Is Brother Feng's Kunlun and the Sea well written?
I have always believed that phoenix songs contain a kind of "gradual revolution" in the traditional form (this name was summarized for me by China Reading Newspaper, so I accepted it gladly, and maybe it will become a signboard for me in the future). In Kunlun, the phoenix song realizes the gradual change of the ideological and cultural connotation of martial arts novels in Jin Yong's era with the traditional bridge, that is, the so-called "old bottle and new wine". In "The Sea", phoenix songs still keep the style of keeping pace with the times, but at the same time, they work hard on the traditional form to make it more exquisite. As Mr. Yan Jiayan said when commenting on Jin Yong's novels, "it exudes charming cultural atmosphere." I think this is not only the inheritance of national cultural knowledge, but also the manifestation of national aesthetic form and the spread of national narrative charm. In short, the sea is more attractive than Kunlun, and phoenix songs are more mature in meticulous work. Before, I had more expectations for phoenix songs and thought Kunlun was symbolic. Now that I think about it, there was nothing wrong with the expectation at that time. Phoenix songs were emerging from the forest.
The sea is especially recommended here, and I think there are several points worth mentioning:
First, the sea introduces fashion elements.
Speaking of the main line of the sea, in fact, it is still an old-school, ordinary-born teenager, who has experienced many adventures, hardships, rivers and lakes, wandering around the world, and finally became an atmosphere. But the question is, when and where did he travel, what happened to whom, how did he accept it, and what was his motivation? "The Sea" categorically abandons the traditional "eight sects" and doesn't want to be the "martial arts leader". Instead, it describes our role in the series of computer games "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms", building a brand-new eight magical powers in Dongdao and Xicheng, and experiencing the sea-country transaction in the "Great Navigation Age". Phoenix songs that don't pursue fashion are obviously more like a video game than Kunlun. Under the traditional bridge here, it has become fashionable, that is to say, it is closer to the psychological distance of the digital age.
Moreover, the core clue of the fate of the leading figures is not so much the experience of chivalrous men as the experience of solving puzzles in martial arts. Although it is still a traditional Jianghu experience, isn't this the growth mode of integral upgrade in the virtual space of the digital age? Lu's Dark Days reminds me of Six Sexy Qi. However, Lu's nature is simple, while his nature is natural, so their martial arts are different. Ling Huchong is taking advantage of the trend, not solving puzzles; However, Lu gradually experienced a series of tempering from technical wisdom to abstract wisdom. Whether he finally solved this mystery has not been explained in the part I saw. Feng Ge didn't like the happy ending of Kunlun and didn't let Liang Xiao seek the true meaning of mathematics. What will happen to Lu gradually in the sea? Naturally, I won't win. 5? Loyalty and disaster? Cut the spine and admire the J sword? Are you in a hurry? Mi Wei point? Comfortable?
Secondly, the sea has deepened the consciousness of life.
At the beginning, The Sea is mainly a dispute between rivers and lakes, but with the development of the plot, it leads to the national economy and people's livelihood step by step, which is steeper than Jin Yong's novels. If Guo Jing's "for the country and the people" is mainly manifested in defending Xiangyang, prolonging Song Zuo is for the country and keeping the people for the people. Then, in "Kunlun", Liang Xiao explained that Jin Yong's novels were not developed by his abandoned son between Mongolia and Song Dynasty. The theme of "death, people can't live", so as to pursue a peaceful environment without war; In Flowers on the Sea, Lu gradually realized the people's livelihood position that "thieves pass like combs, soldiers pass like fences", and this people's livelihood position must be realized through war, so he wrote Qi Jiguang, a national hero and anti-Japanese star. It is worth noting that the respect for human life shown here, combined with the historical background, even looks like a historical novel. This is the same as Mr. Jin Yong's attempt to show the historical essence of China in The Duke Of Mount Deer, while "Feng Ge" actually shows the true colors of China's history at that time.
If Liang Xiao is hesitant and vacillating, then Yan Lu is honest and tolerant, while Gu Zhen is cruel and kind. Liang Xiao thinks about what life is, or the most basic natural value of life, starting from the attitude of characters to life. Lu and Gu Zhen gradually showed different forms of fraternity and respect for life. Although they are still in a spontaneous state, their consciousness of life is almost the same in a conscious state. Respecting people and cherishing life is undoubtedly a modern humanistic consciousness and an advanced idealism.
Third, the sea reflects on technical science.
In Kunlun, Liang Xiao used mathematics as a technical tool, first applied it to martial arts, then to military formations and more workplaces, and replaced the previous position of philosophy in martial arts novels with mathematics. "Sea" is different from "Kunlun". As its martial power, Black Book seems to have been sublimated from technical science and entered the level of theoretical science. Its four laws of darkness seem to be a system theory and cybernetics, and further developed into relativity. The concept of time and space of material power is bent and enlarged. Although the concept of traditional mysterious culture is borrowed here, such as Yin-Yang and Five Elements, it is different from the traditional theory of Yin-Shu. Among them, Yao Qing (ugly slave) planted the plot of "evil factor" in the way of land, which is more like the fictional view of time and space and evolutionary chain theory of western fantasy and science fiction movies such as The Game of the Brave.
While presenting the ultimate pursuit of the eight technological sciences in Xicheng, like many martial arts novels, Brother Feng also reflected on the disaster caused by excessive pursuit of technological sublimation. In other words, the black book itself is a fable of technical ethics reflection, and the slave stealing practice from it even goes far beyond the highly developed state of human talent in technical details. I think it looks like a robot in modern science fiction. In the mid-20th century, Isaac? Asimov and John? Campbell * * * agrees with the "Three Principles of Robot Creation": (1) Robots must not hurt people, nor can they stand by and watch things that hurt people; (2) Robots should obey all human commands; (3) Robots should protect their own safety. I thought that in the sea, the relationship between man and robot only evolved into the relationship between robbers and slaves. Robots are not people after all, so their ethical problems are quickly solved. Robbers and slaves are all human beings. Robbers are mostly smart, clever and lovely people, who destroy beautiful things for people to see. Once beautiful things wake up, they will fight and get widespread sympathy. Therefore, ethical reflection is bound to come here.
Finally, it is the sea that refines the story.
Perhaps it is because Kunlun is the first long novel of Feng Ge. Although it has reached a certain comprehensiveness, there are still some immature places. For example, some people think that Kunlun is not a very mature work. Its long structure, plain characters and imitation of classic martial arts works make people nervous after reading this work. "Then after watching the sea, I deeply felt that Feng Ge had made great progress in technical details. He has a good grasp of the rhythm and is relaxed, and there are few unnecessary nonsense in Kunlun. For the creation and development of suspense about characters and gangs, there are very few dispensable subplots. Although the sea is still very long, it is much more economical than Kunlun. Just like Feng Ge's current writing and living conditions, there are less worldly entanglements and more room for rumination. It can be said that this is a slow-moving novel, and there are more and more best-selling books, not just exciting best-sellers who immediately shed tears.
Of course, we may need to wait patiently enough. This work has not been finished yet, and what the phoenix song will be like will only be broken down next time. But I'm almost sure that after three years of hard work, I wrote the phoenix song of Kunlun, and this round has made a lot of progress. Although I am still using traditional methods, I have been quietly carrying out a "gradual revolution". He surpassed Kunlun with "sea" and embraced "mountain" with greater capacity of "sea". Maybe this is the "essence" all the way.
Han Yunbo: Editor of Journal of Southwest Normal University, postdoctoral fellow in literature, expert in martial arts criticism, member of China Qin and Han Historical Society, director of Chongqing Ancient Literature Society and member of Chongqing Writers Association, mainly engaged in the editing, research and teaching of China classical literature and traditional culture.