1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 156 "Stream of Consciousness"

At this time, stream of consciousness is a new concept belonging to the foreign modernist school, with the representative work being "Remembrance of Things Past".

However, there are already some forward-thinking writers in China who are using it, such as Wang Meng, who has been exploring this new concept in the past two years.

This year, his work "Voice of Spring", published in "People's Literature", almost abandoned the traditional novel narrative mode and was written using the modernist "stream of consciousness" method.

The term "stream of consciousness" sounds high-sounding, but to put it simply, it focuses on the flow of the character's consciousness, breaking up the narrative and exaggerating the details.

For example, the traditional narrative mode glossed over the content: "Tonight, I slept with a beautiful woman."

Written in the "stream of consciousness" style, it becomes "I buried my head in her hair. It was the fragrance of apple blossoms in April of my childhood, coming with the warm wind. I sat on my father's shoulders. The apple blossoms bloomed. I happily picked one and put it in my mouth."
She hummed softly. Wasn't that the sound of a small animal being caught in a net? When I was ten years old, I was sitting in the courtyard enjoying the cool breeze. A small squirrel was trapped in a net. I gently picked up the scissors and carefully cut the net that bound it. It bit me.
When she was stronger, she frowned, and her willow eyebrows looked like a wisp of purple smoke from Mount Lu! 'The sun shines on the incense burner and produces purple smoke, and I can see the waterfall hanging in the river in the distance'. When I was in the second grade of junior high school, I watched the clouds on the Xianglu Peak with my parents, and there was also a movie called "Lushan Love", and there was also a novel about it. "

Anyway, just like Yanbian Assassin, the main focus is on divergent thinking.

After sleeping with her, he even thought of a name for his grandson.

"Montage is a series of techniques used in movies to express the multiplicity of things. Stream-of-consciousness novelists often use this technique to break through the limitations of time and space and express the variability and complexity of the flow of consciousness."

In the cafeteria, the students who had just escaped from the influence of left-wing literature listened attentively to Wang Meng's description of the world's literary trends over the past hundred years, and absorbed it desperately.

After the morning classes are over, the tables are simply cleared and the large dining hall becomes a real dining hall.

Jiang Xian got a bowl of rice weighing 4 taels and a portion of minced meat and eggplant, then sat down at his seat and ate without slurping. The students around him who were attending the literary seminar were all discussing "stream of consciousness" literature and studying "stream of consciousness" essays.

"I haven't read Professor Wang Meng's article yet. Is there any in our reference room?"

"I still have to hand in my homework. What should I do?"

"Comrades, rest assured, I will not be able to hand in this assignment." Mo Shen patted his chest and spoke with a thick northern Shaanxi accent.

The discussion continued to the dormitory during lunch break and to the cafeteria in the afternoon.

Jia Dashan, who had always been silent, announced to the students that he had completed a stream-of-consciousness exercise, and now he would read it to everyone.

"Comrade Dashan, what are you writing about?" Kong Jiesheng asked.

"It's about a harvest story, titled: Straw Hats in the Field."

A group of students were greatly shocked. They sat in a row, shared fruits and listened attentively. Among them was Qiao Dianyun, the oldest student in the literary lecture. He is 49 years old this year and is a farmer writer.

"Comrades, I will now recite this stream of consciousness exercise to you."

There was a hint of peasant-like cunning in Jia Dashan's eyes, and he said loudly:
"Straw hat, straw hat, straw hat, big straw hat, small straw hat, undulating straw hat, spinning straw hat, sunny straw hat, straw hat, straw hat, straw hat"

"."

The students laughed so hard that they fell over, and finally got to see what "Ji Zhong Slow Talent" is.

But Jia Dashan never laughed and insisted on reading the novel to the end.

"Comrade Dashan is really something." Wang Anyi also leaned forward and covered her mouth with her hands to laugh. "How could you make such a joke?"

Jiang Xian said nothing, but his eyes were meaningful.

In fact, he could see that this essay was Jia Dashan's expression of his disgust with the half-baked concept of stream of consciousness in modern novels in China, and his insistence on the classic narrative principles that he always adhered to.

In the afternoon class, he handed this "stream of consciousness" exercise directly to Wang Meng, becoming the first student to complete the assignment and expressing his attitude.

"What the modern novel technique conceals behind its alternative approach is the weakness of the narrative."

After hearing this, Wang Meng just smiled and didn't say much.

I continued teaching new concepts and ideas for the entire afternoon. After finishing, I urged the students to learn from Comrade Dashan and complete their assignments and submit them as soon as possible.

After dinner, the students walked in groups behind the party school. Jiang Xian also joined them. In his previous life, he wrote online articles and did not pay attention to exercise. He had backaches, constipation and kidney deficiency from writing too much. He did not want to ruin his body by writing articles in this life.

In the words of Haruki Murakami, this is called the balance of body and mind.

Behind the Party School there was an undulating mound of earth with a forest of trees on it and two residential buildings standing not far away.

The friends in the front were discussing the issue of "stream of consciousness" writing.

Jiang Xian said nothing as he walked leisurely at the end, reading the novel in his mind, a novel successfully synthesized from "The Refugees" and "Rice".

Well, it was in line with his expectations.

The fog and cold wind of the April evening penetrated into his bones, and as he read the novel, he could not help but shudder from the bottom of his heart.

"Comrade Jiang Xian."

Wang Anyi didn't know when she and he fell to the end of the team.

"Are you feeling cold?"

"This is not."

Wang Anyi held it in for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking: "Comrade Jiang Xian, what do you think of the 'stream of consciousness' exercise?"

33 students had different opinions on the "stream of consciousness" exercise.

After all, the concept of "stream of consciousness" literature had just been introduced into China. Even though Wang Meng had set a precedent, he still had not written a masterpiece as grand as a rafter, and lacked amazing works.

Jiang Xian pondered for a moment and analyzed: "Although 'stream of consciousness' writing abandons clear story lines and logic, the narrative principle of creating characters and stories as the ultimate aesthetic is actually difficult. I think this is a challenge to the writer's imagination, life experience, and language ability, isn't it? So I am willing to look at 'stream of consciousness' literary works with a tolerant attitude."

Wang Anyi's eyes lit up when she heard this. "You're right. I also think that Comrade Dashan and his colleagues are too stubborn. Stream of consciousness has brought a new opportunity to novel writing."

"Stream of consciousness" literature currently occupies an awkward position in Chinese literature. The literary world does not have a deep understanding of "stream of consciousness". Most writers, like Jia Dashan, remain skeptical of these half-baked modern novel concepts. Even if some writers with advanced consciousness are using it, it is only on the surface.

The Eastern literary world lacks a founder, an Eastern Marcel Proust, and an Eastern "Remembrance of Things Past" to break the current embarrassing situation of "stream of consciousness" literature.

Proust is hailed as one of the greatest novelists in the history of world literature in the 20th century because his work "In Search of Lost Time" shocked the literary world and laid the foundation for the development of Western stream-of-consciousness literature.

Back in the dormitory, I heard Kong Jiesheng curiously asking Jiang Zilon about his manuscript.

"Have you finished the revision? When do you plan to publish it?"

"June, maybe."

Jiang Zilon said regretfully that his manuscript still needed to be revised, as the characters were not fully fleshed out enough, and the earliest he could publish it was in a journal in June this year.

"June? That's early enough." Kong Jiesheng breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Zilon only had time to submit his manuscript in June. By the time he graduated in July, many people would have just finished drafting a manuscript and would not have had enough time to publish it.

In this way, he wouldn't have to worry about being left too far behind, and wouldn't have to force himself to create on a large scale.

This beautiful dream only lasted for one night.

The next day, news came from the Writers Association that the leadership team had made a resolution to officially change the name of the literary workshop to: the Fifth Literary Workshop.

Added graduation project!

There will be no graduation in July. The institute will give you a one-month vacation to complete your graduation project, which must be submitted before the official graduation in September. The institute will contact the journal for review and approval for outstanding graduation projects.

The atmosphere suddenly became hot.

(End of this chapter)