Article | Mi Xiaomu
I was a little surprised to read Liang Xiaosheng's "Awakening in the World" these days. It was more than ten years ago that I read Liang Xiaosheng’s works. This book "Awakening in the World" is a collection of Liang Xiaosheng's prose. Reading "Awakening in the World" awakened many emotions.
Liang Xiaosheng was my favorite writer when I was in college. I still remember that when I first entered university, I had never seen such a big library or so many extracurricular books. The first time I read Liang Xiaosheng's work, I liked it very much. I can’t remember clearly what I read at that time. I only remember that I read all Liang Xiaosheng’s works in one sitting in the library. Although I can't remember the works I have read now, the name "Liang Xiaosheng" has remained on my list of favorite writers.
My children once asked me, when will I feel old? I think it's probably time to start getting nostalgic. The first impression this book "Human Awakening" gave me was that of "nostalgic". Got it and really like the cover. The book cover of "Awakening in the World" looks like kraft paper, giving it a sense of age. When I took off the cover of the book and revealed the bright red cover, I was suddenly drawn out by the color as I was struck by the sense of age.
Perhaps I have read too many children's books. Looking at the red cover of "Awakening in the World", I feel like I am reading the cover of a picture book. After spreading out the whole book, I saw the four words "The world is awake", one on the left and one on the right, in incomplete fonts. There is also a bookmark that accompanies the book, which is also an incomplete "soberness in the world". One red and one nostalgic color, coupled with the words "half fireworks, half joy, half sobriety, half relief", it seems to have a deeper touch on the book.
The binding of the book "Awakening in the World" is also a relatively rare binding style, which is very similar to the notebook I used to write diaries when I was a child. The text layout has a unique look. It is very suitable for leisure time, just open a page at random and read the content. The text content of "Awakening in the World" contains some of Liang Xiaosheng's memories and his understanding of the world. Nostalgic for the past, but with the characteristics of the new era.
In this book "Awakening in the World", Liang Xiaosheng wrote many stories about his mother, father, and elder brother. From these past events, we can see his growing environment.
Being able to become a writer is inseparable from Liang Xiaosheng’s mother. Liang Xiaosheng’s mother read stories to her child since he was a child, giving him his first literary taste. The scene of his mother sitting under the lamp and telling stories to their children warmed his heart. Suddenly I understood the "seeds of happiness" that Matsui Nao said. The way adults read to their children and cuddle together turns out to really plant the seeds of happiness in their hearts.
Liang Xiaosheng’s mother was not very literate, and the stories she told were mostly folk tales, which gave Liang Xiaosheng his initial love for literature. Later, his brother read him stories from the book. My brother's way of reading it is very different from my mother's way of saying it. But it left a deep impression on Liang Xiaosheng. Words and stories gave Liang Xiaosheng great spiritual comfort at that time.
Perhaps, a certain book we read to our children now has also planted the seeds of literature in them.
It turns out that Liang Xiaosheng also had his own temper when he was a teenager. Regarding what happened when he was young, Liang Xiaosheng recounted it in "Awakening in the World".
When he was young, he had low self-esteem because of poverty. He could never wash himself clean and his hair was always messy. His mother was busy with work, and he had to take care of his younger siblings while he was in school, and his academic performance was not satisfactory. What's even more disturbing is that his head teacher also has opinions on him.
What left a deep impression in "Awakening in the World" was that the teacher suspected that he had failed to complete his homework on purpose and criticized him in front of his classmates. In fact, Liang Xiaosheng did not deliberately fail to write, but accidentally read the wrong page number, but the class teacher insisted that Liang Xiaosheng did it on purpose. Liang Xiaosheng was so angry that he picked up the red ink on the table, along with the chalk, and threw it to the ground. Because of this class teacher, Liang Xiaosheng felt tired of studying at that time.
Fortunately, Liang Xiaosheng’s Chinese teacher gave him warmth when he was a boy.
The Chinese teacher gave him a haircut, discovered his storytelling ability, and gave him the opportunity to practice his storytelling ability. The guidance of the Chinese teacher made Liang Xiaosheng change his outlook on learning and improve his grades.
When conflicts arise between adults and children, how they handle them will have a great impact on the children. It is obvious that this class teacher handles things more emotionally than from the child's perspective. Alexandra H. Solomon, an American psychologist, discovered that her daughter was cheating while playing a game. However, she did not expose the problem. Instead, she guided the child to feel the negative emotions caused by cheating. Driven by emotion, Alexandra H. Solomon's daughter recognized the cheating and made herself uncomfortable and apologized to her mother. Alexandra H. Solomon's approach is worth learning from Liang Xiaosheng's class teacher.
Adults often have the urge to "educate" their children. Dealing with children requires great wisdom from adults. It is unfair to children to treat them differently like Liang Xiaosheng's head teacher. However, it was a great blessing among misfortunes to have a Chinese teacher who cared about Liang Xiaosheng at that time.
Life is like this. We will meet different people and different things will happen. For children, it is a blessing to meet someone who can really see them.
In "Awakening in the World", Liang Xiaosheng not only writes stories about his parents and brothers, but also about his relationship with his son. You can see what he is like as a father.
It’s very interesting that Liang Xiaosheng feels that he is a selfish father. When he first learned that his wife was pregnant, Liang Xiaosheng did not want the child to be born, and even told his wife that he did not want to be a father before he was 35 years old. As a result, his wife was angered, and Liang Xiaosheng seemed to have become a father unwillingly.
After becoming a father, Liang Xiaosheng did not spend much thought on his son. It wasn't until he saw 30 to 40 mosquito bites on his son that Liang Xiaosheng felt guilty and hurriedly bought a mosquito net. On weekdays, Liang Xiaosheng spends a lot of time on writing. When it comes to becoming a father, Liang Xiaosheng feels that there is still a lot of room for growth. Compared with children, my own written works may be insignificant. As a father, it is more important to educate his children well. This is his responsibility to his son and to society.
I saw Liang Xiaosheng writing about the interaction with his son in "Awakening in the World", and I admired his candor. Few people would admit that they are selfish towards their children. We always say that we love our children very much. But the reality is that our care for our children may not be as good as what Liang Xiaosheng did for his son. When we have different identities, from singles to parents, our responsibilities become heavier. How to deal with this change in identity may be something we need to think about.
It is difficult for a person to be sober in the world. Reading "Sober in the World" can bring some thoughts about life. In "Awakening in the World", Liang Xiaosheng writes his own story as well as the stories of others. And when we read "Awakening in the World", we read other people's stories and recall our own experiences. In life, maintain a rare sobriety.
I am Mi Xiaomu. I have two children at home and love reading.