Biancheng is regarded by many readers as "a work that proves that all human beings are good". The term "Border Town" has been recognized as a cultural concept of "the beauty of human nature in western Hunan" in the minds of many readers. However, if we look deeper, we will find that such a statement only sees the aura of beauty in the work, while the shadows of the story such as the characters' abnormal deaths, running away from home, and the destruction of love are not seen by the people. However, if we look deeper, we will find that this statement only sees the aura of beauty in the work, while the shadows of the characters' unnatural deaths, running away from home, and broken love are "ignored. This may be what the author meant by "buying a box of pearls".

I

"Border Town" depicts a picture of the simple style of the people, where "a group of good people" who have not been contaminated by the modern civilization live, and the love between them is even more important because of the unique characteristics of the man and the woman that meet the aesthetic standards of the countryside. The love that occurs between them is even more aesthetic because of the unique appearance of the man and the woman, which meets the aesthetic standards of the country people, as well as the mutual attraction of the souls of the men and the women. In view of this, it seems to be as Mr. Liu Xiwei (Li Jianwu) said: "...... In this place of innocence, may I ask, can there be a bad man? In this bright character, may I ask, can there be a shadow left?" However, in this full of goodness and beauty "paradise", what happened was a tragic end of love: Cuicui lonely at the ferry waiting for the return of Nuo Nuo, and Nuo Nuo "may never come back, maybe tomorrow back". Left behind is the bleak aftertaste, is the life and death, will meet the sentiment of no fate. What is the reason for this tragedy? Most commentators attribute it to the accidental factor of the bad Tianbao bubble, as well as the social factors that forced the old boatman to make the move of "old but good" - feudal patriarchy and the sale of marriage. This argument is justified, it seems to have grasped all the causes of the tragedy, but a careful scrutiny, we will find that it only captures the objective aspects of the cause of the tragedy, and the subjective aspects - in love plays a decisive role in Shunshun and Nuo Nuo's psychological defects relatively ignored.

The people of the border town is a representative of the beauty of human nature, but this does not mean that they are perfect, as the author said: "some aspects of life is extremely great, some aspects and extremely ordinary; some aspects of temperament is extremely beautiful, some aspects and extremely trivial." The life in western Hunan has the aspect of "the harmony between human and nature", but it is also "full of primitive and mysterious horror", and "savagery and beauty" are intertwined together. This is to be developed in the state of the original free human nature, inevitably has its dark side. Cuicui and Nuo's tragedy just to expose this dark side, that is, the border people under the pure and healthy human nature hidden thousands of years of national psychic ills - the superstitious idea of fate. They thought that all the trouble originated in the netherworld of karma, for some of the trouble they can not explain, always put them and people's words and deeds rigidly linked to the belief that people's words and deeds contrary to common sense is bound to cause trouble, and then by suspicion, misunderstanding and produce a divide, and even ultimately lead to tragedy. It is this psychological ills, so that Shunshun father and son unconsciously acted as a tragedy maker. First of all, "the boat is always exceptionally bold character, but not willing to indirectly the first son killed the girl, and then come to be the second son in law". And then Nuo send although facing love and money choices when choosing love, but failed to Cuicui to get closer, and only body down the Taoyuan. Thus, the old boatman for Cuicui's hope for a better future invisible by Shunshun father and son of the unconscious indifference to the destruction of his will to survive is also destroyed, and finally in the night of the thunderstorm to complete the voyage of his life. And Cuicui can finally only stand alone at the ferry, waiting for the return of her beloved who does not know the date of her return. When, Shunshun, especially Nuo himself overcame the ills of the soul, eliminated by the superstition caused by the divide, when the lovers can finally get married. However, to erase the dark side of human nature is not easy, Shunshun, especially Nuo Nuo himself can break through this psychological barrier is difficult to predict, all this can only be answered by time.

Two

Shen Congwen said in the "Border City": "I want to show that this is a 'form of life', a 'beautiful, healthy, natural, and not contrary to the human form of life! '." An accurate understanding of this passage is an important clue to grasp the inner meaning of the work. Most commentators tend to turn a blind eye to "not contrary to human nature" when making their arguments, but only grasp the bright words such as "beautiful, healthy, natural" and the beautiful aura of the work, and conclude that what Border Town is trying to express is an "ideal form of life". Border Town" is to express an "ideal form of life" and to praise "the beauty of human nature" and so on. I think this is one-sided. In Shen Congwen's social thought and aesthetic thought, "human nature" is a very important concept, is the soul of the content of the novel, as the author said: "I just want to build a small Greek temple,...... this temple enshrines the 'human nature'. Humanity'." The connotation of his "humanity" is not only the "beautiful humanity" understood by most commentators, but also an objective reality of "gold and sand coexisting". The form of life to be expressed in the work is not completely idealized, although it has the characteristics of an ideal, but is a realistic form of life - natural, beautiful and mixed with "sand".

Of course, it is not enough to explore the inner meaning of the work only on the basis of creative talk, as Lawrence said: "Never believe the artist, but believe the story he writes. The role of the critic is to save the story from the artist who created it." The key to criticism is to use the work as the basis, and to dig into its inner meaning through the life view provided by the work, especially the character psychology. Undeniably, "Border Town" has a great deal of space for enthusiastic portrayal and eulogy of the beauty of human nature in western Hunan, thus reflecting the writer's pursuit of the "ideal form of human nature" and the freedom of life, but after all, this is only the writer's good will, which does not represent the whole content of the work. The fact is that the end of "Border Town" is an unexpected variation, a specific ending, but also a tragedy in the sense of reality. It is true that, as most commentators say, this tragedy shows the uncertainty of life in the moment of life. But this is not the ultimate point of the work. This uncertainty is the result of both chance events and subjective human factors, i.e., the destructive behavior of the characters, unconsciously and unintentionally. The backbone of the story and the ending of the work are aimed at exposing the dark side of the beautiful human nature through this "uncertainty of destiny" - a chronic disease deep in the hearts and minds of the nation. It is this chronic disease that makes waves at critical moments and eventually becomes the factor that dominates the fate of the characters. Shen Congwen is aware of the tragic factor in all the events, but his pursuit of "the development of human nature to the good" makes him not bear to expose the dark side of human nature too much, and not bear to push the fate of the characters to the tragic end, and he longs for the little children under his pen to get a reasonable arrangement of their lives, so he does not hesitate to spend a lot of ink and ink to show the human nature and the beauty of human nature. Therefore, he does not hesitate to spend a lot of ink to show the beauty of human nature. However, even though he makes his characters transcend the obstacles of reality and pursue free love in disregard of feudalism and money power, he is unable to erase the shadow cast by the traditional superstitious idea of providence on the pure and simple human nature. As a result of this shadow, his sons and daughters finally became separated and performed a tragedy without knowing the date of return. This is what the author does not want to see, but it is an unavoidable reality. This is the "hidden grief behind the work".

Three

The aesthetician Santayana once divided artistic expression into two related items: "The first is the thing actually presented, a word, an image, or an expressive thing; the second is the thing implied, the deeper thought and feeling." We can understand this when we examine the connotations of Shen Congwen's novels. The life in western Hunan is an important part of Shen's novels. For the lower class people, Shen focuses on showing the hardworking, courageous, upright, kind and simple virtues embedded in them, tries hard to dig out the beauty of human nature in them, and puts the ideal of remodeling the national character in them. He unearths the gold of human nature in the rural society of western Hunan, and at the same time understands the defects of superstition and ignorance of this human nature in the state of primitive self-containedness. This defect is the dark side of the beautiful human nature, which has a destructive effect that cannot be ignored. When it strikes, it is bound to destroy the harmonious state of people's self-reliance and become the resistance of "man and nature". The love tragedy of Border Town is the result of this defect. By now, the content of Border Town is not a single "proof that all human nature is good" or an exposure of the dark side of human nature, but a demonstration of the confrontation between the dark side of human nature and the "harmony between human nature and mankind" and the punishment of human beings in this confrontation, and an inspiration to people through the punishment of this punishment. Through the realization of such punishment, people are inspired to "be able to investigate the crux of all the problems of this nation, and figure out what retribution we have already suffered because of this national outlook on life of lethargy, cowardice, superstition, and laziness, as a result of the effects of history, and what other tragic scenes we are bound to have if we continue to be confused and foolish in the future.... ...What can and should be done for the self-existence of this nation."

(From "Appreciation of Masterpieces," No. 4, 2000)

V. Excerpts from the Commentary on "Border Town"

1. The famous writer Wang Zengqi made a comment on Shen Congwen: "Besides Lu Xun, who else's literary achievement is higher than his?"

2. Shen Congwen's novels are unique in their local characteristics. His themes, characters, natural scenery, customs and language, all coated with the mark of "western Hunan". The themes are taken from the daily life of western Hunan society; the characters are the "fools" in the rural areas of western Hunan, a group of native-born "country people"; the scenery is the fascinating beauty of the mountains and waters of western Hunan. Shen Congwen is a master of depicting local customs, he painted a long scroll of customs, marriage, customs, dress, myths, legends, beliefs, etiquette ...... everything, everything is strange, making him a modern Chinese "custom painter". He is especially good at revealing the beauty of human feelings and human nature contained in these ancient customs and practices handed down from generation to generation, which is fascinating and amazing. In addition, Shen Congwen used the earthy flavor of the dialect, which makes his novels full of rich local characteristics of western Hunan.

(Wang Jialiang, Li Biaojing, a new history of modern Chinese literature)

3. The poetry of "Border Town" comes first from the rich local flavor of western Hunan. Writers through the love story between Cuicui and Nuo and Tianbao. The natural scenery and life style of Chadong is intricately displayed in front of the reader. The crystal clear river, the water based on the mountains of the small city, the river street hammock, that climbed the cable ferry, the relationship between Chadong "feng shui" of the white tower, the deep green forced people in the bamboo bamboo birds chirping, ...... these local colorful scenery, are Natural and beautiful, beautiful and not thick coated with colorful foam.

(Pan Xulan "rereading" Biancheng>)

4. "I'm going to take the boat down Taoyuan County across Dongting Lake, so that grandfather full of gongs to call me, lit lanterns and torches to find me." "Going away" is a very culturally rich imagery, which is very "modern". Because of the impact of Western modernity, the feeling of being "at home" (a state of homogeneity) has been shattered, the traditional world of harmony is no longer intact, and the home is in ruins. So they had to leave - to find their spiritual home. What about Grandpa? "What to do? Take a knife, put it in your bag, take the launching boat and kill her!" Cuicui was frightened and called out, "Grandpa, Grandpa, row the boat back!" "I want you!" Cuicui needs her grandfather, she needs tradition, she can't cut off history. Cuicui "sat on the cliff and felt sad." The imagery of "cliff" accurately reveals Cuicui's predicament of being on the verge of an abyss and in a dilemma: there is no way out of her waking dream - this is the ****same fate of all non-Western peoples and cultures facing the impact of Western modernity. If Cuicui really left, what happened after she left? -- "Or there are really only two ways, either to fall or to come back."

(Xiang Gang, "Dreaming of a Broken Border City--Analysis of Shen Congwen's "Border City")

5. Shen Congwen's middle grade novel "Border City" is a masterpiece, and its artistic originality is mainly manifested in two aspects: as a pinnacle of the pastoral tradition of modern Chinese literature, it consolidates, develops, and deepens the mode of vernacular lyricism; following Lu Xun, it is a masterpiece of the modern Chinese literary tradition, and it is a masterpiece of the modern Chinese literary tradition. lyrical mode; it reshaped the image of China after Lu Xun's A Q Zheng Zhuan. The pastoral attributes of Biancheng and the image of China are mutually reinforcing, providing a classic style and mood for late-developed countries to respond to passive modernization. Further analysis also shows that Border Town, as a literary distillation of the cultural conformist trend since the modern era, has profound textual flaws and problems such as the appropriation of alien cultural resources, which reveals the virtual and strategic nature of the subject nation's poetic imagination of the self, and its close connection with the alien imagination in Western literature.

(Liu Hongtao, "Border Town: Pastoral Song and the Image of China")

6. Shen Congwen's novels, what position should they occupy in the history of literature? Yu Jiefu said in the introduction to the biography of Shen Congwen: "It can be envisioned that critics in non-Western countries, including China's, will one day make a fair assessment of Shen Congwen: see Shen Congwen, Flaubert, Stern, and Prost as writers of equal achievement."

7. "Border Town" is an elegiac lyric poem. Liu Xiwei said that "Border Town" is "a masterpiece of idyllic poetry". Su Xuelin thinks that "the majestic and beautiful scenery of nature and the free and indulgent life of primitive people originally carry the beauty of infinite mystery and the flavor of infinite lyric poetry". Shen Congwen himself also admitted that, inspired by the waste of name (Feng Wenbing), "writing in the tone of lyric poetry," melting the mood of Tang poetry, forming a kind of hazy beauty.

8. The local color of "Border Town" is extremely distinctive, and the projection of the times is not easy to catch, as if the author only recounted a story and depicted a paradise. So Mr. Shen sighed: "you can appreciate the freshness of my story, as a rule, the work behind the hidden enthusiasm but ignored. You can appreciate the simplicity of my words, but as a rule, the hidden sorrow behind the work is also ignored." Zhu Xianqian also pointed out that "Border Town" "shows that the minority people who have been oppressed for a long time and are rich in fantasy and sensitivity have a deep worry and hidden pain in their hearts". However, in order to "try to avoid the superficial enthusiasm of the text", the projection of the era of "Border Town" is extremely light and shallow.

9. "Border Town" is a perfect fairy tale told by the old woman. Most fairy tales are beautiful, but the problem with fairy tales is that they are too perfect. Su Xuelin in "Shen Congwen" in the criticism is more pertinent, she pointed out that Shen Congwen's novel "too casually", "in the structure of the more negligent", "redundant and dragged, and sometimes tired to dress up a hundred words can not be selected The 'central idea'". Many scholars also said that shen "understand the life of the people of western Hunan ...... he only know some of their situation, and have not lived with them, naturally, more have not been connected". Therefore, "Shen's works reflect the life of a very broad but not deep, the ideological mood is not high", "as if the flowers in the fog, the moon in the clouds", giving people the feeling of "false". Wang Yao also pointed out that Shen Congwen "prose narrative story, sometimes very dragged".