Back to 80: My Literary Life

I originally wanted to ask him a few questions about this, but I thought better of it.

Although I am the chairman of the Writers' Association, this kind of academic discussion requires everyone to express his or her own opinions, and you cannot unify your thoughts.

Otherwise, if Wang Menggui is the vice-chairman of the National Association of Associations, Zhang Binbin, an ordinary cadre, will still scold him?

After a day and two nights, the train arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in the morning. The four of them bought a traffic map, piled on the bus and went straight to the hotel where the meeting was held - the West Lake Hotel.

The hotel is located to the west of the West Lake, with three sides facing the lake and one side facing the mountain. The scenery is very good.

The four people rushed to the hotel to report. The place had become busier than usual. Fang Minghua knew many of the literary writers from various places who came to report.

Zhang Xianliang, Feng Jicai, Han Shaogong, the younger Tie Nian, and Chi Zijian were basically leaders of the provincial writers' associations.

The meeting was held in the hotel conference room the next day, and the host was Wang Meng, vice chairman of the Writers Association.

In addition, the leader's ceremonial speech first affirmed the importance and necessity of this meeting, etc., which are basically the routine of eight-legged essays and have little nutrition.

On behalf of the Writers Association, Wang Meng delivered a speech on the theme of the meeting. His speech was very long, lasting two hours.

Its main meaning is: the 1990s are about to pass halfway, and the entire social economy and humanistic environment have undergone tremendous changes compared with the 1980s.

In terms of literature, compared with the 1980s, many new phenomena and problems have emerged. On the one hand, our writers have become increasingly mature. A large number of young writers who originally emerged in the 1980s have now become the backbone of the literary world. many excellent literary works.

But at the same time, the literary atmosphere in the entire society is deteriorating rapidly. People no longer have the same passion for literary works as they did in the 1980s. This has brought great challenges to literature. Everyone discussed this theme and expressed their opinions, which contributed to the development of Chinese literature. Provide suggestions for development.

Everyone resonates with Wang Meng's speech to varying degrees. Times have indeed changed, and some writers are at a loss.

In the afternoon, there was a group discussion. However, the meeting was not divided into geographical regions or provinces according to the Northeast Group and Northwest Group as before. Instead, the list of participants was shuffled and randomly divided into groups.

Fang Minghua was assigned to the sixth group and arranged to be held in the 3rd conference room on the 4th floor.

There are about 20 people, some of whom I am familiar with, such as Zhang Xianliang, chairman of the Ningxia Writers Association, the leader of this group, and Han Shaogong of Hainan, etc., and some of whom I am not familiar with.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, everyone started a discussion around Wang Meng's speech.

Of course, everyone would not talk about this kind of speech in general terms. Everyone had prepared a speech - everyone had written it in advance, and Fang Minghua was no exception.

The first person to speak was the group leader Zhang Xianliang. As a big brother in the literary world, he is very important not only in Ningxia, but also in the entire domestic literary world.

The title of his speech was also very "horrifying"

"Literature in the 1990s is Gray"

"When talking about literature in the 1980s, there is a sense of certainty. Many writers in today's literary world, including those who came to the meeting this time, especially young writers such as Minghua, Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun, Liang Xiaosheng, Su Tong, etc., are either Already quite famous, they either completed the publication of their debut works or masterpieces. Their roots were deeply rooted in the soil of the 1980s, and their branches and leaves flourished in the 1990s.

People seem to be pushed into the 1990s without any psychological preparation. Writing in the period of social transformation once again has many uncertainties.

There is a writer named Wang Qian who did not come to the meeting today. Not long ago he published a book called "Selected Essays of Wang Qian". He uses the word "bulk" to describe his newly published book.

In fact, "bulk" can also be used to describe the literary form of the 1990s. Writers "went overseas" to write for the market. Film and television impacted literature. The circulation of literary journals declined rapidly. Serious literature lost its market competitiveness in the face of popular literature. More importantly, What's more, "readers are dead" - this is a prediction 20 years in advance...

The "bulk" phenomenon occurred because the literature at that time became a victim of invisible violence. This invisible violence can be seen as the shattering shape of thought and culture after the rapid transformation of society, which can no longer unite people's emotions. Consensus and strength. Giving up literature has become a fate."

Zhang Xianliang was speaking, while Fang Minghua and Han Shaogong sat together, whispering.

"Hey, Minghua, I found that Zhang Xianliang's speech was a bit pessimistic." Han Shaogong said.

"How about his title is called "Literature in the 1990s is Gray"?" Fang Minghua laughed softly.

"what you think?"

"I generally agree with what he said, but there is still light among the gray."

"I'm still relatively optimistic. I think literature still has a bright future."

Han Shaogong's idea is not surprising. Unlike Zhang Xianliang who was half businessman and half literary, Han Shaogong has been active in the literary world, including later organizing and planning the literary magazine "Tianya", and he has not left literature.

It was Fang Minghua's turn to speak. The title of his speech was "The Popularity of Personalized Writing and the Rise of Best-Sellers"

The content is very concise:

"The private writing tendency represented by the writing of emerging writers Chen Ran, Lin Bai, Xu Xiaobin and other female writers. Note: the core of artistic style is the uniqueness of the writing method, rather than the privateness of the content of experience.

"The other thing is the prevalence of best-sellers. Let me first talk about the concept of best-sellers." Fang Minghua took the manuscript and looked around and continued:

"Bestsellers are called bestsellers in English. The term originated in the United States in 1895. The American magazine "Reader" published the titles of the six best-selling books in bookstores in 19 cities. This is considered the first bestseller list in history. The characteristic of bestsellers is that they meet the reading tastes of people at that time.

"Like our provincial writer Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", Jia Pingwa's "Wasteland", Yu Hua's "To Live", and Wang Shuo's novels can all be considered bestsellers. Of course, my recent works can also be considered bestsellers."

Speaking of this, Fang Minghua emphasized: "What I want to emphasize is that bestsellers are not necessarily good books, but they may also become famous books. All this depends on whether the actual value can stand the test of time."

"Minghua, let me interject, I dare not say anything else, at least Wang Shuo's novels will definitely not become famous books!" The speaker was Han Shaogong."

Fang Minghua smiled slightly and said nothing.

In the great discussion of humanistic spirit, Han Shaogong also criticized Wang Shuo fiercely!

"Minghua, can we discuss this issue? For example, can the "Solutions to the Grocery Store" you just published become a famous book in the future?" A man's voice came from the opposite side of Fang Minghua.

It was a writer named Liu, over 60 years old, named Liu Guowei, vice chairman of the Writers Association of Province X.

Fang Minghua had read his novels before, and it felt like reading Haoran's "Sunny Days" and "Golden Avenue".

In fact, Fang Minghua said that his bestseller was not "Solutions to the Grocery Store".

This book has been published for several months, and its performance cannot be compared with novels such as "Heavenly Movement" and "The Piano in a Factory", let alone "In the Name of the People" which was very popular last year.

I don't know why he suddenly promoted this book?

It seems that he is not friendly?