The literary era since 1979

Chapter 241: The Young Literary Demon Fang

December 12, Yanjing Railway Station.

Fangyan was standing at the exit and spotted Feng Jicai in the crowd at a glance. After all, he was 1 meters tall and a tall and strong man.

Wherever you go, you will feel like a crane standing out among chickens.

"Teacher Feng!"

"Teacher Fang!"

Feng Jicai shook hands with him and said, "It's an honor for you to come pick me up in person."

"No, no, it's my duty. You are Tie Ning and Zi Long's friend, so you are my friend."

After a few pleasantries in dialect, he was asked to change his address to "Yan Zi".

The two then came to the guesthouse, put their luggage away, and did not go to the "October" editorial office immediately. Instead, they found a state-owned restaurant nearby and ordered four dishes and a soup for lunch.

Eat and chat at the same time.

Feng Jicai said: "I think Zilong has already told you on the phone that I am here to learn from you."

"Learn from the scriptures?"

Fang Yan said, "There are many people in the newspapers now who accuse me of being a heretic and supporting popular literature. This is totally wrong. Aren't you afraid that you will misunderstand me by reading my teachings?"

Feng Jicai shook his head and said, "I don't think so. There are indeed people who oppose you, but there are also people who support you, and I am one of them!"

Then he put down his chopsticks and said, "I also think that those who criticize you for popular literature have not understood the true meaning of "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong". This is clearly a work that interprets Lingnan literature. Martial arts and martial arts are just cultural elements in it."

“This really proves that saying.”

The dialect goes: "'It is a great pleasure to have friends coming from afar'."

"Ha ha!"

They smiled at each other. Feng Jicai said that even if there was no concept of "Lingnan Literature", he would still like "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" very much and would not hate or reject it just because it is popular literature.

Suddenly, he asked, "Can Mo, do you know him?"

"I heard something."

Fangyan nodded.

Can Mo is a martial arts novelist from Tianjin, known as the "Jin Yong of the Mainland". He has published works such as "Shenzhou Lei", "Fengchen Xijianlu", "Blood Splattered in the Mandarin Duck Tent", "Soul-Chasing Flute and Invisible Sword" and so on in magazines such as "Wulin" and "Jin Gu Chuan Qi".

"I really like to read martial arts novels by Can Mo, Huan Zhu Lou Zhu, Gong Bai Yu, and Zheng Zheng Yin."

Feng Jicai said that Tianjin is an important martial arts center in the north!
In addition to martial arts, folk culture is also extremely prosperous.

Therefore, popular literature has been popular in Tianjin literary circles since the Republic of China period, especially martial arts novels, such as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" by Huanzhu Louzhu and "Stealing Fist" by Gong Baiyu.

Among the five famous northern martial arts masters, two are from Tianjin.

"So, you also want to write a martial arts novel."

Fangyan raised his eyebrows.

"I want to write a book like your "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong", a regional work about Tianjin's martial arts world, and I want to write some of the spirit and energy of Tianjin's men in it."

Feng Jicai said: "It would be best if we could integrate Tianjin's unique folk culture, such as crosstalk, opera, Pingju, and Jingdong drum."

Fangyan stroked his chin and pondered for a while:
"In that case, I have a suggestion."

"You said."

"Jicai, since you have read my book, you must be familiar with the character 'Yan Zhendong', right?"

"Of course not. Yan Zhendong is the character that left the deepest impression on me besides Huang Feihong and Nalan Yuanshu. He is a martial artist from Tianjin who went south to make a living. He knows hard qigong and braid kung fu..."

"To be honest, I didn't intend to kill Yan Zhendong. I wanted him to come to his senses in the duel with Huang Feihong, and eventually turn over a new leaf, cut off his braids, and join the army."

"Yanzi, can you elaborate on this?"

Feng Jicai immediately became interested and asked Fangyan to explain in detail.

Afterwards, you and I contributed our own ideas, and pieced together a Tianjin martial arts novel bit by bit, following Yan Zhendong's line of thought.

In Tianjin during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, there was a street performer named Sha Er who used his ancestral 108-style "pigtail kung fu" to defeat hooligans and Japanese samurai one after another. He became famous in Tianjin and was called the "magic whip".

However, facing the guns and artillery of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Sha Er found that his ancestral pigtail skills were completely powerless. In the end, he made a decision that went against his ancestors and cut off his pigtails, turning the "magic whip" into a "magic gun". From then on, the ancestral pigtail skills were lost.

But at the same time, there was a sharpshooter in the Northern Expedition Army.

"Good! This story is good!"

Feng Jicai was immersed in it, "The backward braids should be cut when it's time to cut them. Cut off the 'whip', but keep the 'spirit'."

Fangyan watched him talking to himself and did not disturb him.

"To extend this a little further, when foreign literature is coming on strong, we should get rid of all the ideological baggage that should be discarded. What is the difference between popular literature and serious literature? The key is to retain the 'spirit' of the traditional Chinese culture."

Feng Jicai was suddenly enlightened and inspiration came to him like a spring.

"It seems that you already have a clear idea." Fang Yan clapped his hands and congratulated repeatedly.

"I'm ashamed. If it weren't for your advice, I really wouldn't have thought of this." Feng Jicai hesitated, "Yanzi, this story has a certain appeal to me. Can you let me write it?
"Of course, but I want this manuscript."

Fangyan smiled.

"no problem!"

Feng Jicai agreed to the suggestion of being seconded to the editorial department of October to write, so that at least he could write the outline of the novel first.

As for the title of the book, the two of them decided to call it "The Divine Whip".

…………

Just when Feng Jicai was dragged into the evil path by Fangyan and "went along with the crowd", "Nanfeng" immediately began serializing "Heroine Women" after publishing "Soul-Breaking Spear" and "Forged Sword", forming a seamless connection.

Moreover, the front page of the newspaper was devoted to Fangyan’s bold views on serious literature, pure literature, and popular literature:
"There is no clear boundary between these three types of literature. A work can be both serious literature and popular literature at the same time, just like The Grandmaster Huang Feihong."

For a time, it caused an uproar in the literary world.

In Tianjin, Feng Yunnan saw the content reprinted in the Tianjin Evening News and felt that a layer of window paper had been pierced by the dialect.

I have been frustrated in the fields of pure literature and serious literature. The works I submit either fall into oblivion or just make a small splash. Perhaps this is my limit.

I'm afraid I'll never be able to reach Teacher Fang's level in my lifetime.

But now, Fang Yan and "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" have pointed him to a completely new path, historical martial arts novels!
Why not work hard on popular literature!

With this belief in mind, as a member of the Folk Literature and Art Association, he turned his attention to the folk literature collected on the bookshelf.

I immediately saw Pingjiang Bushousheng's "The Legend of Heroes and Knights", and clearly remembered that it was about a hero from Tianjin.

That is, Huo Yuanjia!
Based on the dialect version of "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong", Feng Yunnan named his new book "The Tianjin Hero Huo Yuanjia".

When a simple thought arises, the world suddenly seems vast!

…………

Sichuan, mountain city.

In the study, Nie Yunlan was holding the "Shancheng Daily", which reprinted various "anti-Tiangang" remarks and opinions in dialect.

The further you look down, the more turbulent your emotions become.

The creative desire that had been suppressed in my heart was gradually aroused. Finally, I could no longer bear it and opened the drawer.

There were several martial arts novels lying inside, namely "The Crane Shocks Kunlun", "The Sword and the Golden Hairpin", "The Sword Qi and the Pearl Light", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Iron Cavalry and Silver Bottle", which were the "Crane and Iron Five Parts Trilogy".

At the same time, there is also the manuscript of "Yu Jiaolong" and the booklet "Stories of the Mountain City" placed below.

In the late 70s, he sent his novel to "Shan Cheng Zhang Gu" for serialization. However, because martial arts novels were regarded as "pornographic novels" at that time, the serialization of "Yu Jiaolong" had to be terminated.

At present, the successful publication of "The Grandmaster Huang Feihong" and Fangyan's views on "martial arts novels" have rekindled the fighting spirit of this old man.

Nie Yunlan planned to send "Yu Jiaolong" to "Legends of the Past and Present" to have it republished and fulfill his long-cherished wish.

.........

As the sales of "Huacheng" exceeded 180 million copies nationwide, more and more writers, like Nie Yunlan and Feng Yunnan, began to "abandon the light and turn to darkness" and fall into the evil path because of the literary beacon of dialect, and expressed solidarity and support for Teacher Fang.

They turned from their original camps of scar literature, reflective literature, educated youth literature, etc. to either national and regional literature, or to the magical realism introduced by Teacher Fang and "October", or even simply defected to popular literature such as martial arts and romance.

After all, Mr. Lu Xun wrote martial arts novels, Mr. Lao She wrote martial arts novels, and Fang Yan also wrote martial arts novels, and they all became great writers.

It doesn’t mean you can’t become a great writer just by writing martial arts novels!

When a simple thought arises, the world suddenly seems vast!

With Fangyan, the winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, as a "bad example", young writers have more or less gotten rid of their ideological baggage.

If I’m going to get scolded anyway, I’ll scold Teacher Fang first!

Anyway, even if the sky falls, this tall one will hold it up!

that's the truth.

Many conservative critics, editors, and others saw that dialects had stirred up an "evil trend" in the literary world, dragging down good writers and turning the righteous path into the evil one.

They even have the nerve to link "martial arts" and "serious literature" together, just like linking basketball and chickens together. It is simply shocking. Everyone is so excited that they roll up their sleeves and are ready to fight.

The traitor has jumped out on his own!

One is the dialect! The other is the editorial department of Huacheng!

Destroying people tirelessly! Misleading students!

Even conservative literary critics were filled with righteous indignation and immediately wrote articles to denounce: "There are four literary monsters in China today. The first is Qiong Yao who advocates third parties, the second is Deng Liyun who sings pornographic songs, the third is Jin Yong who always calls for war and killing, and the fourth is Fang Yan who cheers for the popular novel, a kind of 'pornographic literature'..."

"Among the four, the other three are from Hong Kong and Taiwan, so they are not a concern. Only the dialect is the worst! It is the most harmful!"

"It can be called the 'demon of the literary world'!"

(End of this chapter)