ending in his heart and didn't tell the young master. As for my friend's master, the tiger drowned, it didn't take long with the end of this story. My friend finally spoke his mind: "I should also be responsible"; Just pray that tiger is okay. The author should explore the goodness of people everywhere. The story of the author's coachman and blind girl (this story is also called the rest garden, which is unnecessarily repeated with the title of this book! ) Both of them are finished. Yang's young master's father died, and his friend Yao's tiger finally became a water ghost in his apostasy, and the author also left the rest garden. This novel is over. The significance of these two stories (Tiger and Young Master) seems to be in education. I say "seems" because the original intention is not clear. Of course, Tiger is bred, but Master Yang is not so kind-hearted because of discipline. Maybe the author means that the Yang family went bankrupt and sold their house, but they have good children. The Yao family is the new owner of the same garden, but they have lost the guardianship and supervision of their children. Material gains and losses are not as important as spiritual gains and losses. I think this is the connection of the story. In the postscript, the author said, "Beautiful gardens do change owners frequently. ..... what can be saved is what some people think is extremely slim and empty-ideals and beliefs. " Then the intention is more clear. Unfortunately, although the story is not so complicated, there are many threads to be expressed by the author. Every thread is like a relief, without description or emphasis, so even this theme (if any) cannot get its due proportion in the story.
I said that the author has many threads to express, and each thread is like a relief. This is an example: the story of the two families seems (sorry, I have to use it again) that the Yang family is the center, and the Yao family is like the curtain of this story. However, because of writing a lot about the Yao family, the author often worries about the education of Master Hu, which weakens the tragic situation of the Yang family. First of all. According to Yang's theory, it was like (! ) embodies the absurdity, repentance and revealed humanity of the three masters. However, because his wife is very kind to him, and the eldest son is the one who is the least relaxed, the reader becomes distracted and becomes Oeaiaus complex. Secondly. According to the theory of the Yao family, if we focus on the apostasy of Tiger, I'm afraid Zhao Hua, the hostess of the Yao family, is the most expensive (but also the most successful) in the book. This is a lovely and kind woman, so Tiger's problems will be reduced. Third. Moreover, this book seems to borrow Mrs Yao's advice to illustrate that the value of literature and art lies in making people expand themselves and discover themselves from the laughter of others (178 page). The ideal of life is to reduce hatred and give people warmth, and sacrifice is the greatest happiness. At the same time, the author seems to borrow Mrs. Yao's advice to explain that his style of writing will change somewhat, so he should not always write about suffering and praise the people's suffering (page 77), so this book puts Yang and Yao's affairs aside again. Ancient poems said that "there are too many short meanings in the world", and articles are also afraid of too many themes. -Even if all goodwill triumphs over justice, there is a danger of offsetting or drowning each other!
It's just that the way the story is written makes us feel more like Dostoevsky. Let's talk about it. Dostoevsky's Insulted and Damaged is also a story he encountered when writing, which is a particularly unexpected coincidence with what the writers here saw when writing at a friend's house.
However, I have to declare at once that I said that Ba Jin's novels are "a little" like Dostoevsky, but I didn't say who he must have studied with or what influence he had. I think their similarities, apart from their skills and styles, are obviously strong humanitarianism. Their sympathy is almost equal. There are differences. This is Dostoevsky's frequent beating of the hero's soul in his works, which is vicious and creepy and gloomy to read. However, he can explore people's hearts. Ba Jin's works, though tragic, are still warm, like a slightly cold early spring. This may be caused by differences in national character.
On this novel alone, the most valuable thing is the author's consistent enthusiasm and compassion, followed by the story of the Yang family, which is like peeling bamboo shoots and exposing them layer by layer, making readers approach the core in expectation and consternation; What's more, he created such a lovely figure-Mrs. Yao, or just gave humanity a little warm symbol. Full of sympathy, the author's natural lies, such as not telling a child that his father is still in town and dead, make people feel more real. In China's modern novels, Ba Jin's idealism is almost the only one besides realism. These are all places that we should pay attention to.
However, what is unsatisfactory is that its content, like its style, is too relaxed and fluent, and some of it passes by. What is lacking is twists and turns, depth and meaning. It allows readers to read, with almost no pause, no drilling, and no rugged thinking. Moreover, there are too many self-expressions in his novels, which make readers tired of reading, but they can't reach the level that might have caused * * *. We can only love and respect the author's enthusiasm, but why not cover ourselves up a little and let readers feel it for themselves when writing? Is it not more artistic?