Structural realism is also called new realism. In Latin America, this concept was put forward by Jose Louis Martin, a literary critic, and was applied in the field of literature. The concept of "structuralism" comes from the background of Europe and America pursuing industrial production efficiency and social division of labor at the end of 19. It emphasizes the systematic and holistic characteristics of things in an anti-individualistic way of thinking. The first application of structuralism in linguistics produced Saussure's linguistic sign system; As a cultural concept involving anthropology, structuralism has influenced many fields of art, from theory to creation, from drama, novel, poetry to film and television. Transferred to the field of literature, structuralism and realism combined to form structural realism literature.
Vargas Lusa once said: The angle of observing reality is infinite. Although it is impossible to cover all angles, the more realistic the angle, the better the novel will be. This is the case with War and Peace, and so are some knight novels. Knight novels include mystery, religion, history, society, instinct and so on. Nowadays, the attempts of novels always want to express reality from one channel and one angle. On the contrary, I advocate creating a general novel, that is, reflecting it ambitiously from all aspects and forms of reality. This is the theoretical basis of Vargas Lusa's creative method of structural realism. He believes that people's observation of reality is multi-angle and multi-level. The more angles and levels a novel presents reality, the more successful it will be. In order to fully express reality and write great novels, writers should grasp and express reality from as many angles and levels as possible. Therefore, in order to achieve multi-angle and multi-level in the novel, Rusa adopts various techniques, such as various forms of dialogue, plot division and combination, full use of official documents or letters, film and television performance skills, perspective in painting, frequent time-space conversion and so on. Its artistic effect can make readers have a comprehensive feeling or understanding of the real world displayed in the works, or have a three-dimensional sense and a sense of wholeness.
The basic feature of structural realism is to break the traditional novel structural form, adopt various novel structural modes, arrange plots artistically, tell stories and reflect social reality. For example, a green house consists of five floors. In the traditional way, the author can tell five stories one by one, in normal time order. But Lue Sa refused to obey the rules. He believes that real life is rich and varied, and literary works should also be poetic works of art, otherwise it will not reflect the complexity and diversity of reality, and the works will become mediocre, dull and unattractive. He advocated the artistic representation of reality and the creation of artistic novels. Therefore, he adopted a new structural form different from the traditional one in The Green House, that is, he divided five stories into several segments and told them in turn. For example, the first and third films, each chapter includes five episodes, that is, five scenes, telling five stories respectively. The second and fourth parts, each chapter includes four segments, namely four scenes, telling four stories, because Hume's story disappeared, and Bonifaci's story and the prodigal son's story merged into one. Due to this structural arrangement, the temporal and spatial order is disrupted, and the narrative methods become diversified: jumping, reversing, independence, crossing, dispersion and integration. The use of these forms enriches the narrative. In addition, the author also uses the "box-setting technique" to make the story set again and the dialogue sandwiched in the dialogue. The narrative method of this structural form is novel and unique, and its effect is like a kaleidoscope, which makes real life present to readers with a brand-new look and makes readers have some curiosity and interest in reading the book.
Another example is Lue Sa's ambitious attempt to describe the whole social life in Peru through this novel in Bar Talk. He chose the dictatorship of Peruvian General Odria from 1930 to 1930 as the background of the novel story, hiding his political views against any military dictatorship. There are two main characters in this novel. One is a reporter nicknamed "Little Sartre", who is the incarnation of the author himself, and the other is Abe Rosso, a driver of the dictatorship. Their conversation in a bar called "Cathedral" has become the main narrative clue throughout the book. In their conversation, other scenes, characters, contradictions and entanglements that were talked about appeared in the form of stories and presented in a synchronous form. This is a major feature of the novel. Like a string of sugar-coated haws, a complete small "sugar-coated haws" composed of stories and scenes are vividly and fully organized together under the main narrative clues to form a perfect whole. In this novel, Rusa applies the special structure and multi-level narrative skills of "structural realism" to an incredible extent. For example, he created a "management method" of dialogue, that is, in the novel, people in five scenes can talk at the same time without explanation and prompt, but they will not confuse the reader with the interlocutor, thus gaining a sense of temporality and spaciousness. As a result, space expands and time expands in a plane. The scene is gradually grand, complex and broad, and people and things in the whole society are included. The novel depicts nearly 100 characters in Peru's social reality, representing people from all social strata in Peru's specific historical stage, from the supreme ruler, dictators of military authorities and a group of greedy politicians, to gangsters and thieves, and ordinary people who are busy with their lives. It depicts the essence of Peruvian society like the Colosseum of the ancient Roman Empire-in this country ruled by social Darwinism, there is a struggle for the right to live everywhere, which is cruel and passionate, violent and full of desire, showing. It is these that constitute the complexity and multi-level of the novel itself, and also construct the magical social reality and history of Peru in Latin America.
In addition, in Lusa's letter to young novelists (cartas a un joven, 1997), the concepts of "china box" and "connector" are mentioned. "China's framing" and "connected tube" are two narrative space structure theories in Lue Sa's novels. According to Vargas Luesa, China's framing "is a structure of this nature: one main story leads to another or several derivative stories, and it can't be a mechanical thing (though it is often mechanical) to make this method work. When such a structure introduces a consistent meaning-mystery, vagueness and complexity-into the story and appears as a necessary part of the work, it is not a simple juxtaposition, but a consortium with fascinating and interactive effects, and this means has a creative effect. " As for the connector, Lusa thinks that it is "two or more story plots that take place in different time, space and reality, which are unified in a narrative whole according to the narrator's decision, with the purpose of making this intersection or mixing restrict the development of different plots and constantly adding meaning, atmosphere, symbols, etc. to each plot, which will be very different from the way of separate narration". Thus, China's two creative structures-framing and connecting body-both emphasize the organic unity of stories or plots that are generated and extended mutually in the narrative whole, but they are not a rigid and mechanical combination, but complement each other, thus producing a good narrative effect.
reality
Social and political issues are one of the central themes in Latin American literature. The most profound impression of Latin American writers is their high sensitivity to reality. Excellent Latin American writers are often thinkers and politicians, which is extremely rare in the literary circles of various countries. Lusa also has a strong sense of social mission, and is by no means a writer sitting quietly in his study. He never denies his political inclination, and his works touch the truest and most sensitive nerves of society. Literary creation originates from his social and political environment, and his works are mostly based on real events. Lusa felt the influence of such realistic political events on people and hoped to explore the current social situation with novel creation. With deep suspicion and cold dissection, he revealed a sharp truth. Therefore, some people call Rusa's novels "pathogenic novels".
During his life, Lue Sa struggled with the social reality in Latin America and Peru. His strong desire for freedom triggered his strong dissatisfaction and criticism of society. Rusa's greatest contribution lies in his exploration and study of novel structure and narrative form, thus creating a richer novel structure and narrative form, and describing the unique historical and social reality of Latin America to readers with vivid brushstrokes. Most of his works focus on the complex social situation in Latin America, and attack the social abuses in Peru and Latin America with sharp style, which has become a new legend in the history of novel development.
As a teenager, Lu Sa lived under military dictatorship, so she deeply realized the harm of dictatorship to society. He took part in the struggle against dictatorship with practical actions from his youth, and later exposed and criticized the dictator through literary creation. This theme appears almost continuously in Lusa's creation and becomes his eternal "main theme". In this regard, Lusa also admitted that he "has always been a little obsessed with dictatorship."
When she set foot on the literary world, Lu Sa's novels pointed the finger at the military dictatorship that endangered society. For example, the first novel "The City and the Dog" published by 1960, on the surface, describes the life of a military school student named Leoncio Prado, but in fact expresses the reflection on the dictatorship in Peru. This military academy has become the epitome of military dictatorship at that time. The students in the school come from different social classes and races, but under the strict discipline and cruel training of the school authorities, they must receive training to meet the requirements of the military authorities. The school is a melting pot, which is explosively mixed with children from all walks of life, thus aggravating this tense atmosphere. At the beginning of the novel, several students are planning to steal chemistry examination questions, and Kawa is unfortunately chosen. The angered school threatened to find the thief, otherwise the whole class would be detained and punished. Ricardo arana, known as a "slave", couldn't bear the punishment of not being allowed to go home on weekends because he missed his girlfriend, and turned in Kava, which led to his dismissal. Soon, the "slave" was killed by the "jaguar" in an exercise. The parents of the students asked the headmaster to tell the truth, and the poet Alberto also exposed the scandal to Captain gamboa, the head of the company, but the headmaster ordered the whole school to speak in one voice: It was an accident, not a deliberate murder. At the same time, the principal also confined the perpetrators of "gun fire"; When Gamboa was exiled to the plateau, the slave incident finally went away. In Lusa's works, the colonel seems to be the representative image of a military dictator: on the surface, he always puts on a clean and honest posture, but in fact, he is insidious and cunning, sacrificing his subordinates or even ignoring human life in order to protect his own interests. Anyone who resists a little will show a ferocious face and suppress it fiercely. Lusa clearly saw that the ugliness of the "city" and the cruelty of the "dog" were rooted in dictatorship.
Vargas Luesa himself admitted: "Since you are a writer, you must put forward ideas on moral, religious and political issues." "Literature is not simply entertainment, it is related to life and various social problems, so excellent literature must be helpful to people's lives." Peru's backward and autocratic society and people in difficult situations have given Vargas Lusa endless creative desire. "Literature is a form against power. You can question any power at any time through literary activities, because excellent literature shows the defects of life and the limitations of any power in satisfying human ideals." "At the same time, I advocate participation in life. I think that to write good works, we need to keep a distance from some realities and communicate with life. " Some critics believe that the artistic origin of Lusa's novels can be traced back to the cubism theory founded by Spanish painter Picasso in 19 1. The characteristics emphasized by Lusa's novels and cubism are similar. Rusa said that a great novel is not to copy reality, but to disintegrate reality and combine and exaggerate it appropriately. This is not to be unconventional, but to show reality in many ways. Obviously, there are striking similarities in aesthetic pursuit between the two. With his high artistic innovation, Lusa tried cubism in the narrative art of novels, successfully used juxtaposition and collage in painting, and created a three-dimensional literary world.
Apposition
The juxtaposition has been given a new meaning in modern art, and it should first be regarded as a painting concept, because the feeling it gives people is first and foremost a visual feeling. German Lessing once divided art into visual art and narrative art, and analyzed the differences between them. It is believed that painting is a juxtaposition art based on spatial existence, and novel is a sequential art based on time continuity. Early cubist painting decomposed an object from different sides and different viewpoints, and then recombined the obtained elements to form juxtaposition, thus infiltrating each other and becoming a whole image. Picasso's Girl in avignon is the best interpretation of this conclusion. Juxtaposition is the most commonly used composition rhetoric of cubism, and it is perfect as a conventional weapon in all aspects of painting by artists.
Madman Marta is a juxtaposition work that can best show the author's narrative from different perspectives. In the novel, the author constructs 26 different versions of the story of Amitabha into a text. Twenty-six narrators described Maita's childhood, adolescence, old age, inner-party life, social life, family life and armed riots in various capacities, such as classmates, relatives, comrades, rioters and hostile parties. The image of Amitabha in everyone's mind is different, which makes readers form a multi-angle three-dimensional observation of Amitabha. These 26 narrators present different narrative styles because of their different narrative contexts. The narrative text of the novel is essentially composed of 26 different versions, which constitute a complementary and conflicting whole. The narratives of 26 narrators, like cubist paintings, are cut into different sections, which makes a simple story very complicated and forms a maze of structures, giving the text a distinct three-dimensional sense in structure. The author juxtaposes the narratives of different narrators, making the novel a large-scale dialogue, which is also the expected effect of macro juxtaposition.
collage
The word "collage" comes from the French word "coller", which originally belongs to artistic language. At first, it refers to the composition method of splicing and pasting pieces of heterogeneous materials together in painting art. Luesa believes that Dospazos is the first writer to turn collage skills into narrative skills. For example, he inserted newspaper headlines, news clips, pop songs, official speeches, report quotations, advertising street signs and so on. In the novel Manhattan Transit Station, the purpose is to "determine the historical moment, draw the social background of the story, and in some cases, reveal the destination of a certain person. For him, good luck or bad luck gives him the honor of being a news person." As donald barthelme said, the meaning of collage lies in "sticking different things together to create a new reality in the best state". Lusa boldly adopts musical elements in her novels, and the most novel and unique is the application of counterpoint. Counterpoint is one of the oldest writing techniques in the history of music, and counterpoint is the writing technique of polyphonic music. The word "counterpoint" comes from the Latin word "punctus counterpoint" (meaning from note to note), that is, according to certain rules, different tunes are combined at the same time, so that the music can maintain the independence of each voice in the horizontal direction and the contrast and connection between them, and can form a harmonious effect in the vertical direction. If there is only one combination of the parts that make up the counterpoint method, the single counterpoint method can not change the mutual relationship, the compound counterpoint method can change the mutual relationship, the vertical moving counterpoint method can change up and down, the horizontal moving counterpoint method can move back and forth, and both of them can be vertical and horizontal moving counterpoint methods.
This technique of using two or more independent melodies to make sounds at the same time and be in harmony with each other in music creation was later used for reference by writers. In the novel creation, two unrelated themes and two independent themes are arranged in the same novel. Faulkner's Wild Palm is the classic work of counterpoint in the history of literature. Wild Palm is a two-type love story. A man gives up everything for a woman's love, and a man gives up everything to stay away from love. These are two stories that will never be confused, but they will certainly complement each other in some ways. Many of Lue Sa's novels, like plays, are suitable for making movies. Among them, The City and the Dog, Captain Leon of Pan Da and Military Girl have been adapted into movies of the same name for many times and put on the big screen. 1999 The second film version of Captain Leon of Pan Da and Girl in the Army were shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It is no accident that Lusa's works are favored by the film and television industry, which has a lot to do with his strategy of consciously borrowing some film and television techniques in his novels. Lue Sa once wrote a screenplay for Paramount, so he is no stranger to movies. When writing, he is good at introducing flashback, multi-lens photography, montage, narrative and other film art techniques into novels, forming a changeable and multi-tone artistic style.