Write a prose about literature. What aspects should you write about?

Classification of prose

Modern prose refers to a literary genre alongside novels, poems, and dramas, and it can be understood in both broad and narrow senses.

Prose in a broad sense refers to all literary prose articles other than poetry, novels, and dramas. In addition to prose that is mainly about discussion and lyricism, it also includes communication, reportage, essays, memoirs, biographies and other genres. Prose in the narrow sense refers to literary prose, which is a literary style that mainly focuses on narrative or lyricism, draws on a wide range of materials, has flexible writing techniques, is short in length, and has both emotional and emotional content.

2. Classification of prose

Prose has three functions: narrative, argumentative, and lyrical. Correspondingly, prose can be divided into narrative prose, lyrical prose, and argumentative prose. kind.

⒈Narrative prose

Prose that mainly describes characters, events, and scenery is called narrative prose.

Narrative prose has a more complete narrative, vivid characters, and the author's emotions in describing the scenery. This type of prose is similar to short stories, but there are obvious differences. As far as narrative is concerned, the events described in prose do not require a complete plot, let alone twists and turns, while novels have much higher requirements for narrative than prose; in addition, prose needs to be full of emotion when narrating, while the emotion of novels is It is mainly reflected by the characters and does not require explicit expression by the author. As far as writing about people is concerned, novels require efforts to create typical characters, and typical characters are fictionalized by the author. The characters in prose are based on real people and real events, with some tailoring and processing, focusing on the freehand depiction of the characters.

According to the different emphases of this type of prose, it can be divided into narrative prose and personal prose.

Prose that focuses on narrative takes the development of events as clues and focuses on the narration of events. It can be a story with a beginning and an end, such as Xu Dishan's "Peanuts", or it can be a collection of several fragments, such as Lu Xun's "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookstore". The author's sincere feelings are poured into the narrative, which is the most significant difference from the narrative of novels.

It focuses on prose that remembers people, and the whole article is character-centered. It often grasps the characters' personality characteristics and outlines them with thick lines, focusing on expressing the characters' basic temperament, personality and mental outlook, such as Lu Xun's "Mr. Fujino". Whether the characters are real or not is the difference between it and the novel.

In addition, there is also a type of this type of prose that focuses on describing scenery. This kind of prose describes the scenery of a place. Except for some customs and customs, it is mainly travel prose. Its content is very extensive, including mountain scenery, customs and folk sentiments, and places of interest and historical sites, all falling within the scope of travel notes. The most important characteristic of travel prose is that the scenery described in the work must be completely real, and exaggeration and fiction are not allowed; but it is not based on similar actual records, but the author integrates emotions with the objects to achieve a blend of scenes.

⒉Lyric prose

Prose that is mainly used to express the author's subjective emotions is called lyrical prose.

Emotional prose is the common feature of all prose, but compared with other prose, lyrical prose has stronger emotions, richer imagination, and more poetic language.

Lyric prose mainly uses symbols, metaphors, personification and other methods to convey the author's emotions through the description of external images. Therefore, expressing emotions through scenes and expressing aspirations through objects are the most commonly used techniques in this type of prose. The method of expressing one's feelings directly can appear in articles, but it is rare to use this method throughout the article.

Symbolic prose is a type of prose in which the author integrates his emotions into a specific thing with symbolic meaning and expresses his subjective emotions with the help of pictographic association or implication association. For example, most of Yang Shuo's prose, the contradictory "Praise to Baiyang", etc.

Emotional prose that borrows scenery embodies emotions in the scenery, giving life to the scenery, describing the scenery in the explicit and the emotions in the dark, so that the scenes blend and the scenes complement each other. Such as "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond" by Zhu Ziqing, "Sunrise" by Liu Baiyu, etc.

⒊Argumentative prose

Prose that mainly expresses arguments is called argumentative prose.

It pays the same attention to the expression of emotions as lyrical prose, but the difference is that argumentative prose puts more emphasis on reason, while lyrical prose puts more emphasis on emotion.

It is different from ordinary argumentative essays, which use facts and logic to reason, but mainly use literary images to speak. It is a literary and artistic argumentative essay.

It has both vivid images and strict logic; it must not only move people with emotion, but also convince people with reason; it integrates form, emotion, and reason into one, integrating political theory and literature and art. Mr. Lu Xun's essays and Tao Zhu's "The Style of Pine Trees" are all typical argumentative essays.

3. Characteristics of prose

⒈Strong documentary nature

Prose has a strong documentary nature. However, there are still great differences in the understanding of documentary nature. There are three representative opinions.

The first is to advocate absolute truth: "Describing real people and true events is the primary feature of prose. Essayists rely on travel and visits, investigation and research of rich materials, to describe the events and the true nature of the characters. , carefully examine the actual scene of the place before picking up the pen and paper. This is the main difference between prose close-ups and novels and dramas.

" (Preface to "Selected Prose Features" by Zhou Libo, "Selected Prose Features (1959-1962) People's Literature Publishing House, 1963)

The second is to advocate "big truth and small fiction": "Prose writing, in the selection of materials Shang also does not absolutely exclude any fiction. That is to say, on the premise of maintaining the general truth of the subject matter (please note that the concept here is not equivalent to the meaning of 'authenticity' in literary science, so it is called the 'documentary nature of the subject matter'), some details Fiction, and even the fictitiousness of a certain minor character, are not only routine and allowed in creative practice, but are sometimes even necessary. ...The key is to be ‘big and small’. "

The third is that prose for practical use must be strictly realistic; prose for appreciation is allowed to contain fictional elements: "When talking about prose creation, we cannot but talk about fiction. Fiction is a method commonly used in literary and artistic creation. It plays an important role in summarizing social life, shaping typical images, and highlighting the theme of works. Prose writing does not blindly reject this method. The reason why prose genres with realistic characteristics do not exclude fiction is because people have written prose for practical use and for appreciation since ancient times. Prose for practical use can only be strictly realistic and does not allow any fiction; while prose for appreciation is not so strict in realism and allows the presence of fictional elements. " (Guan Xian's "Realistic Theory of Prose")

Among these three opinions, the second is generally adopted. First of all, the theory of "big reality and small virtuality" reflects the objective reality of prose creation in practice. Take Bing Xin's "Little Orange Lantern" as an example. According to essayist Han Shaohua: "Not long ago, when I visited Comrade Bing Xin, I got her advice and learned about the family of children in the article and the author's contact with them, including the girl. The father's surname is all true, and it is a real person and a real thing. “It’s just a little bit of fiction in a few minor places. In the article "A Random Talk about the Writing Process of "Little Orange Lamp"", Bing Xin added that "a few minor points were made up a little bit" in the article, that is, the minor character "my friend" is fictitious. The theory of "big truth and small fiction" is also logical in theory. Prose is a literary work, and fiction is a commonly used technique in literary works. Therefore, prose cannot have nothing to do with fiction, but this kind of fiction cannot destroy the documentary principle of prose. , so it can only be "big truth and small fiction"

Although the details of the prose can be fictional, the emotions in the prose are absolutely real, which should also be an important aspect of the authenticity of the prose. .

⒉The scope of prose is very wide, and almost everything in the world cannot be written, so Yu Dafu said: "Prose is simple and easy to write, and it covers a wide range of topics. On earth and in heaven, there is nothing that cannot be discussed, including vegetation, trees, insects, and fish. "("Da Fu's Selected Works") Lu Xun said that "the subject matter of prose should be freely chosen, including landscapes, still lifes, insects and fish, or flowers and leaves." ("To Luo Qingzhen", "Lu Xun's Letters" p241 ), People's Literature Publishing House, 1959 edition) Zhou Libo said: "Every major international and domestic event, a small story of a social family, a big wave, a small thing, a piece of one's own history, a trace of feeling, a pinch of joy and sorrow, a star of meditation. The sorrow of the past and the joy of the present can be transferred to the paper and presented to readers. "("Selected Prose Features? Preface") Luo Wen said that prose "as a literary style has many benefits. A piece of stone can be turned into a piece of literature. A wave of water can be freehand. A petal of a flower can solve the problem. Really free. " ("My View on Prose")

Because of this, some people say that prose writers "can see and hear their voices and feel them everywhere. Lu Xun watched the white snow falling and expressed his emotions, forming the essence of "Snow"; Mao Dun saw the tall and straight white poplars and wrote "Praise to the Poplars"; Ba Jin watched the turbulence in the court and chanted in his heart because of "Sunrise on the Sea"; Wu Bo Xiao recalled the rhyme of the spinning wheel and wrote the famous poem "Remembering a Spinning Wheel"; Yang Shuo's appreciation of the gorgeous camellia inspired creative impulse and left the popular "Camellia Ode". In short, what an author sees, hears, knows, and feels may be used as material for writing prose. "(Hanji's "About Various Materials for Prose")).

The content of prose involves all things in nature, all kinds of people, ancient and modern times, China and foreign countries, political affairs and private affairs... It can be said to be all-encompassing and all-encompassing. Yes. You can write about conflicts and struggles at home and abroad and in society, about economic construction, about literary and artistic debates, about ethics and morality. You can also write about literary and artistic essays, reading notes, diaries and slips; it can also be about local people, travel notes and occasional notes. , it can also be a piece of knowledge, anecdotes from the literary world; it can be used to talk about the world, and it can also be used to express emotions and interest. Anything that can inspire people's thoughts, feel beautiful, and cultivate their sentiments, broaden their horizons, enrich their knowledge, and make them relaxed and happy. When writing prose, you can use this characteristic of prose to expand the time span, enrich more relevant events, and insert multiple sets of shots to increase the content and color of the prose, making the article colorful and informative. The writing is free and contagious.

Novel, drama, and poetry cannot be compared with prose. The subject matter of the novel must have a complete storyline and vivid characters. The subject matter of drama must have exciting conflicts, and the subject matter of poetry must have profound emotional charm. However, prose does not have these restrictions. You can write novels, dramas, and poems as materials, but you cannot write novels or novels. You can also write prose on the subject of drama and poetry.

You can choose materials from different times and spaces under the guidance of a theme, which is very free.

We acknowledge and emphasize the wide range of prose materials, but it does not mean that everything can be written as prose. When writing prose, you must choose materials that reveal "human beings' sense of nobility and solemnity" and materials that reflect "transmundane aesthetic ideals and aesthetic tastes."

3. Flexibility of form

Prose draws on a wide range of materials and is rich in content, and the forms that serve it are also flexible, diverse and eclectic.

①Various structures

First of all, the structural centers of prose are diverse. You can use characters as the structural center, such as "Mr. Fujino"; you can use typical details as the structural center, Zhu Ziqing's "Back View"; you can use scenery as the structural center, such as Yu Dafu's "Autumn in the Old Capital"; or you can use a certain symbolic thing. As the structural center, such as "Camellia Ode".

Secondly, the structure of prose is eclectic: some organize materials in the order of chronological development or spatial transfer, such as "Little Orange Lamp" and "From Baicao Garden to Sanwei Bookstore"; It is prefaced by the author's ideological understanding and emotional changes. For example, Yang Shuo's "Lychee Honey" combines childhood memories, childhood care, lychee forest, Su Shi's poems, tasting honey, visiting apiaries, praising bees, farmers' labor and night dreams. Bee and other things are connected in series.

;Some use a certain idea as the commander-in-chief and organize the materials into several different aspects, such as "Land".

②Free and flexible expression.

Prose can freely use the five most basic expression methods such as narrative and description, and can also use techniques such as suggestion, symbolism, metaphor, and association. Narrative prose is mainly about narration, description and discussion; argumentative prose is mainly about discussion, with occasional use of narration, description and lyricism.

③ Use language freely.

The language of modern prose is mainly modern Chinese, but sometimes for expression needs, classical Chinese words and usages, dialects, slang, ballads, proverbs and other language forms can be borrowed. Literary language such as Tao Zhu's "The Style of Pine Trees": "The vitality of pine trees can be said to be strong! Pine trees require very little from people." Those who use ballads and proverbs such as: Zhu Kezhen's "The Language of Nature" quotes "Grandpa and grandma, "Cut the wheat and plant the crops." In Li Daoyuan's "Wu Gorge", "The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are long, and the apes cry three times and shed tears on their clothes."

⒋The poem is rich.

Prose is not like novels and dramas that rely on fictitious storylines, conflicts and characters to attract readers, but relies on rich poetic flavor and rational interest to infect readers. Pursue poetry in lyrical and narrative prose.

The poetic flavor of prose is inseparable from the fact that it is a lyrical style of writing. The concentration of its poetic flavor is always directly proportional to the depth of the author's emotions. Why is prose better than lyricism? Because: a. Prose generally uses the first person, writing about what "I" see, hear, and feel. No matter what is written, its purpose is to express the author's life feelings and thoughts and opinions, with a strong emotional color, and is "the song of the author's soul" (Golky). b. Prose has its own special style, which is the so-called prose style. The style of prose is, firstly, concise language, graceful and full of literary talent; secondly, the writing style is flexible and free.

⒌Beautiful language

Beautiful language is an important aspect of prose that makes it beautiful. Prose language has the following characteristics:

① Pay attention to literary talent.

A variety of techniques are commonly used, either thick ink and heavy color, or light brushwork and light color, focusing on expressing the "painting" of things and reproducing beautiful images. Some prose writers consciously change common words into strange words to better express the "poetry" and "picturesque" of prose. For example, the first few sentences in Mr. Zhu Ziqing's "Spring":

Peach trees, apricot trees, and pear trees, if you don't let me, and I won't let you, they are all full of flowers. The red ones are like fire, the pink ones are like clouds, and the white ones are like snow.

Another example is the passage about the sound of the flute in "Red Cliff Ode":

The sound is like a whine, like resentment, like admiration, like weeping, like complaining, and the lingering sound is like a wisp. The lurking dragon dances in the secluded ravine, and the concubine weeps in the lonely boat.

Prose pays attention to literary talent, but it does not only use gorgeous language. Some essayists use the most ordinary language to write extremely beautiful articles. The so-called "homely style". Such as Wei Wei's "My Teacher".

②Flexible release.

The author can think about it, add color at will, intersperse it with emotion, sometimes narrate, sometimes discuss, sometimes express emotion, or blend them together. It can be said that you can move around and do whatever you want.

③ Pay attention to rhythm.

The sentence pattern is full of changes. Sometimes parallel and scattered sentences are alternated, and flat and oblique are balanced; For example, there is a section in Yuan Ying's "Green Mountains and Green Bamboo": In the bloody storm, the moso bamboo turns green and yellow, and turns yellow and green again. Do not bow to cruelty, do not bend to the enemy. When the bamboo is burned, there are still bamboo branches; bamboo branches. If the bamboo whip is broken, there are still bamboo whips; if the bamboo whip is broken, there are still bamboo roots buried deep in the ground.

To learn prose writing, you need to master both gorgeous literary grace and simple literary grace. It is not easy to write gorgeously, but it is even harder to write plainly. Xu Chi's articles are very literary. He often uses the method of fu and uses metaphor and rhetoric to make his writing gorgeous. But he said: "Only when you write simply can you show your true literary talent. Great essayists of ancient and modern times all write in this way. The greater the writer, the more mature he becomes, the simpler his writing becomes. And the literary talent shines On a plain page.

"We also need to see that whether it is gorgeous or simple, the literary language of prose comes from fresh and lively spoken language. It is also an inheritance of the creativity of excellent ancient prose, and it is also the author's careful selection, tempering and The result of processing.

⒍ (Length) Short and concise

Prose is generally short in length, with few levels and not very complex in structure, but it also has the essence of material selection, conciseness and profound ideas. Characteristics. Yu Dafu “Seeing the world in a grain of sand, speaking of human feelings in half a flower. "("Selected Preface and Postscripts of Modern Prose") Qin Mu said: "Like the gardens in Suzhou, they are small, but they are profound and the world is wide. ("Garden Fan Painting Prose" see "Bi Tan Prose")

How to write a good prose

The prose style should be a concise prose style. The simplicity of prose style mainly comes from three aspects:

First, it reflects the concentration of life. "Concentrating on one point" and reflecting things "sharply" is one of the outstanding features of prose. An essay always strives to write out the most exciting aspects of a thing or a feeling. The worst thing to avoid is complicated and lengthy materials. Although it sometimes quotes from other sources to talk about the past and present, the materials are also carefully tailored and selected. For example, Zhou Zuoren's "Miscellaneous Notes on the Mountains" gives people a feeling of fragmentation and complexity at first glance, both in terms of materials and writing. However, if you read it carefully, you will find that there is "essence" in the "miscellaneous", which seems to be "excellent". Scattered but not without clues. Each chapter has a unified theme and mood.

The second is the accuracy of language. The language of prose must be both concise and smooth. The basis for the unity of conciseness and smoothness is accuracy. Without the precision of language, describing one thing or writing about one thing would involve a lot of words, and it would still not be able to fully express the feelings and thoughts, so how can we talk about the conciseness of style! Yang Shuo's writing style is generally recognized as short, concise, clean and neat. Obviously this is inseparable from the precision and simplicity of his language.

The third is the thoroughness of expression. Thoroughness is a deeper precision. Prose descriptions of objects, scenes, and expressions not only require general clarity and accuracy, but also always strive to be very strong and thorough. The content written should not only make people understand it at a glance, but also give a sense of "strength through the Qizha". This kind of thoroughness is what Lao She said is the ability to write things down "to the point". Reading the thorough description will make people feel the clarity of "peeling off a layer". The ancients said: "Only when one layer is peeled off can the truth be revealed", just like "only when you peel off the stubborn raw material can you see the jade".

It is indeed difficult to write an article well. First of all, you must be familiar with people and things, and you must have good materials and themes. It is also necessary to realize, improve, refine, and deepen from these materials. This is a perfect process for writing, and it is also a process of the author's spiritual enlightenment. All of this requires daily accumulation and observation. Only by organizing, thinking, and extracting the essence can you express it through words and write your own unique style.

(1) Be good at making ideas

“Every writing is mainly about ideas.” The "meaning" of prose exists in the deep soil of life and the vast ocean of life. To obtain it, we must rely on our in-depth observation, feeling, and understanding of life. Therefore, as long as the prose concept is based on the reality of life, with vivid feelings, sharp observation skills, the same pulse as the people of the same era, deep feelings, rich imagination, and deep thinking, you will feel Poetry permeates our lives. This poetic flavor is what touches our souls, what makes our eyes suddenly open, what makes our thoughts suddenly sublime, what makes our emotions purer, it is the inspiration of poetry. If we want to create an idea for our prose, we must capture it quickly. Because there is the trembling of the soul and the flash of thought. Liu Baiyu said: "Even a weak shine is better than no shine. This is not ordinary photography, this is literature."

For example, a writer goes to see the camellias. There are many varieties and beautiful camellias. It aroused his thinking: "Camellia is beautiful. All beautiful things in life are created by labor. Who spends day and night, year after year, watering the flowers with his own sweat, and nurturing the flower seedlings like his own children? , finally cultivated such a beautiful flower? We should thank the person who beautified our lives. "This is the sparkle of thought, and the writer cherishes it, so he wrote down this meaning in time." Later, he heard a gardener introduce a kind of camellia and said: "This is called Tongzimian. It blooms late. It has just opened its buds and is dark red in color. It is the most beautiful." It did not arouse any thought, but he remembered it. The name of this camellia. After a while, a group of children happened to come to see the camellias. This attracted the attention of the writer. He saw the children all raising their bright red faces, smiling sweetly, and chirping incessantly, and his heart suddenly trembled. He couldn't help but blurt out: "The boy-noodle camellias are blooming." After hearing this, the gardener realized and said: "Really, there is no more beautiful camellia than this boy-noodle." These words suddenly made an idea pop out. In his mind, he said: "I got the idea of ??a painting. If I use the thickest and most brilliant vermilion to paint a large camellia with a boy face that has just bloomed, wouldn't it symbolize the face of the motherland?" So, the writer I wrote the feelings and thoughts caused by looking at the camellia into a prose with rich emotions, "Ode to Camellia". This writer is Yang Shuo. Readers and commentators can understand the author's intention in writing this article through reading: to praise the flowery motherland and the working people who beautify the motherland.

(2) Good at conception

Conception is a process in which the writer removes the rough and select the essence, removes the false and retains the true, and processes and refines the life materials from one point to another, from the outside to the inside. The writer should look for the most perfect artistic form for the ideological content of the prose in the process of conception, so that the ideological and artistic qualities can achieve a harmonious unity. Therefore, conception must solve problems such as conception, material selection, artistic conception, determining genre, basic techniques, layout and planning. Here we focus on three issues: determining genre, finding clues, and creating artistic conception.

First, determine the genre. The genre of prose is flexible and diverse. When we have a good meaning (idea) and select materials to express this meaning (idea), we must consider the genre we want to write it in. The principle of determining the specific genre is that content determines form, and form serves content. For example, after traveling to Suzhou, if you feel the need to report your travels and impressions to your parents, you can write a letter; if you encounter some people or things that moved you during your trip, you can write essays or rambles; After visiting Tiger Hill, Lion Grove, Hanshan Temple, Xiyuan, Liuyuan and other places, you feel that the bell of Hanshan Temple is particularly attractive and arouses your reverie. You can write a poetic and lyrical essay; if you are from the old place If you revisit the past and recall the past after eating some local specialties in Suzhou, you can focus on memories and write a memoir-style prose... In short, the form of expression - the specific genre - should be determined based on the intended content.

Second, look for clues. Prose pursues the dispersion of form but the persistence of spirit. We writers should look for a thread and use the pen as a needle to thread these scattered details together.

Third, create artistic conception. The artistic conception of prose is the blend of emotion and scenery, the unity of intention and scenery, and the unity of the author's subjective feelings, will, natural environment and social environment that are soaked in the spirit of the times. The meaning is the soul, the environment is the flesh and blood. If the intention is high, the realm will be deep; if the intention is low, the realm will be shallow. This artistic conception of prose should be the artistic conception of poetry, which is the so-called "poetry and painting". It is elusive, perceptible, material and figurative, but it is also touching, soul-stirring, spiritual and spiritual. For example, Zhu Ziqing wrote "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond". The whole article focuses on "a touch of interest". Following the clues of walking along the road and standing still for contemplation, the path, lotus pond, flower postures, moonlight, tree shadows, fog, and lights are depicted. ...The colors are colorful and can be seen and felt, while the fragrance of leaves, the croaking of frogs, and the sound of cicadas can also be tasted and heard. Furthermore, the expression of mood and clever metaphors create an artistic conception of elegance, tranquility, and blending of scenes. This kind of beautiful artistic conception is what prose writers should strive for and deliberately create. The conception method can be learned from previous generations, but they need to innovate themselves.

(3) Prose is generally short in length. , layout has its advantages, but it is difficult to arrange it well because of its short length. This is like a small pile of rocks on a large mountain, which often does not detract from the grandeur of the mountain. It is easy to destroy the beauty of the garden. Therefore, the layout of the prose is very important. The layout of many prose must be cleverly designed. The beginning is often like talking about home affairs, and the ending is deepened and the finishing touch is to "show the ambition in the final chapter." , and echo from beginning to end, consistent throughout, and organically combined. If you are new to prose writing, you may wish to learn this method of layout. In addition to skills, you must pay attention to the technique of discontinuity in narrative writing, so that you can write freely in prose. Jia Pingwa said: "Remember: the more you know, the less likely you are to write or write. Write very little; the white space is where you want to write. He believes that "it pays attention to the processing of 'blank space'. First, the prose can be scattered, interrupted, and interrupted. The prose can 'fly' and the magic will be revealed." Second, prose can be subtle. The ancients also said: The intention comes first, so the behavior must be leisurely. It may seem like nonsense, but there is something in the heart. "We should read more excellent prose works of the ancients and learn other people's discontinuity techniques. After using them many times in writing practice, practice will make perfect."