marry for love

Chapter 1 Contemporary Urban Novels: Unique (General Preface)

radar
Someone described Zhang Xin's novels in this way: blurred brilliant lights, overflowing desires, hidden twisted human nature, suspenseful mountains and rivers, vague pursuit of love... All these together constitute Zhang Xin's world, wandering in it, Can't help being trapped by it, and even loses its spirit and form-obviously, such a description is not superficial.It cannot be considered that as long as the elements of desire, white-collar women, urbanization, and legendary nature are grasped, the essence of Zhang Xin's creation has been grasped.

I once said in the 90s that Zhang Xin was one of the first to find the literary sense of today's cities.Zhang Xin is good at fully revealing the mysteries of interpersonal relationships in commercial society, and has raised the city feeling and art of urban life in today's literature to a new level. She has always cared about the soul settlement of her characters in the cultural context of market economy.In her series of novellas at that time, she not only wrote about the materialized landscape of the southern cities, but also wrote about the ubiquitous penetration of popular cultural elements; not only about the manipulation of all people by the monster of desire, but also about the desire The people behind the appeal for ultimate care; not only the love theme of male and female love is always used as the original conception, but also through the sentimental stories of "infatuated women with heartbreakers" or wandering and confused Hua Wuzhu under the background of business wars, express A strong desire for super-utilitarian true love in the world.What makes Zhang Xin even more unique is that her language has constructed a unique lyrical style that fits the urban context, a sentiment that combines classical beauty with modern popular discourse, and creates a style with a distinctive brand of the times. Fashionable writing mode.Therefore, Zhang Xin was a unique existence among the big and small authors of the new urban novels at the time, and was loved by citizens and readers.She is like a vigorous independent stream—it is not so heresy to call it a "diligent stream", but she maintains her own aesthetic value and life value independent and uninhibited, which cannot be replaced by others.

It is undeniable that Zhang Xin does have the characteristics of secularization of subject matter, popularization of structure, and white-collar and middle-class characters. Some common elements of urban novels are indispensable in Zhang Xin's novels. Lay out, expansion of desire, detailed description of food and sex, popular vocabulary, but so what?Secularization is just the affirmation of people's natural desires, and a counterattack to dogma and rigidity; while popularization is her aesthetic choice.However, if Zhang Xin was still regarded as a representative writer of new urban literature in the 90s, then in recent years, as Zhang Xin’s creations have changed from relatively static to intensely dynamic, from the boudoir and even directly into the underworld, from human nature to Human nature is evil, and she seems to be more and more recognized as a writer of popular books, a novelist of social events, and a writer of popular novels who tend to be thriller.Some critics deeply regret that she has gradually discarded her early ethereal elegance, petty bourgeois elegance, and lyrical and romantic style of writing, thinking that it is a kind of aesthetic loss and retrogression, far away from pure literature.Is this really the case, and how should it be viewed?
I think, from the perspective of dominance, Zhang Xin has jumped out of her narrative mode formed in the 90s of the [-]th century. It is no longer "deep in the world of mortals, regaining romance", and is no longer the complaint of white-collar beauties. Instead of being angry, she took a big step towards the complexity, sharpness and splendor of life. She was not afraid to face the ugliness and cruelty, and did not hesitate to hurt the elegance. This made her urban novels have a sense of reality, social capacity, depth of humanity, and psychological connotation. have been significantly enhanced.It should be said that Zhang Xin's many novels since the new century have developed in two directions: one is to face up to the huge mental pressure and urban perverted personality, and strengthen the psychoanalysis of the depth of human nature; the other is to expand towards social structure and public domain. , mostly on the grounds of judicial cases and news events, to explore the eccentricity of human nature in the dark space including the underworld, and to seek the voice of justice.

Heterogeneous deformed female images are a highlight in Zhang Xin's recent works.To be honest, I have always had doubts about the so-called feminism. Some issues, the more they are overemphasized, the more likely they will hurt themselves.I say this not because I am a man, but because I have seen some women, especially successful women with too strong personalities, who have endured the double pressure of work and life. The hardships can be imagined, but they have serious defects in spiritual life .Zhang Xin's "Suo Chun Ji" made me encounter them again.They seem to be talking to themselves, and they seem to be asking questions helplessly. "Shuo Chun Ji" is Zhang Xin's heart sutra about women themselves.Zhang Xin said: "We will eventually discover that the opponent comes from the heart." The three women that this work strives to create are all excellent, but their life trajectories are unusual, and their hearts are distorted in different situations. The last one has a bleak ending.In the eyes of outsiders, Zhuang Shibo and Cha Wandan, a couple who have always been happy, have problems. There may be many reasons for this, but the most direct reason is that Zhuang Shibo's younger sister Zhuang Zhiyan interfered and broke them apart.Zhiyan has been by her brother's side all the time, she can't accommodate any woman around him, Cha Wandan's silent withdrawal and departure, Ye Congbi's silent patience and staying together are all because of her love for Zhuang Shibo.Ye Congbi finally passed away unexpectedly, and Zhiyan took on everything when Zhuang Shibo couldn't end. However, Zhiyan, who seemed to have a strong heart, chose to commit suicide in the end.She is a complete loser, her secret is the ascetic "lock spring", Jing Mo, who loves Cong Bi deeply, has a glimpse of her secret, Jing Mo's disgust is a thorn, deeply pierced in her heart superior.A good woman finally blows away like a feather in the wind. The text of "Suo Chun Ji" is intricate, but it is like a branch of "Dream of Red Mansions". The life and destiny of three women revolve around a man.

In "Suo Chun Ji", it is worth noting that Zhang Xin's thinking on the fate of women has been transformed from a male perspective.Zhuang Shibo actually loved his first wife, Chawandan, but, facing a fencer and a wife who is excellent in all aspects of life, he somewhat lost confidence, thinking that his wife had always been secretly in love with others.Therefore, once he met Ye Congbi, who is more mundane and simple, he felt relaxed. He knew very well that he would not like her in the past, but now it is different. His tired heart needs to be relaxed and considerate , all of which Chawandan could not give.Will the overpowering of women bring endless pressure to men?Those outstanding women in modern society actually bear greater pressure from society and men than ordinary women.I don't know why Zhang Xin, who has always given me a very warm impression, would choose a more extreme character to complete her Heart Sutra about women?According to her statement in the article "Clustrophobic", it is because our hearts have been claustrophobic and numb for too long, but she still looks forward to one day breaking the ice and letting all things bloom.

Another highlight of Zhang Xin's observation of urban elites is to reveal the complexity and treachery of human nature hidden deep in it, and to face the perverted personality directly.Zhang Xin once said: "The morbid city hides the most complicated and unknown relationship between characters, and hides the sad, emotional and palpitating inserts. Eileen Chang also said that life is like a gorgeous robe covered with Lice." Reading "Suo Chun Ji" unexpectedly came across Sartre's famous saying: Hell is other people.In fact, Zhuang Shibo's perfect appearance hides the soul of a selfish man. He only needs Ye Congbi, not love.After Ye Congbi's accident, he chose to escape instead of facing it.Zhiyan, who always guarded her brother, felt that her brother was sick, and even consulted a psychiatrist for him, and the diagnosis he got was that he was not sick.She doesn't understand.In fact, the sick person is herself. In Zhuang Shibo's life, Zhuang Zhiyan played the multiple and complicated roles of father, mother, and wife.She has been suppressing her normal desires as a woman, has no interest in men, and does not want to get married.Her life is "without spring".From a psychoanalytic point of view, the spiritual and character formation of the brother and sister can be found in their childhood experience.We have read the Oedipus or patricide complex in more than one Chinese and foreign works, and we have read the terrible possessive "maternal love", but we have never seen the authoritarian brother-sister relationship like Zhuang Zhiyan.Perhaps Zhiyan was also like Qiqiao in Zhang Ailing's writing, wearing a golden shackle and killing several people, including herself, all of them were the people who were closest to her.The cruel ending at the end proves that Zhiyan is a mentally ill patient, and she suffers from smiling depression.

The most shocking story of human nature in Zhang Xin's recent works is hidden in "Not by the Plum Blossom, but by the Willow". The content of this work can no longer be framed by the city. Obliterated scars and profound existence.Mei Jin, a woman with beautiful appearance, elegant temperament and outstanding talents, is a good wife, daughter-in-law and mother. Such a woman is the envy of everyone.In fact, she seriously falsified both physically and mentally. When she was forced to earn a living, she worked as a escort lady, and even had sexual relations with her plastic surgeon Feng Yuanlei inexplicably.Meggin's hatred for her patriarchal family members runs deep.Another character, Pu Ren, is full of academic life and imposing manner, and his demeanor is like a landscape of Shuren University. He has the brilliance of a star, and he is unmarried, which is quite perfect.But who knew, this person had an incomparable hatred for his biological father, and was extremely filial on the surface, but secretly poisoned his father slowly all the time, and finally died together with his father.The hearts of these two people cannot be simply explained by Oedipus or patricide complex. They are very different on the surface, but they are similar in essence.The growing environment that was too poor and backward in childhood, the growth experience in domestic violence, the strong desire to get ahead, and the final messy failure are exactly the same.Bearing the burden of betraying his friends, Feng Yuanlei loves his wife Qiao Qiao on the surface, but in fact has affairs with other women; Pu Ren is under great pressure to resolve it by spending the night with the high-class prostitute Xiao Baojie...despite all the soil that twists humanity It was a dark childhood experience, but such a world and such human nature still inevitably make people feel hopeless.

Zhang Xin's other novels are launched with the help of news social events. "Shen Xing Files" takes the murder case of a TV hostess in the apartment as an entry point, and leads to a gangster-He Shaowu. "Deep Throat" takes the newspaper industry competition in a certain metropolis as the background and involves multiple unknown shady transactions.They are by no means a figurative stir-up of news events, but express the writer's deep thinking on major social issues hidden deep in the city. "Deep Throat" condenses elements such as the competition in the urban newspaper industry, some kind of deep corruption in the judiciary, and people's hard pursuit of justice and morality, making it not only a best-selling work, but also of considerable ideological and moral value. The protagonist on the surface of "Deep Throat" is Hu Yanpeng, a reporter from "Mango Daily" who pursues justice and truth. After being tortured, he was almost speechless, and only said, "It's great to be free."But in fact, the real protagonist of this novel is "Deep Throat". Who is "Deep Throat" and where is it from the beginning to the end of the novel, but we can feel that "Deep Throat" is omniscient and everywhere.Is it the so-called "above" person?Obviously not.Is it Xu Tong?Yes, and no; is it Huai Ning?Yes and no. "Deep Throat" is the deeper voice behind the incident.Sometimes, "deep throat" is an exact person, but more often, it's a symbol, a belief, a throat that delivers positive voices. The Bible says that narrow is the gate, but long is the way. "Deep Throat" is to lead Hu Yanpeng and others who have a sense of justice in the works to walk through the narrow door and lead to the long and long road.This is the significance of Zhang Xin's urban suspense novels.People are always pursuing justice unremittingly, even if it is vague, vague, and potential.After "Deep Throat", Zhang Xin published another novel "Use Your Life to Forget".The writing style is very lively, and its biggest breakthrough lies in the creation of He Siji, a fresh image of migrant workers. Indeed, few people write about a migrant worker with the complexity of both good and evil.

Zhang Xin recently said that life is always more exciting than fiction.I want to write about reality and humanity. I hope that my own works can directly touch people's hearts and express her desire to embrace real life more deeply and broadly.It is true that Zhang Xin's recent works do lose some tenderness and romance, and she has turned from graceful to stern.As a writer of modern cities, Zhang Xin always wants to expand his world, face up to the role of "evil", and try new ways of writing.She is exploring.We don't need to worry about whether Zhang Xin is pure literature or popular literature, and whether it is higher or lower. There is no absolute "pure" today.What matters is how much a writer expresses her time and its spiritual history.

(End of this chapter)