I put forward this argument, which seems to have nothing to do with the discussion of animal literature creation. In fact, it is a sudden move in my heart when I think about the value of animal novels. To put it bluntly, animal literature with a high degree of life has the power to pull us out of the virtual world and move towards the real life of the body.
When I think about the unique value of animal literature, I try to construct an ideological and artistic standard, which comes from the American natural literature tradition represented by Emerson, Thoreau, Muir, Burroughs and Leopold, from Prishwin's world view of "everything is one" and from the creative practice of animal fiction writers such as Thompson Sidon, Jack London and Kubota yansui. I read the works of an animal novel writer, and the scale of evaluation also comes from the above resources.
The real reason for the existence of a writer is not to write works, but to create a unique artistic world. The reason why I have been paying attention to the creation of animal novels by Gerileqimugehe is as I said in the preface of his collection of animal novels published in Taiwan Province Province, a reindeer country:
Hei He's works add valuable new qualities to China's animal novels. I want to know and think about the significance of Hei He's creation to China's animal literature.
…… ……
For animal fiction writers, understanding animal habits is "skill" and solving the relationship between people and animals in nature is "Tao". In this sense, the title of this collection of novels, Reindeer Country, is the original novel of black and animal. Although there are not many direct descriptions of animals in his works, Barrage can "talk to the forest" and call the wolves he raised "children" according to the relationship between man and nature and animals, which is the basis of Hei He's animal novels. (Preface to Reindeer Country)
I feel that the animal novels of Ge Ri Leqi Mu Ge Heihe are trying to enter or create a complete "nature". The word "nature" in Modern Chinese Dictionary published by the Commercial Press has the following three meanings: 1. Nature is nature. 2. Free development; No manual intervention is needed. 3. Take it for granted. But in western languages, one meaning of the word "nature" refers to "nature" and the other meaning refers to "nature". In the works of Emerson, a unique and great American thinker and poet, "nature" and "humanity" are consistent;
The little boy under this vast sky (referring to Emerson himself, the author's note) knows that he is rooted in this vast nature. One is a leaf, the other is a flower, and every blood vessel of his is full of his friendship and affection with nature. What does he agree with the root of nature? Isn't that the soul of his soul ... The beauty that belongs to nature is the beauty that belongs to his own soul. The laws of nature are the laws of his own thoughts. ..... In short, the old proverb "Know yourself" and the modern proverb "Study nature" finally became the same motto. (Emerson: Meditation on Nature)
Hershey's nature comes from his real life. Of course, his animal novels are fictional literature, but the life details of this fictional literature are closely related to Heihe's real experience. Give a concrete example. Hei He once caught an injured wild goose when he was a child. The injured wild goose could have flown away, but it collapsed and died. As an adult, Hei He understood: "The wild goose imprisoned by human injury died of a broken heart." He began to think: "A proud goose, let me try to understand the meaning of those words about freedom, dignity, life and death beyond writing." (Heihe: Norther North) Although physically in close contact with nature, the "little boy" Heihe is humble in front of nature. He just said, "start trying to understand." However, the wisdom of nature also let him know that the true meaning of the words freedom, dignity and life and death does not exist in the words, but exists outside the words. Heihe's creation approaches nature not to express nature, but because life blends into nature and he can't help singing about nature. This writing attitude can be seen in Thoreau, Burroughs, Sidon and others.
Therefore, in order to appreciate and understand Geri Qi Le Mu Haig Ho's fictional animal literature, I often read his documentary writing about nature with fascination. In the book Blood of the King: Mongolian Shepherd, Hehe talked about a once-in-a-century snowstorm. At dawn, he witnessed a statue of a horse standing in the snow horse that was frozen to death by the cold last night. I was deeply moved by the following words-
This expression, which is closer to the semi-wild state, is tough and calm on these cold bodies that snuggle together and smell of grass. This slender four-legged foal may be the first foal abandoned by life, snuggling up to its mother's abdomen. In its eyes as blue as lake ice, I don't see any fear of snow. And its mother, with her head down, is trying to warm her child with her lips, and the child is frozen in this position.
After seeing the grasslands in winter and the frozen horses on the grasslands in winter, you will have a new understanding of the grasslands. Grassland is never just an idyll, more often, it represents a harsh and tenacious lifestyle.
These horses are like giant sequoias after being struck by lightning, standing upright in the snow, so they stand all winter, until the ice and snow melt in spring, and they will fall to the ground like a flood that breaks its banks.
Where the horse falls, the grass will be extremely rich and will show a calm color like night. I have also heard a legend that on a quiet night in midsummer, where a horse fell, I put down my body and put my ear close to the grassland, and I would hear the roar of horseshoe stars deep in the earth.
It is with such words of "action" and such contact and understanding of nature that Heihe has been branded with its unique view of nature and animals. These are what I call the "new quality" that Heihe has added to China's animal literature creation, and they are also the significance of Heihe.
However, reading Hei He's word "action", I also have a deep concern-
I can't imagine that when I went to a camp on the grassland again many years later, I couldn't see their screams and huge figures in the familiar felt bag and kitchen smoke.
That is undoubtedly a great sorrow that has disappeared. The classical nomadic culture, which has flourished on the grassland since Genghis Khan's time, has quietly declined.
It will no longer be a grassland. (Blood of the King: Mongolian Shepherd)
Can it be said that the day when the "grassland" disappears is the time when natural literature and animal literature disappear? I have to admit that reading the word "action" by Heihe is not only my concern about the extinction of natural literature and animal literature, but also my concern about the future and destiny of mankind.
For me, this is perhaps the greatest significance of the animal literature of Geri Leqimu Gehe.