Yangzhou Summer Appreciation:
Zhu Ziqing seemed to have been bound to "water" throughout his life, wandering around. Studying, working, traveling all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, traveling between the north and the south. The only periods of relative stability were those ten years when I was a teenager in Yangzhou and the ten years when I settled in Beijing after turning 30 (during which I traveled to Europe for a year). When the Anti-Japanese War broke out at the age of 40, he hurried south from Peiping and traveled all over the southern cities. He returned to Beijing at the age of forty-nine, and only two years after settling down, he unfortunately fell ill and died. This is probably one of the reasons why he loves to read and write travel notes, and there are so many travel notes, right? Therefore, it seems that his travel notes can also be regarded as a book of worries in that turbulent era. However, the wandering footprints on the water form a tranquil and beautiful poem, which expresses the sorrow, sighs and sorrow of the world, just like the bottom of the iceberg submerged in the sea, revealing the graceful ice peaks looming in the sunshine and water vapor. Maybe this is the aesthetics of drifters?
"Summer in Yangzhou" is a travelogue in terms of genre and writing style. However, I think what makes it different from other travel notes is that the Yangzhou the author writes about is actually his second hometown where he has lived for more than ten years. He had never lived in one place for such a long time in his life. Therefore, writing about Yangzhou is not as "exotic" as writing about other places, such as the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, the ancient Roman city in Europe, or London bookstores. I would rather regard this "travel note" as a lyrical text similar to "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" and "Back View", because it is an expression of the nostalgia he had when he lived in Peking. "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" has a vague escapist mood, in which one quietly enjoys the beauty of the peaceful and tacit understanding between oneself and nature when one is alone; "Back View" is probably more derived from the unforgettable memory of one's father when one is alone. These are all written with great effort. The same is true for "Summer in Yangzhou". Moreover, in my opinion, this simple essay can be regarded as an aesthetic symbol of Zhu Ziqing's wandering mentality throughout his life.
The author's rational spirit and aesthetic outlook are revealed from the beginning of the work, which is also his consistent attitude towards observing and feeling life. He criticized ordinary people for following behind poets and scribes, praising Yangzhou that they had never experienced personally, and building a mirage about Yangzhou by relying only on "ear food". Although he loved the beautiful water in Yangzhou, he criticized the name "Slender West Lake" as "a fake name for the West Lake" and "so elegant and vulgar". We read his book review for Sun Fuxi's "Picking in the Wilds" and highly praised the book as "all the benefits are only the author's own discoveries"; in the article "Nanjing" he also emphasized that only "after some consideration from his own family", Only then can you stop singing other people's old tunes and write fresh and unique feelings. When "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" writes about the beauty of solitude, it says, "Under this vast moonlight, a person can think about anything and think about nothing, and he feels like a free person. Things that must be done during the day must be done Whatever you say, you can ignore it now." This is where Zhu Ziqing "clears himself". The beauty of his prose probably lies here. Whether it is travel notes or anything else, he always strives to "rely on everything", be unique and thoughtful, and experience and considerate with his own heart. It is this kind of leisurely mind and spiritual freedom that breaks away from the daily constraints that is rare. "Summer in Yangzhou" is the practice of his rational spirit and aesthetics.
He started by saying that because he has lived in Yangzhou for a long time, he does not have as many beautiful illusions about Yangzhou as most people do. Even "his hatred may have concealed his hobbies." When describing the only summer scenery in Yangzhou that he missed, he seemed to be a bit straightforward: he just led the readers along the winding moat and introduced each place step by step. Characteristics of famous attractions. Then I spent more ink writing about "ship" and the "teahouse" outside the north gate. But if you taste it carefully, you will find that this plainness contains Zhu Ziqing's unique aesthetic taste. What’s more, his narrative is full of cleverness and cleverness! He said that most of the benefits of summer in Yangzhou were the "water", which triggered discussions about the differences between the north and the south. Among the praise and criticism, one could vaguely feel the depth of his homesickness. The following words and ink all fall directly or indirectly on "water": taking a boat trip is the winding waterway of the south of the Yangtze River; Xiaojinshan, Fahai Temple, Wuting Bridge, and Pingshan Hall are all because of The aura of clear water makes it vivid and picturesque; talking about the various types of boats and the "boat girls on Slender West Lake" is to highlight the unique water interest of Yangzhou. You see, in his eyes, "A person sitting in the middle of a boat, with another person standing on the stern holding it up with a bamboo pole, is like a Tang poem or a landscape painting." As for the fun of the teahouse, it is also Obtained from "water". Because the teahouse faces the river, it not only facilitates casual communication between tea drinkers and passengers, but also people on the boat can ask for a pot of tea or one or two kinds of "small steamed snacks" from the teahouse when they are interested, and enjoy them leisurely in the river. The cruise ship is simply flowing. of teahouse. Although Yangzhou's lake color and water light are not deliberately depicted, what overflows from the bottom of the pen is the emotional beauty of Yangzhou's water. This is the author's unique feeling about the summer in Yangzhou, which is the Yangzhou full of elegance and interest in Zhu Ziqing's eyes. After reading the few words at the end of the article, "I have to live my free life again," which are sincerely nostalgic for the leisure time of life full of joy, who can say that his "hatred" of Yangzhou overshadowed his love? !
The writing in this work is concise and the narrative is soothing and comfortable.
It can be seen that the author did not focus on describing the emotional ups and downs when facing the Qinhuai night singing prostitutes as he did in his earlier "Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Lights". He only briefly described the "Boat Girl on Slender West Lake" that he was interested in. Outlined with pen, there is no longer the subtle moral conflict in my heart when I traveled to Qinhuai; it is not like the later travel notes that deliberately concealed the "I" and meticulously described the objective objects with meticulous brushwork (such as "Rome" and other chapters), but in the leisurely and relaxed way. , the free and natural style of writing implicitly expresses one's own emotions. What is related to this increasingly sophisticated lyrical style is the plainness and smoothness of the language of the works. The crisp and crisp literati vernacular of the early prose has been "washed away and left without ornaments". It is like a hibiscus in water, clear and casual. Be natural.
In Zhu Ziqing's prose, "Summer in Yangzhou" is neither a "prince" enough to pass on the throne, nor a favored "young daughter". When it was included in the 1936 edition of "You and Me", the author's preface only said that the "most favorite text" was "On Nothing to Say", and also mentioned the writing background of most of the chapters, but there was no word about it. . It is true that when talking about the beauty and delicacy of scenery, people always think of "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond"; when talking about nostalgia and nostalgia, people will also think of "Back View". As a travelogue. The "Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars and Lanterns" in front of it has already described the clear and subtle ambivalence of the author when he was young in Qinhuai. The "Miscellaneous Notes of European Travel" and "Miscellaneous Notes of London" that follow it seem to be more able to express his true feelings. Say goodbye to the indifferent and peaceful middle-aged mentality of romance. However, it is this little-known work that combines the sentiment of the author's early prose with the more colloquial language style of his later prose, and more typically embodies Zhu Ziqing's indifferent prose aesthetics during his wanderings - the wanderer's aesthetics. It not only has the rich spirit and charm of Tang poetry, but also permeates the bones and thoughts of Song poetry. It is as worthy of careful consideration as those famous poems.