The acceptance status and significance of red classic novels

Li Si, 04 Chinese Language and Literature.

Red classic novels (hereinafter referred to as red classics) refer to the literature in the seventeen years after the founding of New China. It is the passionate writing of China's modern peasant revolutionary epic (also known as revolutionary narrative), the product of realizing the goal of "literary integration" and Mao Zedong's "Speech at Yan 'an Forum on Literature and Art". In the history of China literature in the 20th century, Huang Xiuji called this period an idealistic literary period. The basic feature is reality, which can reflect the whole era and has a strong momentum. Not only the plot is interesting and full of heroic legends, but also his thoughts are positive and optimistic, reflecting the political ideology at that time. It "comprehensively combed and created the glorious tradition of China's proletarian revolution with idealistic artistic thinking and romantic expression, and infected and condensed the value recognition of a new generation of China people on the concept of modern political revolution with epic charm." [1] No matter how strongly the later generations criticized the Red Classics, no matter how lacking its literary artistry, its existence is of certain significance to the historical development process of our whole China, the whole literary history, and arousing national memory.

Red Classics in the Current Environment

At present, the classic education of environmental red is gradually blank in schools, and students' study of the patriotic spirit of revolutionary martyrs and their understanding of the history of the founding of the People's Republic of China are not as strong as before. At the same time, there has been a craze and ethos of adapting red classics in social film and television adaptation, and Lin Yuan, Red Female Soldier and Private Soldier have been put on the screen many times. However, there is a big gap between its content and the original, and it tends to be entertaining and vulgar. Love replaced the revolution and became the center, and the response was not satisfactory. In the face of this adaptation craze, some experts and scholars raised objections and put forward the basic principles of adapting red classics: such as respecting the basic theme of the original, the relationship between characters and the story structure; Respect the value orientation of the original work; Creation and adaptation proceed from reality and respect the original background. Guo Hancheng, a drama theorist, said: "Now some adaptors belittle human nature, thinking that only secular desires are human nature, and the human nature of the protagonist is secular desires. This is a destruction of cultural heritage and a' self-destructive spiritual Great Wall'. " As a reflection of aesthetic consciousness, it is not necessary to adapt, but to grasp a degree. Red classics are not literary classics in the usual sense. It not only has the significance in the history of literature, but also bears the life experience of a whole generation and contains simple and rich moral feelings. Therefore, every adaptation is a test of historical consciousness, moral self-confidence and life interest for both creators and recipients.

Li Daoxin of Peking University, Zhu Dongli of China Academy of Fine Arts and Zhang Zhizhong of Capital Normal University all believe that the spiritual connotations of "red classics" such as heroism, idealism and youthful passion are still of great significance to today's era. No matter how you adapt it, you can't change these spiritual wealth. Adaptation must respect the original, especially the spiritual connotation of the original. Chen Jianlan of Literature and Art Research magazine believes that one of the basic reasons for the enduring adaptation of "Red Classics" is that it captures the nostalgia of contemporary people. He said that nostalgia, as an aesthetic category, is the product or substitute of the degradation of historical consciousness. The nostalgia that permeates the production and consumption of the adaptation of "Red Classics" shows our "hollowing out of historical memory" in a certain sense. Due to the hollowing out of historical memory, there is a very common phenomenon when we restate the "red classics": we interpret history with our values and life experiences today, as if the revolutionary life would not reappear logically without doing so. Are directors deliberately catering to the tastes of the contemporary "public", or do they have no ability to understand history at all? Or both? The experience and logic of the revolutionary era are indeed far from our real life today, but in the restatement of "red classics", differences have no reason to be obstacles to our understanding. On the contrary, they should be the premise and motivation of artistic creation. It seems logical to simply "assimilate" yesterday's history with today's worldly wisdom, but in fact it shows the lack of historical consciousness.

With the development of the times and the progress of material civilization, it is a historical necessity to adapt red classic novels into movies or TV series, and it is also a manifestation of conforming to historical development. However, in the process of adaptation, we must pay attention to maintaining the seriousness of its content. Although this era is becoming more and more personalized and agile, and does not stick to one or several conventions, the patriotism in the red classics should not be forgotten. Our generation is lucky, we are not in the era of war, but the competition between countries still exists and even becomes more intense. Defending our hot land still needs the patriotic spirit of the whole people. Only when the country is strong can it have its own personal glory. China has no faith of his own. With the pace of globalization, tradition gradually disappears. This is a question that all of us in China should think about.

Second, the significance of red classics in the history of literature

The history of modern literature in China has been developing vigorously since the 19 19 New Culture Movement, and new achievements will be made in each stage. Lu Xun, Ba Jin, Lao She, Contradiction, Cao Yu, etc. In the 1920s and 1930s; Shen Congwen, Qian Zhongshu and Zhang Ailing. They were all celebrities in the history of literature in the 1930s and 1940s. However, after the founding of New China, political ideology dominated, and the elite consciousness of intellectuals was gradually excluded and marginalized. Under the intervention of political power, the history of literature was filled by these red classics, and most writers responded to the call of the state and devoted themselves to creating novels praising the revolution. Even if some writers who still adhere to the spirit of individual liberalism continue to write underground elites, it is difficult for his works to enter the history of literature. Therefore, if we completely deny the red classics, the history of literature in the new period will be blank. Red classics are a batch of works that have stood the test of time. What's left after filtering out must be valuable. Although the limitations of the times are inevitable, this cannot be a reason to deny the classics.

During the 27 years from 1949 to the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, literary creation (especially novels) experienced a wave-like form, and it was the red classic novels that were at the forefront. The novel artistically shows the whole process of the peasant revolution, and the momentum shown in the text can be said to be the spiritual pillar of the people of the whole country at that time and their belief. Regardless of the "belief" itself, whether a nation has faith or not will make a qualitative difference. Now people have generally realized the great power of faith, and a nation without faith is by no means a powerful nation.

There is literature in an era, and literature reflects reality and is higher than reality. Although the characters' language and thoughts reflected in the works are too lofty, it is the reflection of that era and the need of that era. The creative source of new China writers is a historical retelling or recollection of how to embark on the broad road of revolution after the victory of China Revolution. The appearance of these novels is the necessity of historical and social development. From the depth of the whole historical development, without this stage of literature, the history of China literature would be broken. The content of novels in this period is its value, followed by artistry. Feng Xuefeng in "On"

All this work is carried out under the political ideology, acting as the mouthpiece of the country and propagating the party's purpose. The selected theme focuses on the course of the revolution. "This phenomenon is rare in the novel creation in the past or in other countries, so it is one of the characteristics of China's contemporary novels." [3] Most of the authors of red classics give up urban life, take root in the countryside and devote themselves to it. They have a real sensory experience of the countryside, and there will be no logical mistakes in writing. Artistic truth comes from life and is higher than life. Although the images of the * * * production party and farmers are over-inflated, reflecting the idealized pursuit of human perfection, the characters still have life prototypes, rather than being fabricated by the author. For example, "Communication in the Night" was adapted by the author Liang Bin according to 1932, and the sacrificed pony was the prototype of the hero. Liang Bin said that "Red Flag Spectrum" "Zhu Laogong had a scene in the willow forest. It was a story told by my mother, but it was not as strong and complete as what I wrote in my book." [4] Looking at the contents and thoughts of Song of Youth at the moment will make people feel too great and lofty, but the author Yang Mo said in the postscript, "These people have lived in my heart for a long time, which makes me long for the opportunity to express them for many years. So many people and things in this book are basically true. " [5] So, in any case, these works truly recorded the hardships and hardships established by China and became the spiritual pillar of people who experienced that period. It can be said that living in that era was hard in material life, but full in spirit. From some angles, our current spiritual life is becoming barren and backward. Secondly, it is also a spiritual reward and encouragement for those revolutionaries to record history in written form, which is conducive to boosting morale; At the same time, it spread to later generations and became a good material for patriotic education. The most important thing is that these seventeen-year red classics have made indelible contributions to the integrity of China's literary history. Because the history of literature emphasizes its continuity, rather than taking the literary and artistic characteristics of works as the only criterion. When a work is discussed in the category of "history", it must be investigated and characterized from two aspects: time (continuity of historical development) and space (sexual existence of various styles).

The Significance of Three Red Classics in Arousing Memories

At the beginning of the founding of New China, the leadership of the * * * production party was still unstable and faced with a series of political and economic problems. In order to consolidate political power, unify thoughts and enhance cohesion, a series of literary and artistic movements such as the rectification movement, the "anti-Rightist" movement and the cultural revolution that later spread throughout the country were launched. These so-called literary and artistic movements are all out of certain political needs, and they are all done to unify thoughts and consolidate political power. "Literature and art serve politics" can summarize the characteristics of literary creation in that period. The social and political utility of literature is the core issue of Mao Zedong's literary thought. Mao Zedong does not recognize that literature has independent character and status. He believes that "in the real world, all culture, literature and art belong to a certain class and a certain political line. Art for art's sake, art beyond class, and art in parallel with politics actually do not exist. " In this way, starting from Yan 'an literature in the1940s, literary writing and literary movement should not only be consistent with the realistic political tasks in general, but also be completely integrated with politics in organization and specific work rhythm. Red classics are one of the products.

China's so-called "red" refers to the category of * * * production party. Most of the red classics describe the peasant revolutionary war under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. They show the reality with grand narratives and cherish the memory of revolutionary soldiers, which has the character of modern national epic. "Generally speaking, from the struggle for democratic monarchy in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China (Li's 60-year change), the surge in the Great Revolution (Ouyang Shan ((Sanjiaxiang) and hard struggle), the hard years in the Red Army (Liang Bin's red flag, his party dues and seven matches), the Great Wall of flesh and blood in the eight-year war of resistance. During the War of Liberation, Du Pengcheng's Defending Yan 'an, Hao Qiang's Red Sun and Qu Bo ((Lin Yuan)) all made positive contributions to the historical process and the creation of literary paradigm in modern China. " [6] The positive optimism and idealism in the red classics are unrealistic and even grandiose now, but that is the result of the times. In those difficult war years, for the sake of revolution and one's own "faith", enthusiasm is high, one can give up one's life, and lack of rational thinking is inevitable. Through hard work, we finally won the war and gained the corresponding rights, and the prestige of the * * * production party gradually increased. When New China was founded, a large number of red classic novels appeared, eulogizing the heroic wit and dedication of the People's Liberation Army and the national carnival after the victory of the revolution with legendary heroic revolutionary ode. Revolutionary historical narration is an important literary means for national ideology to maintain its own legitimacy and continuity, so every period has revolutionary historical writing under the restriction and support of the national system; On the other hand, "revolutionary historical novels" also constitute an internal part of the so-called elite literature or "pure literature" in a negative way (from revolutionary historical novels to Liu Zaifu's new revolutionary historical novels). Of course, in addition to consolidating the new revolutionary regime and strengthening ideological control, it is also one of the rulers' intentions to remember revolutionary traditions and history in words and let future generations remember their founding and great achievements.

Generations in our new era have not experienced revolution. Without these red classic series, our understanding of the history of the motherland would be even less, or even taken out of context. We all know that the word "forget the past" can only be transformed into positive ideological resources and used for the current cause if we remember the sufferings of history. But for war, people always like to choose to forget, forget history, forget pain, and automatically avoid that stage that makes us miserable and embarrassed. Lu Xun has always been a nuisance, including our China people's lack of courage to face reality: "We have no memories. No wonder, there are too many painful things in life, especially in China. Those with a good memory are probably crushed to death by heavy pain; Only people with bad memories can survive and live happily. " [7] The rapid commercialization of social process has made our new generation easily push away all historical burdens and seek new ways to satisfy the soul, trapped in the whirlpool of material and desire. At this critical moment when the spiritual home is gradually eroded by desire, we should use these red classics to stimulate our fighting spirit. There is a philosopher Jacques in the west? Derrida once said, "To arouse memory is to arouse responsibility." Red classics are widely loved by farmers, whether in written form or adapted into movies and TV shows. Movies with anti-Japanese themes such as Flying Tigers and Armed Behind the Enemy were not only enjoyed by the previous generation in China, but also interested by us in the 1980s and 1990s. It publicizes the Party's ideology and patriotism in an atmosphere of praising the people of China and belittling the Japanese people, which invisibly inspires the patriotic enthusiasm of the people of China. This is much better than simply using words to publicize. At that time, they were very enthusiastic and straightforward about patriotism and love for the party, and the overall ideology was at work. However, without a unified ideology, the topic of patriotism will be marginalized and ridiculed. This cannot but attract our attention. Our nation has no faith. If there is no relatively unified national consciousness to enhance cohesion, where is the powerful way out for China? Nowadays, ignoring the red classics or even adapting them at will is completely contrary to the original intention and vulgarization. This is the product of the business mentality of quick success and instant benefit. We need to pick up the classics again to calm our hearts and arouse our sense of responsibility, but not in such an ironic and vulgar way, but with a serious and solemn sense of responsibility.

Four conclusions

Red classic novels are passionate writing of modern peasant revolutionary epics, and there are many spirits and styles worth learning, such as patriotism, collectivism, hard struggle and so on. Although the works are occupied by political ideology, which leads to the lack of art and humanity, as an available cultural resource, its potential value and significance to ensure the integrity of literary history and revolutionary history can not be ignored, and it also maintains the dialogue between history and reality.