论中国留白艺术与海明威“冰山理论”的异曲同工之妙

摘要

中国文学领域有一种独特的表现手法叫“留白”，最初运用于中国画，指画面里的空白处虽未作画却常常传达出更多的境界。海明威的“冰山理论”作为一种文学创作理论，简单地说就是在小说中用“八分之一”的客观叙事来引发未表达的、让读者自己去揣摩的“八分之七”的情感和思想。有感于这二者在表现艺术上的异曲同工之妙——运用简明扼要的语言，在表达情景时并不说透，而是通过恰当的结构来调动受众的深入思考。在此篇文章中，我将对两者之间的异同进行简答的梳理与阐述。

关键词：留白；海明威；冰山理论；异同

作者简介：李彦瑾，女，出生于2003年，中国地质大学（武汉）外国语学院，ccccafe@163.com

On the Similarities and Differences Between Chinese Blank Art and Hemingway's Iceberg Theory

Abstract

In the field of Chinese literature, there is a unique expression technique called "blank", which was originally used in Chinese painting, meaning that the blank space in the picture often conveys more realms although it is not painted. As a literary creation theory, Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory" simply means that the objective narration of "one-eighth" is used in the novel to trigger the unexpressed "seven-eighth" feelings and thoughts for readers to figure out by themselves. I am impressed by the same effect achieved by different methods between the two in expression art -- using concise language without expressing the situation clearly, but arousing the audience's deep thinking through appropriate structure. In this article, I will briefly answer the similarities and differences between the two combed and elaborated.

Key words: blank;Hemingway;iceberg theory;similarities and differences

Authur:Yanjin Li, female, born in 2003, school of Foreign Languages, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), ccccafe@163.comm

1.  The Differences

1.1 Based Colors on Different Backgrounds

1.1.1 From Philosophy to Literary

From the connotation of "blank", the "blank" in ancient China is a kind of artistic conception represented by art, but also a vague and infinite concept of the universe. Chinese literary critics believe that the aesthetic effect of "blank" is determined by the nature of "Tao", while Taoism represented by Lao-Zhuang attaches more importance to "blankness". It can be said that the philosophical basis of "blank" originates from this.

Laozi once said: "Tao models itself after nature ", although "Tao produces all things", but "doing nothing". Although "doing nothing", it can "do everything". Laozi attached importance to "doing", but also attached importance to "doing nothing". He thought that Tao is "action through inaction". This view reflects the reciprocal relationship between "being" and "nothing", and emphasizes the content of "being born from nothing". The Tao of "nothing" is actually a kind of "blankness". The biggest characteristic lies in "emptiness". Zhuangzi inherited and carried forward Laozi's thought, holding that "Tao" is contained in all things, and that "blankness" and "fullness" coexist, "Fullness can be born in the blankness". He also pointed out the artistic realm of "no sound", "no form", "no letters". Influenced by Lao Zhuang's thought, the artistic concept of “blank” was also born in the painting circle. Blank is a painting without painting and doing without doingas romantic, without spending a bit of ink to show the romantic, left an artistic "blank" of thoughts on the viewer.

"Blank" has been applied to various art fields in China, such as philosophy, literature and so on. Theorists in different fields of art have different interpretations. For example, in ancient literary theory, "blank" refers to "no letters", that is, what the reader can fully imagine beyond the words of the text. In ancient Chinese literary theory circle, people are relatively unified on the deep connotation represented by "blank". In China, the ultimate pursuit of "blank" is to create the "meaning" of "silent things, rhymes beyond words, feelings of retention", and the "environment" of "image outside the image, scene outside the scene", which naturally forms the "artistic conception of beauty" of the work.

1.1.2 Lost Generation And Iceberg Theory

To find the cause of Hemingway's "iceberg style", we need to start from the historical background at that time, and Hemingway's own life experience is also an important contributing factor.

"Iceberg Theory" initially belongs to the psychological theory, by the psychologist Freud and Breuer in 1895 jointly published in the book Studies on Hysteria put forward. Like an iceberg on the surface of the sea, only one part of the personality, the conscious part, emerges: the rest is largely unconscious. The reason why "iceberg theory" was applied to the field of literary creation can be traced back to the late 19th century and early 20th century, when modernism emerged in literature, painting and other fields. Gertrude Stein, the art godmother at that time, played an important role in the innovation of literature and art.

On personal writing, Stein has his own clear ideas. Benefited from his psychological background, specifically the experience of studying "automatic phenomena", Stein realized that language in traditional narration is all sorted and orderly language, which is not the whole of language. In fact, unorganized language is the norm in our daily feelings or thoughts. Influenced by this, both Joyce and Hemingway sought ways to break the traditional narrative inertia. Unlike Joyce, who used the chaotic stream of consciousness to express the inner minds of his characters, Hemingway tried to break away from the inertia of traditional narration by presenting language that was not organized rationally, but "organized in his own way".

In Dying in the Afternoon, Hemingway first proposed the "Iceberg Theory" of writing:

"If a writer of prose knows enough about, what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.”

By virtue of the overall grasp of the information, the author makes the ultimate information omission, presenting only one eighth of the information, while the remaining seven percent rely on the in-depth exchange of ideas between readers and the author, thinking and feeling the thoughts and emotions contained in the work, which is more conducive to the readers to immerse themselves in the work to experience its charm.

Hemingway's experience is also an important factor contributing to his "Iceberg Theory". Hemingway's experience in World War I made him realize that the most frightening thing about war was not death, but the omnipresent threat of death, which cast a great shadow over human life and made it impossible for people to think like ordinary people. Hemingway's direct experience of the war helped him develop a cool, nonchalant narrative tone. Since death cannot be avoided, it can only be faced with an indifferent attitude. This special psychological state has a great influence on Hemingway's writing style. Hemingway writes about the calm of the surface in order to hint at the insecurity beneath. This is illustrated most vividly in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

1.2 "Experience Omission" and "Artistic Enhancement"

The use of blank in Chinese literary works is often in the field of painting and poetry. Applied in the blank art of ancient Chinese poetry, for example, comparing with Hemingway's iceberg theory, it can be found that while both good at using the minimalist prose style transfer implication profound emotions and thoughts, however, there is also the biggest difference. The essence of the blank is often a "Artistic Enhancement" , and the iceberg theory is more a "Experience Omission" .

1.2.1 Artistic Enhancement

The language of Chinese classical poetry is highly concise. Limited by its own textual characteristics, it cannot be as long as a novel or as free in form as prose. Poets' emotions are often deep and complex, so the embarrassment of "inexpressiveness" in poetry creation is very obvious. Therefore, the poet often adopts the technique of "the virtual and the real come into being", or uses the artistic technique of symbol, analogy and so on, deliberately leaving blank in the text, with the intention of presenting the artistic conception of blending situation and euphemistic and torsive meaning through limited language.

Take the poem Fishing in snow(Liu Zongyuan) as an example:

From hill to hill no bird in flight;

From path to path no man in sight.

A lonely fisherman afloat

Is fishing snow in lonely boat.[1]

This poem uses objects such as a thousand mountains, birds, lonely boat, old man wearing a coir raincoat, cold river and snow to describe a scene just like an ink painting. There is no trace of people and birds, and the surrounding area is silent, only an old man wearing a coir raincoat fishing alone. There is no detailed description of "snow" in the poem, but with a few words, the reader is tempted to imagine a vast and empty world in his or her mind. There is no description of any language or expression of the old man fishing alone in the poem, which is exactly the blank space set by the poet. The poet hides his thoughts and feelings in the image of the old man without directly elaborating on it, but endods it with symbolic and suggestive meaning, thus triggering readers to explore the broader artistic conception of the whole poem behind the actual scene by relying on the image in the poem, that is, the actual scene provided by the poet.

The technique of "blank" permeates into the poem and provides readers with a wide imagination space to explore the aesthetic conception of Fishing in Snow. The finite and fixed real scene is used to express the infinite and flexible blank virtual scene. The real scene is the basis of using blank space, and the blank scene blended with the scene under blank space strengthens the artistic conception of the poem.(Zhang He,3)

1.2.2 Experience Omission

Hemingway's Iceberg Theory is often used in novel creation. According to the traditional elements of novels, a complete novel often needs a large number of details of the environment and scene. Hemingway, however, did the opposite. He often chooses limited time or space as the setting of his novels, and often tells his stories in a way that seems puzzling. His short stories, in particular, are often cut from a time period or point in time in order to focus on important themes or historical events. The history and historical background are hidden under the water as seven eighths of the iceberg, but it makes readers feel its existence strongly.

Hemingway's emphasis here is on omission. Hemingway's omission is not the same as the traditional blank theory, which is not the use of an implicit technique. The traditional omission method is similar to the role of the truncation sign, which omits the affection and charm; Hemingway left out something entirely different -- the physical experience.

Take the end of A Farewell to Arms as an example:

I went to the door of the room.

"You can't come in now." one of the nurses said.

"Yes I can." I said.

"You can't come in yet."

"You get out," I said. "The other one too."(A Farewell to Arms, Chapter41Hemingway)

"The author did not tell us how many nurses were in the room before, nor did this paragraph, but we immediately knew that there were two nurses in the house where the body of ‘my’lover (Kathaline) lay. There is nothing wrong with ‘my’ conversation, but we also know ‘my’ abnormality from this paragraph." "These intonation changes are not hinted at in the above text, nor do the authors tell us any emotional changes about the protagonist 'I' by way of narration, yet we already know. The author makes use of the common way of perception and the law of human beings. He knows that everyone will know what everyone knows though you don't say it, so he doesn't say what everyone knows, and everyone knows it anyway. Apart from shortening the length of the book by omitting something, from this omitting arises entirely unexpected new aesthetic methods, methods whose fundamental aim is to operate upon the mind of the object." (Ma Yuan, Novel)

This point of view distinguishes the omissions of Hemingway's language style from the meaning of “blank” in traditional Chinese painting and literature. What Hemingway leaves out in writing is the physical experience of the individual, the things that people know through the accumulation of life experience. Thus, the omission technique maximizes the reader's experience and gives the reader the impression that the writer trusts his or her own understandings and experiences. In this sense, Hemingway leaves seven-eighths of the iceberg out there for the reader to fill with experience.(Wu Xiaodong,1)

1.The Beauty of The Similarities

2.1 Symbolism Conveys Lasting Charm

Symbolism is a vague, subtle, implicit literary expression that uses a concrete object or image to express a profound abstract meaning. If you want to convey deep ideas in a simple literary text, symbolism is indispensable.

Symbolism is a commonly used artistic technique in Chinese classical poetry. For example, the image of "snow" in the poem mentioned above reflects a certain symbolic meaning -- high purity. The character of "snow" implies the character of the old man, and is also the expression of the author's ideology.

Hemingway, who believed in the "Iceberg Theory", also used symbols and metaphors to hint at the deep meaning below the words. In Hills Like White Elephants, for example, the title "white elephant" is symbolic. The white elephant is round and bulky, implying that the heroine is pregnant. The word "white elephant" has the meaning of "expensive and useless", which can be understood as something rare and precious, or a burden. These two explanations correspond to the different psychology of the hero and heroine respectively. For the girl, the fetus in the belly is very precious, she is not willing to abandon; But to the man, the fetus was a burden, like a white elephant. If all of these layers are included in the text, the text will be slow and not concise enough. "White elephant" is a short word that spreads more with less, but has a long lasting charm with less words.(Chai Yiyang,2)

2.2 Words Are Limited , Meaning Endless

Hemingway's "Iceberg Theory" is in common with China's "blank". With the help of limited text and extremely reasonable economization, both of them pursue the breadth and fullness of "voiceover" and give readers the maximum imagination and creation space, so as to inspire readers to imagine and associate, let readers participate in the re-creation, and achieve the effect of rationalization through their own complement. The "blank" of art not only makes the artistic image more vivid and rich, but also deepens the meaning and artistic conception of the work. The deepening of the work makes readers continuously participate in the creation, and conveys rich implications through highly condensed and concentrated images and plots. "Blank" makes the audience's imagination gallop freely, and the audience can experience a kind of self-realization pleasure of free use of experience, and get greater spiritual enjoyment.