“Since I published two books, my mother has been bragging about me as a writer in the village. But the villagers only saw me chasing ducks all day long in the village with unkempt hair, and they all expressed disbelief. While my mother was talking to them, she turned around and saw that I was running along the ditch in my slippers, shouting and waving a stick. p>
This text is simple and humorous, and outlines a picture that makes people laugh. This is the opening paragraph of writer Li Juan in her collection of essays "Winter Pasture".
This is the style of Li Juan’s articles: there are no gorgeous words or elaborate rhetoric. All the narratives seem to be a girl next door telling her unique life to the people who come into contact with her. There is no condescending instruction or rigid preaching. It is humorous, simple, and full of life. Reading it will force you to fall into deep thinking about the huge propositions of "life" and "survival".
I think if time went back more than ten years ago, I would not fall in love with Li Juan's writing. At that time, I liked beautiful words, exquisite metaphors, and elegant artistic conception. Just like a young man in his twenties, he would always fall in love with a girl with skin as smooth as cream and a face like a peach blossom. It doesn’t matter whether she has thoughts or not. What matters is Good looks are a must.
However, as I grow older, experience more, and think more deeply about life, my choice of words begins to be based on whether it can bring me a more macroscopic world and whether it can present a whole world. A richer and deeper thought, whether it has a unique understanding and thinking about human nature, survival and the world.
It was with this understanding of reading that I came across Li Juan’s writing on her blog. I read almost every update she posted. Until this year, I bought back her book on Altay's series of essays: "Altay's Corner", "My Altay", "Singing Loudly when Walking at Night", "Winter Pasture" and so on.
Li Juan did not have a high degree of education. After graduating from high school, she followed her family to a remote mountain pasture in Altai, where she ran a grocery store and a tailor shop and lived with the Kazakh herdsmen who lived in pursuit of water and grass.
Over the years, she has recorded everything about Altay in affectionate yet restrained words, whether she was writing about life on the ranch, her own dog "Saihu", or writing about The neighbor who owes her family a lot of money is always full of infinite enthusiasm for life in her words, revealing her thoughts about life and living, and how invisible her thoughts are! She seems to be simply narrating—a humorous and unvarnished narration, leaving all the thinking to the reader.
She is known as "the fresh wind in the literary world" and "the elf of Altay".
"Winter Pasture" is the story of her living in the desert with the herdsman Juma's family for more than three months. After spending a period of arduous and very different wilderness life there, she lovingly recorded the story of Kazakhstan. Every bit of the ethnic winter pasture.
It was a world far away from me, so far away that it seemed as if it had never existed in this world.
That world was so monotonous, with the vast Gobi Desert stretching as far as the eye could see. When there was no sun, people couldn't even tell the east, west, north, and south based on the surrounding environment. The sky is always tightly tied to the earth, dark blue, monotonous, and unchanging, while the earth is uninhabited and endless.
The hardship of life is unimaginable to ordinary people: domestic water is made from melted snow transported back from distant places; the temperature is so low that even the milk in a Nutrition Express plastic bottle is "It's frozen into a lump." I can only use a small spoon to reach into the bottle and scrape it bit by bit, and then pour the scraped milk residue into everyone's tea...the butter always won't melt. , piece by piece floating on the tea water; the "ground nest" where we live is made of sheep dung, and even the sleeping couch is built with sheep dung. If you turn over while sleeping, "the sheep dung residue will rustle away." "Full of face and full of neck"...
Although such a difficult life is, there is no trace of heaviness and lamentation in Li Juan's writing, and the readers can feel the little bit of sadness brewing in reading. Heavy emotions are always resolved by her casual and unintentional humor.
For example, she said that she “had jingling bells hanging all over her body, like a Christmas tree.
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For example, she also said, “Because I was afraid that the tea would get cold, I drank it quickly and accidentally drank four or five bowls, so I had to go to the toilet frequently.”
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Such simple yet humorous sentences are everywhere in the book. Before you have time to lament the hardships and hardships of life, her wonderful pen makes you feel that no matter what life is, No matter how harsh the environment is, no matter how tragic the life situation is, you must have hope for life, be grateful, and live optimistically and openly. You may even feel that the little sympathy you have is for that powerful person. The insult to human dignity is contempt for that monotonous and boring life, and in turn you begin to despise your own weakness and boringness.
I think there is only one truly strong and tolerant person. Only a generous and open-minded soul can calmly give others the strength to survive no matter what.
And how lovely the people in Li Juan's works who live in such a harsh environment are. Respectable! Although they have no solid houses, no decent furniture, and no convenient life, they are by no means careless about life. What readers can see in the desolation is their exquisite hearts, touching warmth, and love. Peace and tranquility from the heart are the happiness and happiness that reaches the soul.
Even if the male protagonist Juma just goes out to the deserted Gobi Desert to herd sheep, he will polish his leather shoes for a long time. When he gets a new dress, he will be so happy that he sings for a long time.
Although he and his wife, who are almost fifty years old, are an old couple, their love and the way they express their love to each other are so great. Warm and beautiful! For example, this description: "After a hard work, the two returned home and stood in the den, tired and confused, as if they didn't know what to do first. Ju Ma hugged his sister-in-law, and her sister-in-law immediately hugged him back, making her so intimate that it was hard to watch. "
For another example, Jumahui suddenly threw himself into his wife's arms and said coquettishly in a sobbing voice: "Such a good old woman, the old woman who gave me four babies... ”
And their daughter, an 18-year-old girl who dropped out of school after only a few years of study, is even more serious about life. She tries her best to use her enthusiasm and exquisite heart to resist the desert. Desolation and material scarcity
She would hang beautiful tapestries and soft fabrics on the walls where sheep dung was accumulated, and cover all the exposed household items with flower-embroidered headscarves. She tried her best to transform a discarded plastic soy sauce bottle into a beautiful chopstick bucket. Her nails were seriously twisted due to years of hard work, so she used hair dye to paint her nails bright orange... ··
I am often moved by these simple, lovely, energetic and vital characters in Li Juan’s works. What do they remind people of?
In fact, there is no direct correlation between happiness and material abundance. There is no doubt that abundant material things can make life more convenient and make people's lives more comfortable and comfortable. However, when comfort and comfort become the main theme of life, one's heart may not be filled with happiness. Will they also generate and grow empty branches and vines?
On the contrary, the ordinary herdsmen described by Li Juan who rely on their hands and root their lives in the earth can still survive despite the lack of food and clothing. Life is lively and fragrant, but you can grow your own beautiful flowers in a barren land. You can also live in a desolate land without any Internet or electronic products, in a house built with sheep dung that is only a few dozen square meters. People sit around drinking tea, chatting, or doing their favorite things in silence. No matter what they do, readers can feel the tranquility and peace from the depths of their souls.
So people. The Literary Award’s citation for this work is: “It is this valuable, affectionate and restrained daily record and description of life that makes her literary territory far beyond specific geographical boundaries and time limits. The time and space gain the power of extension. "
Under the dim light, or in the flickering candlelight, holding a book by Li Juan in hand, following the words into that strange and distant world, I suddenly discovered that fame, fortune, wealth, anxiety Ah, ambition... all silent.