Biography of Hulan River is a novel by Xiao Hong, a famous writer. 1940 was written in Hong Kong and published by 194 1 Guilin Heshan Publishing House.
The novel is divided into seven chapters, prefaced by Mao Dun, a famous literary master. When writing this novel, it was the most difficult stage in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which made Xiao Hong, who was far away from Hong Kong, miss her hometown and childhood more. So she wrote this novel according to her hometown and childhood life. Unique in artistic form: although writing characters, there is no protagonist; Although it also tells stories, it has no main axis; Although the seven chapters of this book can be independent, they are a whole. This writer created her "memory-style" masterpiece with her skillful memory skills, lyric prose style and light and heavy writing style. Mao Dun once commented on its artistic achievements: "It is a narrative poem, a colorful landscape painting and a string of sad songs."
[Edit this paragraph] Introduction to the author
Xiao Hong (1911June 2-19421October 22) is a famous modern female writer in China. Heilongjiang Hulan County, formerly known as Zhang Naiying, pen names Yinqiao, Lingling and Tiandi.
Xiao Hong, known as "the goddess of literature in 1930s", is the most miserable woman among the four talented women in the Republic of China and a legend. She has the same life experience as Li Qingzhao, a poet, and has been in extreme pain and ups and downs, which can be described as a more unfortunate one. However, she faces the whole secular world with a weak and sickly body. In the national disaster, she experienced rebellion, awakening and struggle, and fought against fate again and again. Although her works do not directly describe her experience, they add a deep understanding of human nature and society to female consciousness. She takes "the ignorance of human nature" and "transforming the national soul" as artistic pursuits, and deeply calls for democratic spirit and personality consciousness in "the ruthless analysis of traditional consciousness and cultural mentality". Xiao Hong's life is a life of struggle and struggle without bowing to fate. It should be said that the appearance of Xiao Jun directly affected her fate, triggered her to start literary creation, and she entered her life. The author died two years after writing Biography of Hulan River, and the specific location is unknown.
[Edit this paragraph] synopsis of the story
In the 1920s, the story of a small county by the Hulan River in Northeast China.
In a patriarchal society, life flows peacefully like a river. Ignorance and hardship are flowing quietly, and quiet enjoyment is also flowing quietly. The people who live here are from Hulan River. However, the nature of the patriarchal society is cruel, so little reunion's old Hu family eldest daughter-in-law was tortured to death by ignorant people. Of course, not only little reunion's daughter-in-law, but also Sister Wang will inevitably die in ignorance. This is probably another wave of patriarchal society.
But in the end, we have to return to peace. Peace is a hard life. These are the life tips given to readers by Mo Xianfeng's crooked mouth in the novel.
Biography of Hulan River is an elegy of Xiao Hong's lonely childhood and a group of genre paintings by the Hulan River.
This is a remote and lively town. There is a "big mud pit" on the main road of the city. Mules, horses and livestock are often drowned, but residents are watching and no one comes out to rectify. Some people said that they would tear down the wall, others said that they would plant trees, but no one said that they would fill it, although it was not difficult to fill the hole.
On the day when the town held a grand ceremony, people danced, sang yangko, put out river lanterns, watched the Wild Prince Opera and watched the temple fair, which was very lively.
My grandfather is almost seventy years old. He is a kind and gentle old man. Only grandpa cares about me the most in my family. Therefore, I never leave him outside the door all day. He often teaches me to read poetry and takes me to play in the back garden. When I can't walk, grandpa hugs me and I walk around. Grandpa took me, accompanied by grandparents and grandchildren, and I was very happy.
We have several neighbors, and a shabby hut in the west is rented to a pig feeder; There is also a grass rent to a flour mill. They often sing while drying powder and live a very happy life. There is also a ramshackle living in the wing; There is also a Hu family driving a cart in the small wing next to the grinding mill. Hu Jia has a little child bride-little reunion's daughter-in-law. She is a 12-year-old girl who is happy all day, but Hu Jia wants to give her a fright and always beats her for no reason. The neighbors also support Hu Jia's behavior and say that she should. Hu Jia fought more and more fiercely, and the time was longer and longer. little reunion's daughter-in-law was tortured and became ill. Khufu's family listened to the dreamer's words and decided to bathe Little Reunion's daughter-in-law with boiling water. When taking a bath, many people came to watch the excitement, only to see that she was scalded by boiling water three times and finally died a few days later.
I have a relative, my second uncle, who is an old bachelor and has a strange temper. His colleagues don't like to talk, but they like to chat with stones, sparrows and yellow dogs. According to my grandfather, two uncles came to my house thirty years ago. Thanks to my uncle's presence during the Russo-Japanese War, I kept my house. He is most afraid of being called "the last one". Whenever I hear someone scold him like this, I will burst into tears.
People call Lamo's neighbor "Mo Guan Feng Wai Zuizi". He can not only pull the mill, but also make sticky cakes. Once, I went to the mill to buy sticky cakes and saw a woman and a child lying on the kang inside. It turns out that Feng crooked mouth is married, and that woman is Sister Wang, the eldest girl of Lao Wang's family in the same hospital. But Feng's happy life was envied and hated by his neighbors. Everyone says that Sister Wang is not good, and rumors are endless. Feng's crooked mouth was ridiculed by people. Two or three years later, Sister Wang died of dystocia after giving birth to a second child. Feng's mouth is often filled with tears, but when he saw that his eldest son could pull a donkey to drink water and his younger son would clap his hands and laugh, he stopped despairing. In his son, he saw the hope of life.
[Edit this paragraph] Artistic features
Beauty and the pursuit of beauty are the innate nature of human beings. People appreciate the beauty of nature and create the beauty of life. With their talents and painstaking efforts, writers and artists have cultivated a variety of artistic flowers, adding unparalleled colors to human life.
In the literary world of China in 1930s, Xiao Hong, a young female writer, described the local customs of Hulan River, a small town in the northeastern border, with fresh and natural brushwork, showing the unique artistic personality of female writers and opening a beautiful but not gorgeous flower for the world literature garden.
First of all, Biography of Hulan River is completely different from other novels in structure. Measured by the concept of ordinary novels, it has no clues running through the book, no complete story and central figures. Some people say it is an autobiography because it describes the writer's family and childhood life, but "the work does not talk about family history, family, or even date of birth." This does not meet the writing and requirements of' biography'. " (Xiao Hong's Road to Literature, p. 208).
Mr. Mao Dun once pointed out: "The point is not that the Biography of Hulan River is not like a novel in a strict sense, but that there are other things besides it-something more attractive than the novel: it is a narrative poem, a colorful landscape painting and a string of sad ballads." ((Introduction to Biography of Hulan River) In the first four chapters of Biography of Hulan River, the author painted a picture of the customs of Hulan River with the painter's pen and ink, which can be described as colorful, vivid and natural, creating a kind of artistic conception of prose poetry, simple and fresh, and unique beauty. The last three chapters of the novel can be regarded as three short stories, which are independent, but the author links them together because of a unified theme. As if telling some distant and true stories in front of you, touching the readers' heartstrings and playing a beautiful or melancholy tone for it.
Winter in Hulan River: "The sky is gray, ... the clear snow is flying all day." People walk very fast. When they are cold, they breathe smoke. Seven horses pull carts and run in the wilderness one after another, carrying lanterns and holding big whips ... These people are steaming in the ice and snow. "
What kind of morning scene is this in a rural town in Northeast China? Full of vitality and local flavor. The sound of hooves and whipping broke the silent morning; The jumping lanterns and rising heat make the picture full of strong local colors.
As for the old man who sells steamed bread, he wears shoes with round eggs and frozen palms on his feet and walks forward with a box on his back. His eyes are bright with frost and his beard is heavy with ice. ...
As for the big mud pit in Dongerdao Street, it is five or six feet deep and it doesn't rain. Mud is like porridge. When it rains, it rises white and slippery, rises to the walls of people on both sides and drowns the walls of people.
The flaming cloud of Hulan River is also particularly dazzling, which makes the child's face red and the big white dog red. Red rooster turned golden, and the black hen turned purple. The little white pig became a little golden pig. Red Hall, Jatropha curcas, half purple and half yellow, half gray and half white, rush grape gray, rhubarb pear, purple eggplant ... it's really colorful and colorful.
From the ground to the sky, the writer's ingenious pen seems to have brought you into Hulanhe Town. Not only the early morning scene, the fiery red clouds, but also the butterflies, Chinese cabbage and green bristlegrass in the garden make you remember it vividly. There are also the cries of children who have not slept since dusk: "crow, crow, you fight and give you two buckets of food"; The bright and desolate song in the powder room, "Other people's husbands get together and Meng Jiangnv's husband goes to repair the Great Wall", also rings in your ears. Swing out a simple aesthetic feeling in your heart, so real and natural! Let you indulge in it, be in the morning and evening of the town and feel the rich atmosphere of the town.
This is also because its novel structure is not like novels. If you deliberately conceive it, put it into the inherent pattern: beginning, development, climax and ending, set the stage and make waves, you will lose the beauty of nature and simplicity, and it is difficult for people to feel "naturally carved".
At the beginning of the first chapter, the author wrote, "The earth is cracked everywhere in severe winter, from south to north, from east to west ..." Readers can appreciate the natural, social and cultural features of Hulan River from the cold land of the northeast town. In the second chapter, we follow the author's brush strokes into the spiritual world of Hulanhe people. The great god shivering everywhere jumped into the middle of the night, and the drums were loud. Crowded and desolate, the lonely river lamp still flows in the black river; The drama "Prince Ye" affects all the people in the town and is brewing many happy or sad stories. On April 18, at Niangniang Temple, a woman without a son is putting on a pair of glasses for divines. People gathered around to watch the tumbler's performance. In the fourth chapter, we see that the childhood author grew up carefree and willfully under the protection of his grandfather, and was spoiled.
We only think that this is the author's letter, which is natural and free and easy, without femininity or affectation. We never feel the need for a complete plot, a central figure, because it is not like a novel. When we saw a group of people living in the last few chapters, we were still having fun in poverty, and we felt desolate and sad. When little reunion's daughter-in-law was tortured to death, the neighbors' comments were full, which made you hate their ignorance and cruelty, and grieve for their poisoning coma. It was not until the author finally wrote about the love between Miss Wang and grinding official Feng Waizuizi that she broke through feudal barriers and lived a loving and rich life in poverty, slander and slander that she breathed a sigh of relief. I can't help but admire their courage and tenacious vitality.
The whole novel is concise and fluent, just like you and the author are in a beautiful starry night, listening to her talk about her beautiful hometown Hulan River. Although sad and melancholy, it is still beautiful and moving. As Mao Dun said, it is more attractive than novels.
Secondly, Biography of Hulan River is also unique in the use of language. Reading and reading, you will feel a long river flowing slowly, sometimes splashing a few humorous waves. Just like the author's bright eyes shine with wisdom.
In the backyard of the author's childhood: flowers bloom, just like flowers wake up. Birds fly as if to the sky. The insect barked as if talking. Everything is animistic and has unlimited skills. You can do whatever you want, whatever you want, you are free. Climb the shelf if you want, climb the house if you want, lie if you want, and make cucumbers if you want. Even a cucumber doesn't bear fruit, and a flower doesn't bloom and no one asks. ……
The sky is blue, high and far ... just like on the green grass under the blue sky. We closed our eyes slightly and listened to a clear stream flowing quietly around us. How touching and lovely the backyard in the author's childhood mind is! People can not help but have an aesthetic transcendence, spiritual purification, no adjectives, not to mention gorgeous. And the language is so gentle, just like a simple girl telling her infatuation to her children, which is true and straightforward, but fascinating.
When we talked about my grandfather squatting on the ground and pulling weeds, the author of Childhood secretly planted twenty or thirty red roses on his straw hat. My grandfather said: It rained heavily this spring, so the roses in our house are in full bloom, and I'm afraid I can smell them from two miles away. Then my grandfather came into the house wearing red flowers. My grandmother smiled, my parents smiled, and my grandfather smiled for more than ten minutes. I rolled on the kang and laughed. My grandfather just forgot, and I was there. We can't help laughing at the deafening laughter of the author's childhood "disturbing the whole backyard". It seems that the red flowers are dazzling, the fragrance of flowers is attractive, and the laughter of family members lingers in your ears ... It is the humorous style of the author that has a strong artistic appeal, which makes you ugly, cheerful and produces beautiful emotions.
The man who sold steamed bread struggled to get up after falling, and even the steamed bread was picked up in the box with ice and snow. When he counted, it was wrong. After he understood it, he said to the man who ate steamed bread, "In the cold weather, the ground cracked and ate my steamed bread." The pedestrians who listened laughed. The reader couldn't help laughing. For the humor of the characters in the book and for the humor of the author.
When the author of Hulan River Biography describes the life of working people and reveals their poverty, hopelessness, ignorance and numbness, irony makes people feel sad and painful.
The rented mill that raises pigs has moss on the grass on the roof. As soon as it rains, people in that family go to the house with baskets to pick mushrooms. They are proud of picking mushrooms, and people in the yard are envious and jealous. Why don't they live in that straw house? So I sighed and sighed. The mushroom picker deliberately picked a few big ones and threw them down to show off, but forgot that there was a hole in the roof, accidentally dropped a foot and pulled them out, and the shoes on his feet were gone. The shoes fell from the roof into boiling water and turned over. ...
Readers will never laugh because of interesting scenes, even if they laugh, they are heavy, sad and tearful. Compassion for their misfortune also cools their numbness. This is also the aesthetic effect of the author's satire and humor.
Xiao Hong, a female writer, not only vilified the chapters in Biography of Hulan River with a unique structure, but also described the customs of people along the Hulan River with a calm and down-to-earth brushwork, and at the same time created a poetic mood and fairy-tale artistic conception for us:
There is a big garden in my home. There are bees, fragrant flowers and ducklings in this garden. There are white coriander and Huang Die.
This butterfly is naked and ugly. The beautiful butterfly is red and covered with gold powder.
Dragonflies are golden and ants are green. Bees buzzed around, covered in fluff, and landed on a flower, which was as round as a hairball.
The garden is colorful, red, green, fresh and beautiful. It is said that this garden used to be an orchard. My grandmother likes to eat fruit, so she planted it. Grandma likes raising sheep, so the sheep gave her fruit trees to eat. So all the fruit trees died.
When I was a child, I only thought there was a big and good tree in the garden. The stolen tree, in the northwest corner of the garden, was windy. The tree was checked and predicted that when it rained, Mr. Dajingshu was ill. As soon as the sun comes out, the leaves of the big trees shine like shells on the beach.
This is a fairy tale kingdom. Although the language is still simple, it is full of heavy colors, colorful and full of vitality, butterflies flying and golden light shining. And you walk in it and accept the cultivation of your soul. It is this beautiful garden that constitutes the author's childhood happiness and free life, and creates the author's warm and resolute character.
[Edit this paragraph] Related comments
This work is Xiao Hong's masterpiece in his later period. By recalling all kinds of characters and life pictures in his hometown, he expressed the author's denial of the social reality that old China distorted human nature and damaged personality. The feelings of "loneliness and depression" revealed by many researchers' works can actually be understood from this perspective.
Of course, the most important thing is the unique artistic personality of this work. Mao Dun has an overall grasp of this, which is accurate.
"But I think it is better and more meaningful, because it is not exactly like an autobiography. Moreover, we can also say that the point is not that Biography of Hulan River is not like a novel in a strict sense, but that there is something else besides it-something more attractive than the novel: it is a narrative poem, a colorful landscape painting and a string of sad ballads. There is irony and humor. I feel relaxed at first, but my heart will get heavier and heavier as I go down. However, there is still beauty, even if it is a little morbid, it will still dazzle you. " (On Xiao Hong's Biography of Hulan River)
[Edit this paragraph] article excerpt
This is a remote and lively town. There is a "big mud pit" on the main road of the city. Mules, horses and children are often drowned, but the residents are watching and no one comes out to rectify. Some people said that they would tear down the wall, others said that they would plant trees, but no one said that they would fill it, although it was not difficult to fill the hole.
On the day when the town held a grand ceremony, people danced, sang yangko, put out river lanterns, watched the Wild Prince Opera and watched the temple fair, which was very lively.
My grandfather is almost seventy years old. He is a kind and gentle old man. Only grandpa cares about me the most in my family. Therefore, I never leave him outside the door all day. He often teaches me to read poetry and takes me to play in the back garden. When I can't walk, my grandfather holds me and I walk everywhere. Grandpa took me, accompanied by grandparents and grandchildren, and I was very happy.
We have several neighbors, and a shabby hut in the west is rented to a pig feeder; There is also a grass rent to a flour mill. They often sing while drying powder and live a very happy life. There is also a ramshackle living in the wing; There is also a Hu family driving a cart in the small wing next to the grinding mill. Hu Jia has a little child bride-little reunion's daughter-in-law. She is a 12-year-old girl who is happy all day, but Hu Jia wants to give her a fright and always beats her for no reason. The neighbors also support Hu Jia's behavior and say that she should. Hu Jia fought more and more fiercely, and the time was longer and longer. little reunion's daughter-in-law was tortured and became ill. Khufu's family listened to the dreamer and decided to give little reunion's daughter-in-law a bath with boiling water. When taking a bath, many people came to watch the excitement, only to see that she was scalded by boiling water three times and finally died a few days later.
I have a relative, my second uncle, who is an old bachelor and has a strange temper. His colleagues don't like to talk, but they like to chat with stones, sparrows and yellow dogs. According to my grandfather, two uncles came to my house thirty years ago. Thanks to my uncle's presence during the Russo-Japanese War, I kept my house. He is most afraid of being called "the last one". Whenever I hear someone scold him like this, I will burst into tears.
People call Lamo's neighbor "Mo Guan Feng Wai Zuizi". He can not only pull mill, but also make rice cakes. Once, I went to the mill to buy rice cakes and saw a woman and a child lying on the kang inside. It turns out that Feng's crooked mouth has a family, and that woman is Sister Wang, the eldest girl of Lao Wang's family in the same hospital. But Feng's happy life was envied and hated by his neighbors. Everyone says that Sister Wang is not good, and rumors are endless. Feng's crooked mouth was ridiculed by people. Two or three years later, Sister Wang died of dystocia after giving birth to a second child. Feng's mouth is often filled with tears, but when he saw that his eldest son could pull a donkey to drink water and his younger son would clap his hands and laugh, he stopped despairing. In his son, he saw the hope of life.