Back to 80: My Literary Life

"This year is 1985, and the 1980s are almost halfway over. Since 1979, our country has just emerged from that special era. Literature is at the right time to undertake the special mission of recording this period of history."

“In our country, almost all literate people are reading novels eagerly, and reading has given rise to a huge demand for writing. Too many people have chosen or are about to choose writing as a career, including everyone here.”

"Now there are thousands of magazines in our country. Many famous magazines have circulations in the hundreds of thousands, and several magazines even have more than a million copies, such as "Contemporary", "People's Literature", "Harvest", etc."

"Through reading, readers want to know what is happening in our country, so in response to the requests of readers, writers write to record the past and present, and several genres have emerged."

"Such as scar literature - mainly records the pain that era caused us; reflective literature - mainly looking back and thinking about that period of history; "educated youth literature" - mainly describing tens of millions of urban students going up mountains The main thing is the experience of going to the countryside, etc. In a word, what to write - is what writers of our time are most concerned about."

"But today, in 1985, the situation seems to have changed. Both readers and writers have some resistance to the novel form that has remained unchanged for many years. The familiar novel stories make people feel a bit boring: whether it is scar literature Or reflective literature and educated youth literature.

"Just as society is changing, literature also needs to change. I wrote several stream-of-consciousness novels in the past two years, which were an attempt at this kind of change, although it caused huge controversy."

Fang Minghua stood on the stage and talked. The audience was quiet, except for the occasional rustling sound of the pen tip touching the paper.

"There are more debates like this this year about "Transparent Carrot," "White Bird," "You Have No Choice," and "Variations on a Theme." I wonder if you have read these novels?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Read it!"

There was a response from the audience.

"Very good. Have you noticed that these novels are different from the ones you have read before? Can any classmate tell me what is different from the past?" Fang Minghua asked with a smile.

Someone in the audience raised their hands.

Fang Minghua noticed that the young man wearing black-rimmed glasses who came in just now also raised his right hand!

"This classmate, tell me."

The young man pushed up his glasses and replied in Mandarin with a Jiangnan accent:

"I think the difference between these novels and the past is that the previous authors were more concerned about what to write, and the authors of these novels were more concerned about how to write. The content they wrote was about things around them, and they seemed to be more concerned about the current joys and sorrows. Or look back on your childhood and look for your hometown and past memories.”

"You are right!" Fang Minghua praised: "Excuse me, what is your name? Are you a college student?"

The young man wearing glasses suddenly felt a little shy, and then said: "My name is Tong Zhonggui. I graduated from Yan'an Normal University and am now the editor of "Zhongshan" magazine. This time I am on a business trip to Xijing. I heard that there is a lecture here. coming."

This young man who looks unattractive is actually the editor of the famous "Zhongshan" magazine!

The audience in the auditorium cast envious glances.

Fang Minghua was also a little surprised.

Tong Zhonggui, editor of "Zhongshan" magazine, isn't this the famous Su Tong in the future?

As famous as Yu Hua, Ge Fei and Ma Yuan, he is a representative of pioneer writers.

His representative works include "The Yellow Bird", "A Group of Wives and Concubines" and "Binu".

Of course, I am still an unknown editor now.

In this era, Fang Minghua saw too many young talents, so he was not surprised.

After the slight surprise passed, he said:

"What the child editor said is right. What's more interesting is that the stories written by these writers are no longer as bitter and hateful as the previous stories, no longer so sensational, no longer so complete and rigorous in structure."

"Do you feel that their stories have become fragmented and often give people a scattered impression? At the same time, their stories also lack the element that sublimates readers, lacks the atmosphere of enlightenment and admonishment for readers, and even lacks Aesthetics in the traditional sense.”

"This is an important genre of so-called modernist literature, which we call avant-garde literature." Fang Minghua wrote four big characters on the blackboard.

"What is a vanguard? Its original meaning comes from the famous French "Larousse Dictionary" - the so-called vanguard refers to the vanguard of an armed force, whose task is to prepare for this armed force to enter action (military terminology)," The history of the term "avant-garde" begins with the French Revolution and then turns to the term cultural and literary arts (beginning in the early 19th century).

"Due to historical reasons, although the background of traditional novel writing in our country can be traced back to a long time ago, it broke apart at the beginning of the twentieth century."

"That happened to be the time when the modernist movement in Western literature was surging. In the first seventy years of the twentieth century, world novels experienced an unprecedented revolution. First, the stream of consciousness entered the novel, and the novels of the nineteenth century, which was called the golden century of novels, were A complete subversion; followed by absurd novels represented by Kafka and Camus; followed by new novels represented by Griet and Sarraute; followed by black humor novels that are popular all over the world and are still popular all over the world. ."

For three hours, except for occasional questions, Fang Minghua's voice echoed in the entire auditorium:

From Enlightenment to Existentialism: The evolution of contemporary avant-garde literary trends.

The basic characteristics of contemporary avant-garde literary trends.

The limits, paradoxes and fallacies of avant-garde literary trends:

The challenge of questions and meaningful forms gain the pleasure of language

Jia Pingwa, who was sitting in the front row, was smiling, but Lu Yao next to her was frowning.

Su Tong, who was standing in the aisle, listened in awe. He seemed to feel that Fang Minghua's lecture directly opened a door to literature for him, which was so different from before.

Liu Meimei, who was sitting in the back row, looked confused. What Fang Minghua said was a bit profound for her.

Can't understand.

But the way he lectures is so charming.

Amid different reactions from the audience, Fang Minghua ended today's lecture.

It received warm applause. Both those who understood and those who did not understood stood up and applauded.

The lecture was a great success. In the evening, Xijing TV Station reported the lecture on the news channel.

"News from our station: Comrade Fang Minghua, a famous writer in our province and deputy editor-in-chief of "Yanhe" magazine, gave an in-depth and simple literary theory class to some writers from our province, students from Xijing Literary College, and Northwest University students in the auditorium of Northwest University this afternoon. , received great response”

Fang Minghua was watching the news reports at home.

It was his mother, Zhang Fenglan, who pulled him out of the room to watch.

"Xiaohua, look at you on TV." Zhang Fenglan watched with great interest: "I wonder if our neighbors have seen it?"

Fang Minghua was speechless after hearing this.

It’s been almost a year since we moved here, and my mother still visits us often to show off.

Forget it, as long as she is happy.