First, what is "Beijing flavor"? "Beijing flavor" means Beijing flavor. It should include Beijing's environment and humanities, that is, Beijing's local customs and the spiritual temperament of Beijingers. Specifically, it is roughly composed of three factors:
-It's a local flavor. This mainly refers to the regional characteristics that distinguish Beijing from other places, such as Beijing's hutongs, quadrangles, courtyards, ancient city walls, acrobatics on overpasses, temple fairs in Baita Temple, Spring Festival in Changdian, and even small wine shops that chat and sing operas on the roadside, all of which are permeated with a unique local flavor.
Second, traditional flavor, or it can also be called "ancient flavor" and "cultural flavor". This refers to the national cultural tradition left over from history. China is an ancient civilization with a history of nearly a thousand years. It is an ancient capital and a national political and cultural center. The history and cultural traditions of the Chinese nation have left the deepest impression here. From ancient etiquette and customs to traditional ethics, it is accumulated in the hearts of Beijingers, which embodies their unique spiritual temperament, such as paying attention to etiquette and rules in interpersonal communication, being more tolerant and modest, being more open-minded, being good at self-mockery, having a sense of humor and paying more attention to cultural literacy. The backwardness of traditional culture also has a heavy ideological constraint on Beijingers, which is characterized by certain conservatism and closeness, slow acceptance of new things and customs, and strong remnants of feudal patriarchal ethics.
It is worth mentioning that the influence of the national flag style on the mentality and customs of Beijingers should not be underestimated. It strengthens the advantages and disadvantages of the above traditions and makes them more vivid. All this makes Beijing enveloped in a relatively strong ancient atmosphere, antique, simple and ancient, but also stuffy and pedantic.
Three days, the taste of the market. This refers to a kind of character and temperament embodied in the lower class citizens. This kind of lower class citizens generally belong to the semi-proletariat and part of the petty bourgeoisie in small cities, such as small craftsmen, small traders, clerks and foreign rickshaws, porters, street performers, craftsmen, servants and so on. People who make a living mainly by physical strength are the so-called "people who drive cars and sell pulp" in the old society. Their living environment is relatively simple and their living conditions are relatively difficult. On the one hand, they maintain some simple virtues of working people, such as diligence, kindness, generosity and self-denial; At the same time, influenced by the ruling class's thoughts and traditional norms, many weaknesses and defects of the lower class citizens, such as selfishness, narrowness, vanity, mediocrity and other so-called "ordinary citizens" habits, have also been most vividly reflected in them. Most of the "old Beijing" we talk about today belongs to this category.
The above three flavors permeate and blend with each other. These three flavors are integrated into the traditional psychological customs and spiritual temperament of Beijingers. Of course, in terms of specific environment and people, the emphasis is different. For example, in the quadrangles of the official gentry's house in the middle and upper classes of Beijing, the traditional flavor is even stronger. Moreover, the original "local flavor" and "market flavor" are often diluted by bureaucratic flavor, foreign flavor and bookish atmosphere. On the farmers in the suburbs of Beijing, the "traditional flavor" and "street flavor" are relatively diluted, and the "local flavor" is stronger. Only in Beijing, under the Bell and Drum Tower, the "street flavor" of the lower class citizens in the building complex is the strongest, and the "local flavor" and "traditional flavor" are also expressed in different ways. Therefore, "Beijing flavor" is the most distinctive and prominent in this group of people. The performance of Beijing flavor not only varies from person to person, but also changes with the development of the times and society. Historically, the Beijing flavor during the feudal dynasty was very different from that after the Republic of China, and it was different before and after liberation (this can be seen from Lao She's Teahouse). As for these years, with the influx of reform and opening up, new trends of thought and new atmosphere, the taste of the Nine Classics has changed even more, and it cannot be generalized.
Second, "Beijing-style novels" and Lao She. Comrade Liu Yingnan and I put forward three standards for Beijing-style novels in the Postscript of Eight Beijing-style Novels:
(1) Writing Beijingers and events in Beijing dialect is the minimum theme line.
(2) Write a rich and concrete description of Beijing customs.
(3) Write down the inherent characteristics of ethnic, historical and cultural traditions in the spirit, temperament and character of Beijingers.
In fact, the most important of these three is the third. It can even be said that it is mainly the third type. It's just that the first work may have no Beijing flavor at all, even if it writes about the local customs of Beijing, it may still have no Beijing flavor (for example, Zhang Henshui's "Ridiculous" and Lin Yutang's "Clouds in Beijing"). There must be a third rule, to write the charm, smell and soul of Beijingers, in order to have a "Beijing flavor". Therefore, I think that only the representative works of Lao She, such as Four Generations, Camel Xiangzi and Liu Jia Courtyard, are the real representatives of Beijing-style novels.
Mr. Lao She has made three contributions to "Beijing-style novels":
First, Lao She is the founder of "Beijing-style novels" and has pioneering power. Before him, China wrote about the life in Kyoto and the local customs of Beijing, but he didn't show too many characteristics of Beijing flavor, and the "bureaucracy" of Beijing school was more prominent. In 1930s, Shen Congwen and others advocated "Beijing-style novels", but that had nothing to do with "Beijing-style novels". Laoshe was the first writer who really wrote "Beijing flavor", and he was far ahead in both quantity and quality of his works.
Secondly, Lao She's Beijing-flavor novels are exemplary, and no one can surpass them in excavating the deep mentality of Beijingers and conveying charm and smell. People can't help but admit that the talents in Beijing written by Lao She are out-and-out "Beijingers", and their authenticity is beyond doubt. This is of course due to Lao She's profound understanding of Beijing, which has a profound life background, and is also closely related to his materials. The characters in Lao She's works are mainly the lower class citizens living in the urban complex. In these characters, "Beijing flavor" contains the most concentrated and distinctive "street flavor", "local flavor" and even "traditional flavor".
Lao She's success in shaping little people lies in his profound emotional tendency and objective aesthetic perspective. Lao She looked at everything that happened in Beijing with a kind and generous mind and a fair and kind eye. He not only hates the vulgar selfishness of ordinary citizens, but also praises the kindness, openness and simplicity embodied in the lower class citizens. This makes the characters in his works often shine with all kinds of brilliance of human nature, such as pitiful, contemptible, pitiful, respectable, lovely and precious, which completely and truly reflects all aspects of the soul.
Lao She's mastery of Beijing dialect is universally acknowledged. The Beijing dialect he wrote not only kept the simplicity and vividness of the folk spoken language, but also screened out those shoddy impurities, which really burned the fragrance of Beijing rhyme, delicate and vivid. This makes his Beijing-style works reach an unprecedented height from content to form.
Thirdly, Lao She's "Beijing-style novels" have authentic beauty. The Beijing flavor of Lao She's works is not won by describing new and peculiar folk customs; Second, it does not attract people with legendary plots; Don't tease people by curiosity. Lao She's Beijing is an ordinary quadrangle for civilians. Most of the characters in Lao She's novels are ordinary and common middle and lower class citizens. The stories written by Lao She are often about daily life, and the parents are short. In a word, he showed the most common "Beijing flavor" in Beijing by writing about ordinary people, ordinary things and public psychology. Not only that, Lao She described Beijingers with the mentality of ordinary people. He is like living among characters, sharing their fate and breathing with them. He is not condescending to these little people, bossing them around and telling them what to do, nor is he giving them cheap sympathy in a sympathetic state. But let people feel a harmonious sense of intimacy. Of course, this does not mean lowering the author's ideological level. Lao She's criticism of the old culture and the old citizen consciousness is distinct, but this criticism is hidden in the approachable description, and the humorous style makes this criticism less sharp-edged.
Third, the "Beijing School Novels" basically took shape. The formation of a literary genre generally requires three conditions:
(1) There are one or two outstanding and widely recognized famous writers as the core and representatives.
(2) A group of writers with similar artistic characteristics consciously or unconsciously become the periphery or successors of representative writers.
(3) Produce a number of outstanding and influential works with similar themes and styles.
If these three conditions can be established, then, in my opinion, "Beijing School Novel" has basically formed as a genre in contemporary literature. The reason is simple:
(A) "Beijing Novel School" has a famous and outstanding representative writer-Lao She.
(2) In recent ten years, a number of outstanding writers who are good at describing "Beijing flavor" have emerged in contemporary literary circles. Some of them consciously learned from Lao She (such as), some absorbed Lao She's charm and wrote a batch of works full of Beijing flavor (such as, Han and Chen), and some of them expanded the influence of Beijing flavor novels by writing some works with similar themes and strong Beijing flavor characteristics (such as Wang Zengqi and Chen). Although these writers have their own styles, characteristics and artistic pursuits, they may have different views on "Beijing-style novels", but they are closely related to the "Beijing-style" expressed in Lao She's creation. People have the right to classify them into one category and regard them as a genre. Because from the perspective of literary history, except for those literary schools that are formed in a planned, purposeful and conscious way, most of them are integrated by readers and future generations.
(3) The writers of "Beijing-flavor novels" represented by Lao She have written a number of excellent works full of Beijing flavor. In addition to a number of groundbreaking works by Lao She, some outstanding works have been produced in recent years, such as Looking for Painting in Korea, Red Dot and Prequel to Little Manager by Han, Fun and Pulley Hutong No.9 by Chen and Uncle Silly. Wang Zengqi, an old writer, is good at describing the local customs of his hometown in northern Jiangsu, but he has lived in Beijing for 40 years, and his familiarity and grasp of Beijing life is no less than his hometown. Therefore, his works describing life in Beijing, such as "Living in Peace" and "Clouding Autumn", all have a strong Beijing flavor. Liu Shaotang, who is keen on "local literature", has always been famous for describing the customs of the JD.COM Canal. The "local flavor" in the suburbs of Beijing itself is contaminated with Beijing's "traditional flavor" and "street flavor", so the local flavor described by Liu Shaotang is actually an extension of Beijing flavor. If we expand it a little, some of Haoran's works, such as "Winding Descendants", also belong to this category. In addition, there are many excellent novels that express Beijing flavor, such as Liu's Bell and Drum Tower.
In fact, it is no accident that the "Beijing School of Fiction" can become a school. From the aspects of history, culture and language, Beijingers have unique advantages and fertile ground for schools.
First, the uniqueness and influence of "Beijing flavor". As mentioned above, a city with distinctive national symbols, rich cultural traditions and unique regional characteristics like Beijing is very rare in the whole country and even in the world. Therefore, "Beijing flavor" itself has a unique brilliance. With its authority as the capital, its influence is not limited to China, but also renowned at home and abroad.
The second is the authority and charm of "Beijing dialect". At present, the promotion of Putonghua in the whole country is based on "Beijing dialect", which is similar to each other, making Beijing dialect itself convenient for the whole country. Although there are some dialects in Beijing dialect, most of them are slightly changed in Putonghua, such as rhyming and disyllabic words, which do not affect readers' understanding. Even if a few uncommon slang words (such as "dare" and "have fun") are occasionally used in novels, they are often the places with the strongest Beijing flavor and the strongest local flavor. The author will certainly explain and skillfully use it, which will only increase the charm of the language and "burn" the aroma of Beijing flavor. Therefore, generally speaking, there is not much obstacle to the promotion of works written in skilled "Beijing dialect" throughout the country.
Third, Beijing has a strong team of writers. Of course, writers in Beijing don't necessarily write about "Beijing flavor", but at least it is much easier for them to write about Beijing flavor than other local writers. It can be said that the reserve team of "Beijing-style novel school" is strong, which is the premise of the emergence and prosperity of "Beijing-style novel".
Of course, the so-called "genre, mobile school" is also true. It can't be fixed, and it can't be forever. Any school in the history of literature is a process of formation, development and extinction, and some of them have a short life span. Some people worry that with the development of the times, "old Beijing flavor" will become more and more indifferent or even disappear, and the future of "Beijing flavor novels" is worrying. In fact, as long as Beijing exists, "Beijing flavor" will still exist. Even if one day "Beijing flavor" is fully integrated into the new trend of the times, then "Beijing flavor novel", as a kind of history, will still have its existence value. Like Deng Youmei's "Wu Na", it is written about history, without damaging its aesthetic brilliance.
It should also be noted that we believe that the basic formation of "Beijing School Novels" does not mean that it is very stable and mature, because the development trend of this school is unpredictable. Many schools in the history of literature, except a few representative figures, are unstable; Sometimes even the commander may leave (for example, Wen Yiduo is going to the "Crescent School"). There are also two possibilities for the "Beijing-style novel school": perhaps the number of writers writing Beijing-style novels will continue to increase, making this school stronger and stronger; Maybe it will gradually be left out; But judging from the current situation, it is fully qualified to regard it as a genre.