焦虑·怨恨·惩罚——刘庆邦长篇小说《红煤》的精神诉求

Anxiety,Resentment and Punishment The Mental Demands of the Novel Red Coal by Liu Qing-bang

《红煤》是河南籍当代著名煤矿作家刘庆邦的长篇力作。小说通过叙述一个农民轮换工宋长玉为了改变农民身份成为一个城市人不择手段向上爬的故事,着力揭示在煤矿这个舞台上,轮换工身份的焦虑所引发的为获得认同而进行的斗争;在城乡二元对立和冲突的体制内,农村青年人由于遭到城里人的排斥而滋生出的怨恨情绪;在成功之后恣意放纵欲望,遭到自然的报复和惩罚,进而沦落为漂泊的异乡人。小说为我们深入了解转型期中国社会农村青年进城打工的生存状态和深层的情感心理提供了一种可能性。

Red Coal is a masterpiece of Liu Qingbang, a famous contemporary colliery writer born in Henan province. Set in a coalmine, the novel depicts a story of a farmer Song Changyu who works as a contingent worker and unscrupulously wants to climb up the social ladder in order to become an urbanite, which demonstrates contingent workers＇ struggle for recognition induced by their identity anxiety. Within the dualistic social structure （urban-rural opposition） , the rural youth are subjected to the repulsion of the urbanites, which breeds their resentments against city dwellers. Once becoming successful, the rural youth unscrupulously satisfy their desires. Eventually, they suffer from the revenge and receive severe punishment from nature, thus become drifting strangers. The novel provides a possible way for us to un- derstand the living conditions and psychology of the rural youth who work in cities in the context of transi- tional China.