Back to 80: My Literary Life

It turned out to be Literary Review.

An article by Wang Shuo was published above, which was a review of "The Wasted Capital". One paragraph read:

"It's so ridiculous that Jia Pingwa pretends to be crazy and plays with notes in novels. That has something to do with his microclimate. Jia Pingwa's early Shangzhou series was okay, but "Desolate Capital" is completely toilet-stealing stuff. He is really decadent and boring. To the extent that you don’t, stop pretending to be “everyone.”

"Snatching things from the toilet!" This sentence deeply hurt Jia Pingwa.

Wang Shuo has become very popular in the past two years.

Just last year, Huayi Publishing House published a four-volume set of "Wang Shuo's Collected Works", namely "Wang Shuo's Collected Works: Innocence Volume", "Wang Shuo's Collected Works: Hypocrisy Volume", "Wang Shuo's Collected Works: Jokes Volume" and "Wang Shuo's Collected Works: True Love". "Volume", pioneering the trend of young writers publishing anthologies.

Likewise, royalties are given!

In addition, several TV series such as "The Story of the Editorial Office", "Enjoyed", "Haiba Cabaret" and "No One Cheers" have been aired one after another. As a screenwriter and planner, Wang Shuo is not only popular in the literary world, but also in the film and television industry.

Wang Shuo was already able to talk, but he couldn't control his mouth. As his status got higher and higher, his heart naturally expanded, and he had the attitude of "guiding the country".

Therefore, it is not surprising that Wang Shuo scolded Fang Minghua in "The Wasted Capital" and he asked Jia Pingwa in return.

"Brother Jia, what are you going to do?"

"Wang Shuo is the only one who knows how to curse, but I can't? Rabbits can bite people when they're angry! I'm going to write an article to scold this guy!" Jia Pingwa said bitterly.

"Don't." Fang Minghua shook his head.

"Didn't we agree that we shouldn't write articles to defend our novels? That would only cause more trouble."

Seeing Jia Pingwa's frustrated look, Fang Minghua comforted her: "Brother Jia, I have told you a principle before: as long as your book will not be removed from the shelves, don't take it to heart no matter how others scold you."

"Besides, there are many people who criticize you, and there are also many people who support you and support your novel. Needless to say, our group of writers and scholars in Qin Province, who doesn't publish an article publicly to express your support for this novel? ?”

"Why don't Ji Xianlin, Wang Xiaobo, Radar, Yan Gang, etc. also write articles to publicly express their support for you? The most important thing for you now is to keep calm, don't do anything, and stay strong despite the winds of east, west, north and south."

Fang Minghua's persuasion made Jia Pingwa feel better, and she muttered: Minghua, you are right, I am a little impulsive, but isn't this Wang Shuo's words too damaging? "

"He's just that kind of person, with a big mouth." Fang Minghua said with a smile: "You can call him bad, but he's not that bad."

"However, his mouth will eventually harm himself." Fang Minghua said with a smile: "Just watch, his unlucky day is coming soon!"

"Wang Shuo is in trouble? Why?" Jia Pingwa asked hurriedly.

"Don't worry, you will know soon!"

In September, Zhang Yimou took home the Golden Lion Award from the Venice Film Festival, and Shengshi Film and Television and Shengshi Books went to great lengths to promote this event.

In particular, Shengshi Books immediately launched a massive seminar on "Alive" in Yanjing, inviting famous writers and scholars at home and abroad to participate.

Fang Minghua was also invited to participate in the work seminar. At the meeting, he pointed out: ""Alive" is like a dazzling star hanging in the sky. Yu Hua stands out from that extremely thin path, more accurately To put it bluntly, Yu Hua has matured. He is already writing novels based on his "inheritance" and does not need to rely too much on his writing skills."

Shortly after the seminar, Shengshi Books launched a book signing event for "Alive".

Yanjing, Shencheng, Xijing.

"Alive" became a hit all of a sudden.

Of course, it is not all praise, there are also criticisms. Wang Shuo publicly commented in his article: "The writing of "To Live" is not as good as others. Yu Hua cannot write Yan Lianke and Liu Zhenyun. Simply put, his works are nothing more than It’s imitation and plagiarism.”

Naturally, Yu Hua didn't answer.

“The literary world is so lively this year.”

This is the biggest feeling of many writers, scholars, and even readers.

But what I didn't expect was that in Shanghai, a seemingly ordinary literary and art theory discussion meeting set off a large-scale academic discussion, which spread from the literary and art theory circles to all walks of life across the country and became a far-reaching public cultural event. event.

It all started in the summer of last year (1992).

The "Critics Club" column of "Shanghai Literature" magazine plans to resume. It is planned to draw on several critical centers such as East China Normal University, Fudan University, Yenching University, and Yenching Normal University to begin to express opinions on the current status of literature and culture in a dialogue manner.

Several young scholars from East China Normal University who often get together and have similar views decided to join. The agreed members include Wang Xiaoming, Xu Lin, Zhang Hong, Cui Yiming, Zhang Ning, etc.

The identities of these people at this time are: Wang Xiaoming: Professor of the Chinese Department of East China Normal University

Xu Lin, Ph.D., Department of Chinese, East China Normal University

Zhang Hong and Cui Yiming: PhD candidates in the Chinese Department of East China Normal University

Zhang Ning: Master student in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University

They all share the same view that "literature has not done its due diligence."

Shortly after the start of the second half of the semester in 1993, the matter was put back on the agenda.

The conversation took place in Room 625 of Building 9 of Xu Lin. During the discussion, everyone agreed that there is a crisis in literature at present. "The decline in public cultural literacy and the continued deterioration of the quality of the humanistic spirit have exposed the crisis of the humanistic spirit in contemporary China."

Of course, these young students did not talk about generalities, but focused on two popular cultures at present.

First: Wang Shuo's ruffian literature.

They believed that "Wang Shuo's works are typical kitsch literature, and the general tone of his works is ridicule." The popularity of the "Wang Shuo phenomenon" and the "playing literature" school further illustrates the importance of the value orientation of "rebuilding the humanistic spirit."

Second: Zhang Yimou's commercial tendency in movies: Taking "Raise the Red Lantern" as an example, they believed that "the director is too obsessed with "new wave" art such as postmodernism, and ignores the staleness of the value orientation of the work."

The whole article was published in "Shencheng Literature" in the form of a symposium record, with the title "Ruins in the Wilderness - The Crisis of Literature and Humanistic Spirit"

After that, newspapers and magazines such as "Reading", "East", "October", "Guangming Daily", and "Wenhui Daily" also reprinted and commented on it. Participants also received many letters from readers, and a "humanistic spirit discussion" that lasted for three years kicked off.

However, the originally lively Qin Province literary world became quiet at this time.