The twenties and thirties of last century was a peak of China's prose creation, and many excellent essays and outstanding prose masters emerged, among which Xu Zhimo was one. Xu Zhimo's prose is mostly collected in some prose collections, such as Leaves, Scales in Paris, Self-sectioning Collection, Self-sectioning Collection, Autumn and so on. His prose has its own characteristics, which are different from Lu Xun's rebellion, Zhou Zuoren's graceful and restrained, Bing Xin's fresh and graceful, Zhu Ziqing's elegant and meticulous, Liang Shiqiu's harmonious and elegant, Lin Yutang's humorous and witty, Feng Zikai's artistic enlightenment and Shen Congwen's simple and frank description, and also different from Liu Bannong's quotations and pungent descriptions. Xu Zhimo is Xu Zhimo, and his prose is rich and colorful.
All sincere and serious explorations will stumble, and all pursuits will inevitably contain limitations-this stumbling and current situation just reflects the true meaning of art, quoting Xu Zhimo himself: "A great writer, such as romain rolland or Tolstoy, is like a big river. Its waves, twists and turns, and its weather are different everywhere. We can't draw a corner of it instead of the whole process. French art critic Dana said that "the products of spiritual civilization, like animals and plants, can only be explained by their own environment", and the ideological and artistic nature of Xu Zhimo's prose can also be studied or explained by its environment. Therefore, as long as Xu Zhimo's prose is analyzed and studied in a specific environment, there will be a fair conclusion in the history of modern literature.
Xu Zhimo was born in a Shang family in Zhejiang. As the only son of Xu's eldest grandson, he lived a very comfortable life since childhood, which made him experience nature since childhood. Besides, Zhuangzi's delicacy, Qu Yuan's romance, Li Bai's elegance and agility in enlightenment education, and his elegance and boldness since Wei and Jin Dynasties all had a profound influence on him and played an important role in the formation of his character and temperament. But he doesn't want to take the road of literature. He respected the wishes of his elders and went to the United States to study financial technology. He wrote: I checked the genealogy, and since Yongle, there has not been a line of poetry in our family that can be recited. By chance, he entered the University of Cambridge in England. In the birthplace of the capitalist democratic revolution, his ambition changed from then on.
Cambridge is the most important period in Xu Zhimo's life. In Cambridge, a typical hotbed of nature, he enjoys an aristocratic lifestyle. He walks, boats, smokes, chats, drinks tea at five o'clock, bakes butter cakes and reads leisure books. He is addicted to taking a book, walking ten miles, choosing a clean place, watching the sky, listening to birds and reading books. When he is tired, he goes to the grass to find dreams. It is the natural scenery and rich enjoyment of material life in the beautiful and quiet countryside of Cambridge that inspires the poet's spirit, breeds his romantic feelings and cultivates his romantic character. It is this bourgeois democratic aristocratic atmosphere and China's traditional love heart of "caring for the old and caring for the young" taught by his grandmother and mother since childhood that made him form a unique bourgeois humanitarian spirit.
He also joined various literary salons, interacted with celebrities and writers, and extensively dabbled in various literary masterpieces in the world. In this circle of nobles and celebrities, he wholeheartedly accepted the baptism of capitalist culture, eagerly absorbed ideological and artistic nutrition, and was influenced by celebrities in the literary and art circles, which undoubtedly promoted the development of his literary cells like a catalyst. "People always think that the biggest opportunity in my life is to meet Mr. Dickinson. Because of him, I was able to enjoy these happy days in Cambridge, and my interest in literature and art was fixed. Become a romantic who "expresses ideals with branches", praises life and is full of affection.
In terms of content, Xu Zhimo's prose is good at expressing himself in a lyrical way. In the twenties and thirties of last century, it was difficult for prose to get rid of self-pity, and Xu Zhimo was no exception, because he was "good at expressing his feelings and not good at describing social life." Self-expression is his favorite thing to write, and he thinks it is more successful. He likes to express himself in this self-centered way, whether talking about literati and creation, mourning for relatives and old friends, or remembering to travel all over the rivers and famous cities and telling sadness and pessimism. He doesn't like simply describing events and objectively describing scenery, but pays attention to expressing his heart and feelings.
Lyricism is the essence of his article. For example, in his prose "Chatting in Yushan", he used this lyrical style to express his inner feelings heartily. At the beginning of the article, he took you into the mountain house with "if", making you "like going to a beautiful banquet" in "sunshine is only warm, never too warm; The smell of the wind is gentle, often because it blows from the forest with flowers, with a faint fragrance, connected with a smell of moist water vapor, rubbing your color and gently surrounding your waist, so simple breathing is still unpleasant; The air is always clear, there is no smoke near the valley, and there is no haze on the distant mountains. All the beautiful scenery is like a painting in front of your eyes for your leisure appreciation. "This is a description of the scenery, which is clearly a description of your own heart" scene ",so that you have to follow his beautiful style into his heart" scene "and blend in with his" me ".
Then he described the feeling of a person living in the mountains: "But if you have the opportunity to wander alone in the beautiful mountains or countryside in this spring and summer, that's when your luck shines, that's when you really receive it, that's when you taste it yourself, that's when your body and soul act in unison ..." This kind of discussion on the benefits of living alone in the mountains and expressing your yearning for nature is based on ". He enjoys the joy and happiness of nature, revels in nature and eulogizes nature, which is naturally influenced by Tagore's naturalism of denying the civilization of the twentieth century and returning to nature.
Some people think that the structure of his prose is scattered and rigorous, but it is actually one-sided. Yang Zhensheng said in "The Last Farewell to Zhimo": "His prose" Running Wild Horse "has always been considered better than his poems." It is this "running wild horse" that embodies the style characteristics of his prose, but his "running" is not running around. Liang Shiqiu said in his essays on Zhimo, "His essays really run wild horses, but they run well ... Zhimo's essays are almost all essays, no more than reasoning papers, so his essays on Running Wild Horses are not only flawless, but also very cute." This passage by Mr. Liang Shiqiu is undoubtedly an extremely accurate evaluation of the structure of Xu Zhimo's prose, which captures the characteristics of Xu Zhimo's prose that the form is scattered but the spirit is not scattered.
For example, in Qiu Si in the Indian Ocean, he started to "run" on the moonlit night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. He ran upstairs to another hospital, to the weeping old woman who put her hand on the Bible, to the weeping young woman, and to the iron mine in western Wales. However, his running did not leave the moonlight, and his running had its own trajectory. However, after his prose tends to be "stereotyped", he is also quite particular about the layout and structure. For example, in the prose Autumn, people found that our nation is an extremely ancient nation. But in order not to despair, he talked about hope and spirit, and his thoughts were no longer wild horses. He is also more logical and has a strong color of rational thinking, which is different from previous prose works.
Imagination is also one of the artistic features of Xu Zhimo's prose. In his articles, he is always imaginative, indulging in the pen and ink of couplets, preferring to be the ultimate and enjoying himself. In Want to Fly, he showed his extraordinary imagination, wrote his desire to fly and showed his rich association. He wanted to fly, but he couldn't, and wrote his dissatisfaction with society. Continue reading, you can also read his vivid, passionate and artistic sentences: fly, surpass everything, win everything, sweep everything and breathe everything. And so on, all reflect the rich style characteristics of his association.