Wen Xin: a true master of literature and a writing guide for the Bible.

Wenxin must have a place in the recommended bibliography of each platform. Why is this book, originally written for middle school teachers and students to guide writing, still loved and recommended by readers regardless of industry and age decades later?

Wen Xin was written by China educator and writer Xia Mianzun and Ye Shengtao, and published in 1934. At that time, the two gentlemen felt that there were no Chinese textbooks suitable for middle schools, so they had the idea of writing a book devoted to reading and writing, which was suitable for both middle school students and middle school teachers.

Although it is a book for middle school teachers and students, in the eyes of all readers, the meaning of this book is not just a book to teach reading and writing. First of all, its originality in storytelling is "unprecedented" in today's writing instruction book. Secondly, in addition to simple and practical writing guidance, it is a living writing mode that can be split and combined and chewed repeatedly. Finally, the philosophy of life contained in the book is like a "Manchu-Chinese banquet", which can make people enjoy a spiritual feast while learning to write.

Let me start with the story; Literary example and literary accomplishment feast; Analyze this book from three aspects of writing life.

The biggest difference between Wen Xin and the general reading and writing instruction manual is that it writes practical reading and writing knowledge in the form of stories and novels, just as a chef interprets cooking skills with music and learns cooking tips with a touching machine; Another example is that gardeners use movies to explain cultivation and planting, and picturesque pictures show the main points bit by bit. It sounds incredible, but as long as you open it, it's like hearing a song that is deeply rooted in people's hearts for three days, seeing a fascinating adventure movie and reading an interesting novel with twists and turns, which makes people want to stop.

Writing is a boring thing, and the writing instruction manual is even more boring. In the "novels" written by two literary masters, all the knowledge about reading, writing and writing is contained in funny or profound stories, and the knowledge points on the chessboard take root and grow in the readers' hearts like life. Wen Xin is a writing guide book with stories, life and temperature.

This book has 32 chapters, and each chapter is a knowledge point of reading and writing. These 32 knowledge points, like the internal skills of Xia Mianzun and Ye Shengtao, are passed on to readers bit by bit without reservation.

Like the chapter titles in the martial arts novels we read, the titles of the thirty-two chapters in Wen Xin are also quite story-telling. For example, the first chapter "I suddenly became an adult and an ancient man", the ninth chapter "Articles in the hospital", the eighteenth chapter "I want to meet my needs" and the nineteenth chapter "I still want to read a book written without words" ... even before I opened the text, I was attracted by these titles "It's very story at first sight".

As an instruction manual, the story-telling title is the first to break the rigid, serious and square "solemnity" of the Instruction Manual, which firmly attracts readers' attention. Imagine if a middle school student reads such an unconventional and interesting title as Instruction Manual, can he not be surprised and curious? I'm afraid I feel like I've been scratched by thousands of bugs, and my heart itches!

When we really open the text, a story scroll full of writing "dry goods" is displayed in front of us, and readers can't stop chasing it from the moment they set foot in it.

"I suddenly became an adult and an ancient man" begins with Zhou Lehua and Zhang Dawen previewing the homework assigned by Chinese teacher Wang-Lu Xun's vernacular "Autumn Night" and classical Chinese "Climbing Mount Tai".

As we all know, Lu Xun's articles are often bitter. Although in a few words, it contains a huge wave of ideological criticism, and a mature adult reader may not understand the meaning. For senior one students, Lu Xun's articles are tantamount to "works of nature". How can they understand it?

Although the first chapter is short, it can guide the reader into the story step by step and think with all the people in the story-from discussion to inspiration and then to confusion. Through the guidance of Zhou Lehua's father's personal experience, the two gentlemen told readers that literary works are of different times, and it is normal to understand a work. Not only Lu Xun's works, but also the Five Classics, which are a little farther away.

If you can't read it, why do you want to read it? This problem puzzles not only middle school students, but also all those who like reading. The two gentlemen told us that it is important to gain experience from the text and learn the methods of experience if you want to read a book that you don't understand.

Telling knowledge with stories stands out in several chapters of this book:

Chapter VI "Knowledge, Emotion and Intention": After the September 18th Incident in Northeast China, five students, including Zhou Lehua and Zhang Dawen, are going to write an anti-Japanese article in the commentary column of Anti-Japanese Weekly. Through the guidance of Mr. Wang and the suggestions of five students, they finally successfully completed the task. Combined with current events, it teaches us how to write articles from three aspects: knowledge, emotion and meaning.

The seventh chapter, Diary, takes the twists and turns of Zhou Lehua and his father's business trip to Shanghai and the shocking war as an opportunity to guide and demonstrate how to write a good narrative.

Chapter 10 "Impression" explains the similarities and differences between the two writing methods of travel notes with what Zhang Dawen, Zhou Lehua and his father saw and heard when they climbed the mountain. This article analyzes the intangible "narrative" and "impression description" from the concrete, giving readers the most concrete and vivid experience of these two writing methods, which is really wonderful.

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Every story in the book is appropriate, interesting and limited in space, so I won't repeat it here. The two gentlemen can weave the rules into a wonderful and coherent story so easily and naturally, which shows that the internal force of their words is profound and profound! On the other hand, the practice of guiding in the form of stories and novels is precisely the performance of this powerful and profound skill. With such internal force, we can brew such innovative and dazzling ideas as "unprecedented, no one will come later" in our minds!

Practical learning methods can make writing get twice the result with half the effort, and such interesting and specific guidance methods are even more valuable!

Just like a good movie, it not only tells a wonderful story, but also allows photographers and music lovers to enjoy every frame and soundtrack. Wen Xin is such a "movie" worthy of treasure. You may not be a middle school student, a teacher or someone who needs writing guidance, but as long as you are a reader, it will definitely be one of the "orphan books" worth collecting.

What is a model? It's a replicable sample. Since it is a manual to guide writing and teaching readers how to write is the ultimate goal, it should be a literary model in itself. Just like a beauty blogger, he should show his skill while teaching fans to make up, and the final product of the teaching video must have a successful beauty.

This point is often ignored in other writing guidance, and often only pays attention to teaching guidance, but forgets to present its exemplary role to readers. Wen Xin did it, which is not only fascinating and readable, but also the best model of writing and a sample for readers to copy. It has a guiding role and a long-lasting taste.

Many people have some misunderstandings about good words, thinking that only gorgeous words or obscure words or styles are good words. In this book, Xia Mianzun and Mr. Ye Shengtao gave us the best demonstration-the beauty of words has nothing to do with its coat. As long as it is appropriate, even simple words are equally beautiful, and people can't help reading them again and again.

When the book describes Lehua and Dawen writing letters together, there is such an environment:

A seemingly simple sentence, put into the book, suddenly makes people feel the quiet environment and the children's concentration.

There is a saying in the eighth chapter "Poetry":

Lehua and Dawen were discussing Tao Yuanming's poems at that time. The Zhou family fell into the predicament of unemployment and no income. Uncle Zhou Mei has nothing to do but send his feelings to books and poems. Influenced by his family, his son Zhou Lehua has negative thoughts of learning from Tao Yuanming and avoiding living in the countryside. This sentence describes the environment skillfully. Sunset, half windows, willow shadows, glass windows and pottery poems all make people feel the beauty of tranquility and paint a colorful picture for readers, just like a beautiful picture in a movie. At the same time, it also set off Zhou Mei's dissatisfaction and boredom.

There are no redundant words, just a dozen words "He just walked from the sunshine of more than 80 degrees" tick off a steaming, sweaty teenager for readers.

Wen Xin has no flowery words, and all the words are easy to understand, but it can make people stop and read beautiful sentences from time to time. When reading this book, I marked all kinds of symbols with red and black pens: horizontal lines, wavy lines and double lines … just because there are too many sentences worth marking.

Wen Xin not only guides writing, but also has a high literary accomplishment. While guiding writing, it can cultivate readers' literary accomplishment and cultivate personal temperament and mind. In terms of literary literacy, the two gentlemen have unusual opinions, understandings and experiences in reading, writing and life.

In the fifth chapter "Small bookcase", it is mentioned that:

The more books you read, the better. Although it is relative to middle school students, it is also very suitable for us with fast pace of life and limited time. There are very practical and classic reference books, Chinese and foreign novels and stories, ancient poems and so on. It is very useful for beginners or middle school students.

Secondly, the book advocates that readers should be good at observing and feeling life before writing articles. What impressed me the most were two chapters: Impression and Trigger. In my impression, the specific things that the author directly saw and thought from the eyes of Lehua, Dawen and Shu Mei, combined with a sentence in Liu Zongyuan's Little Stone Pond, "Looking at the southwest of the pond, the snake is fighting, and the flicker is visible", suddenly made the reader seem to see the beauty and feel something.

The so-called trigger is to feel another thing from one thing. The way of writing is not only in words, but also in life. It is said that art comes from life and is higher than life. The triggers in life are just like the inspiration of writers, such as several triggers recorded by Lehua: the leaders thought of by collars and sleeves; In the middle of the night, the cock crows and thinks of the revolutionary's call sign ... Understanding life with your heart is the most effective way to capture writing materials.

"In addition to books with words, pay more attention to reading books without words and get new triggers in front of you." Comprehending life in foreign things and refining articles, doesn't it confirm what Cao Xueqin said: Everything is learned in the light, and people's understanding is an article?

There are not only warm-blooded young people eager to learn in the war; There are trainees in the iron works who can't continue to go to school because of family changes, but they still haven't given up studying; A young couple quarreled because of an unintentional sentence, so that they didn't talk for half a year ... "Baiwei Life" is an unexpected but true colorful color in this writing guide.

In addition to guidance, there are also reflections on life in the story, which are the spiritual cultivation and casting of the younger generation by the masters.

In the sixth chapter, after the five-member editorial team wrote the anti-Japanese article and handed it to Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang said this: "Foreigners ridiculed that China is a country of words, and we can only use words to resist the enemy. Everyone should be ashamed! " Five people are like pouring a pot of cold water on their backs. Seeing this sentence, they are not the only ones who feel that they have been poured cold water. Every reader should be at home.

In that war-torn era, learning knowledge is necessary, but spiritual and ideological construction cannot be relaxed and ignored. The two teachers in charge of teaching, even when directing writing, do not forget to teach students how to make a clear contribution to the country and serve the motherland. What is this teacher's responsibility!

Zhou Lehua was unable to go to school because of his father's unemployment and financial difficulties, so he had to leave his good study partner and work as a trainee in an iron factory. Lehua realized from the beginning that "people who really want to study don't have to go to school". Finally, he works in a factory during the day and studies drawing, calculating formulas and materials at night. In his spare time, he keeps learning the knowledge in the school from the handouts sent by his classmates, tempering himself step by step and surpassing his peers.

The description of Lehua, a student with special experience, is actually that two gentlemen are giving everyone who may read this book a lesson about reading and society. After all, in that era of social unrest and people's poverty, not many people could really go to college safely. Lehua is an image created by a gentleman. It tells us that although life is not necessarily stable, it is flexible and elastic. As long as you have a positive attitude, life will be dominated by you in the end.

When the green first love appears in the text, it is like smelling the fresh lemon in a cup of coffee, which makes people feel surprised and novel. The two masters did not shy away from the "seeds of love" of teenagers and the unique innocence and youth of cardamom.

This paper describes the embarrassing cold war between Dawen and Jinhua for half a year, and then reconciled through new style poems. It is strange that the masters' attitude towards junior high school students' love is so natural.

You wouldn't expect the word puppy love in it, because the two gentlemen don't think teenage love is "puppy love" at all. In their cognition, teenagers' love seed is a natural state of emotional development and a natural phenomenon that does not need to be suppressed and criticized. Love regardless of age, natural feelings should be respected.

This is a point that modern parents and teachers should face up to and learn. From this perspective, this book is not only written for students and teachers, but also for everyone who is already a parent or will be a parent in the future.

If writing is compared to a movie, Wen Xin is like a movie that teaches the knowledge of filmmaking. Because the "director" and "actor" are too powerful, they were made into Oscar movies. No, no, it's not just one of the Oscar-winning films, it's the Oscar itself, the highest standard that people can't reach, and the absolute model that people admire. Known as "the most beautiful Chinese book", it is by no means a hollow reputation. In addition to the master's writing guidance, the story is also a feast of literature and philosophy of life.