Introduction of Liang Shiqiu

Another Style —— On Liang Shiqiu's Prose Creation Today

It should be said that Liang Shiqiu's artistic talent in prose creation really began to glow from "Essays by Elegant Houses". After that, he worked tirelessly and eventually became everyone. He began to write prose in 1923, and published a collection of essays in 1927, but there were not many good structures, which did not attract the attention of the world. However, in Essays by Elegant Houses, there are many chapters full of charm, which are quite different from other writers' prose styles and emotional appeal, and have a unique style. It is no accident that this extraordinary collection occupies a place in the history of literature.

However, it was not at the time of its publication that "Essays of Yashe" won people's praise. At that time, when the country was in crisis and the war was in turmoil, people were rarely interested in it. The core spirit of "Essays on Elegant Rooms" is to enjoy and cherish life, and to describe all kinds of world and human nature. How many people have the heart to listen to this kind of talk in the years when people's lives are unstable? It didn't rise until the period of stable economic development. Its popularity in Taiwan Province began in the 195s. At that time, due to the instigation of the authorities, anti-* * literature was rampant on the island. How can such works be called art? Then there is the proliferation of vulgar works concocted for commercial interests to cater to the mouths and stomachs of some low-level citizens. What aesthetic value does this stuff have? However, the new literary works since the May 4th Movement were basically banned by the authorities. In this case, the elegant and life-threatening Essays of Elegant Houses (which was edited in 1947 but was not published due to the war, and was only launched by Taipei Zhengzhong Bookstore at the end of 1949) is very precious. Since the 196s and 197s, Taiwan Province's literature has made great progress, but as far as prose is concerned, only a few have reached the realm of "elegant house" series. At this time, Liang Shiqiu has achieved great fame and is regarded as a great master in Taiwan Province. His various prose collections are of high artistic taste, and it is inevitable that they will continue to sell well. It was in the late 198s that mainland readers came into contact with Liang Shiqiu's long-lost prose again. From the founding of New China to the end of 197s, the essays of leisure and leisure all the way were almost extinct in mainland China, and almost all the works people read had strong political utility, and the lessons were very meaningful. In the 198s, the number of pleasing essays gradually increased, but it seems that no one has been recognized as everyone. Zhou Zuoren's prose, which has been dusty for a long time, began to be reprinted. However, the works of this old man with bitter tea taste very bitter. After all, there are only a limited number of people who like this bitter taste, and more readers prefer Liang Shiqiu: because he is persistent in life, his attitude towards life is carefree and free, and his writings are elegant and humorous. And the spiritual characteristics of cherishing limited life and enjoying life with fate, which are filled in his works, are quite fashionable. Liang Shiqiu's name soon became a household name.

2

Liang Shiqiu's prose, which began with Essays of Elegant Houses, has several outstanding creative features: many of his works have distinct national consciousness and show his patriotic feelings; In his later years, he often showed a strong love for home and country. This is one. Second, in connection with this, this gentleman-like writer often criticizes the current disadvantages with his teasing and humorous style. Thirdly, in a materialistic society, he pays attention to the pursuit of spiritual pleasure, which comes from his efforts to do things for the society and his attitude of indifferent to fame and fortune and enjoying life as art. Fourthly, he paid attention to and showed human nature, and devoted himself to restraining evil and promoting good.

When reading Liang Shiqiu's prose, we are often infected by his emotional patriotic feelings, whether it is a sentimental chapter or a landscape painting. Liang Shiqiu's "inaction" is limited to political aspects. He is disappointed with the political reality. After settling in Taiwan Province, it was the same. In the spring of 1987, when he reflected on his life and creation after going to Taiwan, he bluntly said his state of mind: "It is hopeless to avoid the land and sea songs." [7] But after all, he loves life, so he still has a positive attitude in improving the world and people's hearts.

Liang Shiqiu's prose, which began with Essays of Elegant House, has several outstanding creative features: many of his works have distinct national consciousness and show his patriotic feelings; In his later years, he often showed a strong love for home and country. This is one. Second, in connection with this, this gentleman-like writer often criticizes the current disadvantages with his teasing and humorous style. Thirdly, in a materialistic society, he pays attention to the pursuit of spiritual pleasure, which comes from his efforts to do things for the society and his attitude of indifferent to fame and fortune and enjoying life as art. Fourthly, he paid attention to and showed human nature, and devoted himself to restraining evil and promoting good.

Liang Shiqiu's personality is consistent with his literary style. In 1937, when ethnic contradictions suddenly sharpened, he was blacklisted by the Japanese invaders, which was undoubtedly caused by his enthusiasm for anti-Japanese propaganda. In January 194, he went to the front line with the National Political Council to express condolences to the soldiers; In urgent need of national salvation, he presided over the compilation of textbooks for primary and secondary schools in wartime, and participated in the compilation of popular literary works such as drum songs and cross talks with the theme of "promoting China culture and encouraging the fight against the Japanese aggressors", which also cost a lot of energy. After he was old and weak, his daughter Wen Qiang invited them to settle in the United States because he had no care under his knees in Taiwan Province. He applied for long-term residence and refused to become an American citizen. When asked why, he said, "Americans must swear allegiance to the United States of America. I can't do this. Because I love my China! " [8]

When reading Liang Shiqiu's prose, we are often infected by his emotional patriotism, whether it's a sentimental chapter or a picturesque work. Liang Shiqiu lived in Qingdao for four years, and he is very attached to this beautiful coastal city. Qingdao was once occupied by colonialists. When referring to the former German Governor's Office, which "overlooks the whole city and overlooks the mountains", he wrote: "Anyway, this building, although quite magnificent, does not give people a pleasant impression because it brings us shameful memories." When he wrote about the streets of Peiping, he wrote about the folk customs of the ancient city: those "authentic Peiping people" with cages and birds, and almost all of them turned a blind eye to the foreign concessions with exceptionally smooth and clean roads, and "refused to walk into that angry place." In the seemingly calm narrative, we can all feel his admiration for the "authentic Peiping people" with strong national pride. "Sightseeing" describes the feelings triggered by his reception of foreign friends in Taipei. In the face of those foreign tourists who are interested in our backward things, he is very disgusted. There is an article "Dried Bean Curd Storm" in Seattle Miscellaneous Notes, in which it is mentioned that an American is talking nonsense in a book about local customs: "He said that China people eat ape's lips, swallow's tail, bird's tongue soup and fried wolf meat." Liang Shiqiu sneered in a tone of disdain: "Overseas anecdotes are so outrageous that I have to feel ashamed of my ignorance." These places also show his national pride.

In his later years, Liang Shiqiu wrote a series of works for homesickness. Many of them are named "talking about eating". Ham is one of them. After recalling how he used to eat ham with friends in the mainland, he finally wrote that he was lucky enough to get a thin and hard but genuine one from Jinhua in Taiwan Province (when the "three links" between the two sides of the strait were not yet open), and his wife took it to the store and asked a familiar boss to split it. After chopping it in two, the boss unconsciously exclaimed with joy: "I haven't smelled this smell for decades!" " And "I can't put it down after smelling it." These descriptions vividly and movingly show the homesickness of Taiwan Province people. Liang Shiqiu and his wife gave him the paws of ham, and he was overjoyed. "I said I should stew a pot of soup when I go home." The boss's homesickness caused Liang Shiqiu to sing deeply. Liang Shiqiu is not from Zhejiang, but he calls Jinhua ham "hometown meat". He is actually showing his love for his home country by exaggerating his boss's homesickness.

3

In Liang Shiqiu's prose, there are quite a few descriptions of the social world, among which there are many works that criticize the current disadvantages. This shows that he is dissatisfied with the society in which he lives. However, judging from the content of his works, he didn't want to change the social system. He just hoped that the society could be improved constantly.

what he dislikes most is officialdom. In Shake Hands, he described all kinds of handshaking scenes, and what impressed people most was that he described the handshake gesture of "being a big official or thinking of being a big official" with disgust: this kind of person "always holds his chest out, holds out the palm of djinn's hand and looks at the sky", even if you take the initiative to hold out his hand, "his hand is still stretched out stiffly, but he doesn't hold it. Liang Shiqiu has always hated all kinds of officialdom figures, and he has also rudely ridiculed such a small topic as shaking hands with those who call themselves "public servants". In "Facebook", he called an official a "career mistake". He also said that this kind of person's face is a "roller blind" face: "There is a face outside, which will be rolled up like a curtain at the right time, revealing another face." This kind of person tends to be impassive to his subordinates, "making you unable to watch the color and unfathomable", but sometimes he pulls his face as long as a donkey, making you feel a few feet shorter in front of him; However, "once he saw his boss, his donkey's face immediately shortened, and then he shrank into a flat face, and immediately became a persimmon face and piled up a smile." He sarcastically said that this fickle face is an essential tool for arrogance and flattery in officialdom. The social environment is dirty, but the officialdom is still there. From Liang Shiqiu's description of the handshaking posture and fickle faces of officialdom figures, readers' indifference and hypocrisy to interpersonal relationships in official career will probably produce a feeling of disgust.

Gift-giving describes an event that Liang Shiqiu experienced in Taipei: Mr. Liang of a government agency lived in the same street with him, and the giver only knew his surname, so he repeatedly sent gifts intended for his "Liang Yu" by mistake. When questioned, he said, "If Mr. Liang didn't make decisions for us in the bureau, it would be terrible." It turns out that this place is one of the common bribery cases in Taiwan Province society. The author teased: "There is no pig that is not slaughtered when it is fattened." It reveals the ulterior motives of the giver. This essay, written by the author, came back from hunting of primitive people and distributed the prey to all people. At that time, both the giver and the receiver were very aboveboard, which was in sharp contrast with the furtiveness and ulterior motives of today's bribers. The author uses this contrast to deny the current world trend of "people's hearts are not ancient"

Liang Shiqiu's criticism of the disadvantages of the times cuts into all aspects of society, and every time it overflows with new ideas, because it is decent and humorous, people can't help but smile and even laugh when they read it. His humor often contains irony. However, even satire, when it comes to the general social customs, is different in attitude from those chapters aimed at officialdom. The officialdom is too dirty, far from the "good government" he hopes, and he often casts a contemptuous glance, and the language is inevitably mean; However, when criticizing other worlds, it is always euphemistic and gentle, showing a gentleman's wind.

In Cars, he is full of cynicism about the snobbishness of the world, and he doesn't think much of the social phenomenon that grades are based on whether he owns a car or not. When talking about the fact that many women regard whether the other party owns a car as the basic condition for choosing a spouse, he wrote: "It is also worthwhile to sacrifice other conditions for the sake of a car. ..... As for what kind of material the marriage partner is, that is a secondary matter. A husband can weigh as much as 2 pounds, and a car can weigh as much as one ton. Small flaws are too big to be judged. " The language is humorous, and there is a clear implication. It is a kind warning to those women who put the cart before the horse on the issue of marital conditions. "Modesty" begins with the style of giving up seats at the banquet. Every time the guests meet this occasion, no one will take the lead to show humility; Then he turned his head to write about the long-distance bus station, where people were "fighting in and out". If there were no wooden fences at the ticket office, the order would be unimaginable. In sharp contrast, Liang Shiqiu said that he had "found" something: people take their own interests as the criterion to determine whether to be humble or not. Attending the banquet and sitting at the end of the table actually "doesn't mean you don't have a bite", so you might as well be humble; However, the situation at the long-distance bus station is different. If you are humble, there will be no good seats or even no seats. The kind of "humility" that people are used to, in fact, is hypocritical. Once he revealed it, it was a bit shocking. Humorous writing contains his expectation of establishing a social civilization with real humility and virtue. "Clock" was written because of the feeling that the Taipei Municipal Government's "Chongyang Respect for the Elderly" gave every elderly citizen a "clock" and was criticized by many people. The reason of critics is that "Zhong" and "Final" are homonyms. However, the municipal government does not use scientific principles to guide it, but ridiculously denies that it is a "clock" and changes its name to a "timer". This triggers the author to think of all kinds of superstitious phenomena that pervade the society and gently ridicule them: if someone forbids children to read at the mahjong table ("book" is homophonic with "lose"), although reading is a good thing; I also talked about an acquaintance with a rich family who posted "an oversized upside-down blessing" on his door ("inverted" is the same as "arrived"). I don't think it will be long before, "This blessed man rode away on a crane!" The article also cites a series of ridiculous examples, supplemented by humorous comments, which are full of fun. The author's criticism of superstition is all contained in the eloquent narrative, which is not difficult for readers to understand.

Fourth,

When reading Liang Shiqiu's prose, we are often infected by his spirit of being indifferent to fame and fortune and being ambitious and enterprising. He pays attention to spiritual pleasure. In the article "Mourning for Mr. Qi Rushan", after reviewing the past, he wrote: "I think there are two things that are most frustrating for Mr. Wang to study and be a man: one is the dedicated research spirit, and the other is the leisurely artistic life." Regarding the second point, Liang Shiqiu made some explanations: "Mr. Qi Lao is a person who really knows the art of life and has a deep love for life"; "Mr. Qi is open-minded and persistent, so he can enjoy life and enjoy life as an art, so he looks like a wild crane in the clouds." He further explained how Qi Rushan "enjoyed life": "He didn't lavishly enjoy the entertainment of sight and sound, but he enjoyed all kinds of social life with ease." In fact, Liang Shiqiu himself is just like this. The so-called "enjoying life as art" means that in life, not only as a living person, but also as an aesthetic object, we can look at it with appreciation attitude, so as to enrich our spirit and interest and get emotional pleasure from it. Many of Liang Shiqiu's essays embody such characteristics, which we can often feel from his narration and description of external things or his own experiences.

The writer of the essay "Elegant House" lived in his humble house during the national disaster. He lived happily in this secluded residence, where the wind is like a gazebo, and the rain is like a drip. Although there is a phenomenon like "gathering mosquitoes into thunder" here, he is also good at self-resolving: "Mosquitoes naturally disappear in winter", not to mention Ming Xia's "Who knows if I still live in an elegant house!" There is a sense of wandering with the times, and at the same time, it shows his philosophical attitude of taking things as they are. This attitude should be said to have its positive side during the national disaster. Need to know how many suffering compatriots were displaced at that time! As a well-known scholar, compared with those dignitaries who live comfortably in the jade words of Qionglou.