Chapter 13 Section 3 The Legendary Character of War Novels: "Lin Hai Xue Yuan"

Like Wu Qiang's "Red Sun", the novel "Linhaixueyuan"5 is also created by the writer based on his own experience.The writer Qu Bo once served as a regiment commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and commanded a small unit of the People's Liberation Army to fight against bandits in the forest and snow fields in the Mudanjiang area of ​​Northeast China. "Lin Haixueyuan" reflects the writer's life experience, that is, it describes the story of a PLA team composed of 36 scouts chasing down the remnants of the Kuomintang and bandits in the forest area of ​​Changbai Mountain and Suifen Grassland in the northeast. Full of romantic imagination and legend.The book uses the surprise attack on Niitou Mountain, the outwitting of Tiger Mountain, and the battle against Sifangtai as the main clues, interspersed with various unexpected and interesting short stories, producing a reading effect that is full of twists and turns and dangers.Therefore, as soon as it was published, it was welcomed and loved by readers, especially young readers, and became a popular book suitable for both refined and popular tastes at that time, suitable for all ages. After the 1950s, novels such as romance, martial arts, and ghosts that originally dominated the field of popular literature were banned, and it was books such as "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" that could really fill this reading space.After some of its plots and fragments were adapted into movies, Peking Opera and other operas, Yang Zirong, Shao Jianbo, Zuo Shandiao and other artistic images became household names and known to everyone.

Following "Railway Guerrilla", "Linhaixueyuan" is also a successful work that uses traditional folk culture elements to express war.Of course, this does not mean that it has got rid of or broke through the general aesthetic mode of war novels at that time. On the contrary, it is marked by the creation of a group of widely circulated heroic characters and the clear-cut "two armies against each other". To construct the layout based on the mode of thinking, and to promote heroism and revolutionary optimism as the keynote of creation.This is not to say that it has achieved complete success in utilizing traditional folk culture elements. On the contrary, the novel has many shortcomings inherent in its folk narrative characteristics, such as overly exaggerated and sensational descriptions, and overly old-fashioned performances of heroes. The pattern of the characters, especially the description of Shao Jianbo, the commander of the squad, was so romantic that the writer actually portrayed it according to the image of a "Confucian general" in old novels: Shao Jianbo can not only command wars, but also write about romanticism In his poems, he also called himself "Young Marshal". In order to fulfill the traditional ideal model of "hero and beauty", the writer also specially assigned a beautiful and passionate female hygienist.The story is certainly beautiful, but judging from the modern aesthetic ideals developed from the "May Fourth" new literature, the flaws are quite obvious.

But it is undeniable that "Lin Haixueyuan" still brings a strong reading pleasure to ordinary readers. It unifies the general artistic characteristics of war novels in the aesthetic taste of romance and legend, and melts the original rigid and rigid creation mode into Under folk interest.For example, the portrayal of heroes is a major feature of "Lin Haixue Yuan", but compared with general war novels, although the writer also paid attention to the so-called "class essence" and other formulas when expressing the heroic characteristics of the bandit suppression squad fighters, but In terms of character configuration, it is dominated by the invisible structure of the "five tiger generals" model of folk traditional novels.Since traditional novels first set up the "five tiger generals" model6, the main heroes composed of five personalities are often the basic character model of classical martial arts novels, and "Lin Haixueyuan" unconsciously applies this "five tiger generals" structure. The head of the "Five Tigers" is of course Shao Jianbo, who is both loyal (political) and courageous (personality); followed by Liu Xuncang, who is brave and mighty but lacks strategy; Yang Zirong, who is courageous and victorious; The witty Luan Chao family, the loyal, honest, hard-working "long-legged" Sun Dade. Of course, the "Five Tiger Generals" are all heroes, and each character has a main character, some are loyal, some are courageous, some are resourceful, some are skills (talent), some are virtue, etc. There are masters and vices, which serve as a contrast to each other. .At that time, there was no so-called "three highlights" creation principle of "model operas" in the popular cultural revolution, and the "five tiger generals" model often made each character have independent experiences and stories.For example, a series of stories such as Liu Xuncang's violent capture of Diao Zhanyi, his attack on the tiger wolf's den, and his capture of Xu Damabang alive highlight his "bravery"; and Luan Chaojia, as mountain climbers, highlighted their "stunt skills" in flying over cliffs and winning by surprise...The heroes all have distinctive personalities, and their legendary experiences are not repeated, so that readers will leave the book in their minds after reading. Made a vivid impression.Because it obviously draws on the legendary technique of folk novels, readers will not be too demanding on the authenticity, and can fully accept such artistic treatment.

In terms of structural layout, "Lin Haixueyuan" also has a relatively obvious "two armies against each other" thinking mode, and in the sense of legend, it exaggerates the so-called "good guys are especially good, and bad guys are especially bad" mode, just like the novel In the movie, the beautiful and passionate female hygienist Bai Ru contrasts with the ugly and promiscuous female bandit Die Mi.However, due to the twists and turns of the plot and the romantic and exaggerated tradition of the story pursued by the legendary works, the strong contrast between the pros and cons strengthens this artistic effect.For example, the battle surrounding the surprise attack on Niitou Mountain was full of twists and turns: at the beginning of the work, the tragedy of bandit Xu Da Ma Bang's bloodbath at Shanlan Station was rendered, immersing the work in an atmosphere of depression and grief.Immediately afterwards, Yang Zirong caught the little stove maker, and Liu Xuncang fiercely captured Diao Zhanyi. Although they brought hope to the team eager for revenge, the dangerous mountain situation of Naitou Mountain made everyone feel helpless. The guidance of Luan Chao's family and the climbing ability of Luan Chao's family, who was a forestry worker, made the storyline take a turn for the worse. The team was like a heavenly soldier, and the battle was fierce and joyful.Revolving around the battle to outmaneuver Weihu Mountain, the development of the plot is even more complicated and confusing: From Liu Xuncang's capture of "a pinch of hair" alive, Yang Zirong pretended to be Xu Damabang's horse adjutant, and single-handedly broke into Weihu Mountain with the captured contact map as a meeting gift. , until Shao Jianbo led a small team to mobilize the masses in Jiapigou, everything was safe and sound.But unforeseen circumstances, because the train was ambushed, the little furnace maker fled in chaos, and the situation was extremely critical.However, Yang Zirong is not afraid of danger, stays in shock, cleverly uses a divorce plan, and finally saves himself from danger.This kind of story processing method with extra plots and dangers in the work has the same effect as the folk storytelling art, which makes the story ups and downs, the plot opens and closes, the characters are loyal and treacherous, and the emotions are sad and happy, pushing all the elements of art to the extreme , but produced a fascinating charm.

Although "Lin Haixue Yuan" also exposes the extremely cruel nature of the bandits and describes the heroic sacrifice spirit of the PLA soldiers, it is always full of heroism and optimism when describing the main heroes.The technique used by the writer is also quite interesting.For example, the shaping of the main hero Yang Zirong in the novel is based on the hero of the same name in real life. In real life, Yang Zirong sacrificed himself in a battle against bandits.The writer himself said that he wrote this novel to "perpetuate the deeds of Yang Zirong and other comrades, pass them on to the working people, and pass them on to future generations." 7 In the novel, Yang Zirong is a hero with both wisdom and courage, and an ideal character.According to the standards of literary creation at that time, such a hero should not have any "shortcomings" or personal preferences that did not meet the "ideal". Therefore, Yang Zirong could not die when he missed the enemy's silent pistol bullet in battle, let alone write that he was disguised as a bandit. At that time, he had the reckless habit.However, in the novel, Yang Zirong disguised himself as a bandit several times and went deep into the enemy's nest, and he had to be contaminated with a certain amount of banditry and arrogance. Without these characteristics, he would not be able to win the trust of the bandits.Apart from describing Yang Zirong's intentional bandit-like appearance and behavior, it is impossible for the writer to describe his reckless character. Therefore, Luan Chao's family appeared beside Yang Zirong. In terms of artistic structure, this character forms a complementary and oneness relationship.Luan Chao's family has more old peasant habits, such as vulgar and reckless, indecent quality, joking, and sometimes likes to say some mantras related to sex in front of women, etc. This kind of rough character from the folk is not consistent with him as a The status of a mountain climbing expert is consistent.The reason why Luan Chao’s family is Yang Zirong’s character complement is because these characters were also owned by Yang Zirong, but Yang Zirong suffered from being an ideal character in his works, so he could not express his character more abundantly, so the author had to borrow Luan Chao’s family. Therefore, the character of Luan Chao's family has become the extension of Yang Zirong's character to a certain extent.Even in the last battle, the writer asked Luan Chao's family to underestimate the enemy and accidentally hit the enemy's bullet, and Yang Zirong who was on the side shot and killed the bandit chief for him.Obviously, the bullet suffered by Luan Chao's family was the unfortunate ending of Yang Zirong in real life.Therefore, without the existence of Luan Chao's family, Yang Zirong would become unreal.Due to the existence of Luan Chao's family, some people have criticized "Lin Haixueyuan" as having the color of peasant literature8. But it is this "color of peasant literature" that makes these characters moving.