Who can talk about the cultural significance of The Scholars?

The Scholars is a cultural novel with the temperament of a thinker and an artistic masterpiece with elegant taste. It has different stylistic features from popular novels, so its narrative method has also changed obviously. The traditional structure of modern novels in China and even the world is a coherent story pattern with a few main characters and basic plots as the axis. The Scholars is a novel that reflects and discusses the bad luck of intellectuals for a hundred years. It is hard to imagine that it is possible to use a family or several main characters to form a coherent story to complete the author's aesthetic proposition. In that case, it is possible to concentrate all kinds of behaviors of intellectuals under the imperial examination system on a few people and produce some kind of arrow-pile jokes. The Scholars describes several generations of intellectuals in the historical background that lasts for a hundred years, and creates a unique form of "The whole book has no backbone and only drives". A Brief History of Chinese Novels (Chapter 23) breaks through the usual pattern of traditional popular novels advancing with tense plots, describes life according to its true colors, writes the natural form of life itself, and writes daily life that can be seen everywhere. According to the author's personal experience and life experience, the author has had a hundred years of bad luck for intellectuals. Taking this as a clue, "fragment narrative" runs through and constitutes the overall structure of The Scholars. The first time, we used the "wedge" to "apply Dayi Chen" and "hide the full text", and then embodied the "wedge" through the final "friends", which echoed from beginning to end and integrated into one. Except the "wedge" and the ending, the main body of the book can be divided into three parts. Taking Erjin (Zhou Jin,), Erwang (Wang De,), Eryan (Yan Jiansheng) and others as representatives, focusing on the parties in Wuyinghu, Xizi Lake and Mochou Lake, this paper exposes the obsession, ignorance, clinging to the powerful and arty of the corporal in the imperial examination system, and at the same time shows the corruption and degeneration of society. Second, bid farewell to Sanshanmen. Around these three centers, the images of true Confucianism and celebrities such as Du, Chi Hengshan, Zhuang Shaoguang, Yu Yide and Xiao Yunxian have been created. The third part, from forty-seven to fifty-five, describes the disillusionment of true Confucianism and celebrities, and the social atmosphere has deteriorated, so that Chen Munan and Tang You and Tang Shi talk about their affairs with celebrities in the brothel. However, show his call for the future with a literate self-improvement. Most of China's ancient novels are based on legends, which can be said to be "legends". By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, from Jin Ping Mei, only mortals were used as the protagonists to describe secular life. It was the scholars who really completed this transformation, which was neither thrilling nor touching. It was the daily life and people's spiritual world that could be seen everywhere at that time. This book has been written by more than 270 people. In addition to all kinds of figures in the literati, hermits, medical astrologers, prostitutes and officials with high academic qualifications were put on the stage, thus presenting a series of social genre paintings, which made some people feel "cautious about reading Confucian scholars". Reading replaces the daily entertainment of scholars (general comment on the third edition of My Xian Caotang). The Scholars gets rid of the legendary color of traditional novels, downplays the plot, depicts characters without relying on fierce conflicts, but respects objective reproduction, reproduces life with ordinary details, and shapes characters through fine sketches. It is not surprising that Mr. Ma Er visited the West Lake. Hungry, indiscriminately "buy a few dollars for everything, no matter good or bad, eat a full meal"; When you see the bookstore, ask yourself how the eight-part essay you chose sells; When I saw the Imperial Bookstore, I quickly took the fan as a water board and danced with dust, and made five obeisances. I met Fu Fu Fu in Dingxian Temple and wanted to ask about fame and fortune. Hong Hanxian led him to take a shortcut. He thought the immortal was soaring in the clouds. This prosaic description brings the stupid and pedantic character of this rigid writer to life. He wrote that Superman Kuang came home, "His mother pinched him and saw that he was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, so don't worry". Through such ordinary details, he wrote his mother's love for him with a "magic pen". Narrative characteristics. Write the true character of ordinary people through ordinary life. For example, Bao's care for impoverished Ni Shuangfeng and the adoption of his son Ni Tingxi, the care of the old monk Kanluoji for the homeless Niu Buyi and his friendship in arranging his funeral, the marriage of Niu and Bu Laodi as Niu Pulang, and their mutual help, etc., all shaped the sincere and simple character of the lower class through extremely trivial and even trivial daily descriptions. Touching. Characters get rid of typology, but they are full of personality. Yan Jiansheng is a rich man with more than 100 thousand taels of silver, but he refused to give up his life before he died because there were two lights in his lamp. However, he is not the embodiment of stingy concept, but a living person. Although he is stingy, he has "courtesy" and "festival", so he should safeguard his own interests everywhere. In order for his son to inherit property properly, he had to give his wife and brother several hundred taels of silver to get them to agree to straighten his concubine. After his wife Wang died, she spent 5000 yuan to take care of the aftermath and often cried in memory of Wang. Being penniless and spending money like water, greed and human feelings show the richness of characters in a contradictory and unified way. The author not only writes about the richness of characters, but also the complexity of their inner world. Wang Yuhui advised women to be martyred and wrote about his feelings: First, he talked about the famous Kan Kan in Qing history. Later, he wrote three times, saying that he was moved by that scene and shed tears. From laughing to crying, from reason to emotion, he decomposed layer by layer, and wrote the constant struggle between Wang Yuhui's inner thoughts and emotions, and the fierce conflict between ethics and conscience. Another example is the first multi-level revelation of the inner world of judges. First, in the face of the crisis, he boasted that officials had any difficulty in meeting the people, but Wang Mian actually replied to the invitation and ignored it. He thought, maybe it's a comprador. So he was afraid to come. So he decided to do it himself. However, his idea was overturned by another idea. He thought it would make people laugh to condescend to visit a villager with a local official. But he also believes that "respecting the virtuous and praising an article is for future generations." This is an immortal activity for thousands of years. What can I do? " So "I made up my mind now". Here, all kinds of complicated psychology are constantly turning and changing, and the mentality is bent vertically, which makes people see the activities in the depths of his soul. In The Scholars, each character's activity process is not long, but it can reflect his unfixed personality in a limited plot, that is, the development and change of his personality. Kuang Chaoren has changed from a simple youth to a degenerate figure, writing that he changes with the changes of environment, status and relationship between people. In his personality changes, it reflects the profound changes in social life. Portraits in ancient novels are often cosmetic, such as "face like a crown jade, lips coated with powder", "crouching, burly" and so on. "The Scholars" stripped off the face and replaced it with a true and meticulous description, revealing the characters' personalities. For example, Xia Zongjia's "Two red eyes, an iron face, a few" drove the donkey with a whip in his hand, surrendered to the crowd and sat on the bench when he entered the door. "Through this simple sketch, Xia Zongjia's identity, upbringing and personality are highlighted. The description of natural scenery also abandons the stereotyped writing and parallel rhyme that Zhang Hui's novels have long followed, and uses vernacular prose to describe objective scenery accurately and unconventional, such as Thirty-three Articles. The forty-first time, Du Liuyou was watching the moon in Jiangfang. " The crescent moon has hung a hook obliquely from the bottom of the river and gradually shines across the bridge. "It is handy, natural and vivid, and full of artistic beauty. "The Scholars" changed the traditional storyteller's comment mode, adopted the narrative mode of objective observation by the third person, made readers face life directly, and greatly shortened the distance between the novel image and readers. The author tried his best. Instead, it provides readers with an observation angle, which is presented to them by the characters themselves. For example, in Xue Ji Kannonji, readers are allowed to witness the arrogance of Shen Xiangfu and Xia Zongjia, pretending to be "big shots", being arrogant and cunning, and rarely dissecting the characters' hearts. It only objectively provides the behavior and behavior of the characters for readers to imagine and appreciate. Another example is that the author only wrote "Let Mr. Zhou lose face". Without dissecting Zhou Jin's inner activities, people can imagine his inner feelings at that time. The author has been able to change the narrative angle from the narrator to the characters in the novel, and write their views on the objective world through different perspectives and psychological feelings of different characters, which greatly enriches the narrative angle of the novel. For example, the gathering of pseudonyms by the West Lake is mainly through the fresh feeling of Superman, an "outsider". Seeing the fame and fortune of these celebrities and their graceful antics, Wu tried to create an art more directly related to life, showing the flowing and rich natural form of life itself. The new narrative features of The Scholars are consistent with the author's aesthetic thoughts. Wu, a master of satirical art, is full of lofty ideals and moral sentiments, but in real life, he runs into a wall everywhere. His arrogant and open-minded personality depressed him. It is ridiculous to say trivial things, and it is also ridiculous to be generous. (Jin's Jia Fu sent Mr. Wu Wenmu on a trip to Jinling outside Yangzhou, Volume 5) This temperament and endowment made him attack reality with irony. Lu Xun briefly discusses China's irony in A Brief History of Chinese Novels, or out of public interests, "personal resentment is an evil word"; Or "the words are shallow and become the same abuse." The Scholars has developed the art of satire to a new height, "promoting public interests and pointing out the disadvantages of the times", "being harmonious but different, being soft and ironic" and "saying that there is a book full of satire in the Ministry". The ironic life is real. The Scholars is written with accurate pictures. Show its meaning. For example, Yan bragged in front of Zhang Jingzhai: "My brother is a straightforward person and never knew to take advantage of the villagers. "Before he finished speaking, a page came in and said," The pig was shut in the morning, and the man came to beg for food. It was noisy at home. " Through the difference between words and deeds, Yan Yan's cheating rogue behavior was exposed. Another example is that the magistrate in Tangxian asked him to mourn. Jin Fan first refused to use silvered cups and chopsticks. The magistrate of the Tang Dynasty hurriedly asked someone to change a porcelain cup and a pair of elephant chopsticks until he changed a pair of white bamboo chopsticks, but he still refused. Just now. Seeing him in mourning, the Tang magistrate was anxious. "If you don't use meat and wine, it's not ready. The Scholars makes elegant and sharp satire through disharmonious people and things. Salt merchants in Wuhe County sent the old lady into the festival filial piety temple, decorated with lanterns and colorful music, and the streets were full of card wars of official families, as well as sacrifices by county magistrates, scholars and other officials, which was solemn and solemn. But the salt merchant Fang Lao Liu and a flower-selling woman fell on the railing to see the deacon. "Awe! Send them to your mouth one by one. Combine sublime solemnity with comical frivolity, and turn sublime solemnity into comical. The Scholars has an aesthetic style of blending sadness and joy. Wu can truly show the double structure of the satirical object's combination of sadness and joy, and show the tragic connotation hidden behind the funny reality, thus giving readers a double aesthetic feeling. Zhou Jin hit the signboard. Wang Yuhui advised female martyrs to laugh ... This moment's behavior is based on their life as the subtext, so the absurdity of this moment contains deep sorrow, and this most ridiculous moment is precisely the place where the inner tragedy is the strongest. The author keenly captures the instantaneous behavior of characters, and skillfully combines the reflection on the fate of intellectuals for a hundred years with their instantaneous behavior. Make satire have great cultural capacity and social significance. Because Wu's Scholars satirizes stereotyped writing, bureaucrats and feudal society at that time, some positive figures and negative figures are added in the article for comparison. The dividing line between the positive characters is mainly to maintain their proper moral character, while the negative characters are those who bully the people all day by taking advantage of their official positions. There are also ignorant bureaucrats and Confucian scholars who only study Confucianism and pursue the right path, but actually seal up their moral quality. There are many positive and negative characters, and the ideal character in the book is Wang Mian, who first appeared. Other positive figures, such as Yu Yide, Zhuang Shaoguang, Chi Hengshan, Du, etc., although much more noble than those villains, still have Confucianism in their hearts, such as Du, and hate hypocritical filial piety. And the "heroic behavior" because of advocating true filial piety is nothing more than being cheated by those street people and ending in poverty. As a woman who dares to resist and be self-reliant, Shen Qiongzhi is unique in the book. Another example is the Confucian scholar "Mr. Ma" (the prototype is a friend named Feng of the author Wu), although she has some feudal thoughts of Confucianism and is naive (seeing that the West Lake Temple was cheated by a false god). However, it turns out that good people are rewarded. Moreover, in the event of helping the poor, there is no lack of seeing that he is a gentleman, so he is mainly a complicated figure. But some villains, such as Jin Fan and Pan San, are really ironic. In fact, it can be seen from the fact that positive figures also have great Confucianism. Wu himself still has a certain moral concept of "worshipping Confucius and Mencius". Wu's ideal of social transformation was deeply influenced by the school. Yan Yuan once said: "If the world is not abandoned, it will be rich in seven words: reclaiming land, cultivating fields and building water conservancy projects. Strengthen the world with six words: everyone is a soldier, and all officials are generals. Protect the world with nine words: promoting talents and fairness. Xing Li Le. " (Gong Li's Chronicle of Mr. Xi Zhai) The Scholars advocates replacing the empty talk of Neo-Confucianism with the practical knowledge of "Li Lebing Nong" and replacing the rigid and useless imperial essays with the knowledge of "applying what you have learned". Chi Hengshan said: "A friend who is studying now is just talking about his career. If he can write two poems, he is extremely elegant. Two major events were written in the work, one was to pay homage to Taibo Temple, and the other was Xiao Yunxian's achievements in emphasizing agriculture, mulberry and promoting learning, which reflected the author's social ideal. Zhuang Shaoguang, Chi Hengshan and other true Confucian celebrities can't get along with each other because of "keeping promises", but they don't forget their social responsibilities and are eager to realize the ideal of transforming society. They proposed to raise funds to build Taibo Temple in order to be polite to Taibo in the world. " Contribute to politics and religion. " So the great scholar Dr. Yu presided over the ceremony. Then he wrote that Xiao Yunxian, a frontier general with both civil and military skills, led farmers to plow fields and plant trees, build water conservancy projects, set up schools and enlighten the people. Wu's ideal of transforming society echoes the trend of the times, advocating the unity of politics and religion, advocating practical learning and opposing practical learning. But he put on the ancient "ceremony, music, soldiers, agriculture." His social ideal is to take the road of reform from ancient times to ancient times, which lacks foundation in real life and cannot be realized. The author is obviously aware of this, and the book is shrouded in disillusionment and sadness. Once upon a time, it was widely rumored that the Taibo Temple in the world fell on the wall, and the musical instruments were left out in the cold, making it a "sage and gentleman". Xiao Yunxian's martial arts and accomplishments are romantic. When he went bankrupt and paid his debts, his social transformation plan of "courtesy, music, soldiers and farmers" ended in failure. While exploring the ideal, the author made a further reflection on feudal culture, and his critical edge pointed to feudal ethics and social customs. Wang Yuhui was a pedantic master who was deeply poisoned by feudal ethics. After being a scholar for 30 years, I failed to get into the officialdom, but I was determined to write three books. Propagandize feudal ethics. He not only preached with his own strength for more than a year, but also practiced it. When his daughter proposed to be martyred by death, instead of discouraging him, he encouraged: "My son, since you are in this case, this will go down in history. Shall I stop you?" "You should do this." When he learned the bad news of his daughter's suicide from her husband, he laughed and said, "Good death! It' s so dead! " Here, there is no temptation of bad people and no legal provisions, but it is the poison of stubborn feudal ethics, which makes Wang Yuhui's daughter die of hunger strike consciously and calmly, and makes Wang Yuhui unconsciously become an accomplice of "killing people by reason". True Confucianism and celebrity education can't save the declining world, and the social atmosphere of pursuing fame and fortune is getting worse and worse, spreading all over the society. Wuhe county pursues fame and gain, flatters, Tang Gongzi, Chen Munan prostitute. The farce of fake hanshu and so on. , fully exposed the filth and filth of society. The author sees that the ideal of social transformation is difficult to realize, but he can't bear to give up the pursuit of social ideal and perfect personality. He turned his eyes to the bottom of society and wrote the image of a group of ordinary people who were far away from the vanity fair of the imperial examination and were not polluted by fame and fortune. Ni Fu, who repairs musical instruments, Zou Jifu, who looks after the grave, Bu Fu, who runs a millet shop, and a cow who runs a small incense wax shop. Love, antique still exists, full of the warmth of human true feelings. When Confucianism, celebrities and sages "have gradually drifted away", the author wrote "four musts" at the end of the book. In the past few years, he made a living by writing and amused himself by writing. Mrs. Wang is a master of Weiqi and a vendor willing to sell tin foil spools. Open a teahouse, cover it wide and draw it well, but don't be attached to dignitaries; Tailor Yuan Jing plays the piano very well, so that he can send himself away. They are self-reliant, versatile, comfortable, elegant and refined, and live a free life of "not greedy for people's money, not treating people with color, not caring about the land". This "four musts" is the embodiment of the elegant life of intellectuals and the author. It embodies the author's pursuit of perfect personality. However, the phantom is a phantom after all, because "the red sun sank on the side of the mountain" and Yuan Jing's melodious piano sound "suddenly changed its tone and made people cry". Among China's classical novels, only two are praised as "great" by Lu Xun. One of them is Wu's Scholars (the other is Historical Records). The Scholars is about the literati class. In ancient China, the so-called literati belonged to both intellectuals and officialdom. This is a book that criticizes intellectuals, and it can also be said that it is a book that exposes the dullness of officialdom. Therefore, it is necessary to reread The Scholars in contemporary China. Author Wu (A.D.1701-1754) grew up in a big family of "famous families" in Quanjiao County, Anhui Province on the north bank of the Yangtze River. His great-grandfather and grandfather had a prosperous career and had a "prosperous family business" for 50 years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. From an early age, he was given a long-term heir, Wu Lin, which is his adoptive father. Wu Lin only taught in the county for a few years. Later, because he offended his boss, he lost his official position and died of depression. Wu lost his mother at the age of 13 and his father at the age of 23. He is neither keen on fame and wealth, nor despises money. He is extravagant and generous. The property left by the previous generation was left by him a few years later, so that ". After returning home, he moved to Nanjing in the eleventh year of Yongzheng because of the cold reception. From then on, until he died in Yangzhou at the age of 54, he mainly made a living by selling articles and giving alms to friends. It was also during this period that he completed his masterpiece The Scholars. Wu Zixiao lived in a noble social environment, but his family was declining day by day and suddenly fell into poverty after middle age. In his life, judging from several generations of clan relations and his own interpersonal relationship, he contacted a wide range of scholar-officials and got to know and know many people. His face, changes in temperature, personnel experience and world experience are extremely rich and profound. This cultivated his keen sense of justice and sober mind to observe reality, and made him see through the depravity and shamelessness of the literati class under the dark rule of the Qing Dynasty, the ugliness of politics and the corruption of society. This is the life experience. This became the direct source of Wu's serious realism spirit. Scholars mercilessly lashed and criticized the literati class with tears. Mr. Lu Xun once said that "The Scholars" "advocates that public interests are above everything else and criticizes current disadvantages, especially among scholars; His writing is harmonious, gentle and ironic. "By exposing all kinds of absurd phenomena that are disharmonious and contrary to human common sense, we have injected descriptions of people's boasting, boasting, being smart, deceiving themselves, pretending to be lofty, self-contradictory and so on. As Nikolai Gogol said, "Our liars, our monsters! ..... Let everyone have a good laugh! Laughter is really great. It doesn't take away life and land, but in front of it, you will bow your head and confess, like a tied rabbit. " The satirical art of The Scholars has a distinct purpose, that is, "the author's original intention is to wake up the world, not to scold it." Although the author tries his best to be sarcastic, he is saving the satirized group. As the saying goes, "many good things grind." The author depicts the tragic fate of many literati under stereotyped writing system with compassion, and then unfolds a picture of social customs in the feudal imperial examination era, attacking the decay of the system and the darkness of society, making The Scholars a sacred object in China's classical satirical novels. The Scholars has always been regarded as a masterpiece of classical realism, that is, a realistic work. Many of these stories and characters come directly from life. Mr. Lu Xun once said in A Brief History of Chinese Novels: "Most of the characters in The Scholars are real people, and their names are implied by homonyms of pictographs and argot words." "The Scholars" makes good use of the brushwork of "Piriyangqiu", that is, "the mouth is open, and there are praises and denials in the heart." However, in the shaping of specific images, the trick of harmony, the transformation of Kuang Superman, Du's heroic act and Mr. Ma Er's pedantry all express profound and rich thoughts through specific plots. The author didn't praise or criticize us directly, but every image is full of great power and conveys the author's clear view of justice. We must know and understand the relationship and development of various images in different periods and occasions. This is a realistic narrative style. Another artistic feature of this book is sketches and silhouette figures. The Scholars is a novel with constantly changing protagonists, or a novel composed of countless short stories. It is basically impossible to describe its life experience in detail. And to express the character characteristics and spiritual world of the characters in the tortuous storyline. Therefore, Wu concentrated on the most dazzling characteristics of human character, thus showing a relatively static life in depth and detail. It's like intercepting a fragment from the long history of character development, and then letting it turn around in front of people, magnifying the "this one" here and now. This is an excellent way to sketch satirical characters. It makes the characters' colors bright and clear, and the plots flow quickly, as if the characters' faces were sketched ten percent, and this story ends, and it is these exquisite plots that left a deep impression on the readers. Hu Shi's Comments on Wu in The Scholars is a great realistic satirical novel in the history of China literature. The content written in The Scholars, under the guise of the Ming Dynasty, is actually the Qing Dynasty. And nine times out of ten, the characters are real people. It truly describes the ups and downs of intellectual life, the ups and downs of circumstances, the gains and losses of fame, the rise and fall of official career, the noble and despicable sentiment, the advocacy and disillusionment of ideals, and the exploration and pursuit of the way out. Wu affirmed or denied the characters in the book with an attitude towards fame and fortune, such as Kuang Chaoren's forged documents and pseudonym exams, but was awarded the excellent title by Wenzhou. While mercilessly lashing ugly things, the author also praised positive people. Wang Mian is a first-rate figure in the book, and he is "upright and upright". Zhuang Shaoguang pursues "educating people with rites and music" and "educating people with morality", and Niu and Bu are also respected by the author. Cheng Jinfang said in "Touching Poetry": "Learning to be excellent is an official, describing He Gongyan; I feel sad for the people of Sri Lanka. I actually passed on history! " In The Scholars, Wu used simple, flexible and humorous local language to describe the decay and darkness of the imperial examination system, the vulgarity of fake celebrities and the meanness of corrupt officials. Hu Shi described the book like this: "... the country hangs the signboard of Confucius and Mencius every day, but in fact no one is allowed to say what Confucius and Mencius said, nor is anyone allowed to practice their lessons, as long as people read eight-part essays." The rest of the' source of literary works' need not be concerned. If you pay attention to them, you can say,' Is that for your officials?' The Scholars had a great influence on novels in Qing Dynasty, although the book didn't have a pre-designed structure at first. As Hu Shi said, "This book is a satirical novel, with a bit of realistic technology. There are no geniuses, heroes and daughters. Besides, the characters in the book are all scholars, not ordinary people can understand what to do and choose politics. Therefore, The Scholars is the least popular. It is of certain significance to whip social injustice and promote people's independent thinking. Moreover, it has profound enlightenment to modern satirical literature. Another feature of The Scholars is that its structure is loose and there is no trunk running through it. " Everything starts with it and ends with it. "Xia Zhiqing wrote in the sixth chapter of the History of China's Classical Novels, but if we look at the colorful descriptions of the bustling world in his time, it seems to be a custom comedy." Hu Shi believes that the condemnation novels in the late Qing Dynasty, such as Strange Feelings Witnessed in Recent Twenty Years, Official Sample, Travel Notes of Lao Can, Dead Sea Flowers and Biography of Flowers on the Sea, are all inherited from The Scholars.