The defamiliarization technique in the metaphor of "Fortress Besieged"

Literary and artistic creation requires defamiliarization, because creation requires constant technological innovation to give people fresh experiences under new creations. From the perspective of reception aesthetics, defamiliarization can also enhance beauty. The Russian formalist theorist Shklovsky has this famous saying: "The reason why art exists is to feel life and things again, and to keep stones like stones. The purpose of art is to make people feel things, that is, See rather than recognize. The technique of art is a technique of defamiliarizing things and making them difficult to form (accordingly) to increase the difficulty and prolong the time of perception, because in art the process of perception is the end in itself and should therefore be prolonged. "That is to say, artistic techniques are used to defamiliarize things and obstruct the form, thus dragging attention and prolonging the perception time, thereby achieving the purpose of feeling beauty and discovering beauty.

As a commonly used rhetorical technique, metaphor focuses most on novelty and ingenuity, which requires seeking a kind of defamiliarization, so it is the best place to test defamiliarization techniques. The most taboo thing about metaphors is similarity and popularization. There is a famous saying in the West that the first person to compare a woman to a flower is a genius, the second person is a mediocre person, and the third person is a fool. Plagiarizing after others or being unable to escape popular thinking patterns do not create good metaphors.

The work "Fortress Besieged" has always been popular. An important reason is that the metaphors in it are vivid and ingenious. It is simply a metaphorical grand garden, which greatly satisfies the readers' aesthetic pleasure. With his amazing imagination, Mr. Qian left us many classic metaphorical images, making "The Besieged City" a must-read for metaphor researchers. Mr. Qian put forward the principle of metaphor: "Every metaphor must be based on non-similarity, and every comparison must be based on its analogy." Summarize it in eight words: "What is specious is false, what is true is false." Pointing out that metaphor is to find similarities. But a good metaphor requires more than just similarity. The most attractive thing about the metaphors in "Fortress Besieged" is that it is unexpected, and breaking through conventions and using reverse thinking to achieve the effect of defamiliarization is the main reason for its success. The specific analysis of defamiliarization techniques is as follows: 1. Keep the distance

Ordinary metaphors pursue the approximation of the ontology and the metaphor, but the metaphors in "The Besieged City" often deliberately widen the distance between the ontology and the metaphor, creating a A strange and novel atmosphere. Aristotle once said: "Metaphor is the mark of genius." Mr. Qian Zhongshu possesses this kind of genius creativity. According to the needs of expression, he is good at finding the meaning between two unrelated things. Use fresh and appropriate metaphors to express and depict the similarities that others have not discovered or are difficult to discover, making them similar in form and spirit. In this regard, Mr. Qian is worthy of everyone. Two seemingly unrelated things were connected by his brilliant strokes and made people applaud. Liu Xie pointed out in "Wen Xin Diao Long": "Although things are different, they combine to make the liver and gallbladder." When Mr. Qian talked about how to make metaphors novel and innovative, he also proposed to expand the relationship between metaphor and ontology based on the principle that metaphors are opposite and complementary. The distance between things is considered to be compared. "The more and the greater the differences, the more contrasting the similarities will be. The farther they are, the more unexpected the combination will be, and the more novel the metaphor will be." Ancient Roman rhetoric has long pointed out : The greater the distance between the compared things, the more novel and creative the effect of the metaphor. "To bring together unrelated ideas and make them meet even though they are thousands of miles apart." In order to avoid being ordinary, he tried his best to use seemingly nondescript things. Find related features in them, thereby combining the farthest things together unexpectedly, reaching an unreasonable and wonderful state. Many metaphors in "The Siege" are created based on this principle and are unforgettable. For example, when describing Miss Bao, in addition to comparing her to a cooked food shop, she also compared her to the truth, "Some people also called her 'truth' because it is said that 'truth' is naked. Miss Bao was not naked, so they revised it to 'Partial truth'".

Without the latter explanation, readers would be confused. Ms. Bao is a real person, but the truth is imaginary. There is almost no similarity between the two, and it can even be said that there is almost no connection. However, the author never nakedly Starting from this concept, the two are organically connected and vividly portray Miss Bao's dissolute image. This is really incredible, and it can be regarded as a work of miraculous craftsmanship.

2. Take one end of it

Ordinary metaphors often pursue the overall similarity between the ontology and the metaphor. Mr. Qian pointed out, "The similarity of metaphors is to take only one end, not for The whole, but the similarity from one end to the other ends." This provides the rationality for this novel metaphor to survive and breaks the usual rules. This is actually the pursuit of a kind of spiritual resemblance. The similarities in metaphors are not only direct, but some are indirect. This kind of metaphor often communicates with gods without seeking direct similarity with form. Liu Xie said: "The mind and appearance of things seek, and the mind responds to them. Carving out the rhythm of the sound, the germination is more exciting." Only by emphasizing the spiritual resemblance in the metaphor can the words have the true state of chemical creation and achieve the highest expressive artistic reality. For example, "His sleep that night was like the lines of japonica rice noodles, which were not sticky and could not be stretched." The similarity between sleep and the lines of japonica rice noodles is only in the point of "not being stretched". It can be inferred from this indirect point. The similarity between the two is surprising.

3. Use multiple metaphors

Metaphor, also known as metaphor or abstract metaphor, is the use of illusory and profound metaphors to describe specific images. Ancient Chinese metaphors mostly focused on imagery. As the saying goes, "It's easy to describe tears, but it's difficult to describe sadness." Therefore, concrete images are often used to describe empty feelings, and metaphors are less involved. Mr. Qian, on the other hand, used rebellious thinking and went in the opposite direction. He resolutely broke into the unpopulated land of metaphors, used rich associations, vigorously cultivated them, and was able to master them with ease, leaving behind a large number of novel, outstanding and breathtaking metaphors. For example, "{Wang Meiyu} smiled at him, with a mouth full of bright red teeth, uneven like a knight's chest, with a few yellow teeth that were shy and refused to show their heads." Use the spirit of a knight to fight against injustice to describe the teeth. It's uneven and looks weird, but it's actually very interesting, showing Wang Meiyu's ugliness to the fullest. This type of metaphor uses relatively abstract and unfamiliar things to compare, breaking through the normality and inertia of metaphors, giving people a unique and novel experience all at once.

4. Using ugliness as beauty

People often like to choose metaphors from an aesthetic perspective, but Mr. Qian took a unique approach and used ugliness as beauty to avoid falling into the trap of conventional thinking. Gives you a fresh and unique feeling. Mr. Qian likes to "draw examples from trivial things", which also reflects defamiliarization from another aspect. For example, "This diploma seems to have the function of the leaf on Adam and Eve's lower body. It can cover up shame and ugliness. A small piece of paper can cover up a person's emptiness, ignorance and stupidity." The leaves on Adam and Eve's lower body , most people would not mention it, and it seems unpalatable, but Mr. Qian picked it up at his fingertips and accurately used it to describe this fake diploma. He described it in such a bad way that the readers couldn't help but smile.

5. Adding hyperbole

The metaphors in "Fortress Besieged" are often connected with rhetorical techniques such as hyperbole, which transcend the simplicity of ordinary metaphors and appear more vivid and special. In "Fortress Besieged", almost everyone is the target of ridicule. Appearance and expression are the most ridiculed, and they are usually caricatured. While using metaphors, exaggeration and other auxiliary means are often added to make the whole picture more comical. For example, "Philosopher Chu looked at Miss Su with greedy eyes. His big eyes were like the philosopher Xie Lin's 'absolute concept', like 'a drug popping out of a pistol', dangerously breaking through his eye sockets and shattering his glasses." Chu Shenming His ugliness is revealed. This kind of metaphor is often wonderful and vivid, with unique associations, humorous and colorful, which makes people laugh and gives people a refreshing feeling.

6. Subjective interpretation

The metaphors in "Fortress Besieged" often serve as subjective interpretations, using the author's unique understanding to express a unique concept. Although metaphors generally realize the same additional meaning between the original and metaphorical objects, rather than rational meanings, and cannot be involved in definitions to explain things, they still shoulder a certain auxiliary explanation function.

Therefore, the author can use metaphors to explain things and express his own opinions according to his own interests. For example, "The thick rouge painted on {Mrs. Shen's} lips got into her mouth with saliva, staining the yellow and craggy teeth with red marks. They were bloody like clues to a murder in a detective novel." Here, the red marks on the lips are interpreted as murder. The clues to the case are imaginative and highly subjective, expressing a kind of disgust and resistance. This interpretation function is reflected in the re-covering of the ontological meaning by the metaphorical meaning, which is actually a reinterpretation of things. The unique interpretation breaks through the stereotype of others and gives people a strange and fresh feeling.

7. Overwhelming the host

Ordinary metaphors are based on the main body and the metaphor is supplementary, but some metaphors in "Fortress Besieged" are reversed to create a kind of novelty. In most clever metaphors, the metaphor has a certain degree of self-referentiality. When the self-referentiality is strong, the metaphor even takes over the subject. At this time, the ontology becomes the foil and the metaphor becomes the focus, and all of them contain the author's praise or criticism. For example, "Her {Ms. Tang} eyes are not very big, but they are flexible and gentle. In contrast, the big eyes of many women are just like the big words of politicians, which are too big to be justified." Although the author here compares big eyes to big words, the key is not that Their similarity is that the author's intention is to use the topic to satirize and criticize politicians. It seems careless, but in fact he means one thing and another, criticizing others, which shows the author's cleverness.

8. Extensive collection

Mr. Qian is well versed in Chinese and Western studies. He uses a wide range of sources and metaphors, and uses many unfamiliar contents that ordinary people are not familiar with into metaphors. , enhancing the novelty of the metaphor. For example, "The weight of this kiss is very light and the scope is very small. It is just like smearing the lips on the edge of the tea bowl when serving tea in the Qing Dynasty officials, or touching the lips to the Bible when witnesses in Western courts took oaths. At most, it is like Those believer girls kiss the big toes of Tibetan living Buddhas or the Pope in Rome, a kind of closeness at a distance." This metaphor shows the nature of Fang Hongjian's affection for Miss Su, but more importantly, it shows the author's erudition, both Chinese and Western. Small details in culture are readily available, adding a lot of cultural connotation to the work and showing a fresh feeling. The defamiliarization technique makes the metaphors in "Fortress Besieged" novel, interesting, and dazzling. It completes the overall improvement and transcendence of traditional metaphors and becomes a monument in the history of metaphors and rhetoric.

The wonderful use of metaphors in "The Besieged City"

Li Kuang

Qian Zhongshu's "The Besieged City" describes a group of people who suffered from Shanghai to the southwest rear during the Anti-Japanese War. The gray life of the upper-class intellectuals with westernized education who are competing with each other in love and fame and fortune shows their inner hesitation and helplessness, spiritual emptiness and boredom, and the hypocrisy and helplessness of love. The novel shows a dazzling and special group of intellectuals, which is essentially a metaphor for the fate of the entire human race.

The most attractive thing about the novel is its unique language style. It is witty, sharp, profound and humorous, which often makes people marvel. Among them, metaphor is the most conspicuous highlight. It is novel and appropriate, colorful and endlessly changing.

1. An in-depth and simple metaphor of "City Under Siege"

"City Under Siege" is a common and inevitable dilemma in life and society. Mr. Qian quoted ancient British and French proverbs as metaphors. "Marriage is like a gold-painted birdcage. Those outside the cage want to fly in, and those inside the cage want to fly out. So, we get married and leave, and we leave and get married. There is no end." "People outside the city want to rush in, and people in the city want to fly in." If you want to escape, whether you want to get married or have a career, your aspirations in life are basically like this." These two metaphors make an abstract life issue and philosophical issue vivid and concrete, and explain the connotation and meaning of the "siege city" dilemma in a simple and easy-to-understand way. nature.

2. Describe the characters vividly

The novel depicts the ugliness and faces of a group of deformed intellectuals, and metaphors make them even more vivid. For example, Gao Songnian, the president of Sanlv University, has a "fat and strong face, like unfermented yellow flour steamed buns" and a "smoothly shaved yellow face that shines like oiled yellow leather shoes", which vividly embodies a sanctimonious and drunken look. The face of the gangster. Mr. Zhang, who claims to be accustomed to interacting with foreigners, “always likes to add some unnecessary English words in Chinese. He has no new ideas that are difficult to understand in Chinese and needs to speak in English.

Therefore, the English words embedded in his words are not as good as the gold teeth embedded in his mouth, because the gold teeth are not only decorative but can also be used. They can only be compared to the scraps of meat between the teeth, indicating that the food has been eaten well, and are useless in addition. . ”

These wonderful and wise metaphors analyze various characters’ strange phenomena in a precise and penetrating manner, leaving a clear and deep impression on readers.

3. Talking about love humorously

The love story in "Fortress Besieged" is not dramatic, shocking, sentimental, exciting, or sublime or extraordinary. Instead, it is full of helplessness, sadness, worldliness, comedy, and ridiculousness. The metaphor vividly describes their views on love and love. For example, the arrogant and conceited Su Wenwan, who was born in a well-known family, always "waits for price" for love, so he "is like making good clothes, reluctant to wear them, and locking them in a box." Two years later, I suddenly found that the look and color of the clothes were out of date, and I felt a little regretful. "It can be seen that Miss Su only regards love as an exchange for fame and fortune. Love requires like-minded people, and it is difficult for people with different like-minded ideas to get together. Therefore, "Although they are close, Fang Hongjian's friendship with her ends here. , just like two parallel lines, no matter how close they are to each other or how long they are stretched, they will never merge into one. ”

Qian Zhongshu’s original scholar-like metaphors can not only make these profound philosophical propositions easy to understand, but also turn seriousness into relaxation, sarcasm into ridicule, and spears and euphorbias. Watching with cold eyes shows the tolerance of a wise man.

What are the characteristics of the metaphor of "Fortress Besieged"?

The teacher said that there are two characteristics of the metaphor of "Fortress Besieged": First, it uses abstract things. It's a metaphorical thing; secondly, the ontology and metaphor of the metaphor seem to be unrelated. I remember that it should be these two points. If you tell me such a professional thing before watching the siege, I think you should say it first. , I forgot about it later. I have four points of view: First, the author is knowledgeable and has a broad vision. As long as something catches his eye, he can cleverly use it to metaphor what he wants to metaphor. The second is that metaphors are often unexpected. I think the combination of these two points is basically consistent with your second point. It’s not because the ontology and metaphor are the same in ordinary people’s eyes. Is it irrelevant? If he wasn't generous, how could he use metaphors so cleverly? The third is the combination of exaggeration and personification. What you said about using abstract things to describe figurative things is like using metaphors to describe children. The distance between the eyebrows is as wide as a lovesickness. In your words, it is an abstract metaphor for something figurative. But as educators at the grassroots level, we cannot use this as a metaphor. It can be said that this is an exaggeration and has elements of metaphor. I remember an expert once said that when it comes to both, it depends on which rhetorical technique is more preferred. My fourth point is that his humor is often the same. It is reflected through various metaphors. His metaphors are naturally appropriate and his humor is endlessly memorable.

To be honest, I am not interested in his metaphors. I studied it in depth. The teacher gave me this topic, and I was finally able to explain it a little bit. I thought my analysis was quite profound, but the teacher said that I only scratched the surface. But I think the point of view is basically the same. It’s just a different expression. Is it because the teacher is too obsessed with his inherent answer, or is my thinking really too shallow?

Respondent: Memo 2004 - Qianzong Level 1 -20 17

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