Original title: Zhang Chengzhi wrote “The River in the North” (citation)
Torrent River and Exciting Youth (Theme)
In the first issue of “October” magazine in 1984, a pair of young people were painted on the cover. The young man wore heavy glasses and looked like a gentle intellectual, while the young woman snuggled up beside him, combing the era. The very iconic braids, under the piercing eyes, are the youthful faces in high spirits. The story depicted in this picture is exactly Zhang Chengzhi’s “The River in the North” published in this issue. Even if I reread this novel today, the passion and thinking it shows are still fascinating. Even if many readers have stepped out of the turbulent age of blood, they will be deeply moved by the characters and spiritual atmosphere created by this work.
Although The River in the North is often regarded as a classic of educated youth novels, its connotation has gone beyond the narrow educated youth narrative. Zhang Chengzhi wrote at the beginning of the novel: “I believe that there will be a fair and profound understanding to summarize for us: then, the unique struggle, thinking, branding and choice of our generation will reveal its meaning. But At that time, we will also regret our naivety, mistakes and limitations, and we will feel that we cannot live again. This is the basis of a profound pessimism. However, for a country with a vast territory and a long history, The future is bright at last. For in this mother there will be a blood, a soil, a creative power to bring forth lively and vigorous newborn infants whose groans of morbid weakness will be drowned in their cries of joy. From this From this point of view, everything should be optimistic.”
Because this text is very exciting and very important, it can be called the “eye of the whole text”, so it is presented here in its entirety. This writing method is rarely seen in today’s novels. Zhang Chengzhi seems to be using novels to express his thoughts on the proposition of the entire era. Young people who have just stepped out of the status of educated youth, facing the coming new era, there are some confusions, but they are firm. Among them, there are not only the pain after suffering long-term suffering, but also the desire for a new life, and the longing for the future.
In fact, this is not just Zhang Chengzhi’s personal feeling. At that time, a large number of writers and intellectuals had similar “spiritual symptoms” because they knew that every step the country took would have a great impact on their personal destiny, but even if Even if we have gone through a detour, we can only face the reality, then revive our spirit and face the future stronger. This is a kind of optimism after speculation, not an impulse in a state of ignorance, but a belief in the future because of confidence in the nation and identification with culture.
The storyline of “The River of the North” is not complicated. It tells the story of the protagonist “I” for the postgraduate entrance examination. In the process of preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination for human geography, “I” inspected the Irtysh River, the Yellow River, Huangshui, Yongding River, Heilongjiang, five rivers in northern China, and when visiting the Yellow River on the Loess Plateau, I met a young female photojournalist. From the plot point of view, “River of the North” does not have much novelty, but its language style and symbolic meaning are worth savoring.
The river is not only a geographical concept, but also a cultural concept written by Zhang Chengzhi, and it is the condensation of his inner family and country feelings. The writing style of “River of the North” is like a long river of rolling waves. Under the whistling north wind, the rising waves show strong vitality. The “I” in the work is not only the objectified self formed by the author through the creation of novels, but also symbolizes the spiritual outlook of that generation of young intellectuals: not afraid of hardships and dangers, but still has a utopian imagination for the future, and must Attach it to the lands of the nation-state.
What is intriguing is that the postgraduate entrance examination goal set by Zhang Chengzhi for the protagonist is human geography, which not only helps to promote the development of the story, but also allows many rivers across the country to “come on stage”, which more fully demonstrates the magnificence of natural scenery. . The readers at that time did not have the developed information dissemination channels today, and most of them could only rely on reading to understand the outside world. Therefore, “River in the North” spent a lot of pen and ink to describe the river scenery, which is tantamount to showing vivid and real pictures in front of the readers. . Following Zhang Chengzhi’s words, readers can also be immersed in the magnificent scenery of the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, and be amazed and moved by it.
At that time, the literary critic Cai Xiang read “The River in the North” and liked it very much. He published a review article “The Spiritual Wandering of an Idealist” in the ninth issue of “Dushu” magazine in 1984. The youthful passion was greatly admired and deeply inspired by the vigorous enthusiasm for life. Wang Meng also published a commentary on “Praise of the Earth and Youth” in the “Literature and Art Newspaper”, and praised “The River in the North”: “Zhang Chengzhi’s realism is not freehand, but his scenes and emotions are full of serious speculation. The clear, palpable and palpable landscape of the rivers deeply excavates the characteristics of the rivers and the strong and rough soul of the north, which is unified by the rivers. At the same time, in a symbolic sense, through the rivers, he writes our even A broken life that is always beautiful, always full of hope and strength.” Wang Meng’s comment was to the point, he saw the inner tension of Zhang Chengzhi’s works: he did not simply describe the scenery, but expressed his belief in life by writing the scenery of the river. Thinking.
In these narratives, Zhang Chengzhi created a heroic male image through the “I” in the text. Even in the 1980s, such masculine characters were rare in novels. Soviet literature and some revolutionary literary atmospheres in China’s “Seventeen Years of Literature” are combined with the idealistic temperament of the 1980s, so that they not only have the competitive beauty of pursuing strength and speed, but also have a certain romantic temperament peculiar to intellectuals. Such characters and narrative styles are rare in the history of contemporary literature.
The style of “River in the North” is indeed full of strength and vitality, and even the imaginary image of the river is a natural force that promotes the protagonist “I” to become more mature. At the end of “River of the North”, there is quite the “Return of the Hero” type of writing in Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea”: “This last night is passing by quietly. He used fiery love and restless life. The day we have been waiting for is coming. The window gradually lights up, and the morning light appears in the east.” Although the so-called “torrent exit” and “middle-aged writing” appeared in the history of contemporary literature, what Zhang Chengzhi once wrote belonged to that generation. People’s youthful passion and imagination, but while leaving many exclamation marks for readers, they still leave their own footprints in the history of literature with their unique charm.
(Simon Huang)