Original title: Isha wrote Li Bai to restart the poetry novel
“The Great Loser Story”
In contemporary novels, apart from the “genre craze” that emerged thirty or forty years ago by scholars and scholars, the efforts made by writers based on the construction of genre ontology have received limited attention from the outside world. Take “poetry novels” as an example. In many cases, even professionals can’t tell the difference between “poetic novels” and “poetry novels”, let alone ordinary readers in the age of mobile phone reading.
“Poetic novels” are relatively simple: those that are more lyrical, or driven by emotion, connecting characters and plot development, can all be classified here. The important mark of “poetry novels” is not entirely lyrical, but also its efforts to shape the spiritual level, and to a certain extent, the weakening (not neglecting) of the plot, and even the narrative in the age of creation. Modern and post-modern treatments infiltrated in . The earliest poetry novels we can read so far are from Lu Xun’s “Scream” in “Sad” (1925), as well as “Forging Sword” (1927) and “Flying to the Moon” included in “New Story”. (1927), “Rise to Death” (1934) and other articles. Interestingly, among the important texts of poetic novels, not many are written by poets. Among the contemporary poets, there are not too many people who also write novels, but the texts written by the vast majority of them still show the efforts of poets to become professional novelists, and the results are good. In terms of writing style and type of text, anti-lyric and conventional fiction narratives make up the vast majority.
On the other hand, the appearance of the poet’s image in novels and films is inevitably grotesque, resulting in a sense of exaggeration that runs counter to realism.
Then, how should those poets who are in the great ranks enter modern novels and even narrative literature and art?
As the most splendid superstar of Chinese poetry since the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai, although he has appeared in dramas and film and television images, his life is undoubtedly the most attractive and tempting for today’s novel writers. Just take recent years as an example, that is, the novel “Li Bai” by the mainland poet Isha and the multi-volume “Da Tang Li Bai” by the Taiwanese writer Zhang Dachun. At the same time, the Chinese-American writer and poet Ha Jin’s “Road to Heaven: The Biography of Li Bai” has also come out, and the three books appear together, which is a grand occasion. Among them, “Road to Heaven: The Biography of Li Bai” takes the path of biography of a writer; “Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty” uses the narrative style of modern vernacular novels and takes Li Bai’s life as the line, showing that the novel describes the Tang Dynasty in the novel. The ambition of the heyday; and “Li Bai”, upholding the poet’s poetic heart, began to restart the long journey of contemporary poetry and novels.
The theme of the poem novel is Li Bai, and it is written by Isha, the most creative and wild poet in contemporary times. This seems to be another poetic meaning in the dark.
How to construct contemporary poetry novels with historical themes of immortal poets as the protagonists? How do poetry novels fit into the conventions of novels, and how do they stand out and show their uniqueness in genre?
Isha chose to reveal the mystery of how Li Bai grew into a great poet by showing Li Bai’s life. In the words of young readers, it can also be expressed as: This novel is about “how a great poet became famous”.
Not long ago, I saw a comment that Isha’s “Li Bai” was a “Chinese coming-of-age novel”. It should be said that this is an expert evaluation.
The novel “Li Bai” is certainly not just a coming-of-age novel. Because it also discusses a topic that is both interesting and a little disappointing for many readers – why does a great poet like Li Bai fail in his career (a sign of success in a secular society)? As Isha wrote in the poem: “This is the story of a / the great loser / who made the failure of life / into a great poem / also satisfied the wonderful novelist’s words”. Through Li Bai’s life, a long song of Chinese poetry leading to artistic independence is laid out. “Li Bai” is not only a novel about the poet’s life trajectory, but also a spiritual song about poetry saying goodbye to the secular and moving towards independence. The re-starting of Chinese poetry novels in the contemporary era has given it an independent value that is different from the previous poetry novels.
The Uniqueness of “Li Bai”As a novel, Isha’s “Li Bai” has several unexpected and unique features:
The first uniqueness is that the author did not use the first-person narrative (“Cao Cao”, “Gold in the Sky”, “China’s Past”) that he is more accustomed to using in his novels in recent years, but returned to his 2011 or even earlier love in the novel. The third-person point of view used in the game (“Death for a Confidant”, “Carnival”, “Confused”). According to the conventional and traditional interpretation of the choice of the narrator of a novel – the first person is more suitable for modern and exploratory texts, while the third person is more common in normalized and traditional texts (although the real situation is not entirely true) , a long-form author who is not a “rookie” and is marked by dual exploration of subject matter and narrative, chooses a narrative method that is more “closer to tradition”, which will obviously surprise some readers, but it may coincide with the theme- The protagonist of the novel is Li Bai, another generation of “poetry gods” in Chinese poetry after Qu Yuan! Contemporary writers, who dares to pretend to use “I” to speak for the sages? In the face of this ordeal, Isha upheld the humility that is unique to poets.
The second peculiarity of “Li Bai” is that it does not deliberately create a novelist’s dazzling skills for the vague and ambiguous places in the protagonist’s life records. Generally speaking, when people today write long novels by ancient people and poets, they usually “compensate for their shortcomings” with their imaginations, as if they are more competitive, trying to force the readers to bow their heads, thinking that this can show their “prestige as a novelist”. “Li Bai” does not, and many places appear to be extremely low-key and honest. Don’t try to “fill in the blanks”, try to respect the existing historical data of Li Bai’s life. A few controversial academic “koans” have also been handled in an “integrated” manner. For example, about Li Bai’s hometown, there have always been “broken leaves theory”, “longxi theory” and “jiangyou theory”, while the novel outlines a picture for readers. The migration route map of Li Bai’s ancestors in “Chang’an-Suiye-Longxi-Jiangyou” is reasonable and reasonable.
The third uniqueness of the novel lies in the conventionalization of the narrative language, and the ingenious integration of the narrator’s sense of the present and postmodernity of the inner spirit. There are discussions and ridicules in the narrative (obviously manifested in the description of the poets’ poetry festival), and sometimes the confusion and even doubts of contemporary people who are close to the readers (for example, the novel describes Li Bai’s relationship with his children) shortcomings and deficiencies in parenting and education). This can instead give an ancient novel with a contemporary warmth-this “Li Bai” is not high above, but brings the master’s life into people’s eyes. This is also an important feature of historical novels after entering the postmodern period.
Fourth—Careful acceptance and bold presentation of controversial historical materials. This is the test that every novel involving a historical character must face. The biggest suspense in Li Bai’s life: in addition to the controversy over his birthplace, it is the mystery of “giving back gold”, and the mystery of Li Bai’s “standing line” Yongwang in the late Xuanzong period. In these two topics, there have always been different opinions about “giving money back”. Isha chose Li Bai before and after entering the palace. The court secretly investigated his family’s origin and learned that the Li family was suspected of being the descendant of the orphan of Li Jiancheng, the late prince of the Emperor Gaozu Dynasty, and decided to treat him favorably. Its people make it the embellishment of the imperial court, but never allow it to participate in political affairs based on the court, and this possibility is used as a dispelling doubt. It not only satisfies the effect of both real and fantasy that readers expect in reading the novel, but it is also a bold assumption to solve the mystery by thinking of contemporary people, which is in line with the logic of the history at that time and makes sense for the fate of the characters. As for the “standing line” Yongwang, the author made a rational interpretation based on the historical background at that time, as well as the existing “quasi-lineage poems” by Li Bai, combined with the assumption of the blood relationship between Li Bai’s family and the royal family. It is still a novelist’s statement, But in terms of the emotional logic and life logic of the characters, it makes sense, not far-fetched.
Fifth – the application of legend details in past novels, operas, and folklore.
About Li Bai, one of the most amazing details of the legend is his “koan case” with Gao Lishi and Yang Guozhong. Folk operas and folk arts, including contemporary films adapted from relevant plots, have many scenes of “Gao Lishi taking off his boots”.
The “legends” that have been processed by the literature and art of the past dynasties are usually “double-sided swords” for later writers. If you deny it based on historical facts, readers will find it much less interesting; if you completely follow traditional interpretation, it will be seen as lacking in creativity, and the writer himself will have a little less creative pleasure. The ingenuity and cleverness of the novel “Li Bai” lies in: Gao Lishi took off his boots, and he had to take them off, but he didn’t hold any grudge for it. Lao Gao was open-minded, and went to the back to enjoy the banquet with Li Bai and An Lushan, and they asked Li Bai to take off his boots for himself – Lao Li really took it off, and even took off two – two extremely smart ” The person of the temperament”, jokingly and jokingly played a tie on the secular chicken feathers. Li Bai’s worldly-oriented wisdom is not deliberately outlined in the long novel, but when it comes to the key points, it is very revealing. , but through the description of drunkenness without leaving poems and fleeing in the next day, it also witnesses the author’s control of historical materials, situations and human nature. Poetry novels are based on the depiction of the poet’s soul, and “Li Bai” depicts the atmosphere and main characters of the critical period in the formation of the spirit of Tang poetry. On the contrary, there is also a postmodern cunning and fun at times.