This is the most basic and simple aesthetic feature of prose. The "truth" of prose here refers to the writer's true feelings and temperament. Prose has a strong lyricism and is a kind of * * * knowledge. A good essay, whether it is a landscape or a narrative, should be infused with feelings. Only under the irradiation of emotion can its beauty be displayed. There is no infiltration of enthusiasm. Prose will not have the power to move. Generally speaking, the purpose of writing scenery, remembering people and keeping notes in prose is always to express the author's own feelings about life, and to express the author's inner feelings and feelings caused by this scene, event and person. It is important to have "I" in prose. Our reading experience tells us that good prose is always the kind that can bring us into the author's heart with frank and natural dialogue. The author opens the door of the mind to readers without hindrance, allowing readers to walk in and listen to his views on society, life and nature. Share his happiness, feel his depression and think with him. From this perspective, prose is really a kind of "truth".
This makes prose the most temperamental text style. In the process of frank dialogue with readers through prose, the author is actually revealing his temperament to readers. Readers can see the author's personality, interests, hobbies, speech, manners and even knowledge from prose. Prose, in particular, should have the author's real and profound experience and understanding of the world and life besides emotional factors. From this experience and feeling, there is a kind of truth discovery about the world and life, which makes readers get profound enlightenment. This also makes the emotion in prose always show a rational dependence based on the obvious rationality profundity, which should be a very significant difference between the lyric of prose and the lyric of poetry. This makes us not only see the author's temperament from his prose, but also see his profound understanding of society and life. It can be seen that the level of his ideological realm. In short, the author's personality, personality, intelligence and interest will be presented in his prose, and readers can really see what kind of person the author is from his prose. In this sense, prose is indeed the most "individual" among all kinds of styles.
The truth of prose lies in that its expression depends entirely on its true nature. To have true feelings, to have a real understanding, including the discovery of the truth about the world and life, is actually the * * * feature of all works of art, but it is more direct in prose. Compared with other text types, prose is more obviously different in that its expression depends entirely on the true nature of the author's strength. Novels and plays are based on fictional characters. Obviously, there are many technical factors, such as the choice of viewpoints and the application of stream of consciousness techniques. These technical factors will play an important role in conveying the writer's aesthetic feelings and discoveries. On the other hand, poetry expresses itself in an obviously re-created language. There are also many technical factors here. Although it causes strict restrictions, it also gives poetry a natural context that is divorced from the daily language rules. There is no need to "speak" in a logical way. Prose has no skills that novels and poems can rely on, but it must "tell the truth". Its scenery must be true, its narrative is always true, and it has no freedom of fiction. In language, it has no skills similar to poetic language to rely on, and has nothing to say. It can only follow general language rules to express its true feelings and thoughts. Here, "the amount of emotion cannot be concealed from prose." Moreover, the author "the quality of real feelings and thinking directly determines the quality of prose itself." (Wang Anyi: Emotional Life-I read prose, Wandering Language, p. 453) This makes prose a real art, which can't be faked.
Second, the "beauty" of prose.
Prose is "beautiful writing" and a kind of * * * knowledge of people. A good essay can always bring us into a world full of poetry and painting, or full of wonderful ideas, or full of fun, so that we can be impressed by the author's insights and enjoy a wonderful enjoyment like a vintage wine. Of course, poetry is also beautiful, novels and plays.
The beauty of prose first refers to the beauty of its emotional charm, and in layman's terms, it is the elegant "interest" of prose. In China's ancient prose, the word "interest" is extremely important. In the final analysis, no matter how you write a scene, how you narrate, how you chant things, and how you argue, you must see rich emotional charm and have inside information in order to coexist with everything. Theory is truth, and what looks like is mostly physical. However, when it comes to scenery narration and logical objects, it must be "interesting". Specifically, the scenery in prose is interesting, while the narrative is interesting, and the reasoning and object are full of interest and material interest. For example, Su Shi's Night Tour in Chengtian Temple has only more than 80 words, which says, "There is water under the court and algae in the water." Then it reveals a clear and ethereal poetic realm, integrates scenery with notes, and writes a school of leisure, leisure and leisure. Another example is Qian Zhongshu's Eat: "Eating is sometimes like getting married. In fact, the most important thing in name is often accessories, just like begging a rich woman, but the purpose is not for women. This kind of sovereignty is sidelined and contains a rather simple outlook on life. It's interesting to read. Prose writing about scenery is by no means a "specimen" of scenery and things, and its argumentation and reasoning are by no means a sermon with head held high. Full of sentiment and vivid inspiration make it pleasing to the eye, and cultivate people's interest and temperament under the influence of its elegance and interest.
The beauty of prose also refers to the beauty of words and sentences. The language of prose is a natural language, and one of its important features is conciseness, naturalness, fluency and cleanness. Whether painting landscapes, describing characters or writing from letters, almost all of them are "sketching". However, the language of prose has been infused with emotion and tempered by freehand brushwork, and it is also a kind of writing that loves kung fu very much. It has superb language skills. Make it look at the scenery, be "proud", be interesting in narration, be fascinated in writing, but it can be simple but not clumsy, and the elements should be beautiful, smart and fragrant. Good prose language always contains rich connotations and elegant tastes in seemingly ordinary expressions, showing a refined taste.
Third, prose is "scattered".
The third feature of prose is "prose", or rather "freedom". From the perspective of direct perception, the "scattering" of prose is mainly reflected in the infinity of material selection and the lack of regularity of expression. From the perspective of material selection, it ranges from the social universe, the sun, the moon and the stars to the sandy vegetation, flowers, birds, insects and fish, mountains and rivers, geography, history, humanities and all human perceptions. Everyone can enter the prose, and after "looking at the past and the present in an instant and caressing the whole world in an instant", "cage the world in shape and frustrate everything in pen". (Lu Ji: Zhang Yi, published by Beijing Publishing House 1984, pp. 22 and 25) Formally, it has no structural restrictions like novels and dramas. Narrative reasoning, scenery description and lyricism can be interspersed at will, and they can go in and out freely, just like a unconstrained style, or like a casual "walk", showing a kind of freedom without "law" and rules, such as flowing water, so that some people simply call it "the art of freedom".
What we should pay special attention to is that the prose is not only unrestricted in material selection, but also flexible and free in expression. We all know that prose is scattered at this level, and "concentration of form and spirit" has become a very popular idiom used by people to summarize the characteristics of prose. This is certainly in line with the characteristics of prose. However, from the writer's point of view, the "dispersion" of prose means "freedom". It is more reflected in the freedom of the writer's unrestrained mind. Qian Gurong, a literary theorist, advocates defining the prose "scattered" as "scattered", that is, a writer can "keep his authenticity" in a free and free state of mind; At any time, you can be clear-headed without losing your mind, be an official and not forget the people, and you can express your feelings directly when writing articles, without affectation or posturing. "This is indeed a very enlightening opinion. Prose is embodied in the form of free and flexible "prose", which actually comes from the writer's maverick and unconstrained expression. If a writer doesn't have a free heart, he will look around when he speaks. There must be no so-called freedom in choosing materials and writing. From this perspective, the prose of "San" is actually a reflection of its "truth", and the freedom and flexibility of prose form is also a wonderful footnote for the writer's spiritual freedom.
Above, we summarized the aesthetic characteristics of prose from three aspects. From the perspective of text appreciation or interpretation, it is precisely because of the "truth", "beauty" and "freedom" of prose that the reading of prose becomes a "casual" and sincere way of communication between readers and authors. Li Guangtian, an essayist, once compared prose writing to a person walking at will, saying, "It's over if you walk.". It is enough to read a frank feeling, feel a real life, appreciate a beautiful scenery, and get a temperament cultivation and interest promotion from it, without being restricted by becoming a law.
"Scattering in form and spirit" is the experience of many prose writers. Prose must be "scattered" and "rich", that is to say, on the surface, in form, it is like the wind, informal, seemingly rambling, writing intermittently, sometimes sketching, sometimes flashbacks, sometimes emotional generation, sometimes Kan Kan's exposition, both astronomical geography and ethics. Its "spirit" is persistent and consistent from beginning to end, which shows the author's certain thoughts and feelings. "God accepts" and "not miscellaneous" means that the article always closely revolves around a center and runs through a red line, so that the structure is compact, the levels are clear, the details are appropriate and the key points are prominent. For example, Qin Mu's prose Lyrics on the Country Altar is scattered, but it always revolves around the theme of "praising the working people who raised our land and created our great national cultural history". So prose is expensive in form, but it is taboo in conception and organization. Prose writing is characterized by dialectical unity, which is different from other styles.