A world of fireworks illuminated by literature
2023 Domestic Non-Fiction Literature Reading Observation.
With the presentation of the individual situation of the courier brother and the cleaner, non-fiction literary works such as the fate of women in Yanzhen and the female workers in the workshop have entered the public eye and attracted attention, and "breaking the circle" has become a keyword in non-fiction literary creation in 2023. More and more workers from all walks of life are trying to write stories about themselves and others, and literature is becoming more deeply connected to the world around it. The themes and themes of non-fiction literature are breaking through the established paradigm of literary writing, interspersed with oral history, fieldwork, and letter format, and are expressed in various forms. Literature is becoming more and more closely connected with other disciplines, and the "cross-border" characteristics are obvious. All in all, these works are more deeply and extensively involved in the current society and daily life, expanding the rich dimensions and space of literary creation, and showing the diverse style of the times.
Amateur writing: it is the ** of the self, and it is also the entrance to observe society
"Amateur writing" refers to ordinary people with non-literary backgrounds who write their own life stories or those of others. Their careers and upbringing are different, but in the end, they all pick up a pen and record the ups and downs of their daily lives. In the face of a complex society, amateur authors do not intend to analyze and think about society comprehensively, but rather tell individual stories that are not easy to see. These words reflect the various social conditions, reveal true feelings, highlight the "presence" of literature, and also give readers a stronger sense of substitution. Amateur authors find solace through writing, as well as spiritual growth and insight.
Hu Anyan's "I Deliver Express in Beijing" has frequently appeared on major literary lists in the past year. In this book, Hu Anyan presents the reader with a calm, objective and self-deprecating tone about his life in Beijing, Shanghai and other places, working as a courier, night shift picker, etc., as well as those sad moments. "Think of yourself as a delivery machine with a salary of 30 yuan an hour, and if you don't reach the rated output value, you will be angry and angry. In the trials and tribulations of life, he gradually realized that a life of resentment was not worth living, and finally established a goal in life, "to do what he likes and is good at, such as writing". Through his writing, he "examines himself comprehensively and deeply", no longer passively escaping from life, but more actively refining himself.
Different from the self-described perspective of "I Deliver Couriers in Beijing", "My Mother Cleans" was created by the former ** Zhang Xiaoman, which tells how a mother from rural Shaanxi learned to get along with the giant city of Shenzhen "clumsily" through the experience of being a cleaner. Through his mother's eyes, the author was able to see the survival portrayal of the elderly cleaners in Shenzhen: "hard support" and "hard boiling". In addition, the author takes the opportunity to live with his mother again, to understand his mother's past, record his mother's present, and trace his past self. The book is not simply a narrative of Shenzhen from the perspective of "cleaners", but also full of the resonance of family affection between mother and daughter to re-enter each other, as well as the young people of the "new generation of Shenzhen" looking back at their parents and hometown, multiple emotions overlap, which arouses deep resonance among readers.
Following "Autumn Garden", "Driftwood" and "My Fragrance", Yang Benfen will focus on the marriage and life of three elderly women, and present "Bean Sesame Tea" to readers. Mrs. Qin, who picks up rags, Dong Lian, who wants to escape from domestic violence and ultimately fails, and Xiangjun who gets the ...... of love and lost it prematurelyYang Benfen uses plain words to tell their fate, and the helplessness and silence of those lives, as well as the intertwined moments of warmth and comfort, constitute the most tenacious texture of life. In the second half of the work, I relive my memories with my mother and brother, as well as the pain of losing my loved ones. Although these memories are all trivial things like "beans and sesame", they reflect the real life of ordinary Chinese people, as well as the thick life background of the little people behind all the stories.
Compared with several other films, Fan Yusu's "Reunion after a Long Absence" is the most similar non-fiction work. Because of an article "I am Fan Yusu", Fan Yusu, the sister-in-law of Beipiao, began to be well-known to everyone. This book is based on Fan Yusu's upbringing, running away from home, coming to Beijing to work as a housekeeper, being divorced by domestic violence, and raising his daughter alone ......These real experiences of the North Drift are mixed with the soul of Grandpa Da Mulberry, the ghost castle, tomb robbery and other fictional plots, with vigorous imagination and a contrast between fiction and reality. She will be a child-rearing sister-in-law when she was troubled, the sadness of raising children, and the love of literature since childhood. In the appendix of the book, she borrowed a poem from Su Shi, life is like knowing everywhere, it should be like Feihong stepping on slush. This is a portrayal of Fan Yusu, and it is also a portrayal of the wandering career of thousands of Pi Village migrant workers.
The individual is history
Telling the daily life of ordinary individuals under the tide of the great era from a micro perspective is undoubtedly the theme of attention of historical researchers, writers and readers in recent years. Those past events that have been ignored and forgotten in the dust and smoke of history are reproduced in front of the world in three dimensions and truthfully through oral narratives, letters and other forms.
Su Jin's Hong Kong Past is based on a total of 482 correspondence between two sisters, Su Jin and Su Mei, who were in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 1956 and 1976. Family and livelihood are two intertwined narrative threads, Su Jin's huge economic pressure when she first arrived in Hong Kong, the constant price and housing prices, the invasion of disasters such as typhoons and droughts, and the difficulty of women finding jobs, all resorted to letters; The younger sister's family, who stayed in Shanghai, faced the same situation that almost every Chinese family faces: family conflicts when their children are in a rebellious period, and financial and face-saving problems when relatives help each other, ......The firewood, rice, oil and salt written in the letter were rearranged by the writer and presented to the reader. The historical changes in Hong Kong and Shanghai, such as the migration of educated youths from the mainland, Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa, and Hong Kong's property speculation, are only hidden behind the letters, but they can still make people feel the deep imprint of the times.
One Hundred Years, Many People, Many Things and "Heaven and Earth Dust" are family oral histories, closely integrating the fate of the family with the major events of the past century, and the works are rich in detail and integrity. "One Hundred Years, Many People, Many Things" was dictated by Yang Yi and written by Yu Bin. In the book, she counts her family relationship with her family, the good times of studying, and the unsatisfactory married life, etc., Xiaochang's bright words show Yang Yi's innocent and frank image vividly. Although many shocking changes have faded, it is still embarrassing to look back. Compared with the turbulent times, personal life is not worth mentioning, but looking back, it is a different kind of historical temperature.
The content of "Heaven and Earth Dust" spans a hundred years, presenting the story of the family ancestors from Dongying to Guichi, Anhui Province, Dangtu, and then all the way to the land of Sanxiang, and finally arrived at Yuanling, Xiangxi, during which the ups and downs, and finally the story of the end of life in Xiangxi. The plots of Xuefeng Mountain, hanging coffins, Gu release, corpse chasing, and dragon boat racing involved in the book show the mysterious and strange customs of the ancient mountain city of Xiangxi, adding to the legend of the family. Fleeing, studying, starting a family ......The growth history and destiny of the protagonist are closely linked to the times.
Gong Jingran's "New Era of the Border City" tells the history of Mabian from 1950 to more than 70 years, reflecting the achievements of the Xiaoliangshan area "one step across the millennium". The book is mainly based on character narrative, and uses a personal character story to "thread the needle" to present the richness of history and reality. Like the old man Pan Derong, Yu Xuehan and his wife, and the shipman Li Tingchuan mentioned in the article, they have been living in Mabian City, although their occupations and family backgrounds are different, but they have all dedicated their youth to the development of the border city and witnessed the vicissitudes of life. Compared with other works, "New Chronicle of the Border City" focuses more on showing the history, geography and culture of Sichuan and Shu, and the stories of each character make the history more full and three-dimensional, flesh and blood.
Social group portrait: the silent majority
A woman in Yanzhen, Sichuan, a female worker in a factory workshop, and a second-class student ......More and more works showing different groups in society have entered the public's field of vision, and some have even "gone out of the circle" to cause heated discussions. These works focus on the most neglected underprivileged people, deeply concerned about their embarrassing living conditions and little-known sad moments from a humanistic perspective, and present these groups to the public in a realistic and vivid way of depicting social group portraits. It was an opportunity to get a glimpse of the vast expanse of China and empathize with those who are struggling to survive at the bottom. It is worth mentioning that the protagonists in the book are not vague and highly generalized social groups, but are composed of individuals with specific and distinct personalities. They are like a mirror, and at the same time they see ourselves.
This is the town of salt, where women are stopping the bleeding of life, and men are sprinkling salt." The living conditions of women in Yanzhen written by Yi Xiaohe, the former **, are shocking. She lived in Yanzhen for a year, interviewed nearly 100 local residents, and finally showed a real China that was never known through the stories of 12 women struggling to survive in class, urban and rural areas, and prejudices. Granny Chen, Wang Daxiao, Zhong Chuanying ......They are of different ages, but they all have a similar "salty" life. They are the epitome of every Chinese woman who has not stepped out of the town.
"Dust-free Workshop" is a work written by writer Siren who infiltrated the Dongguan factory from 2020 to 2021 and spent more than 80 days before and after. She lived with workers in electronics factories, mold factories, and jewelry factories, documenting the hardships and struggles of ordinary workers. The author expresses his true feelings of being in a cold, high-pressure environment, and can only endure alone in the face of bullying and oppression of "high positions".
Huang Deng's "Home Visit: My Second Student 2" is a new work following "My Second Student", which records what she saw, heard, felt, and thought when she visited her students' original families from 2017 to 2022, and also made China's most common group of college students more directly displayed in front of the public. Huang Deng said, "It wasn't until I finished writing the home visit part that I had a relatively complete expression of my account of the students in the second book." Compared with "My Second Student", which focuses on students' performance and personal growth in school, "Home Visits: My Second Student 2" pays more attention to how ordinary students become who they are today step by step in their respective family backgrounds and environments, and how the people and events in their hometown shape a student's personality. With warm brushstrokes, humanistic observations and reflections, delicate texts and in-depth interviews, the book is a sample of Huang Deng's thinking and observation of education as an educator.
The "cross-border" feature is obvious
Scholar Chen Jianhui once said that in a narrow sense, non-fiction writing has the character, aesthetics and sense of form of "intervention", "presence", "truth" and "questioning". Non-fiction focuses on personal narratives and "subjective truth", and non-fiction creators should not be limited to the "facts" they see and make narrow value judgments based on this, but should allow moderate fiction and artistic imagination to carry out imaginative reconstruction. This kind of works observed by the author are mainly in essays, social surveys and other genres, involving different disciplines such as sociology, history, anthropology, etc., with different themes, but the core of the works is still documentary, non-fiction, with the characteristics of "literary presentation of reality", which is worth taking in particular.
*"Mother" is the 22nd time the writer Xu Jian entered Tibet, which lasted more than 50 days and went deep into seven cities to conduct field interviews, and created a work, showing the broad maternal love of more than 100 "mothers" in welfare homes for orphans. The background of ethnic minorities and the theme of orphans are perspectives that have rarely been paid attention to before, but they have been keenly captured by the author. On the basis of a large number of data collection, interviews and investigations, the author carries out reasonable and moderate fiction on the specific plots and dialogues of the "mothers" in the welfare home taking care of the local orphans, vividly and vividly showing the great kindness and love of the "mothers" who gave up their jobs, urban life, and marriages to pour their love into these lovely children. Literary creation can only move people's hearts when it is put into true feelings.
Li Zhu's "Between the Hill and the Hill" tells the story of the "post-60s" mother who came to Japan alone and lived with her "post-90s" daughter-to-be again, and wrote the birth process and mood transition of the two generations of mother and daughter from a dual perspective. There are always countless hills between mother and daughter, and both of them are waiting for the right time to climb over. The author's text is sincere and unpretentious, and through dense details, it slowly tells the process of mother and daughter from estrangement to final mutual understanding, and the daughter finally chose to walk out of marriage like her mother back then. "Between the Hill and the Hill" is realistic as a whole, truly showing why the mother's "hill" is so heavy, and the daughter's "hill" is delicate and sensitive. There are many fictional plots in the second half of the book, such as the younger brother "Chuan Chuan" who died in the context of forced abortion in family planning, the divorce of the mother and the father, and the red light of the daughter's marriage.
Lu Xiaoyu's creation continues to take a big step towards fiction, and his new work "Man Underwater" juxtaposes multiple linguistic structures such as oral narrative, interviews, news reports, monologues, current affairs commentary, and poetry, telling the story of "I" accidentally discovering the handwriting of a Chinese young L, and using this as a clue to try to outline the story of L's life. The book is set against the background of the "Doomsday World War", on the one hand, it shows the youthful and prodigal campus life of young people through handwriting, and on the other hand, it imagines the appearance of L's classmates decades later, interspersed with the author's insight into the world situation, and integrates self-growth, imagination of the future of human society, and the author's knowledge into the text. After reading carefully, you will find that L is the author himself, and the innocent time of chatting and reading with a group of interesting and lovely classmates is undoubtedly a true portrayal of the author's study at Oxford. The author's constant travels around the world give this book an international perspective. By a few words, the man under the water has never surfaced. l is a mysterious symbol who is both a recorder and a recorder of history, and the macro and vast history is hidden behind the fate of the individual.
Don't be afraid" is a collection of non-fiction essays by poet Liu Nian, which does not have a clear main line, but is divided into five series, showing the author's travel experience and the insights gained from travel; understanding of hometown, family affection, and love; Immerse yourself in the landscape for the perception of time and life; A love of poetry and the pursuit of ideals. Under the author's true, powerful and poetic brushstrokes, the bitterness, helplessness, struggle, and warmth of ordinary people's struggle against fate are exhausted.
The last work I want to mention is "Children in the County", which has sparked a wave of heated discussions in mid-2023. The author, Lin Xiaoying, is committed to exploring "county education", an issue that is about the growth of most children in China but has never been given enough attention. Similar to Huang Deng's "Erben student group", the children in the county are also an unnoticed and silent majority. According to the author's research at Foxconn, the workers here are basically children from the county. Different from the flesh-and-blood group portraits of the two students in "Going to Visit the Home - My Two Students 2", "Children in the County" is more about rationally analyzing and sorting out county students, county teachers, government-school relations, urban-rural relations, etc., through data analysis and field research, and finally comes to a conclusion. Although this book also shows objectivity and truth, intervening in the scene through investigation, the writing is more scientific and rigorous than aesthetic and literary description, and the main body of the article is mainly data and analysis, rather than focusing on living characters, so the book can hardly be called a non-fiction work, but a social science work.
Due to the limitations of the author's pen and eyesight, the above-mentioned works cannot summarize the whole picture of non-fiction literary creation. In any case, the year 2024 full of vitality has come in great strides, and we can still expect more materials of life to be excavated, and more warm and cold corners of the world will be illuminated by literature.
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Editors: Li Jing, Deng Jieji.
Second trial: Zhang Junping.
Third trial: Wang Yang.