This is a book about reading and writing, focusing on writing.
Actually, it's not the first time I've read a writing book. But it is the first time to talk about boring theories in a simple way in a way that is almost storytelling.
Writing and reading are two sides of a whole, so this book is basically divided into two parts, one is reading and the other is writing.
The most talked about reading is nothing more than two basic questions: what to read and how to read.
Many people have written such books since ancient times. I can think of modern Liang Qichao, Hu Shi, Zhu Ziqing, Jin Kemu and so on.
Wen Xin was written for middle school students during the Republic of China, so here are some bibliographies, including storytelling, classics, history, poetry and reference books.
But like most books, this book does not give a reading order. Reading order is a key issue. A person who has never read A Dream of Red Mansions will read A Dream of Red Mansions, whether he can read it or not. Even if he does, his mind will be full of other people's ideas.
Jin Kemu's book "Finished" answers the question of reading order well.
To read China's ancient books (including literature), we should first read Yi, History, Shu, Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period, Book of Rites, Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Laozi and Zhuangzi. One * * is ten books.
I didn't read these books first, but I can't fully understand them if I read other books.
Many people like to find a bibliography through literature, history and philosophy, and then follow the map to read the corresponding books.
I think this is a good idea, otherwise we don't know what books to read at all, so that we can't start with so many books Moreover, there are too many books on the market with uneven quality, which will inevitably waste a lot of time and money.
However, Wen Xin opposes this practice. It is suggested to read the original work first, and then read books such as "literary history".
First of all, the writers, schools and works mentioned in the history of literature can't be read if readers don't understand them.
Secondly, the selection of literary history is very limited, and it is easy to miss, and there are many subjective elements in editing.
Finally, comments in the history of literature are subjective, which easily affects readers' reading ideas.
The most important thing in reading is to gain the content and interest of the article. Reading is new.
So, how should I study specifically? The book mentions a very important and interesting concept-the three stages of reading.
Reading is divided into three stages, step by step. These three stages are "seeing, seeing and observing".
"Seeing" means "seeing, seeing" and has no complicated psychological function. Like reading an article or a painting. At this time, you only know what is written in it and what is drawn. You only know the literal meaning of the text. This coincides with the "basic reading" in How to Read a Book.
Seeing is not only looking, but also observing. What is observation? For an article or a painting, it is necessary to determine its structure and theme. This is also very similar to the "test reading" mentioned in How to Read a Book, grasping the key points and themes, main viewpoints and structure of a book.
"View" is the most advanced. The combination of outlook on life, concept and outlook is not simple. "View" is to walk into its position and face it wholeheartedly, which is the real taste of an article or painting.
"Look" is only a matter of sensory organs, "look" is an intellectual speculation, and "view" is the whole psychological activity.
My understanding of "seeing" and "seeing" is more passive acceptance and acquisition, while "seeing" is more active and interactive.
After understanding the author's intention, "Guan" will also think of his own personal experience, or what should I do if I encounter such a situation? If you write this article yourself, how to start and so on.
The so-called "appreciation" can't be discussed until after "viewing". Imagination is the most important condition for appreciating works. This is what we mean by "imaginary literature".
Writers record specific things, their own life experiences and imagination in black and white. What about the readers? When readers see black or white, they should do the opposite and turn it into concrete things, life experiences and imagination.
The hardest part is the experience.
An article or work usually includes "external experience" and "internal experience". The condition of the landscape is an external experience, while the author's feeling of the landscape is an internal experience. For example, "where petals flow like tears", "flowers" are external and "tears" are internal.
The external experience is easy to understand, but the internal experience is different. As a reader, he is not in the author's creative environment and background, nor does he have his life experience and experience. Therefore, we often encounter situations where we can't understand an article or a work, which is normal.
Finally, the purpose of reading or studying is not to complete a certain subject, but whether you can enrich yourself, apply what you have learned and change your life after learning.
Words are a manifestation of the heart, and the meanings conveyed by words are generally divided into three kinds, and these three kinds can appear in an article at the same time: "knowledge, emotion and meaning"
"Knowledge" is "knowledge". "Knowledge" mainly provides readers with specific information and tells others what a thing is and how it is different from others. In other words, it gives people a kind of "knowledge" or conveys a kind of information.
"Emotion" is "emotion". Words expressing the author's feelings. Happiness, anger, sadness, etc.
"Meaning" is "meaning". How should we handle a matter and what action should we take?
For example, if you want to write an article about "goods", you should first introduce the specific situation of "goods", what it is and how it is different from others. Secondly, talk about the feeling of using this product, such as being very happy and comfortable to use. Finally, call on everyone to take action "Buy in buy buy 」。
This book spends a lot of space describing the "skills" of writing. From diction and sentence making, to rhetoric, to the structure or organization of the article, we basically stopped.
Besides expository writing and argumentative writing, there are generally two ways of writing: narrative writing and impression description writing.
"Narration" means writing down what you see. For example, a travel book feels like a map and a road book after writing, but it feels like a running account.
"Impression description" is more advanced. Mainly write feelings and impressions. But this impression is not very empty "beautiful" and "beautiful", but needs a more infectious and figurative writing. "Seeing cattle and sheep when the wind blows" is a typical impression description.
We often add "look, listen, taste, touch and smell" when describing impressions. For example:
The most important thing in reading and writing is "trigger skills". Therefore, beyond the impression, if you add a trigger, the level will be deeper.
Trigger is a kind of connection, and the author can associate the ups and downs of personnel when he sees the full moon. Readers have acquired the knowledge of A and can transplant it to B, so triggering is a kind of mastery.
An article is like a team, and every section in the article is like everyone in the team, playing a different role in the team.
An article is also like a house, and each section is like a room in the house, with a proper position. This is the structure of the article.
The organization method of an article is usually similar to the western six-stage organization method of "beginning, inheritance, biography, narration, biography and conclusion" or the four-stage organization method of "preface, discussion, debate and conclusion".
But these are just references, and can't be copied mechanically. The core of the article organization is to solve three problems: how to start, how to say the main meaning and how to end.
In other words, there are only three principles for organizing articles: order, connection and unity.
Order, that is, the arrangement order of materials; Contact means that from beginning to end, there is no place to forcibly pick up bamboo shoots; Unite, maintain a unified opinion, a unified mood.
The usual practice is to roughly figure out how to start, how to end, how to run through, and then write step by step.
As for how to write different types of articles, the book is not fully elaborated, but mainly novels and narratives.
Narration is like taking pictures, only taking pictures on it, and the essence is things.
Fiction is a painting, and its essence is of great significance to ordinary life.
And this meaning is contained in the narrative, just like the salt in the soup, you can't see the salt, you won't know until you taste it. Therefore, the meaning needs readers to find out for themselves. If the meaning is explained separately from the story, it is not "contained", the article becomes an argumentative paper, and the story becomes an argument.
Because it is painting, all the elements in the picture are dominated by the painter's consciousness and emotion. The same is true of novels. Every scene, character and story in the novel is carefully designed and arranged by the author, which contains the power of suggestion.
As readers, we need to observe these arrangements with confidence and patiently understand the corresponding hints. Or, read between the lines.
Finally, it talks about three types of writing.
Composition is similar to painting, or most applied disciplines are similar, which can be divided into three types: practice, applied work and creation.
The path of learning is also from exercise, to application and finally to creation.
"Practice" is a continuous practice to acquire basic skills, such as a painter's sketch practice. Homework has no end time, and writers practice writing all their lives.
The purpose of "applied work" is to meet the needs of others within a given time and theme. Like writing a notice to the company.
"Creation" is a process of input, and there is no specific time and theme. Many artists spend decades or even their whole lives creating a work. The general creative process is to select a topic first, then create ideas, and then collect relevant materials.
Generally speaking, this is a rare writing book. This paper expounds the theory of boring writing comprehensively, systematically and interestingly.