Yang Jiang quoted a metaphor in "The Invisibility Cloak" and regarded society as a "snake trap" in which snakes squeeze and squeeze. You die and die, in order to get out of your head and enjoy a moment of glory.
But what she wants most is a "invisibility cloak". She is humble and disappears from the crowd. Others ignore her. She is free because of this, and she can "keep her innocence, become natural, and devote herself to fulfilling her own ability." Things to do".
Personally, what Yang Jiang has done with great concentration is her writing and her "self-cultivation".
Yang Jiang believes that the meaning of human existence is self-improvement.
In the process of self-improvement, her writing also follows the ancient motto of "rhetoric is honest", self-cultivation matches with rhetoric, and realizes the unity of personality ideals and aesthetic ideals.
Aesthetics and history:
The Value of Yang Jiang's Literary Creation
Beijing News: Mr. Yang Jiang was famous for his prose in his later years and became a very important contemporary writer.
As a research object, where is Yang Jiang's main attraction to you?
Lu Yue: There are two ways to choose a research object, one is to choose what you like, so that the research motivation will be very abundant; the other is to study objectively whether you like it or not.
My choice is the first one, which is more enjoyable, and can answer the aesthetic expectations of the "new literature" that I have been thinking about since the 20th century during the research process, so my selection criterion is first of all aesthetic value.
Yang Jiang's creations are well known to the public since the 1980s, represented by "Six Notes on Cadre School".
She uses a unique style to express individual life experience, and at the same time expresses our collective experience and historical experience. She combines individuality and commonality very well, so she can achieve an ideal state of literary expression: a high degree of literature. , And always open the door to ordinary people, to achieve the effect of reader acceptance of both elegance and common appreciation.
The second reason why I choose Yang Jiang as the research object is her historical value.
Yang Jiang was a peer of the 1911 Revolution in 1911. Until his death in 2016, she has experienced various changes in Chinese society, history and culture in the 20th century. Her works also provide historical testimony and reflections in a literary way.
Beijing News: Why can Mr. Yang Jiang maintain such a strong writing ability in his later years?
Lu Yue: This reflects the tenacity and endurance of her literary life.
What kind of support is behind the tenacity?
The interruption of literary life did not only happen to her alone. What distinguishes Yang Jiang is that in the special historical age, she has been hiding there all the time, engaged in translation and research of Western literature, in preparation for later creation.
I think this has something to do with whether the writer has a unified pursuit of value behind it.
This unified and lasting value pursuit includes not only the traditional personality ideals of Chinese intellectuals, but also the modern enlightenment spirit and value rationality since the May Fourth Movement.
Yang Jiang's treatment of the relationship between self and the world, social history, and language are supported by a unified belief.
This also embodies what Confucianism said, "Those who do not have perseverance but have perseverance, only talents are capable."
Regardless of the changes in the external world and his own circumstances, Yang Jiang has always been full of faith in the value of culture itself. This is the inspiration given to us by writers of the generation of Yang Jiang and Qian Zhongshu.
Invisibility and avatar:
Yang Jiang's Personality and Style
The Beijing News: There are some popular sayings about Mr. Yang Jiang, such as "the most wise wife, the most talented woman", "life is calm, my heart is graceful" and so on.
What is your overall understanding of Yang Jiang and his people?
Lu Yue: The first sentence comes from Qian Zhongshu's pen. I don't know where the latter sentence came from.
On the Internet, I often see Yang Jiang’s quotations that have melted chicken soup, and they need to be identified.
Regarding Yang Jiang and her person, I think the first is her independent posture and "hermit" posture in contemporary literature.
In her later years, Yang Jiang's influence became more and more powerful. "We Three" became a literary bestseller. Coupled with media propaganda, she became a hot cultural figure and even a cultural icon.
There is a huge contrast here.
Is the image of Yang Jiang in the media and popular imagination unified with the real Yang Jiang, or is there a dislocation?
Are there blind spots in the hotspot?
Regarding her identity, Yang Jiang never said that she is a professional writer. In the preface of the collection, she said, "I am just an amateur author."
She has always kept a certain distance from the mainstream of the times or the so-called main trend, but this does not mean that she does not pay attention to reality. She is very sensitive to Chinese history and reality. Condensed a lot of social and historical content and ultimate value issues.
But Yang Jiang has always kept a certain observation distance from the mainstream of the times and even the mainstream of the literary world, wearing a "cloak of invisibility". Such a cultural posture is closely related to her personality and psychology.
In one sentence of Teacher Chen Xiaoming, "She has both the hermit love of ancient China and the enlightenment consciousness of modern China". This sentence accurately captures her personality characteristics.
Yang Jiang has profound experience and thinking about the relationship between the self and the external world.
For example, in the face of collective sports, how do individuals choose their own positions?
Let's take "Bath" as an example. When the outside world wants to forcefully change you, do you follow the trend, or do you want to keep yourself clean?
What is the price to pay for self-cleansing?
What do you want to stick to in this value choice, and what is the significance?
These are all important themes in her work.
One of the key words in my interpretation of her is "hermit and avatar: the spiritual style of hermit and fidelity".
What is the purpose of seclusion?
Wearing a cloak can hide yourself in all living beings. Others can't see you, and you can see others. On the one hand, you can hide yourself, and on the other hand, you can observe the world freely, gaining a kind of freedom and pleasure of observation.
On the one hand, there are heroes in Chinese culture, who must take the initiative to change society and realize "positive freedom."
There is also a wise man, similar to the "real person" in Zhuangzi's words.
The wise have the wisdom of life and history that transcend the secular and keep a certain distance from the social reality, but this does not mean passive inaction, but defends the truth and personality ideals of oneself through concealment.
When there is no way in the world, we can protect ourselves by “invisibility”, not only to protect our flesh, but to protect our spiritual life and spiritual freedom.
Yang Jiang mentioned in "The Invisibility Cloak" that "keep her innocence, be natural, and concentrate on accomplishing what she can do", which most intensively embodies her purpose of seclusion: to maintain the true nature of her self and not be influenced by the outside world. Pollution and change, do not distort one's personality to follow the trend, and in the process of maintaining the authenticity, you have to accomplish what you can do.
There are no unrealistic illusions, and it does not mean that I am going to be a hero or savior who changes the world.
As an intellectual, her mission is cultural responsibility. She is a person who uses a low-key attitude to achieve spiritual freedom.
This is also very Chinese cultural wisdom.
The Beijing News: "The cloak of invisibility" can be regarded as a kind of life outlook of Mr. Yang Jiang. In addition, the book also mentions a word related to this, that is, "clone technique".
How to understand the relationship between "invisibility" and "clone"?
Lu Yue: "Cavages" is a key word corresponding to "Invisibility Cloak".
Invisibility is not inaction, and doing something is precisely for doing something. Therefore, it is necessary to "clone", change from one to more, and break the limitation of "one".
To give an example, in "The Chronicles of Bingwu Ding", she wrote that she became a monster on stage, was criticized by the Red Guards, had her head shaved, and she had to wear a paper top hat.
In this situation, most people will feel pain and humiliation, and some people will choose to commit suicide.
Yang Jiang said that at this time her soul jumped out of her body like Monkey King, watching her ugly appearance in mid-air.
Through the momentary separation of soul and body, she objectified herself and laughed in the dark. This is the embodiment of her comedic wisdom at very moments.
This method is the avatar technique, which is not only an emergency psychological mechanism for self-protection, but also a rational wisdom that transcends the limitations of reality.
Joyful Wisdom and Sad Wisdom:
The Dialectics of Emotion and Art
Beijing News: The following enters the specific text of Mr. Yang Jiang.
In his early years, Yang Jiang focused on theatrical creation, including three comedies performed in Shanghai during the Occupied Period, and one tragedy.
Against this special historical background, why did Yang Jiang choose to focus on comedy creation?
Lu Yue: Yang Jiang's real influence on the literary scene is based on the comedy creation of Shanghai in the "Occupied Period" in the 1940s.
She chose comedy because of the joint efforts of external and internal factors.
Colonial rule in the "occupied period" requires political, ideological and cultural control, and politically inclined dramas cannot be staged.
But more importantly, it is the internal cause, which also shows Yang Jiang's own personality characteristics.
In her recollection, she said that the time of Shanghai's occupation was like a long night. Comedy is a laugh in the dark world. These laughs also represent that the people under the colonial rule did not completely lose their confidence.
Yang Jiang often quotes the words of British writer Walpole: "The world is a comedy to understand by reason, and it is a tragedy to comprehend by feelings", which reflects her understanding of the spirit of comedy and tragedy.
The basis of comedy is rational spirit. Because people have ideals and rational abilities that are higher than reality, they can recognize the ugliness, flaws, and ridiculousness of this world. Laughter itself is also a kind of irony and criticism.
It is a tragedy to comprehend it with emotion, because the world, life and human nature are incomplete and sad.
This book also summarizes Yang Jiang’s creations with Xizhi and Tragedy. I think Yang Jiang combines the spirit of comedy with the spirit of tragedy very well. The dialectical unity of comedy and tragedy consciousness runs through all her creations. It is a dialectic of emotion. , Is also the dialectics of art.
For example, "The Three of Us" is about the universal sadness of life, the separation of love, we can feel deep grief when we read, and at the same time, you don’t indulge in this grief and become sentimental, because when she writes grief , Using lively joyful and vivid pictures to express, such as the happy time when relatives get together, which is to write sadness with joy.
The Beijing News: The book "Happy Wisdom and Tragic Wisdom" also discusses the tragic tendency of Mr. Yang Jiang's comedy. Her last play is the tragedy "Wind Suspense".
There is a clear critique of heroic fantasy in "Feng Xu".
What is the significance of this criticism?
Lu Yue: "Wind Succulents" uses a female perspective to show the conflict between "heroic fantasy" and real life, and responds to one of the important propositions of the "May Fourth" enlightenment literature: the theme of heroes.
Lu Xun’s generation faced the challenges of foreign civilizations and the decline of traditional Chinese culture. His "Moruo Poetry Theory" actually called for cultural heroes, but what Lu Xun is more profound than ordinary hero theme writers is that he On the one hand, they are eager for the appearance of heroes, but they always have deep doubts about the hero's connotation, destiny, and social and historical effects.
Yang Jiang's "Wind Suspense", on the one hand, responded to the "hero" theme of the "May 4th" enlightenment literature, and at the same time completed a rewrite.
Fang Jingshan, the protagonist of the story, wants to be the savior and hero, but there is a huge contrast between his imaginary self and his actual self.
This reflects Yang Jiang's reflection on the concept of heroes and mortals, presenting the ideals and essence of heroes, as well as the conflicts between heroic fantasy and victims.
Such thinking is based on her deep insight into the limitations of human nature.
In Lu Xun's writings, the hero and the victim are often one.
In Yang Jiang's writings, this "hero" requires others to sacrifice, and he believes that since I am a hero, it is only natural for you to sacrifice for my ideals, so his wife made a sharp and ironic criticism of him after awakening.
In this way, the hero and the victim become a contradiction. The hero is no longer a victim, but the hero creates the victim.
Yang Jiang has always kept his distance from blind heroic fanaticism, especially the heroic fantasies of intellectuals.
She emphasized that she was just one of the many beings, and she didn't even want to say that she was an intellectual, because she understood the danger of this kind of heroic fanaticism. Blind heroic fanaticism would often create countless social and historical disasters.
The Beijing News: The key words of your book are "Happy Wisdom and Sad Wisdom", which are used to summarize Yang Jiang's creation. I also mentioned some of them just now.
Specifically, how to understand these two keywords?
Lu Yue: Yang Jiang is not only a writer and intellectual, but also a wise man in Chinese culture, with profound wisdom in life and history.
"Compassion and wisdom" originated from a Buddhist concept, referring to compassion and wisdom.
Faced with the shortcomings of human nature, faced with the various shortcomings of life, such as birth, old age, sickness, death, love and separation, and so on, Yang Jiang has great compassion.
She has the courage and artistic talent to express this kind of compassion.
The "tragic wisdom" in literature as I understand it is the tragic wisdom of a writer.
The concept of "Xizhi" was invented by myself and was derived from "Mission and Wisdom." Since there is compassion and wisdom, there is Xizhi.
The joy and sorrow in life are inseparable. They are originally two sides of the same body, and they are opposites.
Comedic wisdom and tragic wisdom should complement each other in a good writer, so that he has complete power when observing and expressing life and the world, rather than one-sided and fragmented.
I named the characteristics of Yang Jiang's literary creation by "happiness and wisdom", which is also the characteristic of her wisdom.
This also inspires us to pursue a higher level of unity of wisdom when facing a complex world.
"History" and "Poem":
Conflict between reality and ideal
The Beijing News: Mr. Yang Jiang's novels are based on the long "Bath".
Do you think Yang Jiang "uses the spirit of'poem' to fight against the logic of'historical'". How do you specifically understand this spirit?
Lu Yue: From "Bath" to the final "Walk to the Edge of Life", Yang Jiang raised an important question, that is, people have dual natures, one is the soul, and the other is the body. The hardships that people experience are In the test of the soul by testing the body, the test of the body may have passed, then can the soul gain true self-knowledge, purification and perfection in the process of this test, that is, "train the soul"?
Yang Jiang said that there may be only one or two people in "Bath," trying to surpass himself and perfect himself.
The conflict between "poetry" and "history" means that "poetry" is an individual's secret emotions and ideals, with internal unity. In Hegel's words, it is called "poetry of the heart". It lies in a person with unity of value. It is unified and complete.
External social and historical movements (especially drastic changes) often force you to fall apart and challenge your "poems of the heart".
This constitutes the tension of the novel's narrative.
Dream and reality:
The Narrative Art of Yang Jiang's Prose
Beijing News: Let’s focus on Mr. Yang Jiang’s prose, which is also the most important part of her writing achievements.
From the perspective of aesthetic value and historical significance, what are the characteristics and importance of Yang Jiang's prose?
Lu Yue: There are few purely lyrical prose in Yang Jiang's works. One of her important contributions to modern Chinese prose is the innovation and expansion of narrative prose.
Take "Six Notes of Cadre School" as an example.
She is using prose to carry the function of historical narration, which is to provide "witness of poetry" to history.
"Six Notes of Cadre School" is a heavy history, which is a traumatic memory for the individual.
For example, in this book, she wrote about walking in the wilderness and seeing another new grave, indicating that there were people who committed suicide, as well as the hunger of farmers, poverty in the countryside, and the repression of human nature. These are all suffering memories. Contains her sadness for the suffering of society and history.
But Yang Jiang’s expression is not directly lyrical, but in a temperate language, an implicitly borrowed brushwork. On the surface, he writes about his own experience, but the social and historical content involved is very profound, and the emotions are also very deep. .
Expressing emotions artistically through narration is one of the main features of Yang Jiang's prose.
For example, the sadness of parting in "Six Notes of Cadre School" is not expressed through direct lyricism, but by action.
Qian Zhongshu went to the Henan Cadre School and needed to transport the bed at home. Yang Jiang wrote that she only had one day to dismantle the wooden bed in her home, put it back together, and transport it to Qian Zhongshu.
What she writes is all movements. How to tie the rope with two hands, the rope is difficult to tie, she uses her teeth and hands to tie it. In order to avoid finding it, she writes the name "Qian Zhongshu" everywhere. They are all specific. Actions.
On the surface, what she writes is a series of movements of dismantling and fitting the bed, while shaping her love and affection for her relatives, all emotions are hidden behind the movements.
I think this is a kind of "iceberg style".
In Chinese classical literature and painting, there is a "black method". The blank space often hides unfathomable information. Yang Jiang is also good at using blank space to convey unspeakable content, which requires readers to pay more attention to it.
"The Three of Us" is actually a continuation of "Six Notes on Cadres School", which is about the life and death of relatives.
Faced with such loneliness and sadness, how do you express it?
Yang Jiang's originality is to break the boundary between "dream" and "real", and to combine the reality and dream of life to write. I think the structure of this work is a "dream structure".
Yang Jiang's prose pays special attention to the structure of art, and is good at presenting unspeakable experience content in an artistic way.
The Beijing News: "Walking to the Edge of Life-Questions and Answers" is an active exploration by Mr. Yang Jiang when facing death, thinking about the value and meaning of life.
What is Yang Jiang's life and death outlook and values shown in it?
Lu Yue: Death is the core theme of Yang Jiang's works in her later years. The most concentrated and systematic thinking about death and ultimate value is "Walking to the Edge of Life", which she wrote after she experienced death threats in her 90s and came out of the hospital.
To discuss the issue of life and death is to discuss the relationship between the body and the soul.
Yang Jiang believes in the longevity and immortality of the soul.
She believes that the meaning of exercising the body when a person is alive is to exercise the soul, so she puts forward a metaphor, saying that the soul is like a spice. The more you pound it, the stronger its fragrance.
Self-cultivation and rhetoric:
The Unity of Personality Ideal and Aesthetic Ideal
The Beijing News: When discussing Mr. Yang Jiang's style, two important words were used in the book, namely "rhetoric" and "cultivation", and found the inner connection between the two.
This also integrates "rhetoric" (writing) itself with self-"training" and self-improvement.
This point was also mentioned earlier.
In Yang Jiang, how did rhetoric and self-cultivation become one?
Lu Yue: Self-cultivation and rhetoric are not only a writer's writing ethics and creative attitude, but also how ordinary people treat themselves and language. As long as we express ourselves in language, we must face the relationship between rhetoric and self-cultivation.
"Self-cultivation" is the personality ideal of Chinese Confucianism, and the ideal of the unity of self-cultivation and rhetoric is the pursuit of the unity of personality ideals and aesthetic ideals by ancient Chinese intellectuals.
The ancient Xun has "rhetorical loyalty", which can very well represent Yang Jiang's attitude towards language and life.
The premise and ultimate goal of rhetoric is "sincerity", that is, "true", which is the opposite of "false" and "distortion".
Confucianism talks about sincerity, righteousness, self-cultivation, qi family, and governance of the country. It starts with the purification and promotion of the individual's heart and soul. When it comes to self-cultivation, it is the pursuit of self-improvement, and then it expands to the Qi family's governance of the country.
Yang Jiang agreed with the moral ideals of Confucianism, and even in her later years she also agreed with Confucius' ideals of "Zhi Zhonghe".
"Rhetoric" is to choose the right language to express one's thoughts and feelings.
If your thoughts and feelings are sincere and reflected in your rhetoric, it should be your sincere and true expression, your knowledge of yourself, your attitude towards life, and your thoughts and feelings.
Self-cultivation and rhetoric should be one, not going against each other. This is good literature, otherwise there will be rhetorical exaggerations, or anti-intellectual and anti-truth phenomena.
This phenomenon often occurs when we use language in our daily life. Can your language and your thoughts and emotions be harmonious and unified rather than separated?
Beijing News: In the epilogue of this book, "The Meaning of Yang Jiang", there is a section on Mr. Yang Jiang's intellectual personality.
What kind of personality spirit is this?
In this long period of time in the twentieth century, what is the significance of Yang Jiang’s spirit?
Lu Yue: Yang Jiang embodies the fine traditions and personality spirit of Chinese intellectuals.
The core of this personality spirit is value rationality and humanistic spirit.
The spiritual tradition of intellectuals since the "May 4th Movement" is to defend human dignity and value.
Yang Jiang inherited the "May Fourth" literature and this spiritual tradition of intellectuals. In the social and historical changes, she has consistently adhered to human value, human dignity, and has deep humanistic care. This is Yang Jiang as a The personality background of modern intellectuals.
Through the unity of self-cultivation and rhetoric, she constantly pursues self-knowledge and self-improvement, and the unity of personality ideals and aesthetic ideals, which embodies the independence and transcendence of intellectuals, as well as the sense of responsibility for history and Chinese culture.
"The three of us" is actually the most ordinary.
Who has no husband and wife children?
At least there are two husbands and wives, and if you add children, it becomes three or four or five of us.
It's just that each family is different.
Our home is very simple; the three of us are very simple.
We have nothing to do with the world, no fight with others, but to get together, stay together, and do what we can each.
When encountering difficulties, Zhong Shu always bears on with me, and the difficulties will no longer be difficult; there is also Ayuan who is accompanied to help, no matter what bitterness and hardship, it can become sweet.
If we are a little bit happy, we will also become very happy.
So the three of us are unusual encounters.
—— "We Three"
Written by/Beijing News reporter Zhang Jin