1. The influence of Chinese and Western cultures on Zhang Ailing and the cultural background in her works.
The influence of Chinese and Western cultures on Zhang Ailing first came from her parents. Zhang Ailing's father was a young man who was elegant and literate. He gave her some enlightenment in classical literature and encouraged her literary hobbies. Zhang Ailing once said in her juvenile study "Genius Dream": "I could recite Tang poetry when I was three years old. I still remember standing swaying in front of the wicker chair of a Manchu elderly man and reciting, 'The merchant girl did not know the hatred of the country's subjugation, but she still sang across the river. "The Flower in the Back Court", seeing his tears rolling down. "And Zhang Ailing's mother is a bold new-style woman who dares to study abroad and get divorced. Her life interest and artistic taste are more Westernized. When her mother returned from overseas for the first time, she sown the seeds of Western culture in Zhang Ailing's young mind. According to Eileen Chang later said in the article "Whispers", her mother's return made her very excited, "I think everything in the house is the pinnacle of beauty. The blue chair cover and the old rose red carpet are actually not very harmonious. However, I like it, and I also like England, because the word England reminds me of a little red house under the blue sky, while France is a drizzle of cyan, like bathroom tiles, stained with the fragrance of hair tonic, my mother told me It rains a lot in England, but it's sunny in France, but I can't correct my initial impression. "She has always liked Lao She's novel "Two Horses", not only because her mother liked this novel at the time, but also because of the reason. The reason is that this novel tells the story of Beijingers in London.
Secondly, it comes from her own experience. Influenced by her parents, Zhang Ailing could memorize Tang poetry since she was a child, and she also learned English from an early age. When she was studying at a missionary middle school, she published English articles in the school magazine. Although she was admitted to the University of London but was unable to go because of the war, she still went to a place where Chinese and Western cultures blended. She received a university education in Hong Kong, and this experience had a great impact on her creations. Her first few novels, "The First Incense of Agarwood Chips" and "The Second Incense of Agarwood Chips" were all based on her experience in Hong Kong. life as the theme. And she has been nourished by classic literary masterpieces such as "Journey to the West" and "Dream of Red Mansions" since she was a child. It has penetrated into her bones and seeped out from between the lines.
The cultural background in Zhang Ailing’s works can be summarized as: culture in decline, civilization in troubled times.
2． The main content, unique style and "wasteland" consciousness with modernist meaning in works such as "Hong Kong Legend" and "Shanghai Series" in Zhang Ailing's "Legend".
To understand the main contents of "Hong Kong Legend" and "Shanghai Series" in Zhang Ailing's "Legend", you can read "The First Incense of Agarwood", "Love in a Fallen City" and "The Story of the Golden Lock" Mainly, supplemented by other works introduced in the textbook. The keynote of its unique style is "desolation". In the textbook, it is particularly analyzed how "The Story of the Golden Lock" interprets the absurdity and desolation of life to the extreme. You can also refer to the previous introductions to these three works for discussion.
The "wasteland" consciousness with modernist connotations shown in Zhang Ailing's works is rarely shown in the new literature since the "May 4th Movement", and it is also the uniqueness of her works. We say that Zhang Ailing’s novels are elegies about civilization and human nature, and the main theme of Zhang Ailing’s elegies is not a criticism of society, let alone the transformation of society, but only colonial and semi-colonial modern cities (Hong Kong and Shanghai). In the background, it shows the depravity and restlessness of the human spirit, and the fragility and sorrow of human nature. At this point, the female images in her works are the most vivid, and they are quite different from the female images in the works of new literature writers of the same era and even since the "May 4th Movement". First of all, we noticed that the women Zhang Ailing wrote were different from the "new women of the era" created by writers in the 1920s and 1930s. She actually wrote about old women under the appearance of "new women." These women may have old-style elegance, or have received new-style university education, or even studied abroad, but they all face the same dilemma of "what happens after Nora leaves" and are unable to stand on their own in modern urban society. , and stay away from the revolutionary movement, they can only regard being a "female marriage attendant" as their only career and outlet, and the education they receive can only be a bargaining chip for them to "marry". Secondly, we also noticed that the female images in her works are different from the old-style women in the works of ordinary new literature writers. Zhang Ailing does not have an agricultural cultural background. Her literary literacy was formed in the urban background that represents industrial and commercial culture. Female images are almost all of declining ladies or small bourgeois trying their best to climb up. The suffering these women suffer in life is not the economic poverty of not having enough clothes and food to eat, but being homeless and having no husband. The mental panic of getting married. 3. Zhang Ailing's works are both elegant and vulgar, both traditional and modern, with extremely distinct artistic originality and inherent flaws.
The characteristics of Zhang Ailing's works that are both elegant and vulgar are mainly reflected in the "foundation of classical novels" and the "color of market novels".
The most obvious manifestation of the "classical novel foundation" in Zhang Ailing's novels lies in the ""Dream of Red Mansions" style" in her works. The textbook uses "The Story of the Golden Lock" as an example to show that it can be seen everywhere in her works. The shadow of "A Dream of Red Mansions", and her "Flower Withering" is regarded as a "modern "Flower Burial Poetry"". Not only the name of the work "Flower Withering" is directly derived from the "Flower Burial Poetry" in "A Dream of Red Mansions", but also The protagonist of the work, Zheng Chuanchang, is also bluntly called "modern Lin Daiyu" by her. We also know that when she was 14 years old, she wrote the novel "A Modern Dream of Red Mansions" with the background of modern society. In her first novel "The First Incense from Agarwood Chips", there are many characters and details that have obvious influence from "A Dream of Red Mansions": "She (Gui'er) wore a snow-green tight-fitting coat, emerald blue narrow feet She was wearing trousers, her hands were covered with a flat gold waistcoat, and she was still dressed like a maid from the "Dream of Red Mansions" era. But her flat face was only covered with a layer of varnish, the color of copper skin, without any makeup. As soon as she saw Weilong, she rushed forward, took the suitcase, and said, "Young lady has been thinking about you all day long, wondering why you haven't come yet. Unfortunately, there is a large group of guests here." ..."
The "color of market novels" in Zhang Ailing's novels mainly refers to the "popular tendency" in her works. Among the modern writers who have influenced Zhang Ailing, there are Zhang Henshui, a representative of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School, and Lao She, a representative of the powerful new literature writers. The creations of these writers are all characterized by "popularization". Popularization or popularization is not only the creative characteristic shown in Zhang Ailing's works, but also the author's own creative ideal. In her prose, this tendency and ideal may be more distinct. Therefore, some people say: "Zhang Ailing's prose must be read together with her novels to be interesting." Vice versa, her novels must be read in conjunction with her prose to be more interesting. The popular features in Zhang Ailing's works are also closely related to her living environment and her own living habits. Not only does she like to go shopping and eat snacks like all Shanghai women, but she also loves to read popular tabloids in society. The two cities that had the greatest impact on her life were Shanghai and Hong Kong. Shanghai was the most commercial and citizen-oriented city in China at that time, and Hong Kong at that time was a replica of Shanghai, which was following Shanghai. In life, Zhang Ailing never became the lady her mother hoped for, but she became a self-reliant citizen in a big city according to her own ideals.
The traditional and modern characteristics of Zhang Ailing’s works overlap with but are not completely identical to the “both elegant and vulgar” characteristics of her works. Her traditional characteristics are of course related to the "foundation of classical novels" and the cultural literacy and aesthetic taste she gained from old novels such as "A Dream of Red Mansions", but it is not just that. We have mentioned before that the women in Zhang Ailing's works (including those "new women" who have received foreign education) are actually or essentially "old women", and the most typical ones are her "view of women" and The images created in her novels have many traditional elements. Almost none of the women she writes has left the castle of marriage, and the most impressive images she creates are all based on tradition. Her modern characteristics mainly add Western cultural factors to the popular sentiment. In the textbook, she talked about how she started writing in English as a professional writer, and also talked about how her initial writing career began when she wrote drama and film reviews for Spanish-language newspapers in Shanghai, and later she also wrote movie scripts, etc. Here What can also be added is her different views on the issues of modern cities and urbanites from other writers of the time. China's traditional culture is based on agricultural culture, and most of the writers at that time pursued traditional aesthetic ideas for art. Therefore, the emergence of modern cities not only did not arouse their cheers, but was resisted and criticized by them. Whether they are Beijing-style writers who look at the city from the perspective of "countrymen", Shanghai-style writers who look at the city as "modern people", or left-wing writers who look at the city as "revolutionaries", modern cities are in their eyes They are both "monsters", but in Zhang Ailing's eyes they are completely different. We have mentioned before that Zhang Ailing has no background in agricultural culture. She was born and raised in the city. She is an out-and-out city person, and she regards being a city person as her ideal. Therefore, in her works , not only writes about cities and city people, but also reveals her love and praise for urban civilization everywhere. Although most of the characters in the work end in tragedy, this is not the fault of the city. On the contrary, it is the sin of traditional feudal thought and feudal culture.
The extremely distinctive artistic originality of Zhang Ailing's novels is mainly manifested in "the unity of the sentiment of old novels and modern taste". In the textbook, we said that many themes, images and symbols in Zhang Ailing's novels cannot be "restricted" by classical novels and popular novels, because she added foreign novel techniques or modernist techniques to her creations. In China, Modern novels and modern Western novels have found the most suitable tone for themselves in the seemingly "compatible" art forms. However, it can also be said that Zhang Ailing's success lies largely in her "innovation" and "imitation of the old", and her own shortcomings also largely lie in her "innovation" and "imitation of the old."
In terms of innovation, it mainly manifests itself in the accumulation of "innovative achievements", resulting in "literary quality"; in terms of inheriting the past, it mainly manifests itself in being shrouded in the halo and shadow of traditional novels such as "A Dream of Red Mansions", which makes the authenticity and quality of the work Structural balance is affected. In addition, the main factors that limit Zhang Ailing's greater artistic development are "narrow subject matter" and so on.
It is recommended that you refer to:
ool.net/tianyige/present/zal/zhang3.txt
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