What kind of book is "The Former Atmosphere".

Mu Tao's prose collection "The Previous Atmosphere" contains nine small collections, with a huge and complex content. It can be roughly divided into two parts: one is the miscellaneous reading notes (notes) about ancient Chinese history and culture, and the other is the miscellaneous notes (notes) about the literati of the current era (one of which is dedicated to Jia Pingwa), literature, and culture. This may have something to do with Mu Tao's professional identity, Mu Tao is an editor, and the editor is called a "miscellaneous family", and the "miscellaneous family" likes to write "miscellaneous notes", which is reasonable.

The book involves a lot of knowledge, but it is not intended to systematically introduce or study the knowledge of a certain field; it is very knowledgeable, but it is not a book of knowledge, but it is to talk about some of the author's own feelings or perceptions through knowledge and learning.

Some people say (such as Taiwanese scholar Wang Dingjun) that prose is just talking. "The Previous Atmosphere" is talking about the sky, talking about the world, talking about the past and the present, it is a prose in a broad sense, and if you look closely, it is closer to an essay.

The language is concise, bookish, and speaks human language

The text is concise. Language is a language that has been repeatedly refined, concise, concise, and clean. Not the kind of language that goes around and around, without superfluous redundant nonsense. This is a linguistic characteristic, but also a style and realm.

It has a bookish atmosphere, and at the same time, it integrates and transforms the language of books, especially ancient books, into the language of modern life. Speak human words, do not separate, do not pretend. Pretending, that is, not one's own personality and language, such as official, student, editorial, literary and artistic, etc.

Mu Tao said in the article "Talking": "I feel that I can say five sentences, which is almost a first-class article, and these five sentences are, speaking human words, telling the truth, saying common words, saying pertinent words, and saying words with personality and level." This is Mu Tao's experience or discovery, he writes articles, and he probably asks himself according to these five sentences or works hard in this direction.

Mu Tao is very good at talking, and his prose about the world, the past and the present, is even more good at talking. Speak human words, tell the truth, speak homely words, say pertinent words, and speak words with personality and level.

The article is insightful and re-examined

Regarding the big history and people, although the article is short, it is insightful. For example, when talking about history, Mu Tao said that China's emperors, because they were a household contract system, had a relatively large gap in their professional level, some were wise, some were stupid, like a parabola, and there was a huge gap between the high and the low; while the prime ministers basically maintained a relatively high level, and the difference was not in ability, but in mentality, heart, and mental skill. This insight is very impressive. Many articles use the past to discuss the present, giving people many inspirations. The author has a strong sense of modernity, writing about the "previous atmosphere", and his foothold and focus and problem consciousness are today, the present, and its significance is to let history illuminate reality. The old material is a new problem awareness, a new ideological concept and a value orientation. Re-examining the evidence, relish the evidence, write interestingly, not an empty article. Some of the statements about the West in the book do not agree with them. Of course, it is also the word of the family. On the whole, Mu Tao is deeply nourished by Chinese culture.

Study the history books

Mu Tao likes to use one word in the book - pondering. Constantly "pondering", the natural world is insightful, and the human feelings are practiced. The world is full of knowledge, and the practice of human feelings is the article. The book "The Previous Atmosphere" is not long, but it is full of wisdom. On the whole, can Mu Tao's prose or essays be a kind of "intellectual writing", or is it close to "intellectual writing"? Of course, this kind of "intellectual writing" is different from the kind of writers who use scientific knowledge to build a stage or act as a prop. Most of the knowledge or scholarship used in Mu Tao's prose belongs to the category of humanities knowledge, which is preferred by traditional Chinese literati, but it still feels very "intellectual". Mu Tao's prose generally feels that "reason is better than emotion". Of course, this is also a category of prose, the "old spicy" category. There are no good or bad categories of prose, only differences, but the artistic value is the same.

Xing Xiaoli