What is prose?

Modern prose refers to a literary genre that is juxtaposed with novels, poems and plays, and has two understandings: broad and narrow.

Prose in a broad sense refers to all literary prose except poetry, novels and dramas. In addition to discussing lyric prose, it also includes communication, reportage, essays, memoirs, biographies and other styles. With the development of writing discipline, many styles stand on their own feet, and the scope of prose is shrinking day by day.

Prose in a narrow sense refers to literary prose, which is a kind of literary style with narrative or lyricism, extensive materials, flexible brushwork, short length and rich love for literature.

Classification of prose

Prose has three functions: narration, discussion and lyricism. Accordingly, prose can be divided into narrative prose, lyric prose and argumentative prose.

1. Narrative prose

Prose that mainly narrates people, events and scenes is called narrative prose.

Narrative prose is complete in narrative, vivid in characters, and the author's feelings are devoted to the description of the scenery. This kind of prose is similar to short stories, but there are obvious differences. As far as narrative is concerned, the events described in prose do not require complete plots, let alone twists and turns, and the requirements for narrative in novels are much higher than those in prose; In addition, prose needs to be full of emotion when it is narrated, and the emotion of the novel is mainly reflected by the characters, and the author does not need to express it clearly. As far as the author is concerned, the novel needs to strive to create typical characters, which are all fictional by the author. On the other hand, the characters in prose are cut and processed on the basis of real people and things, paying attention to the freehand description of characters.

According to the different emphases of this kind of prose, it can be divided into note prose and writer prose.

Notes-based prose takes the development of events as a clue and emphasizes the narrative nature of events. It can be a story with a beginning and an end, such as "Peanut" by Xu Dishan, or it can be several fragments, such as "From Baicaoyuan to Santan Yinyue" by Lu Xun. The author's sincere feelings are poured into the narrative, which is the most remarkable difference from the novel narrative.

People-oriented prose, the whole article is people-centered. It often grasps the character characteristics of the characters, makes a rough outline, and emphasizes the basic temperament, personality and mental outlook of the characters, such as Mr. Fujino in Lu Xun's works. Whether the characters are real or not is the difference between them and novels.

In addition, there is a kind of prose, which focuses on the description of scenery. This kind of prose describes the scenery of a place, except some local customs, mainly tourist prose. Its content is very extensive, including mountains, rivers, customs and places of interest. The main characteristics of travel prose are: the scenery described in the work must be completely true, and exaggeration and fiction are not allowed; But it is not based on similar records, but the author melts feelings into things and realizes the blending of scenes.

4. Lyric prose

Prose mainly used to express the author's subjective feelings is called lyric prose.

Emotion is the common feature of all prose, but compared with other prose, lyric prose is more emotional, imaginative and poetic.

Lyric prose mainly uses the methods of symbol, metaphor and personification to convey the author's feelings through external image description, so borrowing scenery to express emotion and expressing ambition are the most commonly used methods in this kind of prose. The method of expressing one's mind directly can appear in the article, but it is rare to see someone using this method throughout.

In symbolic prose, the author melts emotions into concrete things with symbolic meaning, and expresses subjective emotions with the help of pictographic association or implied association. For example, most of Yang Shuo's essays, poplars' contradictory praise and so on.

Lyric prose by borrowing scenery embodies feelings in the scenery, endows the scenery with life, writes the scenery clearly and writes feelings secretly, so as to achieve the blending of the scene and the scene. Such as Zhu Ziqing's Moonlight on the Lotus Pond and Liu's Sunrise.

3. Argumentative essay

Prose that mainly expresses opinions is called discussion prose.

Like lyric prose, it pays attention to the expression of emotion, but the difference is that discussion prose is more important than reason, and lyric prose is more important than emotion.

It is different from the general argumentative essay, based on facts and logic, and mainly based on literary images. This is a literary argumentative essay.

There are vivid images and strict logic; It is necessary to move people with emotion and convince them with reason; Blend form, emotion and reason in one furnace, and integrate political theory and literature and art. Lu Xun's essays and Tao Zhu's Style of Pine Trees are both typical essays.

Characteristics of prose

1. Strong documentary nature

Prose has a strong documentary nature. However, there are still great differences in the understanding of documentary, and there are three representative views.

First, advocate absolute truth: "Describing real people and stories is the primary feature of prose. Prose writers rely on travel visits, investigate and study rich materials, and carefully examine the course of events, the truth of characters and the real scene of the venue before they start writing. The characteristics of prose must not rely on fiction. The main difference between it and novels and dramas is here. " (Preface to Selected Works of Zhou Libo, Selected Works (1959- 1962) People's Literature Publishing House 1963)

The second is to advocate "big reality and small emptiness": "Prose writing does not absolutely exclude any fiction in material selection. That is to say, under the premise of keeping the subject matter generally true (please note that the concept here is not equal to the meaning of' authenticity' in literature and science, so it is called' documentary nature of the subject matter'), the fiction of some details and even the virtuality of a minor character are not only habitual, permissible and sometimes even necessary in creative practice. ..... The key is to' take all sizes'. " (Essays on Korean Writing Theory, published by Beijing Normal University Press)

Third, practical writing should be strictly realistic; Fiction is allowed in the prose for appreciation: "When talking about prose creation, we can't help but talk about fiction. Novel is a widely used method in literary and artistic creation, which plays an important role in summarizing social life, shaping typical images and highlighting the theme of works. Prose creation does not blindly exclude this method. The reason why the genre of prose with realistic characteristics does not exclude fiction is because people have written prose for practicality and appreciation since ancient times. Practical prose can only be strictly realistic, and fiction is not allowed; Prose for appreciation, realism is not so strict, allowing fictional elements to exist. " (Guan Xian's prose realism theory)

Of these three opinions, we think the second one is desirable. First of all, the theory of "big reality and small emptiness" reflects the objective reality of prose creation in practice. Take Bing Xin's Little Orange Lantern as an example. According to essayist Han, "Not long ago, when I visited Comrade Bing Xin, I got her advice and learned that the contact between the children and the author in the article, including the girl's father's surname, was conclusive and true." "I just made a little fiction in some minor places." In the article "Random Talk on the Writing Process of Little Orange Lantern", Bing Xin added that "some minor points are a little fictional", that is, the minor character "My friend" is fictional. Theoretically, the theory of "big reality and small emptiness" is also logical. Prose is a literary work, and fiction is a common technique in literary works, so prose can't have nothing to do with fiction, but this fiction can't destroy the documentary principle of prose, so it can only be "big reality and small emptiness".

Although the details of prose can be fictional, the emotion in prose is absolutely true, which should also be an important aspect of the authenticity of prose.

4. Extensive materials.

Prose has a wide range of materials, and almost all the world can't write it, so Yu Dafu said: "Prose is easy and covers a wide range. There is nothing to talk about. " () Lu Xun said that the theme of prose should be freely chosen, such as still life, insects and fish, even a flower and a leaf can be used. ) (To Luo Qingzhen and Lu Xun's Letters P24 1), People's Literature Publishing House 1959 edition) Zhou Libo said: "Taking the details of international and domestic events, social families, lifting the sky waves, a small matter, my own history, a little feeling, a pinch of sadness and joy, a kind of meditation. The sadness of the past and the joy of the present can be moved to paper and contributed to readers. " Tam said that prose, as a style, has many advantages. A stone can be a poem. A wave of water can be freehand. A petal can solve the problem. Really free. "("my view of prose ")

Because of this, some people say that this prose writer is "shocking and can be felt everywhere." Lu Xun read snow and expressed his feelings, forming the spirit of snow; Mao Dun saw the tall and straight poplars, which attracted praise for them. Ba Jin's heart is surging and his heart is singing because of Sunrise at Sea. Wu Boxiao recalled the rhyme of the spinning wheel and wrote the famous article "Remember a spinning wheel"; Yang Shuo's appreciation of gorgeous camellia aroused his creative impulse, leaving a well-known "Camellia Fu". In short, what an author sees, hears, knows and feels can be used as the material for writing prose. "(Han Ji" On Various Prose Materials ").

The content of prose involves all things in nature, all kinds of people, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, political events ... can be said to be all-encompassing. You can write domestic and international and social contradictions and struggles, economic construction, literary disputes, ethics, and you can also write literary essays, read notes, and keep a diary. It can be local customs, travel notes, essays, knowledge notes and literary anecdotes; It can talk about everything, or it can be lyrical and interesting. Zhi Tao can inspire people with thoughts, beautiful feelings and sentiments, broaden their horizons, enrich their knowledge and make them relaxed and happy, so he can be chosen as the subject of prose.

In the field of materials, novels, plays and poems are inferior to prose. The theme of the novel should have a complete story and vivid characters. The theme of drama should have exciting contradictions and conflicts. The theme of poetry should have deep feelings. Prose, on the other hand, has no such restrictions and can be used to write novels, plays and poems. Everyone can write prose, not novels, plays, poems or essays.

First of all, it can choose themes regardless of ancient and modern times, regardless of Chinese and foreign countries, regardless of size. Everything that can give people knowledge, beauty and edify people's sentiments can be trusted, can be written by hand and can be written into beautiful articles. Secondly, when writing prose, you can choose different time and space materials under the command of a theme, which is very free. Such as the land of Qin Mu.

We acknowledge and emphasize the extensiveness of prose materials, but it does not mean that everything can be written as prose. Indiscriminate digging into the basket is not feasible. When writing prose, we should choose materials that reveal "the lofty and solemn sense of human beings" and reflect "aesthetic ideals and tastes beyond the secular".

3. Flexibility of form

Prose has a wide range of materials and rich content, and the forms of serving it are also flexible and eclectic.

① Various structures.

First of all, the structure of prose is diverse. People can be used as structural centers, such as Mr. Fujino; Typical details can be used as the structural center, Zhu Ziqing's back; You can take the scenery as the structural center, Yu Dafu's Autumn in the Old Capital; You can also use a symbolic thing as the structural center, such as Camellia Fu.

Secondly, the structure of prose is eclectic: some organize materials according to the order of time development or space transfer, such as "Little Orange Lantern" and "From Baicaoyuan to Santan Yinyue"; Some are in the order of the author's ideological understanding and emotional changes, such as Zhang Jie's Digging the Goat's Horn Stone and Yang Shuo's Litchi Honey; Some take an idea as the chief commander and organize the materials into several different aspects such as land.

② Free and flexible expression. Prose can freely use five basic expressions, such as narration and description, and can also use suggestion, symbol, comparison and association. Narration, description and discussion; Discussion prose is mainly about discussion, with occasional narration, description and lyricism.

(3) Use the language freely. The language of modern prose is mainly modern Chinese, but sometimes we can borrow words and usages from classical Chinese, dialect slang, ballads and proverbs to meet the needs of expression. For example, the words in Tao Zhu's Style of Pine Trees: "The vitality of pine trees can be described as exuberant! Pine trees have few requirements for people. " Taking ballads and proverbs as examples, Zhu Kezhen quoted "Grandparents, cutting wheat and transplanting rice" and "The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are long and the apes cry three times" in the "Language of Nature" in Li Daoyuan's Martial Arts.

4. poetic.

Prose is different from novels and plays. It attracts readers with fictional plots, conflicts and characters, but infects readers with rich poetic and rational interests. We should pursue poetry in lyric and narrative prose. Some essayists say that real prose is full of poetry, just like apples are full of juice. Prose without poetry is lifeless. Therefore, prose writers strive to seek poetry in life and make their works poetic. Yang Shuo said, "Don't understand the word poetry in a narrow sense. Although there are poems in Apricot Blossoms and Spring Rain, the heroic spirit of Ma Tiejin Ge is more poetic. In your struggle, work and life, there are often things that touch your heart, which make you passionate, make you happy, make you sad and make you think deeply ... Whenever I encounter such emotional things, I will think about them repeatedly, and later I will often form the thoughts and emotions in the article. " "When I write every article, I always write it like a poem." "Always cut the materials, arrange the layout and weigh the words like writing poetry." (Little Postscript >, quoted from Selected Prefaces and Postscripts of Modern Prose P 190, Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House 1983)

The poetry of prose is inseparable from its lyric style, and its poetic concentration is always in direct proportion to the depth of the author's feelings. Why prose is longer than lyric? Because: a, prose generally uses the first person to write what I see, hear and feel. No matter what you write, its purpose is to express the author's life feelings and thoughts, with strong emotional color, and it is "the song in the author's heart" (Gorky language). B, prose has its own special style, the so-called prose style. The style of prose, first of all, is concise language, beautiful and rich in literary talent; Secondly, the brushwork is flexible and free.

In argumentative writing, the pursuit of rational interest in the article is also the poetic expression of prose. Commenting on Lu Xun's miscellaneous feelings, Zhu Ziqing said: "What attracts me here is humor on the one hand, and the traditional sense of interest on the other. Now we can say that it is the crystallization of reason, which is also poetry. " This kind of article makes us shocked by the author's profound thoughts and impressed by the incisive arguments. Such as Ma Shuo by Han Yu and Hurriedly by Zhu Ziqing. The reasoning of prose is different from that of argumentative writing. It must blend emotion and reason with images (Su Shi's Fu on the Red Wall), so as to "express people's feelings and express people's thoughts." (plekhanov)

5. Beautiful language.

Beautiful language is prose, so it has become an important aspect of American writing. Prose language has the following characteristics:

① Pay attention to literary talent. Often use a variety of techniques, or heavy ink, or light pen light color, focus on the performance of things "picturesque" and reproduce a beautiful image. Some prose writers consciously turn common words into unfamiliar words in order to better express the "poetic feeling" and "artistic meaning" of prose. Such as Mr Zhu Ziqing's "Spring" in the first few words:

Peach trees, apricot trees and pear trees are all in full bloom, and you won't let me or I won't let you. Red is like fire, pink is like chardonnay and white is like snow.

Another example is Xiao Sheng's writing in "Red Cliff Fu":

Its voice is full of resentment, longing, crying and complaining, and the lingering sound is endless. It can make the dragon dance in the deep valley and make the widow in the lonely boat cry.

Prose pays attention to literary talent, but it is not just rich and colorful language. Some essayists write beautiful articles in the most common language. The so-called "family style". For example, Wei Wei's My Teacher.

② Flexible and sparse.

The author can extrapolate and dye at will, let the feelings be interspersed, sometimes describe, sometimes discuss, sometimes express their feelings, or blend together. It can be said that you have to follow your heart when you fly around.

③ Pay attention to the rhythm.

The sentence patterns are rich and varied, sometimes parallel and scattered, and sometimes even; Sometimes the length is staggered and the relaxation sets each other off, which makes the works full of musical beauty. Please read a passage from Yuan Ying's Green Hills and Bamboo Trees: In Bloodstained, Mao Zhuqing is yellow, green and yellow, and does not bow to cruelty or enemies. Bamboo is burned and there are bamboo branches; Bamboo branches are broken and there are bamboo whips; The bamboo whip is broken, and bamboo roots are buried deep underground.

To learn prose writing, we should master both gorgeous literary talent and simple literary talent. It is not easy to write boldly, and it is even more difficult to write simply. Xu Chi's articles are very literary, and he often uses the method of Fu and the rhetorical devices of Bi Xing, which makes the literary talent gorgeous. But he said, "Only by simply writing can you show your true literary talent. Great essayists at all times and all over the world wrote this way. The greater the writer, the more mature he is, and the simpler he writes. And literary talent shines on the simple pages. " We should also see that the rich literary language of prose, whether gorgeous or plain, comes from vivid spoken language, and is also the inheritance of excellent ancient Chinese creativity, which is the result of careful selection, tempering and processing by the author.

Short and pithy.

Prose is generally short in length, few in levels and complicated in structure, but it also has the characteristics of concise selection, concise intention and profound meaning. Yu Dafu "sees the world in a grain of sand, and talks about human feelings in half a petal." (Preface and Postscript of Modern Prose) Qin Mu said: "Like Suzhou Gardens, though small, they have a deep realm and an open world. (For "Garden Fan Painting Prose", see "Bi Tan Prose")

Prose brushwork

There are many strokes in prose, mainly including freehand brushwork, extension, inspiration and making waves.

1. freehand brushwork

Originally, it was a painting method of Chinese painting, which paid attention to the expression of expression and the expression of the author's interest, and did not require meticulous painting. As a kind of prose style, freehand brushwork refers to vivid expression with concise pen and ink. Prose is small in structure and short in length, and people are unwilling to describe it. Therefore, in order to write people vividly, describe things vividly and let the author fully express his feelings, we must use vivid brushwork.

Often used to describe and write about people. When narrating, the characteristics and spirit of things are generally expressed by the method of the combination of reality and reality, and the key points that can reflect the spirit of things are often intentionally rewritten. For example, Zhu Ziqing's back. When writing people, we often use a few strokes to outline the spirit of the characters, such as the description of A Chang's demeanor in A Chang and Shan Hai Jing. In the place that can best express the character characteristics of the characters, it is not excluded to write with heavy pens.

extend

Extension refers to stretching around someone or something in many directions with imagination and association. The fact is the association mentioned above, which mainly includes vertical extension, horizontal extension, multilateral extension and incidental stroke.

Extension is actually the association we explained above, so I won't elaborate on it, just a few characteristics.

When the author writes a narrative, he will inadvertently write down another thing suddenly. This kind of brushwork is to accidentally write a note. Phenomenologically, these two things don't seem to have much to do with each other, and it doesn't seem to make much sense to connect them. However, these two things that are linked together have some internal connection. If you carefully taste them, you will find that there will be a lot of "prose flavor" out of thin air.

For example, Lu Xun's essay "Father's Disease" wrote that after the quack doctor prescribed some strange prescriptions for his father, he wrote:

He has never used reed roots and sugarcane that have been frosted for three years. The most common one is "a pair of crickets", and the small note reads: "The original match, that is, the pair in the same nest." It seems that insects have to be chaste, have mistresses, or die again, or even lose the qualification of medicine.

This added text is a portable stroke. This stems from his father's illness, but it has little to do with his father's illness. It seems to be extra rock, but this "branch" is very strong and humorous, which shows the irony of quack to the fullest. People don't think it's a "snake foot" after reading it, but they think it's a very wonderful place in the article.

Since it is convenient to carry, you can't bring too much pen and ink, otherwise the cart before the horse will lead to digression.

Give direction

It is to express one's tendency through discussion when writing. In novels, the author usually doesn't stand up and give directions directly, and his views and tendencies should be naturally revealed through plots and scenes; Prose, on the other hand, allows the author to stand up and express himself directly.

(1) pointing requirements

Pay attention to the temperature when pointing.

In a composition, where to give directions, we should pay attention to the temperature, don't give directions indiscriminately, don't give directions indiscriminately. Generally speaking, guidance should appear in the following three places: first, the leap and sublimation from sensibility to rationality. Second, it is interspersed in the narrative, which is not only a summary of the narrative, but also a direct lyric narrative, and can also adjust the rhythm of the full text. For example, in Wei Wei's Who's the cutest person, the author always tells a story. The third is pointing at the end of the article, which is the most common way.

Be subtle and vivid.

Although pointing is the author's public opinion on people, we should also pay attention to artistry and implicit image, leaving room for chewing and thinking. For example, at the end of Gorky's Haiyan, let the storm come more violently! Change it to "Let the revolutionary wave come more violently!" It'll spoil the fun.

Closely cooperate with the writer's narrative.

Directional words cannot be divorced from the writer's narrative. It should be closely combined with the writer's narrative and summarized from the writer's narrative. No matter how vivid, subtle and philosophical, the guidance that has no internal connection with the author's narrative is also pale and powerless.

(2) the way to point.

Public guidance

It is a way to directly and clearly point out the author's views and opinions in clear language. Fang Zhimin's "Poverty", after writing that he was searched by Kuomintang soldiers and could not get money, pointed out at the end of the article: "A poor, white and simple life is exactly the way for us revolutionaries to overcome many difficulties!" Listen to public opinions.

The advantages of this guidance are clear and easy to arouse readers' admiration, but it also has its shortcomings, that is, straightforwardness and superficiality.

Give directions in secret

It is the guidance expressed by bending the pen and indirect means. It can be expressed in symbolic words, such as Korolenko of the Soviet Union's instruction in Firelight: "Firelight ... after all ... is just ahead! ……"; Or borrow the moral in the text to point out the maze, such as Li Tianfang's Flower of Bowling.

Repeated pointing

For example, in Mao Dun's Praise of Poplar, the instruction of "Poplar is unusual" appeared four times repeatedly.

create disturbances

It is to make waves in the article and make the article have touching power.

Many people think that fascinating twists and turns can only appear in novels, plays and other styles, and essays with short length and miscellaneous themes cannot make waves. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. As a literary style, prose also needs to be colorful. Only the twists and turns of prose have their own unique personality. Compared with novels and dramas, the pattern of prose determines that it is impossible to make waves in a large space, and it often has ups and downs, short front and fast pace; At the same time, prose aims at expressing emotions, so it often does not appear in the form of conflict. Misunderstandings and suspense commonly used in novels and dramas are rare in prose, and their making waves is always closely related to "emotion". There are several ways to make waves:

"sharp turn" wave making

When writing a narrative, people deliberately develop in a certain direction, step by step, and constantly overweight until they push to a fixed point, and then the pen tip turns sharply, making a sharp turn of 180 degrees, arousing waves and bringing readers to a brand-new realm. Yang Shuo's "The Peak of Mount Tai" and "Red Leaves in Xiangshan" both successfully used this technique.

Love makes waves.

People's feelings for people, things and things are always changing. The author skillfully makes waves according to the changes of feelings, which is called making waves with feelings. For example, Su Shi's Red Cliff Fu and Yang Shuo's Litchi Honey all use this method.

Suppress and make waves

Let the article ups and downs of the way to make waves, if you want to promote it, you should first suppress it, and if you want to suppress it, you should suppress it. For example, in Tao Tang's "Petty Memories", he began to deliberately write with a pen how he believed people's evaluation of Lu Xun before he met him, what "Lu Xun was suspicious", what "Lu Xun's temper was abusive and how to retaliate", and so on. Then, the author focuses on the advantages of Lu Xun, such as being approachable and caring for young people. Under this kind of suppression and promotion, the article makes waves.

Talk and make waves.

This kind of making waves is often accomplished by discussion. Generally speaking, through the description of the sudden change from perceptual to rational, relying on discussion, some amazing and extraordinary things are pointed out, thus arousing philosophical waves, impacting readers' hearts and infecting readers. For example, Wang Anshi's trip to Baochan is an example.