Shen Congwen is such a kind, affectionate and sensitive person, and a very maverick writer. Unlike many contemporary writers who describe real life, he is basically a person attracted by past memories. Shen Congwen's yearning for his native land in western Hunan subconsciously stimulated his creative passion and gave him spiritual comfort. He said, "I just want to write down the traces of my life on paper." Therefore, the content of his works is far from the mainstream of the times at that time, and his view that "beauty lies in life" is also contrary to the masters of new literature, so he is constantly criticized and attacked. Lu Xun once said that he was a "free man" and a "third person", so he felt "lonely" and "depressed". "As a writer, his talent is rich; As a man, his will is fragile. He is an aesthete and an idealist. He always looks at everything in this world with a kind and affectionate smile. His thoughts and feelings are as transparent as the water in his hometown of Tuojiang. In this pure feeling, he can't stand blasphemy. Forever Xiangxi is one of his complex and the focus of his writing. The soul of Xiangxi has been integrated with Shen Congwen. It is unlikely that he will jump out. He is puzzled by the contradiction between his Xiangxi complex and the spiritual needs of the times. This kind of psychology has been haunting him. Any blow will touch his fragile nerves. "
What prompted Shen Congwen to finally bid farewell to literature was that on the eve of the liberation of Beiping, Shen Congwen said in a letter to a friend: "The overall situation is undecided ... everything will eventually change. Looking at development from a big perspective, there is no doubt that China will enter a new era. " It is based on this belief that he stayed in Beiping. But soon, Peking University posted a wall newspaper, copying Guo Moruo's "Denying the Reactionary Literati" published in Hong Kong, accusing Shen Congwen of "always acting consciously as a reactionary" and "having bad intentions to confuse readers and soften people's fighting mood". Guo Moruo characterized Shen Congwen's class as a reactionary, just like a blockbuster, which dealt a great blow to Shen Congwen, who was sensitive to criticism. The enormous pressure brought about by this made Shen Congwen once insane. After the liberation of Beiping, Shen Congwen, as a novelist or a university professor, is out of date. One of the most pressing problems is to change careers.
Since then, there has been one less Shen Congwen in China's literary world and one more Shen Congwen in China's cultural relics circle. This is a pity in China's literary world, but it is a blessing in the cultural relics circle. Shen Congwen left Peking University and arranged for the Chinese History Museum. Shen Congwen was forty-seven years old this year. He started as the lowest museum lecturer, and once he did it, it was 10 years. Doing cultural relics research is a very lonely thing, sometimes sitting on the bench all my life. This is because of this choice, "he cultivated in the dusty corner of cultural relics in distant places. Although he worked hard, he avoided one literary struggle after another. When the nightmare woke up and the dust settled, many people were regretting their fate and wasting their time, but Mr. Shen unexpectedly took Wenbo as a textual research work. It is Shen Congwen's best choice for the rest of his life to quit the lively literary world and escape into a deserted empty door. Facts have proved that he is far-sighted, wise but not vain, weak but strong. He didn't betray his personality and conscience, and didn't waste precious time. With the attitude of cultural asceticism, he calmly and persistently completed his life course and realized the real life value. Wang Zengqi, the last descendant of the "Beijing School" writer who once belonged to Shen Congwen, later said: "This career change is really sad and happy, it is hard to say; It's hard to say what you have gained and what you have lost. Step into the cold path and still pick flowers. Flowers are not yesterday's flowers and people are not yesterday's people. "
In fact, Shen Congwen also has feelings for cultural relics, otherwise he would not switch to museums. According to Shen Congwen's autobiography, Shen Congwen first came into contact with cultural relics when he was a teenager. He worked as a secretary next to a commander in Xiangxi and registered his collection of old paintings and antiques. During the Anti-Japanese War in Kunming National Southwest Associated University, he lingered in the beautiful scenery of handicrafts and always picked up some cheap and good things in the stalls, most of which were "flowers, plants, pots and pans" that he often mentioned and devoted himself to later. In the late 1940s, when Peking University was preparing to build a museum, he offered to help, which was quite insightful. That's right. After being transferred to the Museum of Chinese History in 1950s, he took the initiative to be a "commentator" for ten years. This kind of hard physical study and equally hard literature browsing gave him a rare ability to study cultural relics comprehensively. This is the result of his personal understanding and efforts.
Shen Congwen's road of cultural relics research is different from that of contemporary cultural relics experts. He is not an orthodox cultural relic, nor has he experienced the influence of family antiques, nor has he any experience in dealing in antiques. But like his own personality, he took a unique road of cultural relics research: as usual, he studied the cultural relics system very seriously, mastered a wide range of miscellaneous cultural relics knowledge, especially the comprehensive understanding of clothing and utensils, and often had different views on the conclusion. Look down on common sense of cultural relics, and don't believe that common sense can solve problems and overthrow superstitions "("Breaking traditional superstitions with common sense "). The key is that "expert knowledge" sometimes has no "common sense guidance", and the result will not work. Experts who have "knowledge" but little "common sense" look down on the "common sense" of cultural relics because they don't understand or are unwilling to try to understand. Their authoritative position has blocked the role of these meaningful "common sense" in academic development. In the latter half of Shen Congwen's life, he is striving persistently for the popularization of "common sense". Does Shen Congwen's practice have practical significance for today's research and appraisal of literature and drama?
We have to admire Shen Congwen's originality and insight in the study of cultural relics. Gold always shines, and no matter where it is, it always has amazing performance and achievements. From 1957 to 1963, a large number of academic articles were published, including China Silk Patterns, Bronze Mirrors of Tang and Song Dynasties, Dragon and Phoenix Art and Lacquerware of Warring States Period.
1978, under the care of Hu Qiaomu, Shen Congwen was transferred to the Institute of History of China Academy of Social Sciences as a researcher with an assistant. 198 1 year, an eight-volume masterpiece "Research on Ancient Chinese Costume" which was painstakingly written before the Cultural Revolution was printed and published by the Hong Kong Branch of the Commercial Press. Hu Qiaomu sent a congratulatory letter: "With one person's strength, it has lasted for more than ten years, and after many difficulties and obstacles, it is fortunate to get this masterpiece, which is really a great contribution to the academic circles in China." This book became a gift from foreign heads of state when they visited China, and at the same time, it filled a gap in the cultural history of China, thus establishing Shen Congwen's position from a famous writer to a famous historian, archaeologist and costume expert.
His other contribution is his concern and research on miscellaneous cultural relics and even "non-cultural relics" that predecessors and others paid little or no attention to. From now on, the earlier Shen Congwen is very cheap. He bought some staple foods according to his tastes and preferences, and gave them away everywhere after reading them. Because it is worthless, Shen Congwen can see value from them, so he will show enthusiasm for things that can never be exhibited in the accumulated cultural relics warehouse, or things that are unremarkable after being unearthed. In his view, "the value of money is not high, and many of them lack the value of cultural relics." "Only if we can regard it as an underground substance in the history of ancient material development will we feel that there are rich contents here, which are worth discovering, studying and understanding with a new attitude" ("What can we learn from ancient lacquerware"). Only by understanding his academic concerns can we understand his expectations and choices.
The miscellaneous cultural relics that his eyes pay attention to are: silks and satins, lacquerware crafts, jade crafts, ceramic processing, metal processing, early landscape paintings, patterns, mirrors, fans, lamps, screens, tableware, carpets, paper, cars, shoulders, boats, weapons, horse applications and equipment, horse skills and ball games such as circus and polo, mixed geisha and dance music. For various reasons, Shen Congwen left only a few fragments on these diverse and interesting topics, and too much interference offset his diligence and efforts, which is another regret he left us, otherwise we would be lucky to see more achievements.
Today, we look at Shen Congwen's Xiangxi series, the beauty of rural life form and the synthesis of its critical structure and urban life form, and put forward his philosophy of "harmonious coexistence" between man and nature based on nature and returning to nature. The healthy and perfect human nature represented by "Xiangxi", a "beautiful, healthy and natural life form that does not contradict human nature", is exactly the content of all his creations. We can't help thinking, isn't Shen Congwen's literary ideal exactly what our time advocates? Let's review his methods and achievements in cultural relics research. Is there any warning and reference for today's fiery antique market?