Back to 80: My Literary Life

It turned out that after the last class, Fang Minghua assigned an assignment: let each student analyze any of the six novels they read.

Except for "Spots on the Wall" and "The Sun Will Rise" which are highlighted in class.

It is necessary to analyze the structure of the novel, writing techniques, how to use stream of consciousness writing, etc. You can show it directly to whoever has written it.

These two girls came here just for this matter.

Seeing this scene, Fang Minghua was not in a hurry to send a letter. He invited the two of them into the room and picked up the article they wrote to read.

Chen Hong analyzed Liu Yichang's "The Fall", while Li Hongying analyzed "Roadside Picnic" written by Fang Minghua.

There are two versions of Liu Yichang's "Confrontation". It was a novel written in 1972, and later the author condensed it into a short story. Fang Minghua asked them to read the short story.

The novel is about a middle-aged man who moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong and is nostalgic in his memories; the other is a young girl who was born and raised in Hong Kong and longs for it in her fantasy. They don’t know each other, and they each wander the streets of Hong Kong in the 1970s, carrying their own stories. Seeing, hearing and feeling come face to face, and then turn away from each other. The only encounter is just passing by.

Fang Minghua first took the article written by Chen Hong and looked at it carefully.

In the article, Chen Hong analyzed the writing technique of "The Pair" in detail, pointing out that: the novel adopts two lines, showing changes from a purely subjective perspective, and often swaps men and women.

Men express their views on women, and women express their views on men. They jointly express their views on what they see and hear, implying the flow of consciousness, forming a wonderful interaction, and forming a complex psychological structure as a whole.

Not bad, seems to really understand.

After reading it, Fang Minghua raised his head and asked, "Chen Hong, why did you choose this novel as the object of analysis?"

"Because I'm from Shanghai, I felt it was beautiful and cordial to recall those days in old Shanghai in the novel. It would definitely be good if made into a movie!" Chen Hong replied.

Fang Minghua nodded after hearing this.

That's right, more than ten years later, Xiangjiang's Sunglasses King was filmed in "In the Mood for Love".

He took another article written by Li Hongying.

The girl was analyzing "Roadside Picnic".

"I'm from Chongqing. Although the place described in your novel is a place in Guizhou Province, I feel that the environment is very similar to that of our hometown. The customs and customs of the characters described in the novel are very familiar to me."

Fang Minghua didn't speak, and Li Hongying took the initiative to explain: "I think the same as Chen Hong on this point. Of course, this is a novel written by you, Teacher Fang. I like to read it."

Ah?

The reason behind this?

Fang Minghua did not answer, but read carefully.

"Roadside Picnic" is Fang Minghua's transformation of a movie into a novel. The biggest feature of this movie is that the timeline seems a bit disordered.

Time exists in every aspect of the movie. The clock on the wall and the train running backwards are just symbolic expressions. Most of the time, time flows unconsciously, which is precisely the characteristic of stream-of-consciousness novels.

In Li Hongying's article, it is obvious that she has grasped this point, and her analysis is very thorough, which is deeper than Chen Hong's understanding.

It seems that the girl is very spiritual in stream-of-consciousness creation.

"Do you like stream-of-consciousness novels?" Fang Minghua asked after reading it.

"Well, I like this kind of unconstrained writing style!" Li Hongying nodded firmly and asked suddenly.

"Teacher, will your novel be adapted into a movie?"

Yes, N years later.

Of course, it is also possible in a few years.

Fang Minghua smiled and said he couldn't answer this question, so he saw that the director was attracted to it.

"Li Hongying, if you like reading stream-of-consciousness novels, I recommend you to read another one." Fang Minghua said and took out a magazine from the bookcase, which was the first issue of "Yanhe" - anyway, he read every issue of "Yanhe" All should be preserved.

"In this book, Mo Yan wrote a novel called "Happiness", which also uses the stream of consciousness technique. You can take it back and read it.

"Okay, thank you." Li Hongying happily took the magazine.

After the two girls left, Fang Minghua took out the written letter from the drawer and slowly left the dormitory and walked to the post office.

At noon the next day, after taking a nap, Fang Minghua washed his face and sat on the computer while playing "Knife in the Snow". He heard someone knocking on the door again. He went over and saw that it was Li Hongying, holding the book "Yan Yan" given yesterday. river".

"Have you finished reading?"

"Um."

Fang Minghua let the girl into the dormitory without closing the door and asked, "How is it?"

"I can't accept some of the novel's descriptions."

Li Hongying spoke very directly.

Fang Minghua smiled and replied: "Let's not talk about the writing content first, what do you think of the writing technique of this novel?"

"Simply speaking of writing techniques, I think this novel is very well written." Li Hongying became a little excited.

"He adopts the very rare second person and collective narrative perspective "we", which causes the reader to lose the comfortable and harmonious aesthetic distance between the protagonist and the protagonist, and is forced to face the protagonist's **** mood and tragic life." The change of time and space, the jump of persons, the almost uncontrolled stream of consciousness. "

"That's a good analysis." Fang Minghua nodded appreciatively.

"Teacher Fang, can I ask you a question?" Li Hongying said suddenly.

"You ask." Fang Minghua sat on the chair and looked at Li Hongying who was sitting on the sofa.

"You are helping Lu Yao write the third part of "The Ordinary World". I think Lu Yao's novels are completely different from Mo Yan's novels. They are simply two different world views. From a philosophical sense, Lu Yao probably believes that "people are inherently good." , looking at his "Life" and "Ordinary World", there is almost no bad guy in a pure sense, but Mo Yan is just the opposite."

"There are almost no good people in his book "Joy", but you don't seem to reject either novel. You helped write one, and you even recommended it to the other. Why?"

Facing the question asked by the girl, Fang Minghua answered while pouring water for the girl.

"Human nature is inherently good or evil. This is an old philosophical question. I am not a philosopher and I don't want to discuss it. I don't want to explain this issue from the perspective of a magazine editor. All I want to say is:

Having said this, Fang Minghua paused and looked at the girl.

"Li Hongying, if there are only novels like Lu Yao on the market, or just things written by Mo Yan, do you feel that the literary world is too monotonous? Doesn't the country also advocate letting a hundred flowers bloom?"

Li Hongying seemed a little dissatisfied with Fang Minghua's ambiguous answer. He was just about to ask Fang Minghua which of the two different types of novels he preferred when he heard a knock on the door.

Looking back, I saw that the door was open and there were two people standing at the door.

One is Yu Hua, and the other is a somewhat ugly man wearing a military uniform.