The literary era since 1979

In the early morning, the banks of West Lake are sparkling.

Wang Shuo and Zhong Acheng got up dazedly, went downstairs with a splitting headache, and heard footsteps.

Fang Yan was seen directing Zhu Wei and others to set up the venue and place seat signs on the rows of tables.

"Hey, are you two awake?"

"Teacher Fang, please stop teasing us. We are not worthy of being called 'you'."

When he heard the word "you", Wang Shuo shuddered and immediately became alert.

"Isn't yesterday's rice wine delicious?" Fangyan asked jokingly.

"I regret listening to Teacher Fang. This rice wine is really evil." Wang Shuo covered his aching head.

"Yes, it doesn't make you drunk when you drink it, but it makes you energetic after you finish drinking it. It's stronger than Maotai and Fenjiu."

Zhong Acheng just felt thirsty and swallowed his saliva, "Next time I won't dare to touch this wine again."

"You are ignorant and fearless."

Fangyan said, "The meeting will start soon. Let's go to the cafeteria and eat something. I asked the chef to make a pot of soup to sober you up."

"Thank you, Teacher Fang. Thank you, Teacher Fang."

The two of them gave awkward but polite smiles, then ran happily to the cafeteria.

Wang Shuo jogged along the way, looking back as he ran, and saw a "sloppy puppy" with a middle-parted hairstyle running in front of Fangyan.

"It's your boy."

Fangyan looked him up and down. "How are you doing recently? After finishing The Seventh Night, have you written anything new?"

Yu Hua nodded repeatedly, saying that he had many feelings about this long journey, and he planned to use the eighteen-year-old "I" as the protagonist to write about an eighteen-year-old boy who, encouraged by his father, embarked on a journey that marked his adulthood, encountering all kinds of fraud, evil, indifference and cruelty along the way.

After briefly telling the story, "I've already thought of a name, it's called 'Going on a Long Journey at the Age of Eighteen'."

"You still like to write from the perspective of death and malice."

Fang Yan shook his head and laughed, "Very good, now that the novel is finished, remember to send it to People's Literature."

"Okay!" Yu Hua scratched his head and grinned.

Seeing them talking and laughing, Wang Shuo became extremely alert.

"Why don't you leave?" Zhong Acheng was surprised.

Wang Shuo asked, "Who is that person?"

Zhong Acheng followed his gaze and said, "Oh, that's him, Yu Hua who wrote The Seventh Night. It is said that this novel was written under the guidance of Teacher Fang, and it won this year's National Excellent Novella Award!"

Wang Shuo narrowed his eyes, feeling a sense of crisis. It seemed that his position as Teacher Fang's top henchman had encountered a challenger!
In sight, Fangyan handed the signed "Mystery World" back to him.

"Thank you, Teacher Fang."

Yu Hua took it and said, "My parents and their colleagues all love to read your novel, Song Ci, the Chief Justice of the Song Dynasty."

Fangyan smiled and said, "You are still in the Cultural Center in Haiyan, right?"

Yu Hua nodded, puzzled.

"Have you ever thought about moving to a bigger stage, such as being an editor at "Mystery World"? " Fang Yan asked.

"Ah I?"

Yu Hua was confused, but soon regained his senses. After hesitating for a while, he politely refused, "Teacher Fang, I can't eat spicy food."

After asking Fangyan, he found out that he had mistakenly thought that the editorial office of "Mystery World" was in Sichuan and Shu, and he smiled playfully:

"You're wrong. They're not in Rongcheng. They're in Yanjing. The two people who just passed by are the editors of Mystery World."

"Yanjing!?"

Yu Hua's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Yes, the branch is located in Yanjing."

Fang Yan said, "If you are interested, you can consider it. I am very familiar with the president of their publishing house." He patted his shoulder and said, "It's not a long journey from Haiyan to Hangzhou. After all, it's just a trip around Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province. If you really want to travel far, why not go to a farther place?"

Yu Hua couldn't help but be moved, his heart pounding.

Fangyan cast a meaningful look at him. Yu Hua is not just a "avant-garde writer".

Thinking back to many cartoons I watched when I was a child, such as "The Legend of the Seven Heroes of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit", "The Divine Chef Fugui", "The Calabash Brothers", and "The Snow Child", his name was listed in the column of literary consultant. No wonder there were so many knives hidden in the plot that could poke one's tear glands.

Talents like this are not only needed by "Mystery World", but also by his own cultural and entertainment publishing company in the future.

What was the most lacking thing in the 20th century? Talent!
This seminar not only formally established the genre of root-seeking literature, but also served as an interview session for BOSS Direct Hire.

…………

After breakfast, the West Lake Conference started on time.

There were more than 40 participants sitting in the huge conference room, all staring at Fang Yan and Li Xiaolin.

The two of them, as representatives of the editorial departments of People's Literature and Harvest respectively, served as hosts of this national seminar.

Before the meeting officially started, I gave an opening speech.

"Academic conferences nowadays are increasingly pursuing so-called internationalization and standardization. Meetings are like listening to reports."

"However, we all agree that this will undermine the sense of participation in the meeting and create a sense of distance between everyone."

"So, we decided to do the opposite for this conference. The theme of the first day is not limited to root-seeking literature. We can discuss freely. We can talk about world literature or Chinese literature. As long as it is related to literature and there are people here who are interested, we can talk about it."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience was in an uproar, chattering and it was very lively.

Amid the discussion, Fangyan raised his voice and continued loudly: "There is no specific topic, no theme report, no arrangement for reading papers and comments, and there will be no limit on speaking time, interruptions and interruptions. Everyone can speak freely without any scruples!"

Li Xiaolin added, "Just treat it as a salon literature."

Yu Hua looked around and saw Han Shaogong, Gu Hua, Tie Ning and others leaning sideways and whispering to each other.

"This is a good idea from Yanzi and the others. Although we all met and drank yesterday, we are still not familiar with each other. If we hold a 'literary salon', we can talk about literature while eating melon seeds and focusing on issues of common interest, and slowly we will become familiar with each other."

"Literary salon, this is quite fresh, it feels like a meeting of gods."

"There was a famous salon in our country before, hosted by Ms. Lin Huiyin, and all the guests were gentlemen and masters."

"Yes, yes, I've heard that too!" "In that case, we have to think carefully about how to speak and what topics to talk about. We must not make a fool of ourselves."

"I've thought about it a long time ago. If it were me, I would talk about Western modernist literature, the Latin American literary explosion and magical realism."

"........."

Seeing their enthusiastic discussion, Yu Hua was puzzled for a moment: Where am I, who am I, and what am I doing?
Just when everyone was confused, someone could no longer hold back and immediately stood up and spoke first:
"I'm Ji Hongzhen, an associate researcher at the Creative Research Department of the Writers Association."

"The topic I want to talk about is the topic I have been researching and thinking about when I was a master's student at Yanda University. It is called "The Clash of Civilization and Ignorance". Some of the insights I gained were based on Professor Fang's "Guns, Viruses, and Steel"..."

"Clap clap clap."

Applause broke out. While clapping, Fangyan was very surprised. This person was amazing. "The Biography of Xiao Hong" was written by her.

I saw her talking incessantly about the "conflict between civilization and ignorance" for almost an hour.

During this period, even when faced with questions from all sides, I was able to answer them fluently and with clear ideas.

Although Yu Hua didn’t understand, he was greatly shocked and kept shouting in his heart, “Wow, that’s awesome!”
Next, it was Han Shaogong's turn to speak, and he talked about the antinomies of literature and art.

After he finished talking, he passed the baton to Wang Shuo.

Although he is not well educated, he can talk like an old BJ. He said that he drank rice wine yesterday and had a dream when he was drunk.

"I dreamed that a group of us were having a meeting, and suddenly a large colorful bird flew outside. Everyone ran out to see it. Ah Cheng ran in the front, jumping and trying to catch the colorful feathers, but the bird flew away. I think this free and easy meeting might just be a good dream..."

"You are wrong. That is not the interpretation of the dream."

Shi Tiesheng waved his hand and talked about Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams".

Zhong Acheng brought up Zhou Gong's Interpretation of Dreams, and the topic went further and further, finally talking about Chinese literature and Zen.

Damn, that’s awesome!
Yu Hua was like a tape recorder. Whenever someone stood up to speak, no matter if she understood what was said or not, she would shout "Wow, that's awesome" in her heart. However, when she thought about not being able to be an off-field cheerleader, her brain started to work rapidly.

The last thing I can think of is Yasunari Kawabata, Kafka, and "The Seventh Night".

Fortunately, the content of the speech is not restricted and is varied and free to express.

Everybody was relaxed, sipping tea and peeling melon seeds. Everyone's mind seemed to be opened up, and they participated in the conversation very enthusiastically. On the surface, everyone's speech was completely independent of each other, and no one responded to anyone else.

But the good thing is that there are no restrictions. Everyone can say what he really wants to say, and express the thoughts that may have been suppressed in his heart for a long time. In fact, these topics are all about expressing opinions on the direction of Chinese literature of this era, especially contemporary literature.

Let’s talk about either Wang Meng’s “stream of consciousness” or Wang Zengqi’s “novels of folk customs”…

Either talk about the anti-cultural French "New Novel" or talk about the "magical realism" that is known as the explosive literature of Latin America.

There are those from the West and those from the East, and from morning to night, sparks fly between them.

At this time, the sky outside the window was dyed red by the sunset, with an orange-red sunset embedded in it.

Yu Hua saw that the meeting had continued until now, and Fang Yan remained silent, like a tool for hosting the meeting, or a bystander:
"Teacher Fang, what do you think?"

"Yes, Yanzi, most of us have spoken, and it's your turn to speak now."

As soon as Shi Tiesheng said this, he was immediately echoed by Tie Ning, Wang Anyi, Zheng Yi and others, who applauded and cheered.

"Okay, then I'll say a few words." Fang Yan smiled and stood up. "After listening to your speeches all day, I wonder if you have noticed that there is actually a key common point in your speeches, that is, you all agree that Chinese literature must be based on extensive and profound 'cultural excavation and development' in order to dialogue with 'world literature'. Is my statement okay?"

"no!"

Everyone whispered to each other for a while and answered almost in unison.

"This raises a question: how should we explore and develop it?"

Fangyan said: "Is it retro or avant-garde? Or is it integrating modernity, or continuing tradition, or is it both?"

“It’s fine to continue the tradition, but I think it’s better to forget about retro styles!”

"We should not only not go back to the old ways, but we should also criticize and reflect on the 'bad roots' in traditional culture from the perspective of modern literature!"

Han Shaogong was the first to stand up, followed by the second, the third, and even countless people who agreed.

"Indeed, searching for roots is not about returning to the past, but about finding a way to combine traditional culture with modernization. Good culture should be praised, and bad customs should be criticized. We should sort out our 'roots' and cut off the unnecessary 'branches', so that our ancient, healthy, living roots deeply rooted in fertile soil can bloom exotic flowers and bear rich fruits..."

"From your speeches just now, I heard two trends. One is the thriving new shoots of Western modern literary genres being grafted onto our roots. For example, there are many avant-garde writers who imitate Western literature. The other is to find vitality in the reflection on the roots of our local literature, just like what Shao Gong, Zheng Yi, Gu Hua and others just said."

Fangyan raised a finger and said, "Whether it is the former or the latter, a literary and cultural comparison is indispensable."

"Let alone cultural comparison, even literary comparison is difficult to do."

Li Xiaolin said what everyone present wanted to say.

“So we need a tool, a method, or a perspective, and that is comparative literature.”

Since Fang Yan was invited by Ji Xianlin to join the first comparative literature society in China, he has been given the same title as Qian Zhongshu, "consultant."

After several rounds of exchanges, we found a way to both elevate "root-seeking literature" to a higher status and help the society promote "comparative literature" nationwide. That is to combine the promotion of "root-seeking literature" and "comparative literature" so that both academic and literary fields can flourish.

Listening to the introduction of "Comparative Literature", Ru Zhijuan, who was sitting next to Wang Anyi, suddenly interrupted:
"Excuse me, speaking of this, I'm reminded of a strange novel that our editorial department received some time ago."

"how to say?"

Li Xiaolin and others all turned their attention to her, not only because she was Wang Anyi's mother and a representative of reflective literature, but also because she was the actual person in charge of "Shanghai Literature" and decided whether the submitted novels could be published in "Shanghai Literature".

"This is a book written by a writer from Tibet Province, called The Temptation of Gangdise."

No one knew the title of the book that Ru Zhijuan mentioned, and the name of the author "Ma Yuan" that she then mentioned also sounded unfamiliar.

Fangyan was slightly interested, "Has this novel been published?"

"No, Comrade Ziyun and I didn't understand it. It's not a traditional novel at all, and the narrative is a bit complicated."

Ru Zhijuan said, "It's a bit like Borges, and it also has a shadow of magical realism. We have been undecided whether to publish it or not, so we brought it here specially and would like to ask everyone to help review it, especially you, Director Fang!"

While taking out the manuscript from his bag, he said, "After listening to your comparative literature just now, I must ask you to read The Temptation of Gangdise."

"What a coincidence! I also have a novel I wrote here, and I plan to share it with you at this conference."

Fangyan gave a faint smile.

"Really? Iwako, you've written a new work again!"

Tie Ning and Wang Anyi looked at each other, surprised and happy.

Fangyan gave Zhu Wei a wink, and Zhu Wei understood and distributed the photocopies he had prepared long ago to everyone one by one.

Compared to "The Temptation of Gangdise", even Ru Zhijuan herself can't wait to see the masterpiece of the young general below. (End of this chapter)