A Night Around the Duck's Nest is a masterpiece of Shen Congwen's prose. 1934 Shen Congwen returned to his hometown to visit his seriously ill mother. He and Zhang Zhaohe agreed to write a letter to report his trip, and these letters were later compiled into Xiangxing Notes, which was written by Shen Congwen.
On the surface, Notes on a Journey to Hunan seems to be a trip to hometown, but the writer focuses on the history and future of Xiangxi, and the collision between the current reality of Xiangxi and the aesthetic ideal of Xiangxi constructed by the writer's creation has already taken on the meaning of cultural reflection. Shen Congwen expresses his heart freely and flexibly through prose. Night around the Duck Nest is a sincere, beautiful and touching chapter in the whole prose collection.
In order to better understand and appreciate this chapter, we should first understand the tense of this article and Shen Congwen's attitude towards sailors and prostitutes in diaojiao building, which is the basis for understanding this article. On this basis, we can find the inner connection between "The Muttering of the Sheep" and the western Hunan world, and further spy on the writer's secret feelings and psychology.
First, Shen Congwen's attachment to the past.
Shen Congwen's best articles are all written on water, and Duck Nest Night is no exception. He himself said: "The article I am most satisfied with in the story is often set in the water on the ship." "If there is anything worthy of attention in my writing, it is only because I have memorized too many words from house boat." [1](P44) It is through the wonderful description of Chen Xigu that Shen Congwen opened a magical world of western Hunan for modern literature.
In order to understand this article deeply, we must understand the tense of the article. What the main author of this article sees and feels when he sleeps around the duck's nest at night is the present tense. The night is silent, dark and monotonous. The night around the duck's nest described by the writer is a night full of lights, people's activities and music, which can't be completed by the tense of "now", so the writer uses his own imagination, past experiences and even personal experiences. Shen Congwen clearly wrote in his article: "Now I just use imagination to appreciate the superficial attitude of these people's lives, but I have touched their souls with my past experiences." [2](P450) Therefore, Shen Congwen described the past, not the present, in "Duck Nest Surrounding Night", which was written in Shen Congwen's memory more than ten years ago. 14-year-old Shen Congwen, wandering in the border region of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou, knows the people and things in the Chenhe River Basin like the back of his hand. These experiences became the basic material and inexhaustible treasure of his later creation.
Zhao Yuan also found the tension in Shen Congwen's creation. She pointedly pointed out in the article "Xiangxi World Constructed by Shen Congwen" that Shen Congwen's Xiangxi works generally do not emphasize tense. "Even if the present tense is specified in the narrative, this now seems like a frozen time. It includes the past but refuses to accept the future. " [1] (p522) Why do you refuse to accept the future? Shen Congwen gave the answer in Long River Inscription: "In the winter of the 23rd year of the Republic of China, I went back to Xiangxi on business from Beiping, and went north by boat from Shui Yuan to my hometown of Fenghuang County. I have been to my hometown for eighteen years. Once I entered the Chen Valley, everything was different. On the surface, everything has naturally made great progress. If you try to pay close attention, you will see the tendency of degeneration in the process of change. The most obvious thing is that the integrity, simplicity and beauty of human feelings in rural society are almost disappearing, replaced by the vulgar outlook on life successfully cultivated in the actual society in the past two decades. Although the superstition of respecting ghosts and gods and fearing life has been destroyed by common sense, the distinction between right and wrong has disappeared. " [1] (p56) Twenty-three years of the Republic of China is 1934, which is what Shen Congwen really saw and felt when he returned home to visit relatives.
However, in A Night Surrounded by a Duck's Nest, what the writer focuses on is not this kind of "depravity", but the beauty of "lyric poetry", which lives in the writer's memory-it can even be said that this is not real memory, but imagination and creation. It is a paradise invented by Shen Congwen, an idyll and a hymn of love and beauty. A large number of verbs are used in the article, such as "imagine", "seem to see", "estimate" and "understand", which shows that many nights written by the writer are speculative, imaginative and deductive.
It is precisely because reality is a "degenerate" trend that Shen Congwen refused to accept the negative influence of "future" and modern civilization on Xiangxi. However, in order to express the natural beauty, humanistic beauty and humanistic beauty of western Hunan, the writer had to dig up the "past" mineral deposits in the treasure house of memory, so the night around the duck nest was invented by Shen Congwen with imagination and past experience.
Second, Shen Congwen's triple attitude towards sailors and prostitutes.
Shen Congwen's attitude towards sailors and prostitutes in diaojiao building is different from that of ordinary writers. Understanding Shen Congwen's attitude towards them is the key to understanding this essay. Generally speaking, Shen Congwen's attitude towards them can be divided into three levels.
What happened between the "affectionate sailor" and the "affectionate woman" by the Chenhe River is nothing more than the original money and sex transaction between the clients and prostitutes, which should be ugly in the eyes of ordinary people, but it is a "beautiful, healthy and natural life form" worthy of praise in Shen Congwen's works. Because they are aboveboard, ordinary and natural, just like ordinary people drinking water to eat. The conversation between the woman and the sailor is still in my ear: "One is standing among the rocks waving a torch, and the other is standing by the window. Remember, old man, the ship sank and it will come again! " "Okay, I'm coming, I remember. When you see Shun Shun, you say: Yes, it's over; Where is Daniel? His ankle and knee have healed. Three pounds of fine powder, three pounds of rock sugar or sugar tablets. " I remember, I remember, don't worry, auntie. When I met Uncle Shunshun, I said, Yes, it's over. Where is Daniel? All right. Three pounds of fine powder, three pounds of rock sugar. [2](P448) This conversation is really full of human fireworks. The trivial words of ordinary men and women are captured by Shen Congwen's genius and full of poetry. His disciple Wang Zengqi commented: "It's really like hearing his voice. I seem to have heard this conversation somewhere else, shouting on and under the river. These are trivial words, but this is the life of the world. " [3](P 186) thinks that the relationship between them is normal and natural, which is Shen Congwen's first attitude.
Different from the enlightenment writers during the May 4th Movement, Shen Congwen did not treat and sympathize with the characters in his works as an enlightener, but placed himself among the disadvantaged groups at the bottom. "The woman's finger may even be wearing a gold-plated ring specially sent by Chang Defu sailors. When singing, she cut her sideburns with her hands. What a touching picture! I know their joys and sorrows, and I have a share in all this. Watching them die there every day, tears and laughter, although so far away from me, are so close to me. This is like reading a moving work describing the life of Siberian farmers, which makes people hide books and causes silent sorrow. " [2](P450) Therefore, Shen Congwen felt empathy when describing their joys and sorrows, and equality was Shen Congwen's second attitude towards them.
Shen Congwen said: "As for women's physical transaction, because of the simplicity of people's feelings, onlookers don't think it is indecent and shameful, so there is no need to criticize and despise it with the concept of a scholar. These people value righteousness over profit, keep their promises and keep their promises, that is, prostitutes, which are often more credible than those who know shame in the city. " [4](P 13) Shen Congwen even praised the sailors and women in the diaojiao building, thinking that "their desires and sorrows are sacred" [2](P466). Shen Congwen has "sympathy close to Christ" for those who are struggling at the bottom of the social pagoda. He shines on these characters like a ray of warm sunshine, and at the same time illuminates the poetry contained in these characters. Praise is Shen Congwen's third attitude towards them.
The reason why Shen Congwen clothed them with sacred glory stems from the writer's unique historical perspective. In his letter to Zhang Zhaohe, he thinks that the history we usually read is the history of emperors fighting for power and profits and killing each other. This is a history of "the most stupid people killing each other", ignoring the joys and sorrows of the people as the main body of history. In these people, there is also respectable solemnity, hard work and noble life, which is worthy of praise. [5] (page 62)
Of course, the relationship between sailors and prostitutes in Diaojiaolou also has an ugly side, but Shen Congwen pays attention to the bright side, which is his unique choice. Shen Congwen said: "When everything is connected with human life, I don't understand beauty and evil. In other words, I can't fully understand the beauty of ethics. When I am close to life, I will always be an artist's feelings, but not the so-called moral gentleman's feelings. " [6](P77) When Shen Congwen looked at these men and women, he used "the feelings of artists", so he had a different vision. He said: "What I want to show is a' life form', a' beautiful, healthy, natural and not contradictory to human nature'." [1] (p54) Its purpose is to "discover a burning feeling, eternal dedication to human wisdom and beauty, praise for health and honesty, and extreme hatred for stupidity and selfishness from the works of a countryman (author's note: Shen Congwen often calls himself a countryman). This feeling can actually stimulate you, leading you to be optimistic about life and doubt everything at present. " [ 1](P55)
Since the Opium War, people of insight have been looking for the road of self-improvement and modernization of the Chinese nation. Most writers, such as Lu Xun, turned their eyes to western civilization and criticized feudalism fiercely. However, Shen Congwen, who was born in the countryside, is different. He is often critical of modern civilization, such as his urban novels. He turned his eyes to the western Hunan world, which was not polluted by modern civilization, and tried to find the health factors preserved in the body of the Chinese nation in those young men and women. His description of beautiful, healthy and natural human nature aims to "rekindle the self-esteem and self-confidence of young people" [1](P58), thus inspiring the self-esteem and self-confidence of the whole Chinese nation. Knowing each other is not as good as disciple Wang Zengqi. He said in the article "The Loneliness of Shen Congwen": "Mr. Shen often lives by the water, and the deceased is like this. One term he often mentions is "history". He is thinking about this land, the past and future of this nation. His prose is not a landscape poem of Jin people, not to knock people down, but to inspire people to make progress. " [3](P 179) Wang Zengqi caught the ignorance of the teacher's works. This is also the good intention of Shen Congwen to create various works in Xiangxi. Only by understanding this, can we not be surprised by Shen Congwen's praise attitude towards sailors and prostitutes.
Third, the symbol of sheep barking
The bleating of sheep around the duck's nest at night has been echoing in my ears: "That stubborn and soft voice makes people feel melancholy." The more stubborn, gentle and melancholy the voice of this sheep is, like a note striking the reader's heart and lingering in my heart. "Since then, that stubborn and gentle voice will never disappear in my ear." This is really a stroke of genius from Shen Congwen. What is even worse is that "this little beast came here for the Spring Festival and should die here" [2](P448), and he can live for ten or eight days at most. This lamb barks like this, and its mother will definitely bark "stubbornly and gently" because she can't find the child. Mr. Shen Congwen really has a kind of "compassion close to Christ", even for a sheep, not to mention young men and women with "local lyrics"
The sheep's cry appeared three times in the article, which is a lingering note in the nocturne and has become a symbol of the whole article. Shen Congwen wrote in the preface to his English collection Essays on Xiangxi, translated for Dai Naidie in the early 1980s: "Although this booklet looks like a general travel book with fun, in fact, each chapter has a deep feeling and meaning in humor, which is easy for careful readers to notice. Although it only describes trivial and ordinary people's gains and losses, joys and sorrows, and so on, such as various water docks in the Yuanshui River basin and a sailor on a boat, in fact, they all have a kind of deep affection and anxiety about their past and present, and they have a presentiment of their fate tomorrow-that is, such an ordinary and humble life will not be easily maintained, and will eventually be destroyed by huge potential energy from the outside on the other hand. Life seems different and ends in a helpless situation. " [1] (p145-146) The life of this sheep is coming to an end, and the humble life of ordinary men and women is hard to maintain. This is exactly what Shen Congwen touched-the disappearance of a beautiful life, so "the heart is very soft."
The ordinary and humble life of young men and women is hard to maintain, which declares the end of Xiangxi world. Xiangxi has devoted Shen Congwen's passion, emotion and artistic talent for almost a lifetime, from a realistic existence to an artistic world, and even an ideal of love and beauty. Therefore, the disillusionment of Xiangxi world represents the disillusionment of Shen Congwen's ideal, and he has a sense of disillusionment. This kind of emotion has also appeared in Shen Congwen's masterpiece Border Town. In Reading Border Town Again, Wang Zengqi said: "The life described in Border Town does exist, but by the time Border Town was written (1933- 1934), it almost did not exist. Border Town is a nostalgic work, a kind of nostalgia with regret. Border Town is a warm work, but there is a deep sense of tragedy behind it. " [3] (p 217) But there is no positive expression in Night Surrounded by Duck Nest, just a painful worry, and it is only in the novel Long River that there is a positive expression. At this time, Shen Congwen is already a cry of pain.
Xiangxi has been destroyed by a huge potential energy, and there is a "degradation trend" in social changes. This "change" in the Chenhe River Basin is the biggest "pain and worry" in the author's mind. "At about midnight, there came another voice on the water ... just like a magical singing, incredibly simple, that is, the stubborn monotony and monotonous extension, which made an immersive person's efforts almost futile, using a set of words to capture that voice and capture a person's feeling confused by that voice in the middle of the night." [2](P452) The author highlights a key word of sound here-"monotony".
Mr. Shen had to go out of the cabin to see what had happened. It turned out that a fisherman was fishing: "The river is red, and the strange sound comes from red light." It turns out that some small fishing boats hiding in the sun under big rocks have quietly got off the river network before midnight. In the middle of the night, an iron mouth bag was released from the water from the bow, filled with burning firewood, rapped on the side of the ship rhythmically with a mallet and floated away. Seeing the fire in the water, the fish scared away by the loud noise, in this case, touched the net and became the prisoners of fishermen. This is Shen Congwen's vivid description of the fisherman's fishing scene. After Shen Congwen understood it, he returned to the cabin, still silently listening to the monotonous voice and unfolding his feelings: "What I saw seemed to be a scene in which primitive people struggled with nature. That sound, that flame, the war close to primitive humans, took me back to the' past' time of four or five thousand years. " [2](P452) This monotonous war between primitive man and nature is the "constancy" of Chenhe River Basin. Shen Congwen "took a small water pier in the Chenhe River basin as the background, and wrote about the" changelessness "and" change "in the lives of some ordinary people in this place, as well as all the joys and sorrows in the multiplication and division of the two phases." [1](P59) The "constancy" and "change" in Chenhe River Basin are the basic patterns and themes of Shen Congwen's creation.
Shen Congwen said in the preface of Xiangxi Notes: "At first glance, it is just an ordinary travel note about landscapes and flowers, but it is actually more complicated than many of my short stories." [1] (p144) Judging from the night around the duck's nest we discussed, we believe it.
Four. abstract
Shen Congwen said in the Preface to Selected Works: "There may be people in this world who want to build a pagoda pavilion in Shaji or on the water, but that's not me. I just want to build a small Greek temple. Choose mountains as the foundation and pile them with hard stones. Exquisite, strong, symmetrical, small but not slender, it is my ideal building. This temple is dedicated to' human beings'. " [1] (p50) "Human nature" has both good and evil. Since ancient times, there has been a philosophical debate between "the theory of good nature" and "the theory of evil nature". Some writers focus on "evil nature", such as Zhang Ailing, but Shen Congwen focuses on "good nature" in Xiangxi's works (and "evil nature" in urban works). Therefore, Shen Congwen's "human nature" is not an empty concept, specifically kindness, enthusiasm, honesty, simplicity and firmness. These are beautiful qualities that should not disappear with modern civilization, so they have eternal charm and become the eternal theme of Shen Congwen's creation.
Shen Congwen's "Night Around Duck Nest" makes the night more beautiful and charming by describing the human beauty of sailors prostitutes in diaojiao building. A long, lonely and cold night was described, rendered, imagined and touched by Shen Congwen. "Everything is really a sacred place mixed with solemnity and mobility" (P459) became a beautiful serenade. The little light of "the light of humanity" has been flashing, warming people's hearts in the cold night. The night around the duck nest is an eternal night for human beings, which brings people into a sacred and lofty realm and has unspeakable charm.