Listen to the echoes of the people's hearts

Author: Ning Zong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-04-01
Features: "The emergence of such an intimate relationship, whether for men or women, is not entirely unimportant."① Engels here speaks of a certain universal significance that applies to gender relations in any era. If stated frankly, one might say that in gender relations, there are nothing but "affection" and "desire." "Affection" tends more toward social and ideological aspects, while "desire" tends more toward the physiological. As can be seen from Engels' words, these two are interrelated and inseparable. "Affection" arises not only from a shared ideological foundation and interests but also from the "beauty of the other's physique," naturally leading to the "desire" that Engels pointed out. And as long as this "desire" stems from a "affection" with a reasonable foundation, it remains a natural and normal "human desire," rather than an animalistic instinct detached from humanity. This normal "desire" was distorted by the hypocritical rituals of feudal society. In literary portrayals, the dialectical relationship between these two should not be a taboo. The issue lies in how and why the author writes—whether to depict the truth of social and human reality or to pursue vulgar, purely sensual "interest." In Song and Yuan novels, gender relations were a heavily emphasized topic. Numerous cases of adultery and murder also reflected a side of medieval urban life. Regarding The Severed-Neck Swallowing Society, it has long been a misinterpreted work. People usually view it as a novel with a "naturalistic" tendency that depicts adultery and murder. Moreover, because the author intentionally exaggerated the sexual consciousness and behavior of the protagonist, Jiang Shuzhen, as a detached, static life activity separate from human actions, Jiang Shuzhen's "animalistic physiological needs" are elevated to an overriding position in his portrayal, becoming the lever that drives family conflicts, stirs emotional turmoil, and propels the plot. The author's intention is undoubtedly to condemn this "harlot" and deny her "adultery." However, when we examine the objective significance of the images presented in the work, we find that the novel actually touches on the sexual frustrations of young girls confined to feudal families and numerous social issues, such as the irrationality of the feudal marriage system. As a girl from an ordinary family, Jiang Shuzhen is in her most thoughtful years, and her physiological changes and psychological secrets are unknown to her parents. Only because she lacked self-control at the time, she gained a bad reputation, which led to the ruin of her marriage. To avoid bringing shame upon the family, her parents hastily married her to a man twenty years older than herself from a "farmer's family." After her husband died, she mourned for three years, but because she was not content with her widowhood, she was pushed out of the door and married to a merchant who often traveled for business, eventually leading to an affair and completely descending into a path of degradation, which brought her a fatal catastrophe. In our view, Jiang Shuzhen's tragedy is far from being solely the result of the drive of desire and sexual instinct. As a woman, she had a strong longing for a happy marriage and a joyful family. Even when she had completely fallen, she still experienced deep regret and severe self-reproach, which brought her even deeper sorrow and depression. Jiang Shuzhen's subsequent misfortunes in marriage were not solely due to a careless act during her youth but precisely because the feudal arranged marriage pushed her step by step into the depths of sin, and the feudal rituals devoured a once normal soul. The novel ultimately raises the question of whether the principle of marriage is "ritual and law" or "humanity." In the later novel Ruan San Repaying His Debts at Xianyun Temple, the opening quotes a few proverbs: "Men must marry when they grow old, and women must marry when they grow old; if they do not marry, they will bring disgrace." These words were originally intended to advise parents to marry off their children early to avoid disgrace, but they could never recognize that what is truly important is respecting their children's own wishes. From the above novels, we can roughly see the main characteristics of the realistic social problem novels of the realist school: they avoid the (frivolous and rootless pseudo-romanticism) that had appeared in history, instead radiating the author's deep concern and reflection on society and the people's fate behind cold and stern words. At the same time, they surpass countless novelists who rely on emotions to create works, standing from a political perspective of society to reveal a series of problems faced by the contemporary society, and they dare to confront reality with the courage to intervene in and encompass social issues in politics, morality, ethics, and culture. They have moved from the narrow path of writing about extraordinary individuals or the intellectual class to the vast plains of urban society. Realist social problem novels are, in fact, a special microcosm that can clearly reproduce the laws of the macro world. However, it is not difficult to notice the obvious weaknesses of this genre of novels: pressing issues with empty answers, major issues with weak images. This can almost be seen as the fundamental ideological and artistic tendency of these novels. As social problem novels, they indeed raise issues that the people care about, as these novels vividly reflect the reality of the time. However, at the same time, we see that the authors' understanding of the feudal system remains superficial, and they only see the phenomena of the evils of the feudal society without penetrating to its essence or attributing all these evils to the feudal system itself. Their remedies for the world are nothing more than hoping for the emergence of a "just official" to purify the world or "shaving their heads to become nuns" to show their detachment from the mortal world. But where is the better way? The unity of thought and theme in social problem novels is not simple or clear but complex and contradictory. On one hand, the works widely and keenly discover and raise issues, exposing the appalling cruelty of reality and demonstrating the author's "wisdom" and "insight," thus embodying the spirit of the reformers of the Song and Yuan dynasties. On the other hand, when delving into and attempting to solve these issues, they often fail to face them directly, avoiding struggle and resolving contradictions, lacking enough "courage" and showing the temperament of the weak. On one hand, they express dissatisfaction and protest against inhumane events, but on the other hand, they are bewildered and helpless in the face of the powerful feudal forces, making the author's "benevolence" also become the "benevolence" of the weak to a certain extent. Moreover, on one hand, they listen to the echoes of the folk soul with a clear attitude toward right and wrong, but on the other hand, they often fail to understand complex social contradictions, so this "insight" is also the "spiritual poverty" of the "insightful." In terms of wisdom, benevolence, insight, and courage, these realistic social problem novels are uneven and unbalanced. In art, social problem novels often pay more attention to events than to characters, and the portrayal of events is largely constrained by the original events, unable to generalize based on positive purposes. The so-called "quick breakthrough" and "fusion" not only demonstrate the novelist's speed and agility in summarizing reality and reflecting life but also inevitably lead to haste and roughness, thus hindering the creation of vivid and distinctive images with strong vitality and individuality. Between the legendary nature of the novel and the full portrayal of character, the story of the novel clearly leans toward the former. Additionally, Song and Yuan novel stories tend to have a formulaic artistic structure. For example, in social problem novels, those that narrate lawsuits often follow a certain structural pattern, generally consisting of two parts. The first part shows how the lawsuit event occurs, revealing the picture of urban life and reflecting the various contradictions and entanglements of society through the process of the case. The second part describes how the court judges the case, exposing the darkness and corruption of the feudal authoritarian institutions and criticizing the ignorant, greedy, and cruel officials, with the final resolution being the emergence of a "just official" to overturn the injustice. Under this narrative perspective, the structure of such novels is predetermined: when the author uses structure as one means of refining material, they do not grasp the event from the perspective of the subjective feelings and consciousness flow of the characters but objectively follow the inevitable logical structure of cause and effect under the control of time and space, shaping the plot. This fixed pattern often limits the work's ability to better develop conflicts. After all, love is a beautiful and moving realm in human life. Here, human passion, demeanor, personality, and the strength of character are more easily and fully expressed than in other aspects.