Language issues

Let’s start from a distance. If someone salvaged a piece of tree from the river and said it has beautiful qualities, you would question it; but someone would put it on the exhibition stand of an art museum to show its "artistic value", and the audience would watch it attentively, and you would still question it. Can we say that it has no beautiful qualities?

The photographer used a camera to take pictures in ordinary environments in cities and villages. The scenery in the photos turned out to be unexpectedly beautiful. Maybe people who live here will doubt their eyes. Why haven't they seen it before? What about the beauty of this scene and thing?

Let’s talk about literary works first, let’s look at a famous Song poem:

It’s not worth visiting the garden

Ye Shaoweng

You should pity the clogs and teeth marks The moss is green, and the small buckle firewood door will not open for a long time.

The garden is full of spring scenery, and a branch of red apricot comes out of the wall.

This poem describes the scene of a country farmhouse, a quiet home, surrounded by low walls, closed firewood doors, red apricots in bloom... very ordinary and ordinary scenes, but the third and fourth sentences describe a This picture with vivid imagery and full of spring spirit has become a famous sentence through the ages.

Look again at a beautiful passage written by Bing Xin:

Children, the spring ice in the Langrun Garden has disappeared, but my arms are still knotted! After this long-lasting feeling, I seem to feel the faint spring of returning home after writing. I walked slowly on the hill at the top of the wall. The soil was as wet as cream. Looking to the west, the pagoda on Yuquan Mountain, the Buddhist Incense Pavilion and the Paiyun Hall on Wanshou Mountain were all hidden in the thick fog, but the thick fog could not cover the clumps of trees. The bright yellow leaves on the branches indicate that spring is here!

(Bing Xin's "Preface to the Fourth Edition of "For Young Readers")

Bing Xin's passage describes the early spring scene in the western suburbs of Beijing in the 1920s, and there is also a picture of thick fog and green mountains. , ancient pagodas, Buddhist pavilions, ponds, bushes, and yellow flowers on branches express a fresh and beautiful scenery. In fact, the author only wrote about the ordinary scenes he encountered and saw, and there are no beautiful scenes in Beijing this season, but when he wrote it in the work, it became "beautiful". The last sentence "Spring is coming" implies beautiful feelings and beautiful scenes. We usually watch TV and the weather forecaster says "spring is coming", but we don't think it is beautiful. But when we read literary works, "spring is coming" is a poetic sentence. We seem to be with the author, looking around with bright eyes. The grass is green and the flowers are yellow, the orioles are singing and the swallows are flying, the mountains are green and the water is beautiful... Therefore, every word in the work is made of pearls, and the words are fragrant.

How can ordinary scenes that enter works or become literary images become aesthetic objects? There must be some mystery in it.

First of all, the salvaged trees are separated from the environmental background of the river and enter the palace of art, causing the audience to look at it with a special perspective - an aesthetic perspective. No matter how you look at it, it looks like a work of art. It shows The "beauty" of the unique form; the photos taken by the photographer are for you to "appreciate". Under your "appreciative" eyes, ordinary alleys, lanes, front yards, and back gardens suddenly become "beautiful" Similarly, writers and poets describe ordinary scenes, and if you read them as "literature", your aesthetic vision will be adjusted, and these scenes will naturally become beautiful scenery. It can be said that it is the "aesthetic vision" and "appreciative mentality" that turn ordinary scenery into beautiful scenery.

Furthermore, literary works are the crystallization of emotions. Every scene and thing in the works shines with the aura projected by the author's emotions, making ordinary scenes shine with beautiful light. As you can see from the above article, Bing Xin was originally in a depressed mood. When she came to nature, the depressed ice in her heart dispersed, and she cheered slightly "Spring is here" from the bottom of her heart. There was a feeling of joy between the lines. Emotional activities are not entirely equal to aesthetics, but when emotions enter literary works, they are the expression of aesthetic tendencies, and they will induce the readers' aesthetic vision and mentality.

Third, photographers select angles, focal lengths, apertures, light, and time when shooting; writers and poets write through selection, refinement, and transformation, removing the vulgar parts. Keeping the most beautiful essence, "gathering and dispersing in shallow and deep, taking in and out of ten thousand", that is, condensing ten thousand into one, using one to control ten thousand, and placing it in the beautiful form of "work" will naturally induce readers' associations and imagination. , automatically generate beautiful pictures.

Fourth, literary works are written in beautiful language. Literary language is condensed with wisdom and emotion. It has more profound meaning, more picturesque and musical quality than other languages. In short, it is more interesting. Have aesthetic function.

2. How to understand "turning ugliness into beauty" in literary works?

Considering that literary beauty is a special concept that is different from realistic beauty and natural beauty, we say that all images in literary works are beautiful. However, writers and poets often describe ugly people and ugly things, can they also generate beauty and elegance?

Let’s look at Zhu Ziqing’s description of the night scene of the Qinhuai River in Nanjing in the 1920s:

The water of the Qinhuai River is green and gloomy; it looks thick but not greasy, or it is condensed with gold powder from the Six Dynasties. ? When we first boarded the boat, it was still dark, and the rippling soft waves were so peaceful and gentle, which made us dream of vast water and vast sky, while also longing for a state of drunkenness and wealth. When the lights are on, the gloom turns into darkness: the dim water light is like a dream; the occasional flash of light is the eyes of the dream.

("Qinhuai River in the Sound of Oars and Shadows of Lights")

But what about the real Qinhuai River? According to Zhu Ziqing's wife Chen Zhuyin, she once followed Zhu Ziqing to the Qinhuai River and saw the desolate, cold and dirty "green" river water. She said: This is the Qinhuai mentioned in "The Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars and Lights" River? I didn’t expect it to be so beautifully written by a literati! Zhu Ziqing said: Don't laugh at people, that was written by me. Chen Zhuyin said: "When I read articles, I never pay attention to the author's name."

It can be seen that the highly skilled Zhu Ziqing really has the ability to turn decay into magic. He wrote the dirty Qinhuai River beautifully and movingly. What he wrote was not the real Qinhuai River, but the imagined and ideal Qinhuai River. Writers and poets all have this habit and ability. They clearly understand the distance between reality and ideal, real scene and virtual scene, ugly scene and beautiful scene, and create the ideal beauty in a unique way.

There is another situation where writers and poets stare directly at an ugly scene and describe it. Can this also be explained by aesthetic principles? The answer is yes.

The aforementioned "Dead Water" by Wen Yiduo is a typical example. Look at the appearance of this "stagnant water": a ditch of "green wine", with green "emeralds", red "peach blossoms", shining Luoqi and brilliant "yunxia", and "full of pearl-like white" "Mo" and "singing", here it is clearly written as "beautiful", but actually written as ugly; Lu Xun's Ah Q is a funny character, and you can see his ugly face by just giving two examples:

Only once, an old man praised and said: "Ah Q can really do it!" At this time, Ah Q was shirtless and lazily thin in front of him. Others couldn't tell whether this was sincere or a joke, but Ah Q Like it very much.

......

The most annoying thing is that there are quite a few leprosy scars on his scalp that originate from unknown sources.

As a literary model, Ah Q’s ugly face has also become his typical mark.

So, how to understand "turning ugliness into beauty"? The ugliness of literary images is not the same as the ugliness of reality. The ugliness of reality is disgusting and real ugliness; but the ugliness of literature is artistic and is for readers to appreciate. Readers can understand the nature of this ugliness through laughter. . The ugliness of literature is expressed in language and words, and is at a certain distance from the ugliness of reality, which makes people feel less disgusted. Moreover, after the author's emotional evaluation, the author expresses his hatred and disgust for ugly things, which also means expressing The author's aesthetic ideal is contained in the pursuit of beautiful things. Furthermore, readers not only appreciate the absurdity of ugly people and things, but also appreciate the author's means and skills in creating artistic ugliness, the dialectics of the formation and construction of artistic ugliness, and the wonderful transformation of artistic ugliness into artistic beauty.

In short, when readers appreciate artistic ugliness, they do not directly deal with ugly people or ugly things, but they want to experience the funny and humorous aspects of viewing. As someone said: "The phenomenon of ugliness itself is not There is little pleasure in being with a despicable fellow, but what a joy it is to denounce him!" "It is a condemnation of ugliness, dazzled by the ideal light of beauty. Since the ideal of beauty presides over the judgment of ugliness, doesn’t all this produce special pleasure and enjoyment?” (Stonovich, “The Nature of Aesthetic Value”) How can we denounce ugliness and condemn ugliness? Happy but not doing it?

3. What does literary beauty include?

1． The beauty of the content

First of all, it is reflected in the description of beautiful scenery and beautiful things. The close contact between people and natural objects, the most eye-catching, the most soothing, the most inspiring endless reverie, are those beautiful scenery and wonderful things, such as the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, clouds Rain and snow, forests and grasslands, flowers, birds, fish and insects... Why can nature become an object of aesthetic appreciation? It is the earliest and last hometown of human beings, a paradise for human beings to enjoy and a place of rest, and is closely related to human life. Once natural scenery is imprinted with people, it becomes people's aesthetic object. Just as the Russian Chernyshevsky said: "The beauty that constitutes nature is something that reminds us of human beings (or indicates personality). The beautiful things in nature can only It only has the meaning of beauty as a hint of human beings." In other words, human beings' appreciation of nature is actually an appreciation of their own certain spirits and ideas. For example, the Song Dynasty literati wrote "The Theory of Love and Lotus", which describes nobleness and integrity. The appreciation of the gentleman's personality is transformed into the appreciation of the lotus flower that "comes out of the mud but remains unstained".

Secondly, it is reflected in the description of beautiful moral character. Different from the above-mentioned external natural beauty, beautiful character is the beauty of the inner spiritual world of human beings, such as family, friendship, love, compassion, dignity, respect and other positive and good emotional expressions, as well as high aspirations, perseverance, Characters such as calmness and courage, self-discipline, philanthropy, unyielding power, and sacrificing one's life for righteousness have all become content expressed and eulogized by writers and poets, giving readers a good feeling. Some people may say that all these kinds of beautiful moral performances can be classified into the category of goodness. Yes, social beauty or human beauty originally belongs to the category of human kindness, but when broken down, human beauty and kindness are different, mainly referring to the different angles of observation: human beauty focuses on aesthetic evaluation and is presented in images. It appeals to subjective emotions; and the goodness of human nature does not require visualization and emotion. If it converges to visualization and emotion, it will be consistent with the beauty of human nature.

Third, it is expressed in expressing beautiful and elegant feelings.

Writing about inherently beautiful things or characters can certainly reflect beauty. If you don’t write about such things or characters, as long as you can express beautiful thoughts and elegant feelings, you can also give your work a beautiful soul and form. Of course, it can not only describe beautiful things, but also express elegant feelings and create the beauty of literature. Let's take an ancient work as an example:

Crying at Night

Li Yu

The flowers in the forest have faded the spring reds in a hurry. I often hate the cold rain coming in the morning and the wind coming at night. Tears of rouge leave people drunk, how long will it last? Naturally, life grows and hates water.

As for whether the sad and decadent mood of this poem can be praised by today's people, let's leave it aside for the time being. Simply speaking, the beauty in it is extraordinary. The poet described the beautiful scenery and presented two related pictures: "Forest Flowers in Spring" and "Morning and Night Wind and Rain Picture". Such natural pictures are already very beautiful; at the same time, he also described "Beauty Rouge and Tears Picture", which is also very beautiful. ; On the last level, the poet also expressed a special feeling of beauty, combining decadence and elegance, which has been praised throughout the ages.

Finally, it is manifested in describing the ugly things in reality, that is, "turning ugliness into beauty", which has been mentioned above. To review this principle, the most important thing is to grasp the word "transformation"; second, remember that the ugly things in the works are not real things, but things that are infiltrated by the author's emotional and aesthetic evaluations.

2. Beauty of form

The form of literary works always serves the content. Writers and poets work hard to find a beautiful and fitting "coat" for the "body" of the content. According to aesthetic principles, all beauty always has a concrete and perceptible form or image; literary principles are no exception, and literary beauty must rely on form or image to exist and express itself.

Formal beauty can be expressed in the creation of images. Imagery can be content or form; it is content in terms of its poetic sentiments, and it is form in terms of its appearance. Therefore, visualization or imagery can be understood as one of the most important forms of presentation in literature. One of the most basic abilities of writers and poets is to carefully construct vivid images, and they are good at turning abstract emotions into tangible and tangible things. Take a look at the following modern poem:

Snake

Feng Zhi

My loneliness is a snake,

Quietly without words .

If you ever dream of it,

Don’t be afraid!

It is my loyal companion,

I feel a passionate homesickness in my heart:

It misses the lush grassland——

The rich black silk on your head.

It is as gentle as the moon shadow

It walks gently from you;

It carries your dreams with it,

Like a crimson flower.

1926

Snake represents evil and terror? But sometimes it also represents beauty and tenderness, and this poem is proof of that. "My loneliness is a snake", this is a typical example of turning abstraction into concrete form; "It brings your dreams, / like a crimson flower", this is not only turning abstraction into concrete form, but also turning it into concrete form. Beautiful figurative form. When Feng Zhi talked about his creative experience, he said: "But this straight snake with black and white patterns on its body, I don't see anything sinister and sinister, but I think it is beautiful and innocent. Its silent expression is like what young people feel. Loneliness, and that flower is like a girl's dream. "In the poet's eyes, snakes are a symbol of beauty."

Formal beauty is also reflected in the choice and grasp of style. Writers and poets have different talents. They are often good at certain literary styles but weaker than others. Within the literary styles they are good at, they will maximize the characteristics and advantages of the style. For example, in his early poems, Guo Moruo brought the "Surge of Fury" style of poetry to an extreme, which few later generations can match. Another example is Lu Xun's "Wild Grass", which brought the expressive power of prose poetry to the extreme, and is full of profound emotions and philosophy. Let future generations chew on and explore endlessly; Lao She and Ba Jin have maximized the expressive power of modern novels, Cao Yu and Lao She have maximized the expressive power of modern dramas...

The beauty of form also expresses language. on the creation. It is not difficult to understand that literary language is the essence of human language and the collection of language beauty. The formal beauty of language is reflected in the evenness and orderliness of sentence patterns, or the well-proportioned patterns of sentences; it is expressed in the cadence of rhyme, or the melody and rhythm of long and short sentences; it is expressed in coherent sentences that are completed in one go, or branched sentences with interrupted jumps... Of course, there are also the use of a variety of rhetorical methods, which is also an important aspect of the formal beauty of language. In short, all language forms carefully created by writers and poets generally express the beauty of language.

3． Beauty of style

Literary style is the personality mark created by writers and poets. Appreciation of beauty of style is an important part of appreciation of writers' works.

Stylistic beauty does not refer to a single tendency of beautiful style (or elegant beauty), but also includes a variety of tendencies, such as heroic beauty, quiet beauty, tragic beauty, sad beauty, humorous beauty, freshness The beauty of beauty, the beauty of simplicity...the beauty of literary style is usually not single in works, but rich and complex, blending with each other and difficult to separate completely.

Style is inherently rich in aesthetic elements. "Style" and "beauty" are closely related. The analysis and identification of the types and characteristics of style are actually about appreciating the beauty of style.

Of course, there is a further requirement, which is to evaluate the performance effect of style beauty, that is, the aesthetic feeling given by people. For example, when we read the poem "The drums and trumpets sound solemn and majestic at the fifth watch, and the shadows of the stars on the Three Gorges waver", we first determine that the poem has a desolate, melancholy, grand and magnificent style, and point out its aesthetic characteristics; then we further analyze and read such a poem, Pictures are produced in the mind, and sounds are beating in the heart. Coupled with the loud rhythm and neat contrasts, it gives people a sense of beauty and excitement.

4. Cultural connotation and beauty

Cultural connotation does not equal literary beauty, but cultural connotation is conveyed to readers through works as a medium, which will bring aesthetic feelings. Especially readers who are familiar with Chinese culture and literature will have an immediate aesthetic feeling for the Chinese cultural traditions, modern cultural consciousness, national character and national spirit involved in the works. They may only be a few or two points of starlight scattered in the work, but the beautiful halo they bring can expand infinitely.

For example, when we read "Autumn in the Old Capital" by Yu Dafu, we feel that the author is deeply infiltrated by Chinese tradition and Chinese classical literature. You see, after describing the autumn scenery of the old capital, the author can't help but turn to China In terms of literary associations, "Some critics say that Chinese literati, especially poets, have a strong sense of decadence, so there are many words praising autumn in Chinese poetry." Further down, there are Specifically, "However, in China, there is an idiom of 'Qiu Shi' in the text, and Ouyang Zi's Autumn Sound and Su Dongpo's Chibi Fu are very common in the reading books, so I feel that Chinese literati have a particularly deep relationship with autumn. ." When he writes emotionally, he will naturally reveal the elegant and wonderful feelings of a cultural person.

Another example is Bing Xin’s writings, which also have cultural connotations and are expressed in a unique style:

My writing has become much more depressed in recent years, but I feel that the emotions expressed are always endless. Like a wisp, Yi Yi wants to twitch - I remember in the early spring of 1924, on the hospital bed in Sha Rang Qingshan, leaning against the railing and staring: It was just when the rain was about to come, the wind was blowing everywhere, and the wind was carrying the smell of new grass. There is a strong fragrance; black clouds gather, covering the mountains in front of the building, and a bright green light floats. The sky is like ink, and in the gaps between the ink-like clouds, thousands of rays of rays of light shine through, filling the earth with shadows! At that time, I was dazzled and stunned. I was anticipating the fragrant and rich spring after this storm!

Let’s not forget that the elegant language in the article has its own elegant temperament. Let’s just say that the literary quality and literary temperament contained in it are very naturally revealed. Just point out a few examples of the terms. It’s clear:

“Continuous like a wisp” - Su Shi’s “Red Cliff Ode”: “The lingering sound is lingering, like a wisp.”

“Yi (yà) Yi wants to smoke "——(Jin Dynasty) Lu Ji's "Wen Fu": "The more you look at the nebula, the more you think about it. "Yiyi, it's hard to come out."

"Leaning on the railing and gazing" - Li Bai's "Qing Ping Tiao": "Explanation of the infinite hatred of the spring breeze, the agarwood pavilion leans on the railing in the north." Ouyang Xiu's "Treading on the Shasha": "Inch of soft intestines, full of pink tears , Don’t lean on dangerous fences if the building is high.

"Mountain rain is about to come" - "Xianyang City East Tower" by Xu Hun (Tang Dynasty): "The clouds in the stream are beginning to rise and the sun is sinking into the pavilion, and mountain rain is about to come, and the wind is filling the building."

< p>"Black clouds gathered, covering the mountains in front of the building" - Li He's "Yanmen Prefect's Journey": "Black clouds pressed down on the city and were about to be destroyed, and the light of armor opened towards the golden scales of the sun."

It can be said that classical literature is integrated into the creation of the talented woman Bing Xin like the life factor integrated into the blood. Although other mediocre people strive hard, it is difficult for them to achieve such a perfect aesthetic realm.

4. What qualities are needed to appreciate literary beauty?

The following explains several aspects directly related to aesthetics.

1． Aesthetic attention

This is a kind of psychological activity when readers enter the initial stage of appreciating literary beauty, which manifests as a strong interest in literary beauty and paying close attention to it. Readers usually pursue the aesthetic taste and aesthetic value of works based on their own aesthetic hopes and the aesthetic connotation of the works. At this time, psychological non-utilitarianism is very important, and there are no desires that have nothing to do with aesthetics. If utilitarian purposes intervene, aesthetic attention will turn to other attentions, such as collecting certain information, researching a certain topic, researching a certain character, or events etc. When we read the poem "Jin Se" by Li Shangyin, we are generally attracted by the vivid and beautiful images and the ethereal and profound artistic conception in the poem. We are immersed in the beautiful associations and imagination, and gain insights into the beauty of literature and sighs about life. This is Taste literature; while some experts focus on researching whether the poet wrote this poem to mourn his deceased wife or to miss his past lover. This is not a taste of literature. The excitement is not in aesthetics, but in literary or historical research.

The effect of aesthetic attention depends on the simplicity and concentration of attention. It is necessary to eliminate the interference of various distracting thoughts, sink into the "bottom layer" of the work wholeheartedly, and only pay attention to things related to beauty.

2. Aesthetic imagination

The aesthetic imagination of tasting literature can be subdivided into reconstructive aesthetic imagination and creative aesthetic imagination. Reconstructive aesthetic imagination is guided by aesthetic attention and mobilizes past life experiences. Driven by emotion, the literary image in the work merges with the image in memory to create a new image; creative aesthetic imagination is Driven by emotional power, memory storage is mobilized to create new images.

Generally speaking, the taste of literature is mainly based on reconstructive aesthetic imagination, while the literary creation is mainly based on creative imagination. Of course, this is not absolute, and there are often overlaps.

For example, when we read the poem "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun is setting in the long river", under the guidance of aesthetic attention, we will have two pictures in our mind (or may be merged into one) that are vast, magnificent and powerful. The picture, especially the image of a huge sunset suspended in mid-air, is extremely vivid; and "Thousands of sails passed by the side of the sunken boat, and thousands of spring trees in front of the diseased trees" are creative aesthetic imagination, because the poet did not really see Such a realistic scene, but the sunken boats, sailing boats, diseased trees, and thousands of trees are stored in the poet's memory. Driven by aesthetic emotions, they are remobilized and combined to become a brand new picture.

Aesthetic imagination only focuses on the appearance and characteristics of beauty in imagined things, and the promotion of emotional power is especially indispensable. The more aesthetic attention is focused on the appearance and characteristics of literary images, the easier it is to stimulate aesthetic imagination; the more emotions are invested, the broader the world of aesthetic imagination will be. In other words, aesthetic imagination does not naturally arise from memory, but needs the promotion of emotion. Emotion is like wings, giving aesthetic imagination the power to fly.

3． Aesthetic taste

This refers to the emotional interest that arises when people appreciate and accept the beauty of literature. Aesthetic taste indicates that a person has healthy emotions, elegant temperament, superior wisdom and aesthetic ability. Writers and poets create literary works to create and express aesthetic taste, and readers taste literature to feel aesthetic taste, and to add and update aesthetic taste.

The difference in aesthetic taste among readers is that one is whether they have it or not, and the other is superiority or inferiority. The presence or absence of aesthetic taste not only reflects the quality of a person's personality and character, but also determines whether a person can recognize, appreciate and accept the beauty of literature; the level of aesthetic taste determines what kind of literature a person is willing to appreciate and accept. Works also determine whether a person can appreciate and accept positive and healthy literary beauty.

For example, some students never read literary works and are extremely unfamiliar with literary beauty, which shows that they have never had any aesthetic taste; some students never read classic works, but only popular works or even vulgar works. As time goes by, works will inevitably lead to a decline in aesthetic taste and a decline in spiritual realm.

Masterpieces that have withstood the test of time must have profound ideological philosophies and rich aesthetic tastes. If you feel "disgusted" after reading them for a while, it only means that you have not yet accepted the profound ideas. Rich in the ability of truth, goodness and beauty, as long as you calm down, strengthen your aesthetic attention, and stimulate your aesthetic emotions, you will be able to fully enjoy it in the aesthetic world.

4. Aesthetic ideal

This refers to readers distinguishing the objects they appreciate more or even the most from literary works or literary images. As an aesthetic orientation of appreciation, it stimulates the interest of appreciation and the pursuit of goals. motivation.

Tasting literature is a personal matter. In this sense, the aesthetic ideal of appreciation is also a personal ideal. However, the creation of writers and poets is a social activity, their works are public wealth, and the taste of literature is a kind of dialogue and exchange with social life and social spirit. Therefore, personal aesthetic ideals will unconsciously obey social aesthetic ideals, or in other words, the creation of writers and poets is a social activity. Personal aesthetic ideals are usually a reflection of collective aesthetic consciousness.

Aesthetic ideals are contemporary and regional. The aesthetic ideals of different eras and countries have different characteristics. For example, when Confucius listened to music, he said that "Shao" was full of perfection, while "Wu" was beautiful but not beautiful. Perfect, while "Guan Ju" is happy but not obscene, sad but not sad. He regards the beauty of neutrality as an aesthetic ideal, which has a profound impact on the aesthetic tradition of ancient China, but it may not be accepted by everyone today. aesthetic ideal.

Aesthetic ideal may be an unfamiliar topic to students, but it is not far away from us. It is no exaggeration to say that it is an important factor in constructing our humanistic spirit and cultivating aesthetic taste and ability. guide.

Each of our students always has a longing for the future and has established some lofty and lofty ideals in his heart. So among these ideals, should we clarify the status and role of aesthetic ideals?