The literary era since 1979

On the last day of the meeting, it turned back into a literary salon where everyone could speak freely.

Artistic forms, the boundaries of novels, the absurdity, symbolism, humor and other aesthetic categories in new novels...

The conversation continued until the evening, when the literary and art circles and publishing houses in Jiangsu and Zhejiang held a banquet at the "Louwailou" restaurant.

Looking out through the window, you can see distant mountains and nearby water; the scenery outside the building complements the rock bonsai inside the building.

The food is delicious and quite tasty. The river shrimp, lake crab, asparagus and water shield are all very fresh.

Zhong Acheng and Wang Shuo learned their lesson about getting drunk with rice wine, and never dared to touch a drop of rice wine again when drinking at the table.

Fang Yan, on the other hand, had a drink with Zhu Wei, Shi Tiesheng and others, "I'll trouble you to take care of Tiesheng on the way."

Zhu Wei was very curious, "Teacher Fang, won't you come back to Yanjing with me?"

Shi Tiesheng smiled and said, "He wants to take this opportunity to make a detour to Shanghai first."

"The one who knows me is Tiesheng."

Fang Yan is going to visit the crew of the movie "Once Upon a Time in China" to visit Gong Xing on set.

Li Xiaolin invited, "Yanzi, since you are going to Shanghai, why don't you come with us?"

Fang Yan readily agreed, but she then went on to complain that she was not kind enough for giving Farewell My Concubine to Contemporary.

"Editor-in-Chief Li, I think your Harvest will also have a great harvest this time."

Shi Tiesheng helped smooth things over, "I have collected so many root-seeking literary works and theoretical articles..."

Fang Yan nodded repeatedly, "That's right, it doesn't matter if my piece "Farewell My Concubine" is not included."

"You can't say that."

There was resentment in Li Xiaolin's tone.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that even ten or twenty other novels and critical articles on root-seeking literature may not be as valuable as Farewell My Concubine. What's more, this novel was written by Fang Yan, the current standard-bearer of the root-seeking literature school.

It was obvious that the organizers of this seminar were "People's Literature" and "Harvest", but in the end the biggest beneficiary was "Contemporary".

This is like getting married. Li Yunlong saved some money, built a house, found a matchmaker, gave the betrothal gift, and held a banquet. When he finished all the work and the bride was about to enter the bridal chamber, no one had anything to do with Li Yunlong. Instead, Ding Wei took advantage of the ready-made thing and went straight into the bridal chamber.

"Sister Xiaolin, next time, when I have a good manuscript, I will definitely think of Harvest first."

Fangyan was being pestered and had no choice but to smile awkwardly.

Li Xiaolin said happily: "You said it, so it's a deal!"

"Haha, it's a deal."

Fang Yan turned around and then instructed Zhu Wei, Wang Fu and others.

Regarding the novels, theoretical articles and conference contents included in "People's Literature" this time, if they are only published in the December issue, not only is the magazine's page space and length limited, but more importantly, the time interval is too long and the timeliness is too poor, so we won't be able to enjoy the benefits by then.

The limelight will probably be snatched away by a group of newspapers and periodicals that first report news related to the West Lake Conference and root-seeking literature.

Therefore, it is planned to set up a special supplement on the theme of "Root-seeking Literature" before the December issue of "People's Literature". However, if Fangyan can think of it, other literary journals can also think of it. Everyone wants to be the first to try it.

Therefore, Jiangsu and Zhejiang newspapers and periodicals such as the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Daily and West Lake, which took advantage of the right time and place, were the first to report on the grand event of the West Lake Conference.

For a time, it caused quite a stir in the East China literary world.

During the time when Fangyan stayed in Shanghai, one publishing house after another vied to promote "root-seeking literature", not only reporting and commenting on the West Lake Conference in lengthy and voluminous articles, but also in a series of articles. The root-seeking literature, which had already cooled down, quickly heated up again.

For example, Shanghai's Wenhui Daily generously praised and supported "roots-seeking literature":
"It aims to dig out and explore traditional culture and national cultural psychology, to find the roots and self of national culture, to enrich and develop Chinese literature, and to show the unique charm and depth of national culture. It is a literary creation trend that pays attention to the source of human culture, the root of national spirit and the root of personal life, and has injected new vitality into contemporary Chinese literature..."

Another example is the Literary Gazette of Yenching University, which impartially commented:
"The birth of literary 'root-seeking' is inevitable. It is a self-protection mechanism to resist the invasion of Western literary schools. Following certain Western writers and 'schools', no matter how well they imitate, cannot become original artistic creation. Chinese literature should be rooted in the 'soil of traditional culture' and spare no effort to dig it out, so that it can dialogue with 'world literature'..."

But compared to the voices of support, there are also many voices of opposition.

Writers who admire Western literary genres feel that root-seeking literature is "reversing history" and is a kind of literary retrogression like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. Literature should not look backward but forward and emulate the West.

There are even more fanatical avant-garde literary critics who believe that "seeking roots" is a purely nationalist and conservative slogan.

This rotten root of traditional culture cannot be cut off in time, and cannot be kicked away. So why look for it when searching for the roots of literary schools?
Looking for roots, looking for roots, looking for the roots of a bird!
There are many writers, editors and critics who regard "roots-seeking" as the "guardians" and "pigtail army" of declining culture!

The "avant-garde" pioneering literary camp is not happy with it, and the "conservative" local literary camp is also not happy with it.

"Root-seeking literature" is nothing more than a copycat of Latin American magical realism. At best, it is a poor imitation of "Roots" by Alex Haley, an African-American writer in the United States. The only difference is that Haley is looking for the "roots of Africa". It is nothing great at all.

This is a fork in the road, a divergent road, a crooked road, an evil road. It is no different from the avant-garde literature where demons and monsters are rampant!
Public opinion was surging, one after another. The avant-garde camp believed that root-seeking literature was too "conservative", while the local camp believed that root-seeking literature was too "avant-garde". The root-seeking literature school was caught between the radicals and conservatives, suffering from both ends and being severely exported, criticized and questioned.

However, the members of the root-seeking literary school are not pushovers. They will not tolerate being beaten or scolded. They stand up one by one and fight with full force.

As Commander Fang's vanguard general, Han Shaogong was the first to stand up and loudly proclaimed in the newspaper:
"Our roots are in the East. The East has its own culture. The essence of our national culture is more preserved outside the norms of the Central Plains... Those outside the norms are the 'roots' we need, because they are spread across the vast land and deeply rooted in the fertile soil of the people. We dig into the hidden heritage of Chinese civilization and seek the foundation of culture."

Then, Ru Zhijuan publicly supported it, and then the third, fourth, fifth, and so on, all expressed the same view:
“Learning from the West cannot solve our own problems from the root. Only our own history and culture are the key to solving the problems.”

As more and more people in the literary world join the discussion, the whole debate tends to spread to the whole country.

"Sizzle, so enjoyable. This fight is getting more and more enjoyable."

In the bedroom, Fang Yan flipped through the "Wenyi Bao". There was a pile of recently published literary newspapers beside him.

"You can still laugh."

Gong Xing said with a worried look on his face, "Look at what these newspapers say about you: 'literary demon', 'retrograde', 'going downhill'..."

"What's this? It's not the first time."

Facing the criticism from the public, Fangyan just laughed it off. "It's like this every time. The word 'literary demon' has almost become a compliment to me. No, it should be a proper noun for me. It's good!"

"Is everything really going to be alright?" Gong Xing asked with concern.

"Even if there is, it's a good thing!"

Fang Yan said: "It's just that writers look down on each other. In the end, the works will speak for themselves. My answer is Farewell My Concubine." (End of this chapter)