First of all, "writing books to vent anger" is an important part of Sima Qian's "writing books with anger". "Bao Ren An Shu" contains: Gaisibo was arrested and played "Zhouyi"; Zhong You wrote Spring and Autumn Annals; Qu Yuan's exile is a tribute to Li Sao. It's not Shu, but Lu Lan. Han Fei was imprisoned in the countryside, expressing hardship, loneliness and anger. Sima Qian demonstrated the view that "this person is all introverted and can't understand Tao, so when it comes to the past, the person who thought of it ... returned the book to express his anger, thinking empty words to show himself", and even put forward the summary view that "300 poems are almost equal to what sages did when they were angry"
Another meaning of "angry writing" is about the relationship between "Wen" and "Tao". Sima Qian believes that the purpose of "writing books with anger" is to express Tao and the way of sages, which accords with the relationship between "literature" and "Tao" in ancient China. In the Analects of Confucius, Confucius said: "The ambition is in Tao, the virtue is in virtue, the benevolence is in benevolence, and the art is in play." Confucius put Tao in the first place and Wen in the last place, which has vaguely pointed out the inseparable relationship between Wen and Tao.
Sima Qian's "angry pen" did not appear out of thin air. He has a profound historical origin and is also the product of the author's own experience.
The Analects of Confucius? Yang Huo said: "Poetry can be aroused, observed, grouped and resented." The so-called "resentment" means satirizing superiors and complaining without anger. If you are depressed about the political affairs in your heart, you need to be sarcastic and express your feelings. There is no doubt that "angry youth writes books" and "poetry can be blamed" come down in one continuous line, and angry youth writes books with more progressive significance. Sima Qian's angry writing completely got rid of the Confucian requirement of "resentment", that is, "love ends with ceremony", and completely affirmed the rationality of "venting anger", which can be proved by Sima Qian's interpretation of Li Sao. Sima Qian wrote: "Those who leave Sao are still leaving Sao. It is the beginning of husband and heaven, and parents are the foundation of people. People who are poor are against their roots, so they are extremely tired, extremely tired, and do not hesitate to grab land. Suffering from a serious illness, he refused to call his parents, went straight to the right path, exhausted his loyalty and wisdom, served the monarch and coveted the world, which can be described as poverty. Believe and see doubt, be loyal and slander, can you have no complaints? Qu Yuan's work Li Sao is self-blaming. " At this point, "resentment" is no longer necessary to follow the Confucian "gentle and sincere".
"Poetry can complain" is the bud of "writing a book with anger", and "expressing emotion with anger" is the originator of "writing a book with anger". Qu Yuan wrote Nine Chapters for the first time? Cherish reciting and put forward "cherish reciting to be urgent and express feelings with anger", which should have an important influence on Sima Qian's thought; However, in Huai Nan Zi written by Liu An in the Han Dynasty, it is recorded that "the anger in the ambition is accumulated inside, and the surplus in the sound is in harmony with the people's heart", and "it is also a sign of a person's vocal music, and the effect of crying is also sad, and the anger in it should be external". The explanation of "anger as the outside" is closer to "writing a book with anger"
Writing in anger is certainly developed under the influence of The Book of Songs, Qu Yuan and Liu An, but it is also a portrayal of the author's real situation. Sima Qian was honest, but was humiliated by castration, and his inner resentment was self-evident. As written in "Letter to Ren An", "I don't know where to live, but I don't know where to leave", but his mission has not been completed, so I have to drag out an ignoble existence and use it to achieve my own life and express my inner anguish. Sima Qian summed up his previous experience and thought that "writing a book with anger" was based on reality. This view occupies an important position in China's literary theory and has a great influence. It can be said that "his clothes were built by poets, not a generation."
Han Yu's view that "injustice makes a sound" in his article is an inheritance and extension of "writing with anger" On the one hand, Han advocates that "literature carries Tao" and puts forward that "learning is Tao and literature is reason"; On the other hand, he advocates "poor words" and thinks that "words of peace are easy to be good". At the same time, he also thinks that these two aspects are closely related, and consciously realizes the unity of "venting anger" and "words". In his Preface to Farewell to Meng Dongye, he proposed that success "calls for the country's prosperity" and setbacks "calls for the country's misfortune".
After Han Yu, there was Ouyang Xiu's theory of "poor and backward workers" and Chen Shidao's theory of "the poorer you are, the more poems you have". Lu you: "covering people's feelings, grief and anger are contained in the middle without saying anything, starting with poetry"; Li Zhi, a literary critic in the late Qing Dynasty, even regarded "indignation" as an objective standard to evaluate the ideological level of his works. How to treat the so-called "if you don't do it, you won't be angry, if you don't do it, you will be like a rustling and groaning?"
In the history of China's literary theory, "indignation" occupies an important position, while western literary theory has the same effect. For example, Gerry Balcer said that poetry is like beads produced by a sick and silent shellfish; Flaubert believed that the beads were formed by the illness of oysters; Heine asked: Is poetry to people what beads are to poor oysters? Is it the material that makes them suffer? It can be seen that many westerners believe that poetry is the product of people's inner pain, and famous aphorisms supporting this view abound. The sweetest poems are those that tell the saddest thoughts; True poetry only comes from a burning heart that is deeply troubled; The most beautiful poems are the most desperate, and some immortal chapters are pure tears …
"Writing with anger" also has its limitations. For example, Sima Qian did not separate literature from scholarship when summing up "writing books in anger", so the discussion lacked comprehensiveness. Because literature not only reflects life, but also expresses personal feelings, which are extremely complicated, and resentment is only the corner of emotion. Therefore, it is biased to write a book in anger, but this small flaw cannot cover up the greatness.
Today, we can still inherit the effect of "writing with anger" and write something to express our inner sadness when we are depressed in work, life and study. We can also expand the scope of this "venting" to involve happy emotions and enjoy the beauty with others. More importantly, we should carry forward the spirit of spinal cord in "angry writing"-poverty is strong. Life is inevitably unhappy, which requires patience and strong spirit. Therefore, "indignation" is based on the times and has an inestimable role.