Caijiayuan

Ningxia literature is a unique existence on the Loess Plateau. Since the new era, it has developed from "one tree" (Zhang Xianliang) to "three trees" and then to "new three trees", and now it has become a spectacular literary forest. I was deeply impressed by the works of Shi Shuqing, Jin Ou, Mo Yue, Ji and Ji. Ningxia literature has become a "phenomenon", which provides a unique experience for telling the story of China and carrying forward the spirit of China.

I want to briefly summarize my reading impression with three "cleanness": poor living condition, clean attitude towards life and clean spiritual pursuit.

Poor living conditions. Ningxia has harsh natural conditions and relatively backward economy. "Xihaigu" is known as the "bitter world". Ningxia writers' descriptions of rural areas are full of drought, hunger, poverty and suffering, showing a poor living condition. For example, Shi Shuqing's Geya Mountain, Chen Jiming's Gaoshawo and Li Jinxiang's Qingshui River all vividly and delicately record the original ecological life. I remember a collection of Shi Shuqing's novels called Bitter Land, which is very symbolic and tells the "Bitter Land" complex that Ningxia writers generally have. Chen Jiming said: "Writers living in the West are closer to the land and suffering, so they write more ... For them, this situation is more fate than strategy." Their expression of "poverty" is not an exhibition of curiosity, nor a gimmick of consumption, but directly related to the feelings of soul and life, so this kind of writing of poverty and suffering has a touching power.

A clean and peaceful attitude towards life. Although Ningxia writers have written a lot about suffering life, their characters always regard suffering as the normal state of human existence, "suffering without pain, difficulties without fear", and can get along with suffering calmly, and then go beyond suffering, showing a clear and peaceful attitude towards life. Guo Wenbin said: "As for Xi Haigu, most people only grasp its sharp side, bitter side and fierce side, but they don't realize Xi Haigu's fable and see her hidden smile, so they can't express her broadness, mystery, tranquility and serenity. What cultivates Xi Haigu and Xi Haigu's literature is not sharp, nor bitter and intense, but a dynamic tranquility and serenity. " Writers always feel and appreciate with a peaceful mind, strive to find beauty and warmth in the hardships and hardships of life, and seek true love and poetry in material poverty and embarrassment. Guo Wenbin also said, "Poverty is poverty. It's not cute, but it's not scary. People can enjoy poverty and prosperity. As a state of existence, poverty can only be accepted by people, and praise and curse are of no help. " This sentence shows Ningxia writers' unique understanding of poverty and suffering, and their warm and peaceful mentality beyond this existence. This attitude towards life can be clearly seen in the works of Shi Shuqing, Guo Wenbin, Zhang Xuedong, Mo Yue and Ma Jinlian. For example, in Guo Wenbin's Gone with the Wind, the epiphany of Zen made the "father" abandon the so-called "realistic existence" and enter the "spiritual absence". This kind of abandonment is not only a manifestation of self-adaptation to life, but also a manifestation of returning to nature and pursuing spiritual freedom, which implies the meaning appeal of Taoism not serving, letting nature take its course and exploring truth. When the philosophy and life concept of "father" wander between Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the world becomes a mirror image of people living and working in peace and contentment. The Long River written by Malik Jinlian expresses the pure and noble "concern for death". The serenity and relief of people in the face of death has created a tenacious spirit of forbearance, which is manifested in a clear and peaceful attitude towards life. Li Jianjun said that Ningxia literature has a "quiet and introspective temperament", which I think is related to this detached attitude towards life.

Spiritual pursuit of cleanliness. The spiritual characteristics of Ningxia literature are very prominent, and writers invariably aestheticize suffering, showing the lofty pursuit of "clean beauty". "Clean beauty" contains divinity, on the one hand, it comes from the influence of religious culture, on the other hand, it is a response to the realistic context-under the impact of consumerism, the inherent values are falling apart, and human self-salvation can only be completed by the power of divinity. Ningxia writers' pursuit of incorruptible spirit is often realized through daily writing. Like Shi Shuqing's description of the Hui family's "sweeping the courtyard" in The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, it seems ordinary, but the writer digs the poetry and warmth in daily life to the fullest, and then rises to a spiritual belief. From the calm and even plain description of the novel, we understand what real suffering and poverty are, and at the same time understand the mystery of maintaining this kind of life-the real spirit of purity is manifested in this simple life. For example, in Yi Rong's Copper Soup Bottle Hanging in the Moonlight, the moon is a poetic romantic imagination, representing maternal love. Soup bottles are cleaning utensils for Muslim believers, while bronze symbolizes the arduous spirit of the nation. This novel describes the nobility of the soul from the humble life and shows the firm pursuit of faith.

Many writers in Ningxia often have two images-"new moon" and "clear water", both of which are symbols of incorruptible spirit. "New Moon" has a special meaning in religious culture. Writers describe the moon not only to describe the scenery, but also to endow many feelings with national characteristics in the image of the moon, such as holiness, cleanliness, tranquility and beauty. The moon image in Shi Shuqing's works, Li Jinxiang's Lonely Couple and Ma Jinlian's Hard Moonlight and Night Sky all have similar meanings. "Clear water" is endowed with special significance in religious culture. The special significance of "clear water" in Shi Shuqing's Knife in Clear Water not only shows the life view of Hui Muslims, but also expresses the sacred understanding of life. In Li Jin's "Changing Water", the protagonist Ma Qing said: "Let's go home, the water in Qingshui River is good, and we can wash all diseases well!" "Water" is a symbol of faith, which highlights the spiritual connotation of cleanliness in the city of desire. Ma Jinlian solemnly described the baptism of the dead in Long River. Clear Water contains the power of faith and expresses the writer's thinking about the ultimate value.

First, the significance of Ningxia literature to contemporary China literature

First, literature's insistence on regional and national characteristics provides a unique experience for telling the story of China. In the information age, "second-hand experience" is rampant, and literary writing presents convergence and pattern. Unique stories, unique experiences and unique discoveries are becoming more and more rare. Ningxia writers returned to China's specific historical context and discourse field, rooted in the real soil and national life, described the people's struggles in this land and their confusion on the road to rebirth, vividly displayed the country's "local color" and "exotic sentiment" and made remarkable achievements. The ability and character of Ningxia writers to face reality and deal with reality are unique in the current literary world, which provides us with useful reference on how to tell China's story well.

Secondly, adhering to the highland of literary spirit has promoted the spiritual connotation of contemporary literature in China. In this era of commercialization and materialism, Ningxia writers have always maintained their awe of literature and regarded literature as a spiritual highland. Many of their writings even have divinity, which is completely different from Beijing-Shanghai writers and southern writers. They inherited the excellent tradition of "for life" in new literature and showed a sense of historical responsibility and mission. He said in The Meaning of Ningxia Literature: "The literary portraits in Ningxia accurately express the spiritual values accumulated by human beings on the basis of pre-modern society". Compared with popular desire writing and dark writing, Ningxia literature strives to transcend suffering and secularism, and tirelessly pursues the sacred and pure spirit, which is instructive for rebuilding contemporary value ideals.

Second, the future development of Ningxia literature thinking and suggestions

The first is to rediscover and stick to the main spirit.

(1) Attach importance to the enlightenment tradition. There is a clear main line in the social development of China in the past century, that is, the pursuit of modernity, which is also the trend and tide of human social development. There is no literariness without modernity. A prominent feature of today's era is that pre-modernity, modernity and post-modernism are intertwined and conflict with each other, which provides opportunities for literary innovation. Under the background of this era, the enlightenment thought is still not outdated. Kant said: "Emancipation from superstition is called enlightenment." The essence of enlightenment is "to know yourself again". In this sense, Ningxia writers' discovery and persistence in human subjectivity is more important than their persistence in ideals and beliefs. Among Ningxia writers, Mo Yue gave me the feeling that he seemed to pay more attention to the subject consciousness and feelings of intellectuals. This should be related to his experience. The farther away Mo is from his hometown, his hometown has become his spiritual home to compare with the real society and pay attention to the state of life. Like his "herding sheep", the behavior of women herding sheep is not in the original sense, but a way of spiritual existence. It is not sheep that eat grass, but their own hearts. Sheep are a symbol of women's warmth. He tried to build a self-sufficient and harmonious world in his novels, but of course the world was destroyed. Just like Chen Jiming's "The Monk in Beijing", he is thinking about how to seek a spiritual breakthrough from "knowledge-power enslaves people", rather than how to find a safe home for the soul from the ancient farming civilization. Their thinking and expression all reflect a strong subjective consciousness, and in the process of re-understanding themselves, they have made new observations and discoveries about life, history, life and human nature.

(2) Avoid homogenization. It is obvious that some writers in Ningxia repeat themselves and imitate others. One of the roots of homogenization lies in the writer's weak subjective consciousness, lack of broader vision and more unique experience, and lack of insight and ideological power. Only by consciously "opening up" themselves can writers "open up" the world in front of them-in addition to the severe local conditions, there are rich places bordering the south of the Yangtze River, small towns in transition and modern urban life in Ningxia; Only a more open and modern concept can stimulate the vitality of thought in the collision with traditional culture and glow the power of thought in the confrontation with popular concepts.

The second is to establish a holistic care vision. Many times, people tend to fall into simple binary opposition thinking. Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, villages, poverty and suffering often become consumption landscapes, thus dispelling their due aesthetic and ideological values. Although cities and villages are different fields, there is a spirit of the times behind the heterogeneous appearance, which needs writers to explore, discover and integrate. Only by abandoning the simple thinking of binary opposition between urban and rural areas and consciously pursuing the integration of natural life and spiritual life from the standpoint of modernity can writers rebuild the spiritual home of mankind. Especially when writing riffraff, we should be especially wary of pure moral criticism, because morality is not the only one, let alone the highest standard. Simply citing humanitarianism can easily limit the writer's in-depth and comprehensive thinking on the development and progress of human society. Avoid becoming what Marcuse called a "one-dimensional person". A writer must have a global vision, comprehensively and profoundly understand the profound changes in social structure brought about by the simultaneous effects of globalization, marketization and high technology, and the great crisis encountered by the human mind, so as to accurately capture the mirror image of "real life" without being obscured by the sense of fragmentation and concretization. We should not only pay attention to the "past countryside" but also look at the "present life"; We can't think that it is enough to describe the countryside. As long as we are familiar with the countryside, we must also understand the process of urbanization. If we ignore the comprehensiveness and organic connection of social life and the sense of history of life, it will inevitably affect the ideological depth of the works. Engels said that the ideological depth of his works is not the product of pure speculation, but comes from the writer's profound understanding and grasp of the historical content he reflected. Therefore, we need a universal vision, which unifies extroverted exploration, observation, inward feeling and reflection, integrates personal experience and public experience, and explores and reaches a broad and profound real existence in the two-way interaction between the edge and the center.

Cai Jiayuan, director of China Literary Critics Association and member of Chinese Writers Association. He is currently the deputy editor-in-chief of Changjiang Literature and Art Review and the secretary-general of Hubei Literature and Art Critics Association. He is the author of Comments, Rebuilding Our Literary Ideal, Essays, Chronicles of Song Wan, Books, Dating in the Library, Lively Colors and Fragrances, Screaming and Flying All the Way, etc. He has won the second Woodpecker Cup, the annual Excellence Award of China Literature Review, the second Hubei Literature Review Award and the first prize of the 35th Hubei News Award (literary review). Some works have been translated into English and Korean and published overseas.