Talk about Zhang Ailing

Recently, the film "The First Furnace Incense" adapted from Zhang Ailing's novel was released in the cinema, which also caused quite a chain reaction. Among the many hot discussions, many once again focus on Zhang Ailing, the author of many novels. Because I haven't seen the adapted film, I won't comment here. I suddenly wanted to write about Zhang Ailing, not only because her works were made into movies, but also because her articles attracted me.

I still remember that when I started reading freely, one of the authors who had the greatest influence on me was Lu Yao. The characters and stories in Ordinary World are still printed in my mind. Then another work by Shaanxi writers-White Deer Plain-is also the first time to reread a book. Their different writing styles are the objects that I tried to imitate when I was reading. Only later, due to the expansion of reading scope, I have long forgotten who I want to learn from, and for various practical reasons, I didn't think much about how to write something.

I just found a collection of Zhang Ailing's essays these two days, most of which are immediate creations in response to the situation. After reading a few articles, I suddenly felt that this was the writing template I was looking for. With her light brush strokes, she consciously attracts people in a few words. Of course, a talented writer like Zhang Ailing can learn at most one thing, the essence of which lies in her family background and her extraordinary talent.

I have always been puzzled by a question, that is, what kind of works are good? Is it based on those classic works that have already been screened out? Or do you think it's better to study by yourself? There are too many so-called classics here. Why can't you see it all when you come? For example, Marquez's two books "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love Like Cholera"-I'm afraid many people just remember the opening sentence of the classic-finished reading "Love Like Cholera", but in the end they didn't remember anything, let alone know what it was.

I read Zhang Ailing's book earlier, but some of them can't remember it clearly. What I remember is a book "Love in a Fallen City". This is a short story and easy to read. After reading the whole book, I only remember one ups and downs love story. In addition, I know the source of online emotional jokes, and many classic lines in Wong Kar-wai's movies also borrowed Zhang Ailing's sentences.

I think the so-called quality of a book only counts if you say it yourself. A dream of red mansions, for example, saw only the feelings of Yingying and Yanyan at that time. After many years, I went back to see it and read some fleshy people inside. Like Zhang Ailing, his works show people's compassion for human nature and their resistance to traditional feudal ethics. There is no doubt that her works will be chewed by future generations and become classics, so that some people have raised her to the same height as Cao Xueqin.

Zhang Ailing began to write novels at the age of seven, published some works at the age of ten, and published several works that laid the foundation for her life achievements at the age of twenty-three. Just like her famous saying: be famous early, be famous late, and be less happy. A talented writer like her must have certain conditions and specific environment, and finally it is possible to achieve her.

As a toddler writer, what matters is not how much you write, but whether you can find your own reference coordinates. A person's achievements can never just be absorbed by the head of the family and then suddenly succeed. People in those martial arts novels may be learning peerless martial arts everywhere. But in reality, if you have no talent, how can you find your own strengths? And finish it?

As far as I know, many famous artists imitate other people's works before they become famous. Just like Mo Yan, he himself admitted at the end of his early writing that he didn't know how to write a novel. It was not until China introduced western works that he suddenly let out a sigh of emotion-can novels still be written like this? Just like Zhang Ailing, her special qualifications made her, and finally she died alone.