Shen Congwen is not only a scholar. In fact, like Mr. Lu Xun, he has a wild fighting spirit flowing in his veins. On the battlefield of life, you may encounter repeated setbacks but never give up.
After experiencing the boredom of marriage, he inevitably cheated. Perhaps this is also his struggle against reality.
Don’t die, Shen Congwen
When New China was about to be founded, Shen Congwen committed suicide.
He put his hand into the electric plug and was about to get an electric shock. His son Shen Longzhu shouted loudly, unplugged the power supply in a hurry, and kicked Shen Congwen away, thus saving his father's life. life.
Shen Congwen burst into tears and stared at his son with his eyes, as if to say:
Why are you stopping me from doing this!
The second time, he locked himself in the room and cut the arteries in his wrists and the superior carotid vessels with a razor blade. He also drank some kerosene before doing so. Looking at the gurgling blood, Shen Congwen seemed to be thinking:
This time I can finally die. Let’s see who can stop me.
Not long after that, someone broke into the window, jumped into the room, and wrapped his hands and neck with cloth. The bleeding was stopped, and he was forcefully forced out of the ghost gate again. Pulled back.
Shen Congwen, who died twice, was sent to a mental hospital. Why is Shen Congwen, who is famous all over the world, so indifferent?
Many people say that this has something to do with Guo Moruo.
In the 1930s, Shen Congwen criticized Guo Moruo, saying that his novels were useless and he should forget about writing poems.
In 1948, Guo Moruo published "Criticizing Reactionary Literature and Art", criticizing Shen Congwen as a "pink literati" who specialized in writing texts that had nothing to do with the revolution, which was "poisonous" and "insidious".
Knowing Guo Moruo's political influence, Shen Congwen felt scared from the bottom of his heart. He said:
"I did everything wrong. All my confidence in work collapsed."
p>
Moreover, a group of college students with no ability to think independently posted big-character posters at the university and hung up large slogans such as "Down with Shen Congwen", which brought overwhelming mental pressure to Shen Congwen.
He said:
"I should rest. My nerves have reached the highest point that I can adapt to. If I don't destroy myself, I will go crazy."
< p>From the current point of view, Shen Congwen should have suffered from anxiety, which is why he committed suicide twice.Later, her best friend Lin Huiyin learned about him. Although she didn’t know what to do, she took him to her home in Tsinghua University and took good care of him.
Shen Congwen finally recovered and never committed suicide again.
Some people say that people who commit suicide are fragile. What things can be important to live your own life? Why is it so stupid to commit suicide?
Mr. Lu Xun once said: Those who dream are happy. The most painful thing in life is when you wake up from the dream and have no way to go.
Shen Congwen, who has written countless novels and has a clear view of the world, should be the one who wakes up from his dream. However, after fighting with reality, he found that he had no way out.
When you have no way out, you have two choices: either you don’t leave and commit suicide; or you open up a new world and carve a bloody path for yourself.
Shen Congwen, who committed suicide twice, chose to take the first path. He was cowardly. Fortunately, the first path didn't work. So he resolutely chose the second path.
Those who dare to take the second path are true warriors. Shen Congwen's life was a life of alternating cowardice and strength. He was neither a god nor a giant. His living experience of fighting against life actually has a lot of reference value for modern people.
Go play, Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen actually died once when he was a child.
At that time, he and his younger brother both had rashes at the same time. On a hot day, the two brothers had high fevers. They could not lie down to sleep because they would cough when they lay down, and they could not be hugged because they would feel uncomfortable all over their bodies.
Phoenix in Xiangxi may have a pleasant name, but it is actually just a remote place where a child with a rash is a life-or-death situation. The adults no longer had any hope, so they had no choice but to roll up the two brothers in bamboo mats, stand them in the shade of the house, and let nature take their fate.
Under the corridor, there are also two small coffins placed.
Unexpectedly, the brothers' high fever gradually subsided.
Later, the younger brother grew taller and stronger, but his elder brother Shen Congwen became ill and became a "monkey spirit".
Having passed through the gate of hell at a young age seems to indicate that Shen Congwen's life will be full of disasters;
As the saying goes, "If you survive a catastrophe, you will be blessed later", which seems to indicate that Shen Congwen will have a troubled life. Even though Shen Congwen was beaten by fate, he was still able to survive.
Born in western Hunan, facing the harsh mountains and rivers, Shen Congwen was very wild and not afraid of anything.
Studying in a private school, he was not interested in the dull and lifeless traditional cultural education at all, so he sneaked out to play.
The next day, the teacher asked him: "Why didn't you come to class yesterday?"
He said: "We had a treat at home yesterday."
Easily fooled It's over. When you can't fool me, you'll have to beat the teacher. If the teacher doesn't beat you enough, you'll have to beat your father when you get home.
Once his father was really angry and shouted that he wanted to chop off his fingers. He immediately burst into tears, but in the end he refused to chop off his fingers. It turns out that no matter how big the problem is, just cry and it will be fine.
Later, a biographer wrote: Shen Congwen loved to cry in his later years. His son immediately corrected him:
Why do you cry so much in your later years? My father has been a crybaby all his life.
One of the most vulgar curiosity of children is to look at dead bodies.
Sometimes Shen Congwen sneaked out and went to the killing field next to the prison outside Xicheng, where a number of corpses were lying. As a child, he would not be afraid of these corpses lying motionless, let alone think of the tragedy behind these corpses.
He would knock the corpse's head with a stone; sometimes he would poke it with a stick to see if it would move.
The wild dogs gathered around the corpse, grinning and fighting. He stood far away, used the stones prepared in his schoolbag, and threw them over with his hands. When he saw the wild dogs, they were frightened and ran away. A great pleasure.
Although he often skipped classes, Shen Congwen was indeed very smart:
When the teacher asked him to recite, he could improvise and read it ten or eight times, and actually recited it word for word. Came down.
So he always felt:
Reading is too easy, why do you have to spend so much time reading? Might as well have fun!
(Shen Congwen in his youth)
Strive hard, Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen was obsessed with having fun, so he joined the army before finishing elementary school.
You say you are a soldier, but you are actually a bandit.
At that time, the world was in chaos and the situation was precarious. If you held weapons in the army, you might be able to save your life. Shen Congwen was thin and could only work as a clerk in the army.
Later, he met the person who had the greatest influence on his life - Chen Quzhen, the King of Xiangxi.
Although Chen Quzhen is a soldier, she is also a sweet-tempered person. He collected a large number of books and opened his study room to Shen Congwen. The unique ancient books and many precious cultural relics collected from various places aroused Shen Congwen's strong curiosity.
As he read the book, Shen Congwen gradually changed:
It turned out that he thought the natural world was big enough, but he didn’t expect that the world in the book was even bigger.
Later, he not only had ancient books to read, but also various new books and magazines since the May Fourth Movement - "New Wave" and "Reform". Shen Congwen thought hard for four days and nights, and finally plucked up the courage to tell Chen Quzhen:
"I want to go to school in Beijing. I have to go to a school to learn some questions that I don't understand, to see and listen to something." It's a refreshing world for me."
Unexpectedly, Chen Quzhen agreed: "Go there and have a look. I'll send you money here if you want to come back. There is a place for you to eat."
It can be said that it was Chen Quzhen, a good boss, who gave Shen Congwen the courage to give it a try.
Shen Congwen didn’t even graduate from elementary school. He dared to become a “Northern drifter” just to broaden his horizons. This courage and insight were the root of his success.
In fact, it is precisely because you don’t understand anything and have nothing that you have to dare to break the status quo. If you fight it out, your life will open up a new world; if you can't fight it out, you won't lose anything anyway.
(Shen Congwen was in the Baojing Army in Hunan in February 1922)
Read, Shen Congwen
After arriving in Beijing, Shen Congwen went straight to his sister's house.
When my brother-in-law saw this enthusiastic young man, he remembered his old self and said casually:
"What are you doing in Beijing?"
< p>Shen Congwen stared with big eyes, his eyes were shining, and he said hopefully:"I'm looking for ideals and reading some books."
My brother-in-law gave a wry smile, Said:
"You come to study? What's the use of studying? I have studied here for ten years, from a first-class middle school to a first-class university. Now that I have graduated, I don't know where to go from here." Find a small job to do."
After calming down, the brother-in-law persuaded with a compassionate look:
"There are 10,000 college students in Beijing now, and they will have nothing to do after graduation. It can be done. Even if you become a university professor, what will happen? The salary is still very low, and you have no future in the country!" When Shen Congwen heard this, his blood boiled and he said impassionedly. Said:
"I stayed in the countryside? What's the point of watching them kill people today and be killed again tomorrow? I won't learn anything! I couldn't stay any longer, so I ran out. Yes!
I want to study, part-time and part-time. Studying well can definitely save the country.”
After talking for a long time, my brother-in-law didn’t even think about it. He was persuaded to go back, but I still admired his courage.
Finally, he gave Shen Congwen a message:
"Since you have come for faith, never lose your faith. Because apart from it, you have nothing!"
p>
Attack, Shen Congwen
When Shen Congwen first arrived in Beijing, he could not even use the new punctuation marks at the time. He took one round of entrance exams for universities in Beijing and failed.
The admissions teacher at Peking University saw his shabby appearance and kindly returned the 2 yuan he paid for registration. But he always had only seven dollars and sixty cents left on him.
With the few dollars in his hand, Shen Congwen wanted to cry but had no tears. He secretly made up his mind:
Study by yourself, you must study by yourself! Write, must write!
He practiced writing new-style articles very persistently and submitted articles to newspapers very persistently, but fate very persistently rejected him time and time again: except for the occasional small piece of tofu published, most of his articles fell into obscurity.
Not long after, Shen Congwen heard about an editor at the time:
At an editorial meeting, the editor spread out a large stack of Shen Congwen’s unused manuscripts and said, “This is It’s the work of the great writer Shen Moumou.” After saying that, he crumpled the manuscript into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket.
The constant setbacks did not make him consider changing careers.
Fortunately, Shen Congwen finally remembered the words his brother-in-law had given him:
Since you came here for your faith, never lose it.
When you are sad, just be sad, and when you cry, just cry. When the tears dry up, I still have to continue writing.
In addition to constantly submitting articles, Shen Congwen also wrote letters to the big names in the literary world at the time, hoping to be appreciated.
One of the letters was sent to Yu Dafu.
Yu Dafu was originally at a low point in his life. He felt that he was already miserable enough, but he didn't expect that there was someone in Beijing who was worse off than him. He decided to go and see this young man.
As soon as he pushed open the door of Shen Congwen's moldy and small shabby house, Yu Dafu was shocked:
It was freezing cold and there was no stove to heat the house; The young man huddled in a corner, wearing only two jackets, with two lines of runny nose, and wrapped his legs in a shabby quilt, shaking and writing beside the table.
Shen Congwen saw Yu Dafu who almost broke into the house, like a drowning man finally grasping a life-saving straw.
He hurriedly talked to Yu Dafu about his ambitions and his miserable situation in Beijing... as if he wanted to say all the things he had not had the chance to say in Beijing for four or five years.
Yu Dafu invited him to have dinner at noon. After the meal, Yu Dafu gave all the remaining change to Shen Congwen. At the end, he said:
"I have read your article. You must write it down carefully."
”
Shen Congwen, who returned to the broken house, threw himself on the table with a cry and burst into tears:
“Don’t die, Shen Congwen, I believe that the Chinese literary world will definitely be better in the future.” It has your name on it! ”
(Shen Congwen stayed in the dormitory of Peking University in the summer of 1948)
Later, Yu Dafu indeed introduced Shen Congwen to Xu Zhimo.
Xu Zhimo had just returned from abroad and took over He started a literary magazine and needed a lot of manuscripts, but he didn't like what most people wrote, so he had to work hard on it.
Fortunately, God allowed him to discover Shen Congwen. >Shen Congwen has no experience in studying abroad and has little experience. This is his weakness, but it is also his strength.
His words have no translation accent, just like the mountains, rivers and people in western Hunan, they are natural and simple. , even if it is just a sketch, it still has an amazing wild flavor.
In his early military career, Shen Congwen accumulated a lot of materials, and with his talented imagination, he soon created his own. With his unique style, he has carved out his own world.
Now it seems that Shen Congwen’s success in Beijing is not only due to his courage, but also to his accurate judgment of himself:
He. Being able to write words that are completely different from others can bring fresh enjoyment to readers, which is destined to leave a mark in the star-studded Republic of China.
Let’s fall in love, Shen Congwen
As Shen Congwen's reputation became more and more famous, he was invited by the eclectic Hu Shi to give lectures at a Chinese public school.
On the first day of class, he was well prepared, but as soon as he entered the classroom, he suddenly fell into disrepair. Soft:
There were countless people sitting in the dark, everyone came to see this new writer.
Shen Congwen was timid, and his back felt cold. Everything he thought about was gone.
He and the students in the audience looked at each other blankly.
A minute passed. He was speechless.
Five minutes passed, but he was still speechless.
After more than ten minutes, he began to speak in rapid succession. He talked a lot, copying the outline on the blackboard while talking, and finished an hour's content in ten minutes.
He turned around again and looked at me with the students in the audience. They looked at each other blankly.
The atmosphere became even more awkward.
So he picked up the chalk and wrote this line on the blackboard:
"I." The first time I went to class, I was scared when I saw that there were so many of you. ”
The students listening to the class laughed loudly:
It’s so cute that this talented writer can be shy.
People in the school who were originally jealous of Shen Congwen’s reputation, this I found the fault next time:
“A person like this deserves to be a husband, but he can’t say a word for more than ten minutes! "
Someone complained to Hu Shi, and the magnanimous Hu Shi laughed it off:
"If he can't speak in class and the students don't criticize him, this is success. ”
As long as he didn’t have to speak, Shen Congwen was always confident and full of energy.
Once he passed by the playground and saw a female student with dark skin and a strong body walking on the track. Playing the harmonica, he tossed his hair when he reached the end, turned around and walked back, still playing the harmonica.
He later found out that this girl was named Zhang Zhaohe, and she was the daughter of the famous Zhang family in Suzhou.
Shen Congwen once felt ashamed of himself, but he did not suppress his inner turmoil. He said: "Hunting means hunting lions, picking stars in the sky, chasing beautiful women. "
When he wrote a letter to someone for the first time, he said bluntly:
"I don't know why, but I suddenly fell in love with you. "
Such a bold statement did not frighten Zhang Zhaohe: because there were so many people chasing her, Shen Congwen was in the worst condition, so she gave him a nickname "Frog No. 13".
It’s better to say it’s a toad than a frog.
Although he didn’t receive a reply, Shen Congwen didn’t give up and wrote to the other party one after another.
< p>At the craziest time, Shen Congwen even said that if she was not with him, he would rather die.Zhang Zhaohe was really upset and ran to the principal Hu Shi to ask him to calm down. Hu Shi also persuaded him. Shen Congwen still didn't stop, with the same energy as when he was determined to become famous in Beijing.
Although Zhang Zhaohe couldn't stand his annoyance, when I dug out the love letters he wrote, I have to say that the quality was not very high:
"I have walked on bridges in many places and looked at them. I have lived through many clouds and drank many kinds of wine, but I have only loved one person at his best age."
"If it is your misfortune that I love you, your misfortune is the same as mine. Life is just as long."
...
No one can resist the overwhelming passion.
During the summer vacation, Shen Congwen even went directly to Suzhou to see her. He successfully won the favor of the Zhang family and finally made Zhang Zhaohe fall in love with him.
After four years of writing love letters, Shen Congwen finally gained the favor of the goddess, drank the wedding wine of marriage, and finally lived the happy life he boldly imagined.
Soon after his marriage, Shen Congwen wrote the greatest work of his life - "Border Town". In addition to continuing to describe the unique scenery of western Hunan, there is also an innocent and lovely heroine - Cuicui.
The prototype of this dark-skinned, healthy and innocent girl is Zhang Zhaohe.
(Shen Congwen took a photo with his wife Zhang Zhaohe in Suzhou in the summer of 1935)
Cheating, Shen Congwen
However, although Cuicui looks like Zhang Zhaohe, she looks natural Zhang Zhaohe's vitality is something Zhang Zhaohe doesn't have.
As a rich young lady, Zhang Zhaohe is more rational than passionate, and is incompatible with Shen Congwen’s spiritual world:
Shen Congwen likes to listen to Nuo operas, vomits hoarsely, mocks, and has strange accents. Zhang Zhaohe, who listened to Kun Opera, couldn't listen at all;
Shen Congwen liked to collect antiques. Zhang Zhaohe found it strange that he had no money, so why did he collect so many antiques? He even said that he was "not a gentleman pretending to be a gentleman";< /p>
Shen Congwen has a bold personality and is often generous to his friends. Zhang Zhaohe worries about the family's expenses all day long, and can't stand his "making a fool of himself".
Shen Congwen cried helplessly:
"What you love is not me at all, but the love letter I wrote!"
Shen Congwen, who is gentle on the surface but arrogant in reality, has already Disappointed in the reality of marriage. It was obvious that he was unwilling to do so.
Once he went to visit a friend and met an artistic young woman named Gao Qingzi at his friend's house.
Gao Qingzi had known he would come for a long time. She, who had always admired the talented writer, deliberately dressed herself up according to the women in Shen Congwen's novels. Even her speech and behavior were the same as in the novels. Shen Congwen was once again It's so exciting that my heart is shaking and I can't help myself.
The goddess has a heart, and King Xiang has a dream. He inevitably fell in love with Gao Qingzi.
The prototype of the heroine Cuicui in "Border Town" is not only his wife Zhang Zhaohe, but also Gao Qingzi.
He once implicitly said:
"Border Town" is the result of his being tempted by extramarital relationships in reality and escaping from them, and it is the sustenance of his emotions.
As usual, Shen Congwen reveals a lot about his emotional life in his novels. He has a novel called "Looking at the Rainbow", which tells the story of a male writer visiting his lover on a snowy night.
The cold outside the window is overwhelming, but the fire inside is warm. Two people who are in love with each other achieve the great harmony of life in the warmth and harmony.
I don’t know if this is Shen Congwen’s personal experience or his usual beautiful imagination.
He was in a dilemma between passion on one side and reality on the other.
So he had to visit his friend Lin Huiyin, hoping to get some guidance. Of course Lin Huiyin understood Shen Congwen's situation, but she could only say:
"Life is like this, you have to learn to resolve it slowly by yourself."
(Shen Congwen 1931.6 and Lin Huiyin took a group photo in Peking Dayuan)
Eight years later, Gao Qingzi chose to leave and took the initiative to cut off this relationship that was destined to be fruitless.
Shen Congwen finally chose to grow old together with Zhang Zhaohe.
When reality and ideals conflict with each other, he can only commit to reality.
After Shen Congwen's death, Zhang Zhaohe was sorting out her husband's posthumous manuscripts and suddenly understood something:
"Is it happiness or misfortune for Congwen to get along with me? There is no answer. He is not perfect." He is a rare kind person.
”
In fact, neither Zhang Zhaohe, nor Gao Qingzi, nor Shen Congwen himself may be able to clearly define who Shen Congwen is:
When he accommodates his ideals too much, reality will hurt. ; When he adapts too much to reality, his ideal will hurt.
His whole life, he has been accepting and rejecting; compromising and not compromising.
This is his character.
This is Shen Congwen’s misfortune, but also his luck
(Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe in his later years)
Rebirth, Shen Congwen
It was Shen Congwen's flexible character that enabled him to survive the mental crisis in 1949.
Due to Guo Moruo's strong influence in politics and the unsatisfactory family life, Shen Congwen was unable to survive. I will never write novels again.
Imagine that a great talent who was famous for his novels in the first half of his life still had several masterpieces in mind, some of which were already in progress, and suddenly he could no longer write them. Writing it would really cost him his life.
However, only people with narrow minds will have only one life.
Shen Congwen can no longer write novels, but he found it in studying cultural relics.
As early as Chen Quzhen, he had already discovered the vitality of our nation from the antiques:
The traditional culture of a nation. It is condensed in the utensils.
As broad as this nation is, its utensil culture is as broad as it is.
As a result, his work has undergone earth-shaking changes:
Other great writers, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, and Lao She, have all become "people's artists," flying abroad all day long;
Only he still lives in Beijing, volunteering Entered the history museum to do research:
“I went out before dawn and bought a baked sweet potato in Beixinqiao to warm my hands. When I took the tram to Tiananmen Square, the door was still open, so I sat down and looked at the stars and the moon in the sky. Open the door and go in.
When I go home at night, it sometimes rains heavily, so I put on a torn sack. ”
No one understands why he did this:
Shen Congwen, who does not write articles, seems to be completely outdated and outdated.
But he said it himself :
“I seem to have discovered myself for the first time. "
Therefore, you can imagine how proud he sounded when reporting on his achievements in changing careers:
"I should report to you seriously. Now I roughly estimate that, except for clothing, The history of silk and satin has been obtained. I have handled more than 100,000 pieces of silk and satin;
The history of the development of furniture has been obtained;
The history of the development of lacquer craft has been obtained;
The history of early landscape painting has been obtained;
The history of ceramic processing technology has been obtained;
The history of the application of fans and lamps has been obtained;
The history of stone processing technology It has been obtained;
The history of horse application and equipment development over the past three thousand years has been obtained;
The development data of music, dance and acrobatic performances have been obtained..."
These achievements were all accomplished in a small room of 10 square meters with his own vision and effort.
This rebirth is more powerful than his previous life of writing novels: Writing is nourished by his spiritual life. Once there is depression in the spiritual world, the quality of writing will be greatly reduced;
Cultural relics nourish his spiritual life again and again. In admiration and enlightenment, his spiritual world was greatly expanded and his own vitality was nourished.
What the ancients called "settling down and settling down" was probably Shen Congwen at this time.
< p>Sing, Shen CongwenShen Congwen is truly a man with a strong heart.
When he met his nephew Huang Yongyu at the height of the Cultural Revolution, he pretended not to see it. I passed by my nephew. At that moment, I said four words without tilting my head:
“Be calm! "
One day when a criticism meeting was held, someone stuck a slogan - "Down with the anti-*** literati Shen Congwen" - on his back with paste. After the meeting, he tore off the slogan himself and read it. After a few glances, he said:
"That calligraphy is too outrageous. It's so embarrassing to have such crappy calligraphy on my back! People who write should practice hard.
”
When he was transferred to the May 7th Cadre School in Xianning, Hubei to work hard, he wrote to his nephew:
“There are lotus flowers all around here, it’s so brilliant. ”
In this place and in this mood, Shen Congwen wrote a 210,000-word history of clothing from memory without any reference materials.
The process of writing a book Shen Congwen's body couldn't handle it due to too much mental exertion and a lot of physical activity, so he needed to apply for painkillers.
After filling out the form and taking a few pills, Shen Congwen turned around and left, singing opera all the way. Like an old naughty boy, jumping up and down in high spirits
Shen Congwen once said to his students:
"In this world, there may be Chongloujie Pavilion built on the sand or on the water. people. That's not me.
I just want to build a small Greek temple, choose a small piece of land as a foundation, and build it with hard stones.
Exquisite, strong, symmetrical, and small in size, it is my ideal building. This temple is dedicated to ‘humanity’. ”
Everyone’s life must be like Shen Congwen’s, building their own “little temple”. Often under the attack of reality and ideals, our lives are ruined.< /p>
But since we have no retreat, let’s wipe away the blood and tears and adjust slowly. One day, when we see the “small temple” we have built, whether large or small, we will sincerely sigh. :
Oh, so that’s me.