Back to 80: My Literary Life

"Editor Zhou, these letters from readers are all comments on Fang Minghua's "The Sun Also Rises"."

A young editor hurried into Zhou Yanru's office with a large stack of letters.

Zhou Yanru is in her early fifties, with short ear-length hair and glasses. She looks very capable. After hearing this, she asked: "Xiao Yang, do you praise more or criticize more?"

"There was a lot of criticism. Many readers wrote in and said they couldn't understand it and it was disorganized. Some even said how could our "Yenjing Literature" publish such a novel."

"It doesn't matter if there are too many criticisms." Zhou Yanru chuckled: "Stream of consciousness is still a new thing in China, not to mention that this writing technique is a bit obscure."

Looking at the puzzled look on the young editor's face, Zhou Yanru patiently explained: "Xiao Yang, as an editor, what you are most afraid of is not that a certain article will be controversial or criticized, but that after it is published, it will be like mud sinking into the sea without making any sound. It’s scary.”

"Controversy means there are hot spots and attention. This is a good thing for the magazine and even the author himself. Of course, there must be a degree of control here."

At this point Zhou Yanru paused and continued.

"Xiao Yang, you don't have to worry too much about these readers' letters. You should pay more attention to the comments about this novel published in other newspapers and periodicals recently, especially some of the more famous figures in the literary world and influential magazines. Once there are comments about this novel, You must show me the negative reviews of the novel!"

"I see."

"Go ahead."

After Xiao Yang left, Zhou Yanru looked at the pile of letters, smiled, no longer cared but picked up a manuscript.

The next morning, Zhou Yanru hurried to her office at the magazine on her bicycle. Before she had time to pour a glass of water and drink some medicine, she heard a knock on the door, and then she saw Xiao Yang rushing in with a That's holding a newspaper.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Yanru frowned slightly.

"Sorry, Editor Zhou, "Literary News" published a review today criticizing the novel written by Fang Minghua!"

"Literary Newspaper"? !

Zhou Yanru was surprised.

The name of this newspaper is very ordinary, but having been immersed in the literary world for most of her life, she knows how powerful this newspaper is.

Just after liberation, the state and publicity departments had strict management of literary and art periodicals, among which "Literary and Art Journal" played a supervisory and supervisory role!

Of course, after the reform and opening up, since the Literary Newspaper resumed publication, its communication and contention nature has quickly replaced its supervisory function, but it still has a high reputation and "rank".

Therefore, the review articles published on it should not be underestimated, let alone the critical articles?

Zhou Yanru quickly took it and put on her reading glasses to look carefully.

It was written by an author named Zhou Fan, which is a pen name and is very famous in the domestic literary criticism circle.

Zhou Yanru read this review carefully and found that its criticism of "The Sun Also Rises" consists of three points:

The biggest point is the stream of consciousness writing, which is a bit foggy and mysterious, which makes people feel depressing.

Ah?

Seeing this, Zhou Yanru smiled slightly.

Two years ago, didn't a certain well-respected poet in the domestic poetry circle comment on hazy poetry in the same way?

Write an article called "The Depressing "Hazy"". Those poems that "can be read several times without getting a clear impression, half-understood, half-understood, or even completely unintelligible, and hard to understand" are called "hazy style".

This is where Misty Poetry comes from, but now it has become the mainstream in the poetry world, and those critical words have caused greater controversy and will push the debate about Misty Poetry to a new stage.

Will this novel also be like this in the future?

But what she didn't expect was that this critical article was quickly reprinted by several magazines and newspapers, and she suddenly felt like "the storm is about to come".

More importantly, critics are gradually pointing their finger at the editorial office itself: Why can such a novel be published? !

Zhou Yanru couldn't sit still. That afternoon, she rode to the Yanjing Writers Association on Qianmen West Street. She wanted to see Wang Meng.

At this time, Wang Meng was reading a newspaper leisurely. When he saw her knocking on the door and coming in, he immediately put down the newspaper, stood up and greeted her with a smile, and poured her a glass of water. "Editor-in-Chief Zhou, you don't go to the Three Treasures Hall for anything, what's the matter?"

"Chairman Wang, the article "The Sun Also Rises" you recommended was a bit troublesome." They are all old acquaintances, so Zhou Yanru didn't beat around the bush and told the truth.

"Is it this newspaper?" Wang Meng picked up the newspaper he was reading just now, it was "Literary News"!

"Yes, and some newspapers and magazines have recently reprinted this article. I feel it has had a big impact." Zhou Yanru looked anxious.

Wang Meng smiled, still looking gentle.

"What are you afraid of? It's just a novel, the sky won't fall!"

"But?" Zhou Yanru wanted to defend, but was interrupted by Wang Meng: "Don't worry, that era is gone forever. Even if someone wants to make trouble, it will only make a few small splashes!"

Seeing Wang Meng's appearance, Zhou Yanru slowly calmed down.

To be honest, she was scared of being tortured.

"But, we have to say a few words to prevent others from thinking that we have poor taste. I am going to write a review of this novel."

"you?"

Zhou Yanru understood immediately.

Wang Meng is ready to publicly support it!

He is a big figure in today's literary world, the vice chairman of the Yanjing Writers Association, and it is said that he will soon be appointed as the editor-in-chief of "People's Literature".

"People's Literature" is a publication affiliated with the Writers Association and has a very high status.

The position of editor-in-chief must be approved by the central publicity department!

"Chairman Wang, thank you." Zhou Yanru said gratefully.

"Why are you thanking me? I recommended this novel. There was a little commotion, so I naturally wanted to help." Wang Meng smiled.

"Editor-in-Chief Zhou, we've been through a lot of storms, what's the matter that we haven't seen yet? Just this matter, it's really not a big deal." Wang Meng comforted him again.

Zhou Yanru admired Wang Meng for this.

Don't be surprised.

Sophisticated yet passionate.

Otherwise, why would you recommend such a novel that seems a bit "apostate" now?

Of course, Wang Meng was not just talking, he immediately started writing, and within a few days he also published a signed article titled "The Sun Rises Upward" in "Literary Newspaper".

The article shocked everyone at the beginning: "The "The Sun Also Rises" written by Comrade Fang Minghua actually says: Life dilemmas like "Faust" have always been in the world."

I actually compared this novel with "Faust"!

"In the last section of the novel, the sun still rises. Who said that is the tail of light? That is the beginning of the story! This is not a simple flashback. The end is equal to the beginning, which means: life was like this in the past, but it may not be like this in the future. That’s not it.”

"There is nothing new under the sun." The spiritual path will always face such a dilemma - an end, or no end. The end will lead to boredom, and the end will inevitably lead to madness. This is exactly the dilemma of Dr. Faustus: stop, lose your soul to the devil, and keep going like this, but for what purpose? However, on earth or in reality, life seems to only provide these two possibilities; even if you go crazy, life will still pass away like water and become empty.

Wang Meng's comment was like a bomb, making this already hot topic even more popular.

Writers, critics, and readers came together to launch a heated debate around this novel.

Thanks to book friends 20220626030607847, Huanyingfeng, book friends 20181117220905231, Beihai Cangming, 36D Can’t Hold It, Snail Stampede, and book friends 20221105234430370 for their monthly votes.

PS: The review written by Wang Meng in the article was actually a review written by Shi Tiesheng after watching the movie during his lifetime. It is very well written. If you are interested, you can search it online.