贾平凹2014年的长篇小说《老生》一问世便引起相当反响。在称赞声中,细读《老生》,小说存在几点明显不足:首先,照搬《山海经》原文给小说带来了一种滞涩感,并与正文故事呈现游离效果;其次,《老生》所内置的历史观让小说成了演绎轮回历史观的平台,缺少一种更深刻的洞察力和想象力;再次,小说在叙述视角上呈现出分裂和矛盾,因此叙述形式缺乏圆整性和精致感,同时也给叙述效果带来一定歧义;最后,在对小说两个贯穿始终的人物的塑造上,唱师和匡三形象在关键情节处存在不必要的缺省,而且唱师形象与其身份的设定还具有一定矛盾,这种矛盾既来自作者对神秘主题的偏爱,也来自其创作上的疏忽。
Jia Pingwa's novel Lao Sheng, published in 2014, have attracted lots of praises. However, a close reading of the novel show some obvious weakness. First, the literal repetition of Shan Hai Jing renders the novel somewhat ambiguity which was alien to the major story; second, the embedded history in the novel makes the work a platform for circular historical perspective and prevents it from more profound insights and imagination; third, the novel shows crack and contradict in narrative perspective which lowers the smoothness and articulation of the narrative forms and brings about ambiguity in narrative effect; last, the presentation of two fundamental characters, Singer and Kuang San, is offset by the unnecessary omissions in key plots. And there is contradicts between the Singer's behaviors and his given social identity, which is a result from the author's preference of mythical subject as well as his artistic negligence.