Back to 80: My Literary Life

After dinner, the two children were doing homework at home, and his wife went shopping with her friends. Fang Minghua took the German Shepherd Xiao Dou Miao out for a walk. Although he had a small yard at home and Xiao Dou Miao could run around, he still liked Fang Minghua to take him out to play.

After leaving Chaoyang Gate, he walked along the city wall to the south - Fang Minghua usually didn't walk north. If he walked north for a while, he would reach Xijing Railway Station, where the public security was the worst and the thieves were the most rampant. There was no need to find discomfort.

He led the German Shepherd south, turned into the city wall from Zhongshan Gate, and then walked along Dongxin Street to Jiefang Road, making a big circle. The man and the dog walked leisurely for almost two hours before returning to their own yard.

When he walked into the gate, the nanny Xiaoqin saw him coming in and said, "Brother Fang, Brother Jia came to see you just now."

"Where is he?"

"I said you went to walk the dog, and he said he would come back later."

Didn't we just meet this morning? Why are you here again now?

Fang Minghua thought about it and went upstairs. He first looked at the two children's rooms, then returned to the study. Not long after, he heard the voice of the nanny greeting the guests downstairs, and Fang Minghua went downstairs.

Sure enough, Jia Pingwa came.

"Brother Jia, I heard Xiaoqin say that you were looking for me. Is there something?" Fang Minghua greeted.

"It's nothing big. I passed by your place and wanted to come in and sit down. I didn't expect you to go out to walk the dog." Jia Pingwa laughed and said.

"Oh, Xiaoqin, take out the watermelon in the refrigerator." Fang Minghua shouted to Xiaoqin in the yard.

The two chatted while eating watermelon.

After eating three pieces of watermelon in one breath, Jia Pingwa saw Fang Minghua continue to chat aimlessly, and seemed a little restless. He suddenly changed the subject: "Minghua, how is the preparation for the manuscript you wrote on the discussion of humanistic spirit some time ago?"

"You also asked about this when you were fishing this morning, and now you mention it again. You didn't come here specifically to ask about this, did you?" Fang Minghua asked back.

"No, no, I just said it casually." Jia Pingwa denied it quickly.

"Come on, Brother Jia, I don't know your temper yet. Let's go upstairs with me." Fang Minghua stood up and walked upstairs.

Jia Pingwa hurriedly followed him to the study on the second floor. Fang Minghua turned on the computer and said, "Well, everything I wrote is in this directory."

Jia Pingwa leaned over to take a look.

Damn!

Not one article, but three!

"Can I take a look?"

"Of course, take your time."

Jia Pingwa sat on the chair and looked carefully.

Jia Pingwa was more and more surprised when reading the three review articles, "The Spiritual Symptoms of the Great Discussion on Humanistic Spirit - Also on the Cultural Resources of Contemporary Literature", "Literary Criticism in the Context of the Great Discussion on Humanistic Spirit", and "Secular and Elite Demands". The first review article was even more novel, sharply pointing out the flaws in this discussion on humanistic spirit.

1. Unclear spiritual connotation. What exactly is "humanistic spirit"? There are many interpretations. Although everyone uses the concept of "humanistic spirit", some say that there is the humanistic spirit of modern Western times, and there is also the ideological connotation of traditional Chinese culture, and even basically points to the "ideals" and "beliefs" of real politics, which is a mess.

When some scholars proposed "rebuilding" or "returning" to the humanistic spirit, some people questioned and criticized its connotation: "If it is "lost" now, then what was the state of our humanistic spirit before it was "lost"? Was it in full swing? Did it become a tradition or "mainstream"? Did it decline after reaching its peak?

2. Unclear spiritual direction. The misunderstanding in its understanding is obvious, and the object of criticism also has a certain deviation.

3. The spiritual expression is too simplistic. Whether it is the advocates or the skeptics of "humanistic spirit", they generally lack a peaceful and rational attitude, and are full of simplistic and emotional disputes.

At the end of the article, he did not forget to tease Pan Fengdong from Fudan University, "Am I hiding in a small building to become a unified whole? I think of a sentence in "Hongmen Banquet": A boy is not worth planning!"

Jia Pingwa read all three articles in one breath and said good.

"Minghua, these three articles you wrote are really good, especially the first one is very clever. What kind of discussion on humanistic spirit? A group of scholars have been arguing for two years and have not even figured out the connotation and spiritual direction of the discussion on humanistic spirit. They are still pretending to discuss the three weird things?! And Pan Fengdong is just a clown!"

Fang Minghua smiled slightly.

I mean this, but not completely.

Didn't I state my own arguments on the discussion of humanistic spirit in the next two articles?

These three reviews were soon published in the Literary Gazette, and immediately caused an uproar in the academic community, especially the first article, which made the young students in Shanghai furious.

They were the first to provoke a great discussion on humanistic spirit, and they were proud of it, but Fang Minghua criticized them for nothing.

They didn't understand anything, and they were still discussing shit.

"This Minghua is too crazy, I can't stand it anymore, I want to write an article to refute it!" In a classroom at Fudan University, some students - both graduate students and professors were discussing Fang Minghua's article, and one of the men waved his fist and shouted loudly.

Several students looked at him.

"Professor Pan, what are you refuting?" The speaker was another Chinese professor, Wang Xiaoming, who was also one of the initiators of this great discussion on humanistic spirit.

He looked at the somewhat crazy Pan Fengdong and frowned slightly.

"Refuting his article is pure bullshit!" Pan Fengdong cursed.

"The first article, "The Mental Symptoms of the Great Discussion of Humanistic Spirit - Also on the Cultural Resources of Contemporary Literature", points out the serious flaws in this discussion of the spirit of literati. To be fair, do you think he is right?"

"Take a look at the following two articles, "Literary Criticism in the Context of the Great Discussion of Humanistic Spirit" and "Secular and Elite Demands"

" It describes the current literary crisis, the loss of intellectuals' humanistic care, the dissolution of the ultimate value of mankind and other phenomena.

"The article says that the substantial content of humanism or humanism should be based on the thoughts and tendencies of the Renaissance. So, what is the substantial content of the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance? In a nutshell, it is to exalt human nature and oppose divinity, to oppose the way of God with humanity; to affirm human worldly happiness and oppose asceticism, and to take reason as the basis. "

"Look at the last few paragraphs again:" Wang Xiaoming pointed to the article in the newspaper and read it word by word:

"In short, the humanistic spirit we advocate today should be a people-oriented spirit that strongly cares about and takes responsibility for the fate, happiness and suffering of mankind, and for the existence, value and dignity of mankind.

"But on the other hand, secularization also has the effect of deconstructing old morals, old norms, old values ​​and even political and cultural authoritarianism. Its deconstruction of everything sacred also makes itself a way to de-sacred political authority and cultural hegemony, and a way to dissolve all monopolies."

"Do you think what he said makes sense?"

Several students around nodded.

Although Minghua's tone in these three comments was a bit sharp, and some of his words were full of ridicule and directed at them, to be fair, what he said did make sense.

Not only did he point out the defects, but he also proposed solutions to the problems, and he also elaborated in detail, which was linked together and made people have to admire him.

Pan Fengdong was so angry.

But it was not easy to say much.

After all, there are students here today, so I can't just talk nonsense without reason, right?

"Hey, which school did Minghua graduate from? What diploma? How come he is so awesome?" A graduate student suddenly asked.

"What diploma? He is just an educated youth who graduated from junior high school. I heard that he went to Northwest University to attend a junior college correspondence course a few years ago." Pan Fengdong's tone was full of contempt.

Everyone was silent.

Damn, a bunch of professors, doctors, and graduate students can't beat a junior college student in a correspondence course!

But what they didn't expect was that Fang Minghua's diploma at this time was no longer just a junior college correspondence course.