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Mr Warwick is the most outstanding satirical short story written by Zhang Tianyi in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Published in 1 April, 938, Literary Standpoint 1 VolumeNo.1,and later included in three essays.

Focusing on the opposition and contradiction between Mr. Hua Wei and the anti-Japanese masses, the novel portrays Mr. Hua Wei as a hypocritical, vulgar, shallow, rogue, despicable, flattering and bullying Kuomintang bureaucrat living in the anti-Japanese cultural camp, thus profoundly exposing the class contradictions under the cover of ethnic contradictions, lashing out the reactionary policies of the Kuomintang to undermine the anti-Japanese national United front, guard against the people and be hostile to the progressive forces, and enthusiastically writing the anti-Japanese demands and enthusiasm of the revolutionary masses. In the novel, Mr. Hua Wei opposes the people in the name of resisting Japan. His job is to hold meetings during the day, talk and drink at night, try his best to obstruct the people's anti-Japanese life, try his best to make profits everywhere and satisfy his desire for power. People like Mr. Warwick are not only active in the past, but also common in today's reality. The bad habits he exposed have great social and practical significance. The language of the novel is clean, fluent, witty and humorous, and the details are handled subtly, especially the use of comic exaggeration, which makes this novel have high artistic content. The artistic image of "Mr. Huawei" has been recognized as a literary model.

On Mr. Warwick's Satire Art

2008-03-115:19, 12, 8 122, 0/23, original | reference

Mr. Warwick has created a sad and ridiculous typical artistic image for us. The success of this image is inseparable from its satirical art, which is mainly embodied in the irony of language style, the irony of comparative description, the irony of characterization, the irony of "sketch" structure and the irony of "performance" skills.

Abstract: Mr. Hua Wei has created a sad and ridiculous typical artistic image for us. The successful shaping of this image is inseparable from its satirical art. Mr. Hua Wei's satirical art is mainly embodied in the irony of language style, the irony of comparative description, the irony of characterization, the irony of "sketch" structure and the irony of "performance" skills.

Keywords Mr. Hua Wei's satirical art

Mr. Warwick is the masterpiece of Zhang Tianyi, a famous modern writer. The author inherited and developed the advantages of British and Russian satirical novels, rooted in the deep soil of China culture, and created the image of a Kuomintang bureaucrat and party stick mixed in the anti-Japanese cultural camp. This artistic image is not a deformed child unique to a certain era, and there are shadows of such people in any era. "In the vast land of China, there are so many Mr. Huawei, just like the Ganges River sand. In daily life, we constantly get ... Mr. Huawei's era is not dead." ①

Mr. Hua Wei has successfully created the image of a cultural bureaucrat who is faithful to the one-sided anti-Japanese war line, hypocritical and arrogant, vulgar and shallow, and headstrong, which embodies Zhang Tianyi's superb satirical art.

First, the irony of language style. The author reveals the inner world of the characters by using skillful and popular highly personalized language, and achieves a profound and pungent irony effect.

(a) Repetitive paragraphs and the use of language deepen the irony. Mr. Hua Wei has something to say in the fields of women's issues, literary issues and so on, because his discourse "sentence patterns" are similar. On the other hand, there are many details: "holding a briefcase", "striking matches", "smoking cigars" and "sticking fingers". For the three meetings, Mr. Hua Wei interrupted without exception. The two universally applicable opinions about "stepping up work" and "recognizing a leadership center" appeared three times in similar sentences and paragraphs. The use of these languages and paragraphs, on the one hand, deepened the impression of readers, on the other hand, realized the tragedy and absurdity of the protagonist from these repeated mechanical languages.

(2) The use of "language that varies from person to person and from place to place" deepens the ironic effect. Mr. Warwick obviously shows different languages to the people around him: he calls his wife Miss Huang because she is both a wife and a secretary, "What can you ask Miss Huang"; For the "I" in the article, Mr. Hua Tuo is very modest. He is not called Mr., but called "Di Wei" or "awei". For colleagues in the officialdom, the language is peaceful; For young people with long hair, two students attending a symposium on Japan and others, they "looked on coldly", "lowered their chins" and even flew into a rage. When I went to the Cultural Anti-Enemy Association, I "had a big smile on my face and kept nodding to everyone." Sorry, sorry. "I looked humble, but when I went to a meeting somewhere else, I interrupted others at will and proudly taught others:" If something goes wrong at work, you are responsible. " "If I just said that you can't do it, wouldn't it be an illegal organization? "... From Mr. Warwick's completely different attitudes and language towards different characters on different occasions, we really feel his hypocrisy and falsehood, and feel his vulgarity and meanness, but the author writes seriously, which adds irony. In novels, Mr. Hua Wei's speeches are generally fast-paced. When preaching his two opinions, the words are all dry official documents: "The first point is that every staff member can't slow down, but should step up his work; The second point is that young employees should identify a leadership center. " He whispered a funny story about being drunk last night, while "whispering ..." His face was very confidential and serious, revealing a playful tone. From this, we can easily see the shadow of "chameleon".

(3) The use of contradictory language deepens the ironic effect. On the surface, Mr. Warwick is so busy that I can't wait to cancel the system of sleeping at night. I also hope that there will be more than 24 hours a day and there will be too many wars of resistance. "In fact, what is our Mr. Warwick doing? He ran around the meeting, gossiping and expressing some irrelevant opinions; Drinking every day, after getting drunk, "I fell asleep as soon as I got home"; Seize the leadership position everywhere, even at all costs, inquire, investigate and train people, but when there is a contradiction, it seems that it is arrogant. " Today, Director Liu drafted a surplus work plan for the county magistrate, forcing me to take part in giving advice and let me revise it for him. There is another meeting at three o'clock. ""Commissioner Wang sent three more telegrams "and so on, deliberately exaggerating, as if he were really capable. He is very busy, but he doesn't solve any practical problems. When they asked him about his difficulties, he just said hesitantly, "OK, OK, OK. I know, I know. I have no spare time to talk about it ","either someone invited him to dinner or he invited others to dinner ". From the language of slapping ourselves, we can deeply feel that "the meaning of his existence is the useless and harmful busyness every day." Without such busyness, his existence is meaningless, so he prefers busyness to prove his value. "

Second, the irony of comparative description. The author puts Mr. Warwick's hypocritical, vulgar and rogue face in specific events for comparative exposure. On the surface, Mr. Warwick is a modest gentleman. He took the initiative to claim that he was not the chairman, but arrogantly appointed the chairman. He flew into a rage when he was dissatisfied, called others "bastards" and "damn" and ignored others. He seems to be a very authoritative person "carrying a briefcase" and "carrying his thick black crutch", but "when holding a cigar, he told the ring finger to bend slightly and the little finger to tilt high, forming an orchid pattern", which is disgusting. He bullied his superiors and subordinates, smiled and stuck out his tongue at the chairman of the general meeting, as if he was in trouble and was afraid of being scolded, "constantly apologizing for being late." But for the chairman of the Popular Literature Research Association, he not only showed no signs of being late, but "clapped his hands unhappily" and rudely interrupted others' speeches. When he spoke at the plenary meeting, he was "very polite", but at other meetings, he "put on his hat, grabbed his wallet, looked at the ceiling and nodded, and walked out with a belly". He arbitrarily interrupted others on the grounds that his time was precious, but his "precious" time was used to say the same nonsense everywhere. He called his wife "Miss Huang" as if she were an enlightened and polite gentleman, but the head of the Women and Baby Care Association pointed her index finger at her chest. There are many examples of this irony. Through the contrast and description of these typical images and details, the author makes a merciless satire and lashing, which is thought-provoking.

Third, the irony of characterization. When describing characters, the author pays attention to the detailed description of appearance and behavior. He "puts on his hat at once", "always carries a briefcase", "always carries that old, thick and black cane" and "wears a ring", paying great attention to appearance and image; He often "clap a few hands" and "interrupt", showing great leadership; But when he didn't attend the wartime baby care meeting, he began to ask about the investigation, "hanging his chin" and "pointing his index finger at each other's chest"; When he failed to attend the symposium on Japan, he lost his temper and roared, suddenly jumped up, stared, gritted his teeth, his lips trembled, drank a lot of wine, cursed hoarsely and broke a teacup. It turns out that his elegant appearance is just a threatening gesture. Even a little trouble that threatens his leadership position will make him ugly, hysterical, ungrateful and even lose the minimum grace and dignity. In the so-called daily work, his chartered car is "Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong, Ding Dong. Pedestrians quickly fled to the shops on both sides. " The pedal bell of the chartered car keeps ringing. The steel wire is flashing. There's no time to see it clearly-it will run away as fast as lightning. Always let a person feel that he has something very important; He often "takes out his watch to have a look", "puts it in front of him", "his plump muscles immediately tense up, his brow furrows, his lips clench hard" and "leaves at once", which makes people feel that he has a strong sense of time. But every time he went to a meeting place, "he always stepped on the bell when he got off the bus", "he came in with a solemn attitude, and his previous busyness seemed to be dispelled by his solemn attitude", "As usual-all the people in the meeting place were waiting for him here that day" and "several people breathed a sigh of relief. Several of them looked morosely at the door of the meeting. One of them even seems to be preparing for a duel-clenching his fist and staring at him. He dares to be angry with Mr. Warwick and always comes late and leaves early for every meeting. He is so busy every day. He has to contact Director Liu, give lectures in various schools, attend meetings of various organizations, put on his hat and attend banquets. Every day, he either invites others to dinner or invites others to dinner. It turned out that his busyness was just a cover. In fact, he is bluffing, deceiving the people and disturbing the people. He is busy with parties, socializing, banquets, hypocrisy, boredom and no sense of time. The author also describes Mr. Hua Wei's three attitudes in attending the three meetings, and outlines his arrogant, hypocritical and vulgar face as a loyal running dog of the Kuomintang.

Fourth, the irony of detail description. Intercept the cross section that best reflects life, typify art, reveal major historical themes and strengthen irony. In Mr. Warwick, there is no complete story, no coherent plot, and the author does not analyze and comment on Mr. Warwick's words and deeds, and even has no special explanation for his hobbies and temper. He just described the scene where he went to three meetings and lost his temper because he was not invited to both meetings. There are five small fragments of life, which show Mr. Warwick's different faces and attitudes on different occasions. He "resisted Japan" during the day and "went to dinner" at night. Isn't this the image of a political party, a party stick and a literate person? "This colorful and uncomplicated description satirizes all aspects of the characters, and it flows quickly, just like portrait photography, and it is quickly superimposed on the reader's mind." This description also enhances the typicality of satirical characters.

Fifth, the irony of the "sketch" structure. Mr. Warwick was included by the author in his last collection of works, Three Sketches, published before liberation. The so-called sketch is a painting method, that is, while observing an object, it quickly draws its main features with simple lines. At the same time, sketch is also a kind of style, which gives a brief description of things and reports it to readers in time. Mr. Warwick has no plot coherence, no story happening, development, climax and so on. There is no complete story of Mr. Warwick. It is just composed of five small life fragments and a typical living "cultural spy". In the narrative rhythm, the first three episodes are still slow, and the last two episodes are suddenly tightened until "he drank a lot of wine desperately that night, booed the boys and broke a teacup." Teacher Huang helped him to bed, and he suddenly shivered and said,' There will be a meeting at ten o'clock tomorrow. The last sentence was added like a ramble. "This method of grasping the most distinctive features and external manifestations of the characters, not avoiding the details of disdain, and relying on the' appearance' of the rapidly advancing characters to' gather' into exaggerated images is particularly suitable for irony. Because the satirical and exaggerated pen and ink has always been thick, if it is too fine and the technique is too complicated, once you write nine songs, you will lose the punchline.

Sixth, the irony of "performance" skills. "Mr. Warwick is a satire, and the realization of satire intention is based on the discovery of absurdity. What kind of work form is easy to produce jokes? Bad-tempered behavior and vivid imitation, it is better to show the story than to say something ridiculous "(5). Indeed, in Mr. Warwick, the author's task seems to be only to copy with a pen, that is, to let the characters perform themselves, and the author hardly said a word. The use of this technique makes Mr. Warwick's ridiculous and sad face stand out on paper, achieving a profound irony effect. Look at the following paragraph:

When I got to his house, he was losing his temper with two students. They all wear the badges of the Cultural Anti-Enemy Association.

"Why didn't you go yesterday? Why didn't you go? " He roared. "I told you to drag a few people. But the first time I gave a speech on stage, I saw it-you didn't even listen! I really don't understand what you have done? "

"Yesterday-I attended a seminar on Japan."

Mr. Warwick suddenly jumped up:

"what! What! Japanese symposium? Why don't I know? Why didn't you tell me? "

"We decided at the ministerial meeting that day. I came to see Mr. Hua, who is not at home-"

"Well, you do it secretly!" He stared. "Tell me honestly-what is the background of this symposium? Tell me honestly! "

In this clip, "I" is just a bystander, looking on coldly, and letting the character show himself to the fullest, which is equivalent to putting the character himself under the flash of being photographed, showing himself unscathed and being a "buffoon".

Seven, write with static and move with plain irony. The author seems to deliberately arrange an "I" in the article, but "I" did not make any comments on Mr. Warwick's behavior, let alone vent his feelings, but stared at Mr. Warwick coldly and mercilessly, making people feel the irony inside. The author calmly wrote Mr. Warwick with a calm and objective pen: "Mr. Warwick nodded and stood up. Chairman! A slight bend. Gentlemen! The back is slightly bent. Brother, please forgive me first: I'm a little late for the meeting, but I have to leave early. A seemingly casual sentence actually contains profound meaning, which makes people feel angry and contemptuous while laughing, and realizes the author's good intentions.

Eight, the uniqueness of satirical art As an important representative of Zhang Tianyi's novel creation, Mr. Hua Wei created a typical image in the satirical art gallery for us, which reflected the uniqueness of Zhang Tianyi's satirical art. He inherited the tradition of describing and reflecting real life in Chinese and foreign literature such as Lu Xun, Nikolai Gogol, Chekhov and Mo Bosang, and learned their outstanding achievements in satirical art, but his satirical art was somewhat different. He thinks that "laughter is a very sharp knife". From Mr. Warwick, we can easily see that he often exposes the stupidity and absurdity under the gorgeous coat with comic exaggeration and frivolous irony, and exposes the hypocrisy and ugliness of society with laughter, which is alarming and thoughtful. Mr. Warwick makes us feel hypocritical, arrogant and ridiculous, but after laughing, don't we think and feel something? Zhang Tianyi's novels always face life and show the world, with anti-tyranny, anti-hypocrisy and anti-vulgarity as satirical themes, among which Mr. Huawei is the most typical one, and his satirical art attracts many readers with its unique charm.

Zhang Tianyi, "He is a passionate writer who looks at life with a microscope in his hand and a cold smile on his face", "His satirical art is serious and measured, and it is by no means a uniform" killing the past "; His ridicule is profound, just right, not frivolous. " We can feel this well through Mr. Warwick. As a typical artistic image, Mr. Huawei has been widely praised and loved, leaving a strong impression on modern literary galleries, but there are also many people in his life, such as officials clubbing, professors acupuncturing, stars practicing stalls and so on.

Precautions:

(1) from Li Xiuqing's "On Mr. Warwick's Satire Art",

② Yang Zhiming: Appreciation of China's Literary Masterpieces, Science Press, 2000.

③ Yang Zhiming: Appreciation of China's Literary Masterpieces, Science Press, 2000.

④ Yuan Guoxing: Mr. Hua Wei's Sketch Art and Expression Skills, Fujian Forum, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences Press, August 2005.

⑤ Yuan Guoxing: Mr. Hua Wei's Sketch Art and Expression Skills, Fujian Forum, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences Press, August 2005.

⑥ The History of Modern Literature in China, edited by the National Higher Education Self-taught Examination Steering Committee, 2nd edition, Wuhan University, March 2000.

References:

(1) Li Xiuqing: "On Mr. Hua Wei's Irony Art"

② Yang Zhiming: Appreciation of China's Literary Masterpieces, Science Press, 2000.

③ Yuan Guoxing: Mr. Hua Wei's Sketch Art and Expression Skills, Fujian Forum, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences Press, August 2005.

④ The History of Modern Literature in China, edited by the National Higher Education Self-taught Examination Steering Committee, 2nd edition, Wuhan University, March 2000.

⑤ Selected Lectures on China's Modern Literary Works, Higher Education Press, 1 Edition, September, 0987.