Melodies of the Dust Land Chapter 11

Among the 8,000 northern Shaanxi folk songs that have been collected, 80% reflect or include love life and marriage issues. The folk songs (known as Xintianyou, Shuntianyou or Shanqu in northern Shaanxi), which are known as the masterpieces of the working people, almost all have this theme. Therefore, folk songs are often said to be the "ocean of love". Folk songs have been criticized many times, and this is probably where the trouble lies.

In fact, the themes of love and marriage are not unique to folk songs. There are also many Chinese and foreign literary works that reflect this content. Love occupies such a prominent position in literature and art, not because the authors are a group of "love types", but because it is an important part of human life. Love, belonging to the category of human nature, is an important aspect of natural beauty.

Since love and marriage are the objective existence of social life, then literature and art, as the "mirror" of life, will inevitably reflect them. Since it is restricted by class and society, then love and marriage in literature and art will inevitably reflect it. Containing some connotations of social life------these words are based on the authenticity of literature and art.

Some people have analyzed the literary and artistic works that reflect this kind of life, and believe that they can generally be divided into two types of descriptions: one is naturalistic description, which only describes the animal nature of people; the other is based on the understanding that people are human beings, not animals, focusing on expressing The essence of love to include richer social content. These two descriptions are based on the typical principles of literature and art. The second description is obviously more valuable than the first description.

I think that the reflection of love and marriage life in northern Shaanxi folk songs basically belongs to the second description method. For example: "Brother, you are a suffering person, and the suffering people are connected to each other heart to heart", which has a clear class character; "I rest my head on the bed in pairs, and I will not regret being shot to death with a box gun", which reflects the working people's feelings towards Loyalty in love; "I won't kiss you, don't talk to you, I will feel at ease when I see you", what a simple emotion and character.