A heroic glow from a juvenile perspective
——Commenting on Xu Guixiang's "The Sound of the Piano Flying Over the Wilderness"
Tan Jie
Xu Guixiang, who is committed to writing military literature, with his rich knowledge of military history and military theory, profound experience and in-depth thinking about soldiers and war, broad military vision and literary sensitivity, presents the rich possibilities of military literature in multiple dimensions. His new work "The Sound of the Piano Flying Over the Wilderness" is a long novel specially written for teenagers, the work continues Xu Guixiang's consistent military theme writing and heroic spirit, projecting the perspective on the teenagers, telling the story of several teenagers who were lonely and dependent on each other in the drama class during the war, innocent and kind, positive and upward, helping each other, from the drama class to the new Fourth Army boy class to learn culture, in the fiery life of tenacity and experience, in the tense and fierce battle, with the sound of the piano to pass the code, Flying across the wilderness into a war zone tightly controlled by the enemy, the story of success with comrades-in-arms. The story framework, logic and combat details of the novel are not unfamiliar in other works of military themes, how to make the work not only conform to the historical facts of the war, but also fit the personality and behavior of young people, and inspire the spirit of young people, Xu Guixiang has done a lot of thinking and efforts.
One
Narrative strategy and the aesthetics of war
Xu Guixiang's military theme writing focuses on the construction of heroic images and the promotion of heroism, and he "deals with precisely the most symptomatic spiritual propositions of this era, and the construction of its sense of history and reality shows the author's narrative ambition of 'frontal assault'." ”
In "The Sound of the Piano Flies Over the Wilderness", the author is restrained and simple in the narrative, not re-ink laying out and rendering too much of the magnificent and turbulent war scenes, but using it as a background, making a simple and clear statement, trying to simplify the relationship between the characters, refining the flexible language, the plot is clear, and the theme is strongly highlighted through the drumming of people's inner emotions and spirits.
The novel has two narrative lines built in. The two lines are intertwined and parallel, pushing each other. The main line is to pull down - Han Zilu, Qiuzi - Qiao Yongqiu, Bai Erza and other teenagers' growth line. These teenagers left their parents at an early age for various reasons and lived in the drama class without starvation but being beaten. Later, Master Li Tong entered the drama class, and his life began to change dramatically. Teenagers can go on stage to perform, the money earned is divided equally, there is money at their disposal to buy what they like, and there are new shoes and new socks to wear. Later, when he entered the Propaganda Brigade of the Red Army, everyone was called by name and comrade, becoming a spiritually independent and respected individual. They consciously and spontaneously helped in the rear, rescued the wounded, learned culture, choreographed dramas and songs in the camp schools, gave lectures to the toiling masses, eliminated illiteracy, propagated the spirit of the Red Army, became part of the mass front, laid a solid mass foundation for the Red Army, enthusiastically fulfilled the tasks of cover, propaganda, and combat entrusted by the party organizations, and actively grew into Red Army soldiers who were good at fighting and able to win battles. The growth of teenagers has experienced a process of self-awareness, awakening and maturity of "people" from weak and powerless to strong and brave, from solving the problem of food and clothing to enriching the spirit, from listening to people to survive to fighting independently and autonomously.
The other line is the revolutionary war line dominated by Wei Siyuan, Li Tong, Ye Chenxia and others, interspersing the history of the domestic revolutionary war and the War of Resistance Against Japan into the story, and concisely and clearly outlining the development of the battle and the tactics of the war. As a background, in the fierce war, the Red Army's original intention of seeking happiness for the poor people, combat wisdom and the heroic spirit of unnecessary sacrifice were reflected. Li Tong and Ye Chenxia lurked in the drama squad to sort out the local situation, struggled against the evil forces, united the masses ideologically, and cared for the masses in action; carried out tasks to cover comrades-in-arms, and waited for the opportunity to fight calmly and firmly; and when they charged into the battlefield, they also displayed the communists' spirit of unity and struggle, which has both wisdom and courage, and the pursuit of ideals yearning for beauty.
These two parallel narrative lines convey the deep spiritual meaning of the novel in the most concise and clear way: First, the revolutionary army's profound understanding of reality —the turmoil of the times and society has caused the difficult life of the toiling masses and the rootless wandering of the involuntary —has given the revolutionary army the mission of fighting and sacrificing for it, they are deeply aware of the power of unity, guide the masses to face up to suffering and germinate a strong desire to end suffering, and inspire the people's motivation to turn around and struggle and build an ideal country. This is also the underlying logical line in the fabric of the novel. Second, the heroism and wisdom of the revolutionary army are not only reflected in the effective confrontation in the fierce war, but also in the long-term grasp of the times. They care for the body and mind of young people, attach importance to culture and education, and are a vision of peacetime society and a profound consideration for the future life of future generations. The author combines the praise of heroism with the warmth of the people's livelihood, forming an optimistic and exuberant war aesthetic.
Two
Discover the fine fragments of heroic light
As a war literature written for teenagers, the author pays more attention to pouring pen and ink into the subtle emotions of small people through the background of war, especially the self-experience and self-exploration of teenagers, directly cutting into the hearts of teenagers, and writing people's "constants" and "variables". Through the contrast between people's situations, thoughts and other aspects, to feel the great tension of growth. In the shaping of teenagers, the images selected by the author include Han Zilu and Yao Ju, the most common bitter children in the old society, Qiuzi, who is a superhuman of learning in the "second generation of red", and Bai Erza, who is bold and determined and growing rapidly, and together they constitute the epitome of the children of that era. The protagonist of the novel, Han Zilu, is lonely, uncultured, has no livelihood craftsmanship, suffers and never complains, has a strong love for life and a natural desire for art and culture, she strives to live, cherishes all hard-won learning opportunities, and finally grows from a child with no strength to a warrior who uses erhu to pass on information. The hardships of life nourish her most precious qualities - kindness and humility, great weather, optimism, and tenacity. In the Red Army propaganda team and the camp school, she found her position and direction step by step. The young Akiko has an age-surpassing knowledge that is difficult for other teenagers to match, and such a good teenager has an untouchable weakness - family: the death of his father and the position of his mother once caused him to fall into pain, which stemmed from his deep love for his parents, and it was precisely because of his love for his family that inspired him to always follow the right path. The teenagers in the novel are a group of character, ambition, love to learn, and willing to struggle. The successful shaping of the teenager lies first of all in the delicate writing of the teenager's heart that has been turned thousands of times, which gives him a flesh and blood body, and secondly, in the valuable excavation of the child's pure heart in the difficult life, giving him the spiritual spirit. These young figures are not only revolutionary fighters who continue to grow up during the war, but also cultural pioneers who can stand alone, crossing the long river of time, and they are also models worthy of deep reflection and learning from today's teenagers.
In the adult image, compared with Li Tong and other Red Army heroes, Zhang Dekai is more meaningful because of the "variables" in his thinking. He was once a soldier of "whoever has the greatest power to follow whom", escaped to become the owner of the exploiting class in the drama class, smuggled salt and went to prison, got out of prison to join the "Imperial Allied Army", and later joined the Red Army as a Kuomintang uprising officer. He would show compassion for the poor children of the drama class, and he would also report the whereabouts of the Red Army for the bounty, he was not a complete bad man, and the chaotic world made him form a strong self-interested school. He was thoroughly awakened by the literary and artistic propaganda song "Unite to Tomorrow", and from wavering to throwing himself into the anti-Japanese resistance, he showed the appeal of the revolutionary army's spirit of unity.
There are heroes who sacrifice themselves to revolution in the novel, but they are not intended to portray the characters of Gao Daquan. They are an ordinary and ordinary person in the crowd, under the influence and unity of the spirit of the Red Army, they have certain heroic characteristics and emit their own unique light, these people, especially teenagers, are heroes with the temperature of the times and spiritual strength.
Under the curtain of the war legend, the ink highlights the positive and optimistic attitude of ordinary teenagers in life, the desire for culture, and the quality of courage to take responsibility, portraying the compassion of the revolutionary army for the poor people, the love for young people and the brotherhood between comrades-in-arms, especially the writing of policies such as attaching importance to youth education, and expanding the breadth of military theme works. The fine light emitted by the teenager's body and the shining brilliance of the revolutionary army shine together, so that the whole work has an inspiring power and a swinging spirit. Xu Guixiang's writing is constantly pioneering and enriching, which is also a meaningful innovation for children's literature with military themes.
Tan Jie is the deputy director of the Teaching and Research Department of Lu Xun College of Literature. Mainly engaged in contemporary literary research, he has published many literary reviews in newspapers and magazines such as Contemporary Literature, Contemporary Chinese Literature Studies, Literature and Art Daily, Meiwen, Anhui Literature, etc., and has authored the literary criticism collection "The Persistence and Long Journey of Literature", and participated in the compilation of "Chinese Contemporary Literary Classics Must Read" and so on.
Editor: Chen Ming
Second instance: Li Chengqiang
Third trial: Song Song