Speaking of the characteristics of Zhao Shuli’s works, I have to start from the beginning. That was October 22, 1982. The first self-taught promotion meeting of Shanxi Publishing University, also called the "Hope and Imagination Meeting", was held in Taiyuan. More than 500 representatives from 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country attended the meeting. The conference delegates stayed at the Red House Hotel in Dicun. During the break of the conference, the conference affairs team organized the delegates to participate in an activity of exchanging gifts. That is, each participating delegate prepared a gift, wrapped it, numbered it, and then pressed Lottery method for event gifts. The gift I drew happened to be "The Life and Creation of Zhao Shuli" co-authored by Yang Zong, the provost of the university.
I was very motivated to study at that time, and it was a masterpiece signed by a well-known author under special circumstances. Teacher Yang Zong’s message on the title page of the work has always been imprinted in my mind: "Friend, When you get this book, I hope you will learn from Zhao Shuli and take the path of self-taught and serve the people. "I couldn't put it down and read it very attentively. In particular, the language features of "Xiao Erhei's Marriage" left a very deep impression on me.
Literary language cannot be separated from the language of the people. Without the source of the language of the people, literary language will dry up, become rigid, and lose its vitality. However, the spoken language of the people is not entirely literary language. Literary language is processed, refined, absorbed and carried forward the characteristics of the masses' language, and a language is selected that is suitable for literary creation. The language feature of "Xiao Erhei's Marriage" is the organic unity of colloquialism, visualization, and personalization. It is installed on each different character and placed in the mouth of different characters. Each character speaks with one mouth. , readers will feel that characters with unique and vivid personalities emerge before their eyes.
Colloquialism: Literary master Zhao Shuli said: "When we write, we must pay attention to colloquialism and use the language that the working people love. We must not only learn the language from books, but also learn from the masses. Language. When I write, I personally think that I can learn more language from words than from books." This is what he said and he did it. The character's colloquial language is reflected in "Xiao Erhei's Marriage". There is no embellishment in the story, and there is no argument from the writer. The language is simple and straightforward, very concise and clear. Every sentence has one meaning, and the relationship between time, place and characters is clearly explained. Reading his works is like listening to farmers talk about trivial matters at home.
Visualization: This is another language feature of Zhao Shuli’s novels. Literary and artistic creation must use image thinking to create typical artistic images. So as the language that constitutes artistic images, of course it should also be image-based. The visualization of language in Zhao Shuli's novels is prominently reflected in the lifelike expressions of objects and the lifelike portrayal of characters. , with strong artistic charm. The description in the book of the "Three Immortals" coming to the district to complain was the best comment I heard in many writing classes, and it also left a deep impression on me. "The women from the neighbors all came to see it, crowded into half of the courtyard, and muttered: "Look at forty-five!" "Look at those trouser legs!" "Look at the shoes!" "Sanxian Gu has never blushed in half her life, but she can't hold it anymore, and sweat is streaming down her face." In this description, there is a lively scene in which the women in the village comment on "Sanxiangu", and Sanxiangu is embarrassed and uneasy. His shyness is vividly displayed in front of the readers.
There is also more vivid language to describe Sanxiangu: "Although she is forty-five years old, she prefers to act like an old woman. She still has to embroider her shoes, and her trouser legs still have to be hemmed. The hair on his face was stripped off and covered with a black handkerchief. Unfortunately, the wrinkles on his face could not be smoothed out by the official powder, and it looked like frost on an egg made of donkey dung. "What a wonderful description. All the language here is figurative and comes from the metaphors spoken by farmers. They are very vivid.
Personalization: The description of Er Zhuge in the book is even more superb. In the description of Er Zhuge, in a few simple strokes, a rural Yin and Yang man can talk about Yin and Yang and look at the zodiac. The professional habits of the underworld are vividly visible on the page.
It allows readers to clearly see the personality of a man who talks about Yin and Yang when talking, and talks about zodiac sign and fortune when talking about marriage. The unique image of Er Zhuge as "Mr. Yin and Yang" is vividly placed in front of readers.
Zhao Shuli believes that writing should be consistent with spoken language, but he does not think that just copying spoken language is enough, but that it must go through strict selection and tempering. He said: "I am from Shanxi. I have to speak Shanxi dialect, but when I write a book, it is not necessarily Shanxi dialect. It is okay to use a little bit appropriately. The appropriate use of dialects in the work gives the work a local flavor, and it will not be used indiscriminately. Confused.” Because of this, the language of his novel embodies it. It has the characteristics of vivid images, simple and lively mass language, and does not have the abuse of dialects. The intolerance of the native language is both colloquial and literary, like a pool of spring crystal clear and a piece of pure gold shining brightly.
Seventy years have passed, and I have read "Xiao Erhei's Marriage" again, and it is still so kind to read. I hope such touching language can continue in the literary world for a long time!