In the mid-1980s, there was an upsurge of "cultural root-seeking" in the literary world. Writers began to explore traditional consciousness and national cultural psychology, and their creation was called "root-seeking literature". 1985, Han Shaogong took the lead in proposing in a programmatic paper "The Roots of Literature": "Literature has roots, and the roots of literature should be deeply rooted in the cultural soil of national traditions." He proposed to "transcend the real world and base on reality at the same time, revealing some mysteries that determine the development of the country and the survival of mankind." Under this theory, writers began to create, which is called "root-seeking school" in theoretical circles. On the whole, the literary proposition of the "root-seeking school" is that it hopes to base itself on China's own national soil, excavate and analyze the national bad habits, carry forward the excellent elements in the cultural tradition, grasp our nation's way of thinking, ideals and value standards from the cultural background, and strive to create literature with a truly national style and style. Judging from the writer's choice of a certain region as the basic point of cutting into the cultural level, "root-seeking literature" can be divided into two major fields: "urban culture root-seeking" and "rural culture root-seeking". Representative writers include Acheng, Zhang Chengzhi and Han Shaogong.
Realism:
This is a common concept in artistic creation, especially painting, sculpture, literature and drama. In a narrow sense, it belongs to the category of plastic arts, especially painting and sculpture.
Whether facing physical or imaginary objects, painters always depict a real substance rather than an abstract symbol. This kind of creation is usually called realism. Following such creative principles and methods is called realism. The concept opposite to realism (or visualization) is abstraction.
Ma Yuan's "Original Novel"
Ma Yuan's sense of form, narrative style and language form have become dazzling in China's contemporary novels. Ma Yuan used his text to ask people to re-examine the concept of "novel". He tried to erase the difference between "form" and "content" of the novel, telling us that the focus of the novel is not what is written, but how to write it. For the first time, he raised how to "narrate" to the height of a novel ontology, and the importance and firstness of "narration" were clearly confirmed.
The significance of Ma Yuan is that he is the first real formalist in contemporary China. For the first time, he showed a comprehensive concern about the aesthetic spirit of the novel and the language form of the text in practical sense, and took the ontological construction of literature as the absolute goal of his novel creation. Although "formalism" is not a positive category in the discourse system of China's literary theory. However, Ma Yuan's determination to reverse his conviction and vindicate "formalism" is very firm. He realized that "form" is a breakthrough and has the most "visual" effect, which can respond to people's expectations of the image of "modern literature" emotionally and intuitively, and can also get rid of the direct conflict with ideology. Therefore, upgrading "form" to "formalism" is Ma Yuan's most important literary strategy. It is with the help of extreme formalism that Ma Yuan's novels are "avant-garde", which is not only completely different from traditional literature, but also incompatible with mainstream literature in the new period. In Roger Lee's words, "Ma Yuan's formalism novels pose a silent and powerful challenge to traditional literary concepts and traditional aesthetic habits. In this sense, Ma Yuan's formalism novels are the most fruitful achievements of avant-garde literature. The establishment of this formalistic novel will mean the final formation of China's avant-garde literature and the final completion of a historic turning point in China's contemporary literature. " [8] Today, this evaluation seems a bit exaggerated, but it was natural at that time. In the general anxiety and enthusiastic expectation of "modern literature" in literary circles, Ma Yuan is the "fruit" that should have arrived long ago. Although a little green and a little "difficult to understand", everyone is still very thirsty. This is literature that bid farewell to the modernity of the old times, is free and independent literature, is creative literature, is literature that is divorced from ideology and politics, is literature that goes to the world, and is literature that we pursue and need. In a word, Ma Yuan provided a "model" about "modernity" literature, answered the question of "what is modernity literature" and satisfied all the imaginations about "modernity literature" in that era. He is a well-deserved "cultural hero" Looking back on the past many years later, Ma Yuan himself is inevitably complacent. "Avant-garde novels actually inherited the modernism movement that began in the first decade of the 20th century, that is, the novel changed from' what to write' to' how to write', which was a revolution in novel form and concept" [9].
Ma Yuan's genius lies in that he does not just put formalism on the metaphysical and conceptual level, but tries to implement it on the technical and operational level, which makes Ma Yuan's avant-garde novels not only "good-looking", but also performative and exemplary, which is undoubtedly an inspiration for China writers who are eager to get rid of the old literary shackles and are at a loss about the new literary schema. Ma Yuan not only showed what modern avant-garde literature is, but also taught people how to practice this avant-garde literature. "How to write" is the core of formalism discourse in Ma Yuan's novels. His discovery and attention to "narration" and his attention to fiction all marked the birth of a brand-new literary view. In this literary view, "what to write" is no longer important, and the authenticity, the relationship between content and form, the source of life and so on related to "what to write" are gradually eliminated. However, the "technical" factors such as "meta-novel", collage structure, self-reference, mystery and accidental style of language began to rise as the main body of the novel, and China's literature in the new period has since opened up an "alternative clue".
July Poetry School:
"July Poetry School" is an influential poetry school in the history of modern literature in China, named after July, a literary periodical edited by Hu Feng. It spans two historical periods, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and is the oldest school of poetry in the history of China's new literature.
September 1937, 1 1, July Literature Weekly edited by Hu Feng was founded in Shanghai. The editor named "July" because he wanted readers not to forget July when War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out in an all-round way, and he was determined to make it our glorious mission to publicize and encourage the sacred national revolutionary war. Since then, Hu Feng has successively edited July Weekly (Shanghai), July Semimonthly (Wuhan), July Monthly (Chongqing) and Hope Monthly (Chongqing-Shanghai), and compiled three series: July Poetry, July Literature and July New Collection. Broadly speaking, all the authors who have published poems in these publications and series can be called "July Poetry School" poets.
Nine Leaves Poetry School:
Nine-leaf Poetry School is a poetry school that came into being at the end of modern literature in China. They felt the influence of western culture more directly and deeply, and also felt the national disaster more deeply. They have the pursuit of * * *, and they are a group that pays special attention to their own values. As Cindy, its representative poet, said, "I would rather let one reader read it a thousand times than let a thousand readers read it only once." They insist on the intrinsic value and independent tradition of literature and strike a balance between art and reality. They also pursue the integration of individuals and the times, and advocate that the exploration of ideas must be written with flesh and blood feelings. First of all, they should think about themselves, and their ideas and hopes should be closely related to all social and historical life. They should not only have a cohesive diving and moral personal throwing, but also have a global grasp and superhuman vision. ;
Obscure Poetry School: A school of poetry that appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its representatives are Beidao, Shuting, Gucheng, He Jiang and Yang Lian. As a creative group, "misty poetry" has not formed a unified organizational form, nor has it issued a declaration. But it has formed a "rising poetry group" with its own independent artistic thoughts and creative achievements. At that time, there was a debate about misty poetry in the literary world. The spiritual connotation of "misty poetry" has three levels: one is to expose darkness and social criticism; Second, seeking light in the dark, reflecting the sense of exploration and strong heroism; Third, based on humanitarianism's special concern for "people". "Misty poetry" rewrites the traditional model of describing "reality" and illustrating policies in the past, and regards poetry as an important way to explore life, which has reached an unprecedented height in philosophical significance. In a sense, the rise of "misty poetry" is also the rise of the life tree of China literature.