Mr. Lu Xun once said that the works in New Stories are "the romance of myths, legends and historical facts". (1) Among them, mending the sky and flying to the moon is a mythical theme, controlling water and casting swords is a legendary theme, and picking up the EU, clearing customs and attacking the country is a historical theme. Here, myths and legends and historical facts themselves are established as the objects of "new compilation". Even if their circulation is different, the author only has the problem of choosing them. And "romance" naturally includes artistic fiction, which is what Lu Xun said. Therefore, there is a premise that can't be ignored that restricts writers' use of creative methods: myths and legends, as literary works created by primitive ancestors and ancients, have strong romanticism and strangeness, and their own contents inherently require writers to express them by romantic creative methods when adapting them; As a well-documented history, historical facts tend to be realistic because of their objective authenticity, but because writers can have different principles and attitudes when adapting, they can lead to realism and romanticism to a certain extent. Therefore, when studying the creative method of New Stories, we should first distinguish between myths, legends and historical facts.
Carefully speaking, there is a difference between myth and legend. The difference between them is that myth is the product of imagination, while legend may have certain factual basis. The former is the apotheosis of man and nature, while the latter is the person whose "central figure" has changed from "God" to "gradual progress to humanity" or "God's man or ancient hero, whose genius and courage are beyond the reach of mortals". But in terms of imagination and strange colors, myths and legends are consistent. So let's compare it here.
The same is true of Lu Xun's writing new stories. As mentioned earlier, myths and legends account for more than half of the new stories. It is no accident that he wrote these new "stories" intermittently during 13. Judging from the psychological accumulation, Lu Xun was exposed to China's rich ancient myths and legends in his childhood; These stories, for many years, have been kept in the warehouse of his memory, secretly generating and nourishing his romantic spirit. This romantic spirit, in his youth, mainly indulged in poetic fantasies and pursued strange feelings. The fairy tale I wrote when I was a child is the embodiment of this feeling. By 1907, when he wrote On Moro Poetry, he had read Chinese and foreign literary works, but what he longed for was a group of "Moro poets" in the west, such as Byron and Shelley. Among various literary schools, he is the only one who loves romanticism. This reason, in addition to the characteristics of his times and the influence of the booming revolutionary situation in Tokyo, lies in a large number of myths and legends in his youth, which planted indelible seeds of romanticism in his heart. In the period of "shouting" and "hesitation", realism is the dominant and mainstream, while romanticism is the undercurrent and tributary. Lu Xun's adoption of realism is very conscious, which is related to his great goal of saving national character and transforming society. But its dominant position inevitably means that the romantic elements in the subject's psychological structure will be suppressed intentionally or unintentionally. From the internal needs of psychological structure, Lu Xun also has the requirement of invisibly venting his romanticism. Especially when his emotional activities are active in his daily psychology (which is often the case when he is depressed), or when he is unable or unwilling to write works with reality as the theme for various reasons, the romantic feelings that have been lurking and suppressed for a long time will surge and demand to be shown. As far as the creative method is concerned, Weeds is mainly symbolic (and realistic), but it contains a very strong romantic passion. Because all schools of modernism are romantic in spirit. Therefore, when emotional factors occupy the most prominent position in Lu Xun's psychological structure, his creation is bound to tend to romanticism to a certain extent, and at the same time, it is permeated with elements of realism and modernism. Weeds is an example, and New Stories is also an example. Naturally, the latter situation is different.
For a well-informed writer like Lu Xun, when the accurate image of reality temporarily retreats or disappears from his mind, myths and legends or historical images often come to take its place. In other words, his psychology includes ideas, thoughts and image activities, and there will be no blank, no rest and pause. Imagination, which is full of imagination and logic, can freely express the writer's strong and rich emotions. It is both a necessary supplement and a beneficial rest for mental activities such as "shouting" and "wandering", which are deliberately described calmly, accurately described in reality and strictly controlled by their own emotions. For Lu Xun, this supplement is mainly done in a diachronic way, such as "New Stories"; There are also * * *, such as "weeds" to "wandering". Especially when the creative subject faces the adaptation object of myth, which has permanent and vivid artistic charm, the creative subject will naturally arouse an aesthetic pleasure at the beginning. This mentality will be projected into the adapted works. In this respect, mending the sky is more prominent. Full of praise, excitement and joy, of course, it also reflects the hardships of Nu Wa's creation. Running to the Moon and Casting Sword have a heavy feeling of being suppressed, but they are the same as mending the sky in reflecting the most important characteristics of romanticism-strange and rich imagination and strong subjective feelings.
"mending the sky" has a magnificent picture and a grand structure. -This is compatible with the vast psychological space associated with the subject's peculiar imagination. In this novel, it is well-founded in ancient books that Nu Wa made man unearthed and refined stone to make up the sky, but in the specific description, the writer tried his best to exaggerate the romantic atmosphere and created a very strange and moving artistic picture. When "she" woke up bored, she suddenly stood up, raised her perfect and energetic arm and reached out to Yu. Suddenly, the sky lost its color and turned into an incredible flesh red. She couldn't say where Yi was for a moment. -the figure of the hero and the natural background used to set off are all painted with strong, magical and amazing romanticism by the writer's fantastic brushstrokes. A description of her creation is obviously not explained by the so-called "scene blending":
Yi walked to the seaside in this flesh-red world, and the curve of his whole body was like a pale rose, melting in the ocean of light until the middle of his body became pure white. The waves were startled, and the ups and downs were orderly, but the waves splashed into Iraq. This pure white shadow is shaking in the sea, as if everything is scattering in all directions. But she didn't see it herself, but she couldn't help kneeling down, reaching for the soft mud with water, kneading it a few times at the same time, and there was a little thing similar to herself in her hand.
"Ah, ah!" Although she thought it was made by herself, she also suspected that it was in the soil like a sweet potato, which surprised her.