During the ten-year Cultural Revolution, countless young intellectuals joined the rural movement. The appearance of "scar literature" directly originated from going to the countryside. It mainly describes the tragic experiences of educated youth, intellectuals, persecuted officials and ordinary people in urban and rural areas in that terrible era. The picture shows Lu Xinhua's novel Scar published in Wen Wei Po for the first time.
The "scar literature" that caused an early response among readers was the Class Teacher published by Sichuan writer Liu in People's LiteratureNo. 1977 andNo. 1 1. At that time, critics believed that the main value of this short story was to expose the "mental internal injuries" caused by the "distortion" of a considerable number of teenagers' souls during the Cultural Revolution. Some people think that the call of the times to "save children besieged by the Gang of Four" echoes Lu Xun's call to save children poisoned by feudal ethics in Diary of a Madman, which makes the novel have a profound sense of history.
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However, the name of "Scar Literature" comes from Lu Xinhua's short story Scar published in Wen Wei Po on August 1978+0. In the sense of "reflecting the seriousness of people's internal injuries" and "calling for healing wounds", it was recognized by people who promoted the new changes in literature at that time. Subsequently, novels that exposed the historical trauma of the Cultural Revolution emerged one after another, among which the works of educated youth, such as Holy Mission, Noble Pine Tree, Struggle of the Soul, Dedication and Marriage, the large-wall literature of Cong, such as Red Magnolia under the Wall, and Feng Jicai's early "Wounded Literature" all had high artistic achievements. The rural "scar literature" represented by Zhou Keqin's Xu Mao and his daughters. Lu Xinhua
The word "scar" is used to summarize the literary trend of thought in academic circles. It was first seen in the article "Speech at the Symposium on Chinese Communist Literature at San Francisco State University in California" by Xu Jieyu, a scholar studying in China. Xu Jieyu thinks that Chinese mainland's short stories are the most active after 1976+00 months, and says, "The most popular content is called' generation mourning for the dead', that is' scar literature', because there is a novel called' scar' in Lu Xinhua, which is very popular." Some people have raised objections to this general term, thinking that "exposed literature" is more in line with the literary essence of this stage, but since this word has been accepted by most researchers in academic circles, we extend it here.
The "scar literature" that caused an early response among readers was The Head Teacher published by Beijing writer Liu in People's LiteratureNo. 1977 andNo. 1 1. 1977 10, the people's literature editorial department held a symposium on short story creation. At the meeting, the author analyzed the present situation of boring creation and expressed his strong desire to break through formulation and conceptualization. Under such advocacy, Liu's short story The Head Teacher was published in People's Literature on June 165438+ 10. The novel tells the story of how Zhang Junshi, a middle school teacher, tried his best to save an uneducated middle school student who was poisoned by the Gang of Four. The author shocked the hearts of people who were numb by the Cultural Revolution with the cry of "Save the Children", which opened the prelude for people to review their sufferings. This is the first time that the literature in the new period has exposed how the obscurantism and the policy of ignorance carried out during the Cultural Revolution hurt the new soul. This has always been regarded as a fear of the road by the author in the early stage of creation. Guided by this, some works with the same theme have appeared one after another. At that time, critics believed that the main value of this short story was to expose the "mental internal injuries" caused by the "distortion" of a considerable number of teenagers' souls during the Cultural Revolution. Some people think that the call of the times to "save children besieged by the Gang of Four" echoes Lu Xun's call to save children poisoned by feudal ethics in Diary of a Madman, which makes the novel have a profound sense of history. Youth Liu (middle)
"The Head Teacher" kicked off the historical scar review and made the writer Liu famous in one fell swoop. However, today, the most important role in the novel is not the protagonist Zhang Junshi, but the monitor Xie Huimin, a spiritual victim unintentionally created by the author. Under the left-leaning education of the Gang of Four, he was regarded as a good student with excellent academic performance, and his mental scars were even more shocking than those of the rogue Song Baoqi. Although the author did not regard her as the focus of help and education at that time, it is precisely because of this that the appearance of this image shows the writer's creative attitude of sincerely facing and reflecting reality. As for the exposure of the sufferings of the Cultural Revolution, it really became a trend, marked by the publication of Lu Xinhua's short story Scar in Wen Wei Po in August 1978. In the sense of "reflecting the seriousness of people's internal injuries" and "calling for healing wounds", it was recognized by people who promoted the new changes in literature at that time. This novel shocked the literary world with the artistic power of tragedy. The description of humanity and humanitarianism in the works broke through the long-standing rules and regulations of literature and art, which caused a wide debate at that time. After discussing the final affirmative conclusion, this work became the first voice in China literary world to completely deny the Cultural Revolution politically. Only then do people really understand that they have really experienced a man-made disaster, and everything they endured in the past should and can be overthrown and spurned, so the long-suppressed resentment immediately poured out. When this resentment is manifested in a large number of literary forms, it forms the first literary trend of thought in the new period:' scar literature'. Subsequently, novels that exposed the historical trauma of the Cultural Revolution emerged one after another, among which the works of educated youth, such as Holy Mission, Noble Pine Tree, Struggle of the Soul, Dedication and Marriage, the large-wall literature of Cong, such as Red Magnolia under the Wall, and Feng Jicai's early "Wounded Literature" all had high artistic achievements. The rural "scar literature" represented by Zhou Keqin's Xu Mao and his daughters. The mature works in the later period of scar literature, such as Life in the Bamboo Forest, Years Wasted in Ye Xin, Young People of Our Generation and Feng Jicai's works, generally show concern for human nature, and their profound exploration and discussion triggered the biggest discussion on human nature, human feelings and humanitarianism, as well as human dignity and value in the early 1980s.
Scar literature is the first brand-new literary trend of thought in the new period. The historical starting point of the new period of socialism is to completely deny the Cultural Revolution. The historical feature of the Cultural Revolution is that feudal fascist cultural absolutism openly persecuted the contemporary people in China under the banner of Mao Zedong. This kind of destruction of the soul is particularly easy to cause painful mental trauma. But only by breaking free from mental shackles and truly emancipating the mind can people realize how heavy and deep this "scar" is. This is the historical root of the outbreak of scar literature. At the beginning of a new era, the people of China gained political liberation. However, because the two "whatevers" have not been overthrown, the wrong theory of "continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" is still popular, and literary theory and creation are still seriously bound, resulting in the strange phenomenon of "sunrise in the east and rain in the west" With the discussion of "the standard of truth" and the convening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, contemporary China has really taken a turn for the better, and literature has embarked on the broad road. This social situation is the background of scar literature. Literature in the new period must first face the Cultural Revolution, so scar literature naturally takes this historical period as an important content. Literary works at that time, with stories of joys and sorrows or bloody scenes, strongly accused the people of China of the mental trauma caused by the ten-year turmoil and strongly condemned the ultra-left line that was rampant for a while. This is the core ideological connotation of scar literature.
There are many contents involved in' scar literature', but most of them reveal the scars caused by the Cultural Revolution in a true, simple and even rough form, thus venting the great pain and hatred accumulated in people's hearts in the past ten years, which coincides with the most primitive function of literature:' venting'. The above two works are groundbreaking in subject matter, but immature in art. In contrast, other works regarded as representative works of scar literature are obviously more mature in art, although they have no pioneering value, such as Zhang Jie's Children in the Woods, Zong Pu's Dream on the String, Chen's General in a Small Town and Cong's.