Wang Wenjie|But the person is here, in the dim light--Reading Notes No. 6

But the man was there, and the lamp was dim

-- Reading Notes No. 6

Written by Wang Wenjie

Inadvertently, when I read Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon", I felt that I had fallen into a big pit. How big it is, it can be described as "looking at the ocean and sighing".

In terms of the number of words, there are about 37,000. It seems that modern people are not worth talking about, but in the Qi and Liang periods more than 1,500 years ago, it can be regarded as a masterpiece.

I have no way to describe the value and significance of a literary treatise. In addition to the often known as "body big thinking" or "body big thinking week", you might as well take a look at Lu Xun's statement: "In the east, there is Liu Yanhe's "Wenxin Carving Dragon", and in the west, there is Aristotle's "Poetics". ”

Although there is a suspicion of "saying that Greece must be called", Greece is also a person who is likely to be unavoidable in the history of human civilization. can be compared with the Western "Poetics", and the status of "Wenxin Carving Dragon" may be seen.

Since the Ming Dynasty, the theory of "Wenxin Carving Dragon" has gradually risen in China, and there has been a so-called "dragon science" in modern times, and it has become the so-called "Xianxue". According to a professor surnamed Lu of Peking University, in a lecture, more than ten years ago, there were more than 400 research works on this book in China, with as many as 5,000 papers, and one of the research monographs actually had 4 million words, several times that of "Wenxin Carving Dragon"? How many cows do these words put on the backs of cattle so that they don't become "sweaty cows"?

Da, "Wenxin Carving Dragon" is a pit.

"Wenxin Carving Dragon" is full of rain in the mountains, the river runs for thousands of miles, and the clothes are not stopped by China. "Those who are talented are the ones who cut their talents, those who are skillful hunt their beautiful words, those who are sarcastic are their mountains and rivers, and those who are young and meng pick up their herbs." In terms of my reading ability as a "child" and the purpose of reading, I can only "pick up its herbs", and "herbs" are only three and two stems.

1. Criteria for a good article

According to the most general interpretation, the meaning of "Wenxin Carving Dragon" is to say that like carving dragon patterns, you should do a good job of writing with fine care. So, what makes a good article? His "Zongjing" chapter cloud: "Wenneng comprehensive scriptures, the body has six meanings: one is deep and not treacherous, the second is clear and not mixed, the third is faith but not born, the fourth is righteous and chaste and does not return, the fifth is the body is about but not ruined, and the sixth is beautiful but not obscene." In addition, in the "Melting" chapter, it is also called: "It is to create a pen with grass, and the first standard is three standards: the end of the track is at the beginning, and the situation is set to the body; If you are in the middle, you will take the class as appropriate; In the end, the words are summarized to give examples. "Six Righteousness" and "Three Standards" are generally regarded as the benchmark for good articles set by Liu Xian for people.

Second, the path to write a good article

"Wenxin Carving Dragon" is a composition guide book, where there are fifty articles. In addition to the "Preface" as the preface, the 49 articles are all about the method of composition. "Metaphysics is the way, metaphysics is the instrument". These forty-nine articles, and "up" and "down", is the "Tao" is the "instrument" how to distinguish, I don't know the details, only from the content of the point of view, my understanding, the path of writing a good article, can be divided into two aspects: "thoroughfare" and "corner gap".

First, the thoroughfare. From the first article "The Original Road" to the fifth article "Discernment", Liu Xian called it "the hub of literature". Dafan's composition, "the original Tao, the body is the scriptures, the weft is considered, and the change is "Sao". The key to composition, in general, lies in these aspects. Starting from these aspects, "Yiyun is extremely important".

Second, the corner gap. From the sixth "Ming Poems" to the twenty-fifth "Secretary", for dozens or hundreds of genres, "the original is at the end of the table, the interpretation is to highlight the meaning, the selection of texts is to be finalized, and the perfunctory is to be unified." The specific writing characteristics and principles of different essays are briefly described in different categories, but they do not seem to be sufficient to constitute a "path" alongside the "thoroughfare". My understanding, from the twenty-sixth article "Divine Thought" to the forty-fourth article "General Technique", its words and thoughts, the style of speech, the style of speech, the change of words, the setting of words, the collection of words, the melting of words, the rhythm of speech, etc., jump out of the writing of specific articles, which have universal significance for all kinds of literary writing, and can be called the "corner gap" of writing, that is, the principles, methods or tricks that can be used for writing all kinds of articles. "Wenchang Pen Garden, there are skills and doors." Its technique is generally in these aspects. If you don't know the Great Dao but don't know the practical method, the Great Dao is still useless. For me at present, there are three most inspiring "techniques" and "gates".

First of all, about the article idea. The "Divine Thoughts" chapter is a theory of article conception. Its meaning lies in "the first technique of controlling the text, the big end of the plot"; Its method, in the pen is quiet, "sparse five Tibet, bath in the snow spirit" + daily "accumulate learning to store treasure, discretion to enrich talents, study to poor photos, tame to resign. The biggest shortcoming may lie in the lack of attention to the conception, the excess of letters, and the lack of "divine thinking".

Secondly, about the style of the article. The style of the article in "Physique" is listed, "If the way back is summed up, there are eight bodies of poverty: one is elegant, two is far-reaching, three is refined, four is attached, five is complicated, six is magnificent, seven is novel, and eight is light." "The style theory of Lu Ji is another kind of creative play. The style is not talented, angry, learned, and learned, "the body is used to fix the practice, and the cause is to practice the talent". There is no value judgment in style, but there is a difference in the depth of attainment. According to your own talent and temperament, form a style that suits your own articles, don't have to think differently, and always treat other people's food as a good meal. "Wen Zhi Si Nan, use this way."

In fact, what a person can write, what he can't write, what kind of writing depth and height he can achieve, also depends on the mediocrity of talent, the rigidity and softness of qi, the depth of learning, and the elegance of Xi. There is nothing else to do.

Third, about article innovation. "Wenlu Week, New Days." The banking industry, where the author works, year after year, does not deposit and lend such things. When doing official articles, I often worry about being new and brilliant. After quitting the workplace, the style of writing is also quite simple, and it is difficult to break through. Judging from the chapter "General Change", this is one of the difficulties often faced by immature writers, which has existed since ancient times. The reason for this is that "those who are short are thirsty, and those who are tired drop out, not the number of arts and sciences is exhausted, but the art of change is to sparse the ears." In the final analysis, he is still not proficient in his "change" technique in joining the army. If you want to have a "Yingtuo article", you must "read it carefully and read it carefully, and take the general outline and discipline; Then expand the road, put the key, drive the long bridle far away, calmly press the section, according to the feelings, and adapt to the negative qi. The ancients have long told us, "Change is long, and there is no shortage of general rules".

3. How to judge a good article

The criteria for a good article and the method of judging a good article should not be the same concept. For example, the color, aroma and taste standards of food cannot be confused with how to determine the color and flavor of food. "Wenxin Carving Dragon" is "big and thoughtful" or "big and thoughtful", which is reflected in many aspects. It is also one to put forward the criteria for a good article and the method for judging a good article. This point, compared with the two important literary treatises "Zhaoming Selected Texts Preface" and "Wenfu" of the same era, is particularly prominent.

The criteria for a good article, such as the "Six Meanings" and "Three Standards" mentioned above; How to judge a good article, the "Bosom Friend" article says: "Will read the text, first mark six views: one view of the body, two views of rhetoric, three views of change, four views of Qizheng, five views of righteousness, six views of palace business." If you can do it, you will see the advantages and disadvantages. In the modern context, these "six views" are the ideological and artistic aspects of articles or literary appreciation and criticism, right? "Good books are Yingzhen, wonderful learning is fixed", "Thousands of songs and then Xiaosheng, watching thousands of swords and then recognizing instruments", "Unique this law, not fallacious way", and so on, pearls and jades, how confident, how categorical. Follow this and build your own framework for article appreciation, so why not?

Fourth, the basic principles and rules of article writing

Some people say that "Wenxin Carving Dragon" is a great work, but it is only a great work of that era. I don't care if it's Jephiah, but what is the modern relevance of this work? What does it mean for the average reader? But it's a question I can't get into when I read this book for a while. I assume that most modern readers, except for Chinese or history majors, will not be exposed to it. But in life, in work, in career, there is not the slightest hindrance. In fact, my understanding is that "Wenxin Carving Dragon" is a thousand words, and in the final analysis, it is nothing more than the words "learning" and "learning". Read more and write more, isn't it true that since elementary school, teachers have repeatedly taught and admonished us? Now it seems that the writing concepts we accept, such as vibrating the leaves and seeking the roots, and looking at the source of the land, can be traced back to ancient Chinese literary theories, including "Wenxin Carving the Dragon". "Multiply by 10,000 in one fell swoop, and you must cure the complexity. There is no definite contract, and reason is eternal. "About, on the way of writing, there may be some eternal Tao that "recovers thousands of miles without barriers, and passes through hundreds of millions of years", and does not publish Hongjiao. When we say that "there is no fixed law", we should also know that "there is no fixed body, and there must be a general one". "We must first take the general situation and learn from the poor source." The depth of mastery of the basic principles, basic rules and basic skills of writing is reflected in the practice of writing, and the gap may lie in the "sudden return of the courtroom" and "the easy step of thousands of miles".

5. Where is writing going?

"The passage of time, the change of quality and literature, the ancient and modern reasonable, how to say?" From the Qiliang era of the Southern Dynasty to today, the mountains and rivers are replaced, and the vicissitudes of the sea are vicissitudes. "Cultural changes are dyed by the world, and rise and fall are related to the chronological order", based on the development and evolution of China's cultural movement and cultural conditions in the thousands of years before and after Liu Xian, we cannot but be deeply impressed by this insight. What I would like to say here is that today's world, today's China, is facing "great changes unseen in thousands of years". That is, in terms of article writing or broader literary creation, the impact and challenges have arrived. At present, the proposition that "the text is virtuous and the great" can still be established, but the art of the way of literature has undergone a huge turn, and it can even be said to be a subversive change. The era of intelligent writing, or robot writing, has come inexorably. In the fields of news writing and data report writing, some people's jobs have been lost. The most flexible literary writing, how long can it be held on to is not easy to say. But the momentum of the invasion has been formed, and it is an indisputable fact.

In an interview, the famous writer Wang Mengzi Chen has used artificial intelligence technology in part in his work. Last winter, I slipped a few words in a park in southern Beijing. After inputting the relevant scenery and requirements into the "Wenxin Yiyan" developed by Baidu, the whole "poem" is compared with his own sentences, I don't know whether it is good or bad, but it is really impossible to distinguish what others or "non-people" do.

Under such a jaw-dropping "change", where will the traditional way of writing or the art of writing go? What is the future of those who currently use writing as a job? The matter is big, "Wenxin Carving Dragon" does not tell us; Liu Xian, who has "held the ritual of Dan lacquer and traveled south with Zhongni", if he is reincarnated, can he still renew his business day by day in the "Wenlu Yun Week", and confidently proudly pride the spring stone, "according to the elegant field, the house of algae painting"? We don't know either.

"Wenxin Carving Dragon" is such a masterpiece written in pun script, and it is very difficult to read. This is not my own feeling, and professional researchers have different understandings of many of its contents. That is, in terms of the title of the book, are "Wenxin" and "Carving Dragon" a joint phrase or a partial phrase? What is its original and precise meaning? There is no conclusion in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Although it has not reached the level of the Lord of the People, it is also a matter of opinion. It is said that the book has at least a hundred questions and is still in a state of ambiguity. At that time, Lu Xun admired this book, but also said what the "Tao" of the "Original Dao" is, "It is said that it is sweaty and cannot be tried, and I don't know what the 'Dao' is." Experts and writers are like this, ordinary readers like us, what else can we say except for "deep waste and shallow sales"? "Milun group words, study a reason" is good, but generally speaking, it is difficult to do.

From "Wenxin Carving Dragon", it seems that I have touched a little "Wenxin", and I feel that the pearl of the spiritual snake will be held, and the jade of Jingshan will be held, which is not easy. But under such historical changes, but in the second half of life. The feast has passed, the candles are gone, and when the song is over, when the people are scattered, they suddenly find the "man" in the lamplight. At this time, too, whether it is there or not, it doesn't mean much. Alas, it's all tears when I talk about it, so let's stop, stop, don't talk about it.

(At 20:34 on June 2, 2024, the first draft was at the South Gate of Urumqi)

About author:Wang Wenjie, male, has been engaged in writing work in the prefecture branch and provincial branch of a state-owned bank for 20 years; Later, he was engaged in management work in the provincial capital city branch for 10 years. At present, there is no silk and bamboo around the ears, and there is no way to return to the case. Reading idle books, writing idle essays, appreciating idle flowers, tasting idle wine - if this is the case, why ask for it. Even if you can't do it all, you may get one or two, and you can also yearn for it leisurely.