First of all, we should understand the definition of prose. There are two concepts: broad sense and narrow sense. Prose in a broad sense refers to all articles that do not rhyme in ancient times. In the chapter "General Techniques" of Wen Xin Diao Long, Liu Xie wrote: "Today, there are" prose "and" pen ",thinking that those who have no rhyme are also" prose "and those who have rhyme are also" prose ". The so-called "pen" refers to all narrative and argumentative styles except verse, which is prose. However, there was no such name as "prose" in ancient times; The name "Prose" came into being during the May 4th Movement. In modern times, prose in a broad sense includes all narrative, argumentative and lyrical styles except poetry, novel, drama and film and television literature. For example, Qin Mu said in "Generalized Prose Field" that "all short essays that do not belong to other literary genres but have literary flavor belong to the category of prose". In this way, there is a classification of lyric prose, narrative prose and argumentative prose.
Prose in a narrow sense refers to lyric prose. This is because with the development of style, the communication characteristics, biographical literature and reportage in narrative prose have all developed into independent styles, each of which has become a category; Argumentative essay has a special name-prose, which is also separated from prose, leaving only lyric prose, that is, narrow prose.
What I want to learn here is mainly lyric prose, but also narrative prose and other types of prose. Practitioners can write lyric prose, narrative prose, cultural prose, wisdom prose, travel prose or other types of prose according to their own life experience, cultural accomplishment and hobbies.
Secondly, we should recognize the writing characteristics of prose. Prose is a kind of literary and emotional style with rich content, wide subject matter, short length, diverse genres and flexible forms. Literally, it has the following six characteristics:
(1) Prose is rich in content and wide in subject matter. The content of prose involves natural things, all kinds of people, ancient and modern Chinese and foreign, political affairs ... it can be said to be all-encompassing. You can write domestic and international and social contradictions and struggles, economic construction, literary debates, ethics, and you can also write literary essays, read notes, and keep a diary. It can be local customs, travel notes, essays, knowledge notes and literary anecdotes; It can talk about everything, or it can be lyrical and interesting. Zhi Tao can inspire people with thoughts, beautiful feelings and sentiments, broaden their horizons, enrich their knowledge and make them relaxed and happy, so he can be chosen as the subject of prose. (B) ideological vigilance, poetic. Prose is mostly the product of true feelings, and those excellent chapters have sparks of thought, showing the author's profound understanding and incisive views on the times and life. It requires a particularly keen mind. Even lyric prose needs not only sharpness, but also particularly sharp ideas.
(3) Short and pithy, free and flexible Some people call prose a "light cavalry" on the literary front, because it has the characteristics of short and pithy chapters and flexible forms. Most famous essays in ancient China were short, such as Ma Shuo by Han Yu (150 words) and Biography of Pond by Liu Zongyuan (193 words). Most of the famous essays in modern times are also very short, such as "Peanut" by Xu Dishan with 482 words and "Praise of Poplar" by Mao Dun with 1074 words. Of course, there are some very long and excellent essays, but compared with the general narrative, they are still more concise. Therefore, prose writing requires short and pithy writing, focusing on the small and getting to the point. Formally speaking, prose is more free, lively and flexible than other literary genres. Of course, the words "casual" and "casual" here are not careless. Free and flexible prose writing is "a carefully carved article with the appearance of random graffiti." The characteristics of free and flexible prose writing, in writing, first refers to flexible expression, not limited to a certain expression method. Therefore, prose writing can remember people, describe things, describe scenes, express feelings, make sense, shout, roar, attack, praise, humor, irony, sing loudly, sing softly, ramble, laugh and curse, and explain things with witty remarks … all kinds. Secondly, writers can freely and flexibly choose various genres to write, such as inscriptions, essays, travel notes, letters, diaries, prefaces and postscripts, random thoughts, essays, memoirs, and feelings after reading. And they can all be written into excellent works.
(4) It is the experience of many prose writers that knowledge is not mixed with the great essayists in the Song Dynasty. Prose must be "scattered" and "rich", that is to say, on the surface, in form, it is like the wind, informal and seemingly rambling, writing is intermittent, sometimes sketching, sometimes flashbacks, sometimes feelings are generated, and sometimes Kan Kan talks about astronomy and geography as well as ethical feelings. This paragraph is written in one place and that paragraph is written in one place. But its "spirit" is persistent and consistent, which shows the author's certain thoughts and feelings. "God receives" and "not miscellaneous" mean 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 main points are prominent. For example, Qin Mu's prose "Lyrics on the Country Altar" is both "scattered" and "extensive". However, although it is all-encompassing, it always revolves around the theme of "praising and praising the working people who raised our land and created our great national cultural history". So in form, prose is expensive, but in conception and organization, prose is taboo. The characteristic of prose writing is dialectical unity, which is different from other styles.
(5) Frankly speaking, literary works with their own styles are emotional, but writers of novels and dramas often pour strong feelings into the characterization. The author's feelings about life, love and hate for characters are generally expressed in indirect ways. Prose is different. Like poetry, it often expresses the mind in a direct lyrical way, which not only allows readers to understand its reason and events, but also its heart and feelings. Therefore, prose requires the author to write true feelings. True feelings are the life of prose. Only by expressing your feelings directly to readers can you win their love. Jia Pingwa, a writer, said in response to the question "whether prose creation should be absolutely true": "There are many arguments on this issue, and there is no definite conclusion. My personal experience, or tend to' absolutely true' four words. The so-called truth mainly refers to feelings, application environment and events. The prose written by the ancients has a wide range of subjects, but the prose written by the ancients is full of emotion. Nowadays, when people write prose, there is more or less the phenomenon of writing for the sake of writing, so there is a so-called' inconsistency between theory and practice' on the issue of absolute truth. Because of this, these essays are not so successful. Of course, as a literary work, we must live in life and life should be exquisite, especially prose. " (How to Write Prose)
Writing should be like a person, especially prose. Famous artists have their own styles, and even if their works are not signed, readers can see the author from their styles. For example, Lu Xun's prose is profound, refined and sharp. Although he often changes his pen name when writing articles, the article "He Jiagan" can be seen as Lu Xun at a glance. Guo Moruo's prose is magnificent, beautiful and moving. Mao Dun's prose is profound and implicit, which is contrary to Guo Moruo's vastness. Also, Lao She's prose is humorous, Bing Xin's prose is kind, Ye Shengtao's prose is rigorous and open-minded, Ji Fang's prose is chic and elegant, and so on. Beginners can't form their own prose style for a while, but they must learn from these prose writers with their own styles and try to form their own prose style after many exercises and creations.
(6) Excellent prose with poor management and outstanding literary talent can't be written "lightly", they are all the crystallization of poor management and deliberate processing by the author. Qin Mu pointed out: "A short essay may take only one or two hours to write, but it needs a writer's profound literacy, and constantly expands and enriches this literacy. It is not conducive to the prosperity and development of our prose creation to treat prose as a "small effort" and "treat it lightly". No matter how skilled famous writers are, we must ask them to adopt the attitude of' elephants try their best and rabbits try their best' when writing short articles. " Some essayists advocate the "overall beauty" of prose, which also requires the author to "run dismally" in both content and form. The whole article is written with bleak management and deliberate processing, and the language is refined and brilliant. This is because the author used prose style. So what is "prose style"? It can be said that on the one hand, the style of prose is characterized by flexible writing, on the other hand, it attaches great importance to literary talent. The literary grace of prose is not only gorgeous but also simple. To learn prose writing, we should master both gorgeous literary talent and simple literary talent. It is not easy to write boldly, and it is even more difficult to write simply. Xu Chi's articles are very literary, and he often uses the method of Fu and the rhetorical devices of Bi Xing, which makes the literary talent gorgeous. But he said, "Only by simply writing can you show your true literary talent. Great essayists at all times and all over the world wrote this way. The greater the writer, the more mature he is, and the simpler he writes. And literary talent shines on the simple pages. " We should also see that the rich literary language of prose, whether gorgeous or simple, comes from vivid spoken language, which is also the creative inheritance of excellent ancient prose and the result of careful selection, tempering and processing by the author. Section 2 Prose Writing. Good at conception "all essays are based on meaning". The "meaning" of prose exists in the deep living soil and the vast ocean of life. To get it, we must rely on our in-depth observation, feeling and understanding of life. Therefore, as long as prose is conceived from the reality of life, with distinct feelings, keen observation ability, the pulse of people's contemporaries, deep feelings, rich imagination and profound thinking, we will feel that our life is full of poetry. This poem is something that touches our hearts, makes our eyes suddenly enlightened, makes our thoughts suddenly sublimated, and makes our feelings more pure. This is the inspiration of the poem. If we want to understand our article, we must understand it quickly. Because there is a tremor in the heart and a flash of thought. Liu said: "Even a faint flash is better than no flash. This is no ordinary photography. This is literature. " For example, a writer went to see camellia. There are many kinds of them, and the beautiful camellia makes him feel: "Camellia is beautiful. Everything good in life is created by labor. Who watered the flowers day and night with his own sweat, raised the seedlings like his own children, and finally cultivated such beautiful flowers? We should thank those who beautify our lives. " This is the brilliance of thought, and the writer cherishes it very much, so he writes this meaning down in time. Later, he heard a gardener introduce a kind of camellia, and said, "This is called boy's noodle. It blooms late, just blooms, and its color is deep red, but it is the best. " This didn't cause thinking, but he remembered the name of this camellia. After a while, it happened that a group of children also came to see Camellia, which attracted the writer's attention. He saw the children's bright red faces upturned, smiling sweetly and chattering nonstop. His heart suddenly trembled and he couldn't help but blurt out: "The boy's noodle tea is on." The gardener realized this and said, "Really, there is no more beautiful camellia than this boy's face." This made an idea pop into his mind. He said, "I have an idea for a painting. If you draw a big camellia with the thickest and brightest cinnabar, it is a boy's face. Isn't it a symbol of the face of the motherland? " Therefore, the writer wrote an essay "Camellia Fu" about the feelings and thoughts caused by seeing Camellia. This writer is Yang Shuo. Readers and critics can understand the author's intention of writing this article through reading: to praise the beautiful motherland and honor the working people of the motherland. Second, being good at conception is the process of processing and refining the living materials from coarse to fine, from virtual to real, from the outside to the inside. The writer should seek the perfect artistic form for the ideological content of prose in his conception, so as to achieve the harmonious unity of ideological content and artistry. Therefore, conception should solve the problems of conception, material selection, artistic conception creation, genre determination, basic techniques and layout. This paper focuses on three issues: determining genre, finding clues and creating artistic conception.