Nowadays, once the martial arts novels are mentioned, it seems that Jin Yong is the Taishan Beidou. In my mind, Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng and Gu Long are at least three emerging schools of China's martial arts novels.
In the 1980s, many middle school students were obsessed with Jin Yong's martial arts novels, but I was still lofty. Because I watched Four Great Classical Novels, Sanyan Erpai and other China classics in primary school, I have always been uninterested in martial arts themes. Out of curiosity, I have seen classic martial arts such as the Three Heroes and the Five Righteousness, but I actually prefer the story of Bao Gong, and I can't stand it when I get to the Five Righteousness. Not to mention the new concept of martial arts, nine-yin bone claws, nine-yin true classics and so on
By chance, Shanghai Xinmin Evening News began to serialize a martial arts novel "Seven Swords Down the Tianshan Mountains". When I was bored one day, I read one or two articles, but I was actually attracted by the plot inside. So I waited for Xinmin Evening News every day, and I remembered the name Liang Yusheng from now on.
Seven swords descend to Tianshan Mountain, with numerous characters, complicated clues before and after, rich story plots and full sense of history. Although it is a fabrication, it is very entertaining, and the experiences of several generations of characters are quite embarrassing. Later, I couldn't help it, so I bought some novels by Liang Yusheng with my pocket money. I borrowed other martial arts novels from my classmates and slowly read some classic works by Jin Yong and Gu Long.
As far as the plot of the new martial arts is concerned, it generally has a certain historical background and participates in the pursuit of Jianghu secrets. From the social unrest, the secret book dispute and the position of the martial arts leader, it reflects the good and evil of human nature. This has basically become the skeleton of many new novels.
Among this author, Jin Yong's novel style is masculine. Except Wei Xiaobao in The Duke Of Mount Deer, other characters, good and evil, have strong temperament. Although female characters are colorful and rich in personality, they are generally in the position of accompanying the village. On the written side, Jin Yong has both explicit writing and implicit writing. Never write the characters' psychology thoroughly, and let the readers guess and think for themselves, which is a typical brushwork of oriental novels. Jin Yong's novels are grand in structure, magnificent in atmosphere and free in writing. Characters, history, martial arts and plots are intertwined. Many thoughts of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in ancient China were integrated in the characters' plots, and the martial arts scenes were magnificent, and they were gradually regarded as the head of the new martial arts school. Many novels have also been made into TV series again and again. Liang Yusheng compared himself with Jin Yong, saying that Jin Yong was a "foreign genius". In fact, judging from Jin Yong's novels, his Chinese style is still dominant. Ideologically, many characters in Jin Yong's novels finally became monks, which is a very typical China literati mentality. Some of Jin Yong's westerly brushwork is not dominant. In fact, some of his western writing styles are just to cater to the tastes of contemporary readers.
Liang Yusheng is the originator of the new martial arts novels. The brushwork is more pure Chinese than Jin Yong. Liang Yusheng's writing style is good, and he often interspersed poems in his novels. The structure of this novel is very characteristic of China's classical Zhang Hui novels. Liang Yusheng's style is more feminine than Jin Yong's. Heroes are often handsome and elegant, such as Andy in The blur, who is simply a classic handsome man in China. Even some cynics, such as Jin Shiyi, are full of passion and chic in anger and loneliness. Liang Yusheng's most successful female image is an unforgettable summer. Among them, "White-haired Witch" is unforgettable and has become the most popular female martial arts figure in China's martial arts novels in the new period. Liang Yusheng's preference for female roles is quite obvious. Many of his novels are named after female chivalrous men, such as bride with white hair, Glacier Maid Earning and Three Women in the Jianghu. Apart from the fighting in the Jianghu and the entanglement between the former dynasty and the later generations in history, writing the feelings between the characters is the real core of Liang Yusheng's martial arts story. For any character, apart from their respective historical responsibilities, the most memorable things for the characters in the novel are the memories of past love, the entanglement of present feelings and the romantic longing for the future. Even Ling Fei, one of the seven swords represented by male masculinity, cannot extricate himself from the emotional whirlpool. Liang Yusheng is a new martial arts writer who links the past with the future. Not surprisingly, there is a strong style of China's classical novels in his works.
Unlike Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng's China Martial Arts, Gu Long's novels have the most flavor of western novels. The color of the novel language is already very weak, and the sentence structure and description language are very modern. The description of the character and psychology can be described incisively and vividly. The evil thoughts and deeds of the wicked are simply evil to the bone, and the wisdom of the wise is extremely high. Gu Long's description of martial arts is not much, but it is often more through the fluctuation of the characters' inner world, the rendering of the lonely, strange or dazzling atmosphere around them, and the confusing handling of the plot, which greatly arouses readers' appetite. The good and evil of human nature is the theme of Gu Long. Although Xiao Li's flying knife is not the first warrior, it can always knock down enemies stronger than himself. At the conclusion, Xiao Li will say that it's not that I can hit the other side, but that the other side has always wanted to see if my flying knife is powerful, and this mentality has hurt him. Many times, Chu Liuxiang is no match for the enemy in martial arts, so he uses his wisdom, even his appearance and flirting, to look for opportunities to knock his opponent to the ground. Losers are often not because of poor martial arts, but because of their own personality weaknesses. The description of human nature, good and evil and greed is a major feature of Gu Long's novels. Another remarkable feature of Gu Long's novels is that the characters should learn to accept the imperfection of life and cherish everything in life. At the end of Little Shi Lang, the heroine realized that Little Shi Lang didn't love her, so she finally got together with another hero who had been silently loving herself. His representative works include Two Arrogances, Chu Liuxiang, Sentimental Swordsman's Ruthless Sword, Little Shi Lang, etc. Even at the end of some of his works, it didn't reassure readers. The lingering ending of Chu Liuxiang and George W. Shi Lang is memorable and full of reverie.
The personalities of the three authors are also consistent with their novel styles. Jin Yong's demeanor is very high-profile. After writing, in order to improve the gossip atmosphere of Hong Kong newspapers, I ran a famous Ming Pao, which made great contributions to the literary and publishing circles in Hong Kong. Later, when he was old, he quit Ming Pao and became the dean of the College of Arts of Zhejiang University, which continued to exert his afterheat for the development of literature and art in China. It can be said that the Confucian scholars are all famous among the three new martial arts families. They are scholars.
Liang Yusheng keeps a low profile. Like a hermit of three. Even when his novels are in full swing, he only communicates with readers through pen and ink. It is completely different from Jin Yong, who entered the WTO with high profile. Liang Yusheng never seems to care about his title. Seeing that the new martial arts novels are gradually showing signs of decline, they can't close their pens, drift away, emigrate overseas, and devote themselves to studying history. On him, more is the natural and unrestrained elegance of China traditional Taoism.
Gu Long's writing style can be said to be the most bizarre and beautiful, and his writing style is often unexpected. He is a genius among the writers of the new martial arts novels, and his style is the most unique. I often feel that if his martial arts novels are to be translated into western languages, it is estimated that they will be easily accepted by western readers. Gu Long is extremely talented, heroic and intoxicating. It is said that he often drinks all the advance payment from the publishing house before he starts writing novels. Gu Long, whose daughter broke up for good wine, is totally clean now, but she often hangs out in the entertainment circle, earning both fame and fortune. His drunken dreams and brilliant literary works made him famous, but whether he has always satisfied his literary dreams, we don't know the answer. Alcohol finally made Gu Long die young. Before he was 50 years old, the genius madman in Vanity Fair died.
Although I have read some other new martial arts novels, comparatively speaking, these three novels are the most representative. One of the reasons why Liang Yusheng created a new style of martial arts was to improve the literariness of martial arts. Not just fighting endlessly for raiders of the lost ark's secret, or just a simple routine of fighting between good guys and bad guys. In the works of Liang Yusheng, Jin Yong and Gu Long, the martial arts finally made a breakthrough, and the core of chivalry remained the same. In the splendid martial arts and confusing river and lake grievances, the new martial arts novels have more elusive two sides of human nature, endless regrets in the long river of history, the indomitable demeanor of Confucian scholars, mixed sighs of sadness and joy, deep remorse after seeing through the world of mortals, and constant exploration of the truth of the life universe.
The achievements of the three of them in the new martial arts literature should be said to have their own merits, strengths and unique styles. Today, their works are still deeply loved by the public and are the source of inspiration for many movies, TV stations and even online games. In China's world literature, martial arts literature may still be in a second-rate position, but in recent decades, with the general downturn of China literature, the new martial arts in martial arts literature has really become a literary phenomenon that cannot be ignored.