These three novels are called the "Human Trilogy" by later generations. They are the masterpieces of the late novels of Ba Jin, a master of modern Chinese literature, and a long swan song. This series of books can be said to be the peak of Ba Jin's creative art. The overall creative style has changed suddenly, from the passionate and unrestrained lyrical chants in the early days to the calm and profound revelation of life. Its artistic level is far above that of the famous work "Home".

The Fourth Ward

Ba Jin can be said to be an expert on trilogy. He has written "The Love Trilogy," The Torrent Trilogy, and "The Revolution Trilogy"; The masterpiece "Fire" is also called "The Anti-Japanese War Trilogy" because it is divided into three volumes. Now his "The Garden", "The Fourth Ward" and "Cold Night" are collectively called "The Three Worlds". "The Fourth Ward" is slightly longer than "The Garden", about 150,000 words, and the theme is very unique. Xiao Hong's "Hulan River Biography" is about a small town; Lao She's "Four Generations Under One Roof" is about a small town. An alley; Ba Jin's novel is about a hospital during the war; it uses a patient's eighteen-day diary to reflect the conditions of all living beings in the rear during the war. When it comes to darkness and misery, the saying goes: "Eighteen levels of hell", and "Eighteen Levels of Hell". "The Fourth Ward" was written in 2008 and can be said to be the nineteenth level of hell. Inpatients have to buy special medicines, tapes, and toilet paper; many patients cannot afford special medicines and die wailing in bed; some patients cannot pay tips, and workers He didn’t clean the toilet, so he screamed because he was urinating and urinating... But in the dark suffering, there was a firefly of warmth and love shining brightly; Dr. Yang Muhua, who had thick hair, big eyes, and tenderness like the sea, was the best for the patient. The restaurant waiter Lao Xu, who was responsible for cleaning toilets, became the news of spring in the dry winter and the angel in hell. Qiyuan

Qiyuan - A Trilogy in the Human World

Author: Written by Ba Jin

Summary of content:

Ba Jin can be said to be an expert in trilogy. He has written the "Love Trilogy," "The Torrent Trilogy" and "The Revolution Trilogy" "; and the masterpiece "Fire" is also called the "Anti-Japanese War Trilogy" because it is divided into three volumes. Now his "Relaxing Garden", "Fourth Ward" and "Cold Night" are collectively called "The Human Trilogy". "Open Garden" is about a writer who returned to his hometown in Chengdu during the war and lived in a friend's new residence. There he discovered that the owner and his wife of "Qiyuan" had internal troubles. The newly married hostess was troubled by the fact that her ex-wife had left her only son, Xiao Hu. Then he discovered the tragedy of the old owner of Qiyuan. Because of an extramarital love affair, he was expelled from the family by his eldest son and his beloved wife and lived in a ruined temple. However, the younger son who loved him maintained mysterious contacts with him and often visited Qiyuan. Yuanzhehua comforted his father. The plot of the novel written by the writer (the love between a blind luthier and a singing girl), the internal worries of the garden owner, the tragedy of the old owner, and the writer's care for the mistress. These four interesting lines intertwine and develop, and each has a touching conclusion. The whole book has only 120,000 words, but it is handled smoothly and seamlessly. After reading "The Garden", the literary critic Li Guangtian said: "Ba Jin's "The Garden" is a good book. Among Ba Jin's works I have read, I think it is the best one." In fact, it is not. But it is the best of Ba Jin's works and a model of modern Chinese novels. In terms of rigor, it can compete with Lu Xun, in terms of elegance, it can compete with Shen Congwen, in terms of vividness, it cannot surpass Lao She, and in terms of lingering, it cannot compare with Yu Dafu, but in terms of artistic restraint and purity, plot and character, balance and harmony of interest and technique, and the entire work The crystal clear garden, when viewed from all angles, is far superior to others. It can be said that it is independent and outstanding.

"Cold Night"

"Cold Night" is Ba Jin's last novel. It is another masterpiece of Ba Jin after "The Torrent Trilogy - Home" , also marks that the writer has entered a new stage of development in art. The work was written on a cold winter night in 1944 and completed on December 31, 1946. The book describes the tragedy of the life and death of a small civil servant and the destruction of his family. Through him, he reveals the fate of upright and kind-hearted intellectuals in old China, and exposes the dark reality of the "Kuomintang-controlled areas" in the late Anti-Japanese War.

The realism achievements of the work are mainly reflected in:

It is good at revealing major themes through the ordinary life trivial matters of small people, thus showing the writer's extraordinary artistic skills. Chekhov once said, "It is easier to write about Socrates than about a lady or a cook." This is because the more ordinary things are, the sharper the writer's vision is required, and the more able he is to extract extraordinary things from the ordinary.

Ba Jin described the life of Wang Wenxuan, a young civil servant, in "Cold Night". Its greatest achievement is to describe a person's humiliating psychology in detail and detail, profoundly express a sick soul that has been insulted and damaged, and analyze the social reasons for the final "destruction" of this family in an unusually cold tone.