The literary era since 1979

Chapter 66 I am not good at writing poetry

Yenching University, downstairs of the girls’ dormitory.

Bai Ruoxue adhered to the principle of helping others to the end, helped Fang Hong carry her small luggage, and led her to Su Ya's dormitory.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll give the things to Xiaoya."

"Okay, sis."

Fangyan was guarding the bicycle, standing face to face with Tang Shengnan.

You looked at me, I looked at you, and waited awkwardly for a while. Fang Hong and Bai Ruoxue finally came down, but there was no sign of Su Ya.

"Sister, where is Suya?"

"Xiao Ya is not here. Her roommate said she went to Weiming Lake."

While the two siblings were talking, Bai Ruoxue said in surprise, "I never thought you were looking for Su Ya."

"From what you said, you and Su Ya know each other?"

Fang Yan looked at her seriously for the first time.

"Strictly speaking, not too familiar."

Bai Ruoxue said frankly that Su Ya was somewhat famous in Yanda. After all, it was hard to find a few people in the whole school who had published their poems in Poetry Magazine, Poetry Exploration, and Today like her, not to mention that she had done so before entering Yanda.

In just over a month, she's already a talented student in the Chinese department!

"Talented woman?"

Fangyan's mouth corners slightly raised.

Bai Ruoxue and Tang Shengnan looked at each other and said, "You probably don't know how to get to Weiming Lake, how about we take you there?"

"Thank you so much."

Fang Hong thanked him repeatedly.

Fangyan actually wanted to say no, as he didn’t know the location of the girls’ dormitory, but he did know the iconic location like Weiming Lake.

However, I couldn't refuse his kindness, so I followed him all the way.

The surface of Weiming Lake was sparkling, and the lawn on the shore was filled with Yan University students, sitting in circles.

"They are all members of the May Fourth Literary Society."

Bai Ruoxue introduced: "Every Sunday, the literature club holds a discussion meeting here at Weiming Lake."

Then, he pointed to the man standing in the middle of the crowd, "His name is Luo Yihe, the leader of the poetry group of the literature club..."

Fangyan narrowed his eyes. He was a representative of modern poetry and Haizi's mentor. He waved his arms excitedly:
"Classmates! Classmates!"

"Look at this newspaper! Look at the article written by Teacher Xie Mian! This article is "In the Face of a New Rise"!"

"Teacher Xie Mian supports Misty Poetry, stands on our side, and supports the poetry of our generation of young people!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people sitting around became excited.

"Yanzi, who is Xie Mian?"

Fang Hong glanced sideways.

He speaks fluently in dialect. He is the deputy director of the Poetry Center of Yenching University, the founder of "Poetry Exploration", and a big name in the poetry world.

"How do you know so much? Are you also a student of Yanda University?" Bai Ruoxue and Tang Shengnan looked at each other.

“I heard it from other people, too.”

Fang Yan smiled indifferently. In order to find a way out for Su Ya's poems, he had specially consulted Li Yue. How could he not know?

"Look at what Teacher Xie Mian said."

"The emergence of more and more signs of 'deviating' from the poetic tradition forces us to make realistic judgments and choices. We don't need to be uneasy about this. We should learn to adapt to this situation and guide it towards the path of promoting the healthy development of modern poetry."

"..."

Luo Yihe read the contents of the newspaper aloud.

“But this was published in the latest issue of Poetry Magazine.” A man suddenly stood out from the crowd and spread out the magazine with both hands.

There was a striking title written on it:

The Stifling "Haziness".

“And this one!”

Another person came out, also holding a copy of Poetry Magazine. He flipped through the pages skillfully and found an article titled "Why Write Poems That People Can't Understand?" and began to read aloud:
“Why do you write obscure poetry in such an obscure way?”

"If you can't understand it, you call it 'obscure poetry'. Then why not call the poems that can be understood as bright poems or transparent poems?"

Luo Yiheya raised his voice and immediately refuted.

"Senior Luo is right!"

"Those who criticize or even deny the value of Misty Poetry are all living fossils with old-fashioned and rigid ideas who are unwilling to accept new poetry!"

In the literature club, some people supported Misty Poetry, while others did not. They immediately stood up and fought back:
“Can a poem that people cannot understand still be called a poem?”

"I couldn't understand 'April Evening', and I couldn't understand 'The Brig' either. Many of us couldn't understand it either!"

"If you can't understand, it's your own problem. If you don't understand, your son will understand. If your son doesn't understand, your grandson will understand..."

(ps: This is what Shu Ting said)

In an instant, they were divided into two factions and began arguing endlessly.

"Yanzi, what are they fighting about?"

Fang Hong said in confusion: "I am confused by all the noise."

"sister."

Fangyan explained that in April, a national contemporary poetry symposium was held in Xining, Guangxi, where Misty Poetry was criticized and a debate broke out over whether the poems of young poets were understandable or not.

"How do you know this?"

Bai Ruoxue and Tang Shengnan looked at him in surprise.

“I heard it from other people, too.”

Fangyan's mouth corners slightly raised.

"Stop arguing!!"

At this moment, Su Ya's voice suddenly broke out.

Fang Yan looked over and saw her holding up the magazine. "Now is not the time to discuss these things. Our "Weiming Lake" is about to cease publication. The most urgent task is to do a good job of this last issue and put a perfect end to the entire magazine!"

"Yes, "Unname Lake" is going to cease publication."

“There will be no more ‘Unnamed Lake’ in the future.”

The two groups of people who were originally at loggerheads suddenly wilted like withered flowers, each of them hanging their heads with lost looks.

"What kind of magazine is 'Unnamed Lake'?"

Fang Yan turned to look at Bai Ruoxue. "It's our Yanda University's internal poetry magazine."

Bai Ruoxue introduced that the editorial department of "Wenming Lake" is the May Fourth Literary Society, which was founded in 79 and has published three issues so far.

When the magazine was first published, Xie Mian specially wrote "The Hopeful "Weiming Lake" - Congratulations on the Publication of "Weiming Lake"". What is even more commendable is that Shen Yanbing personally wrote the title of "Weiming Lake".

The words written by the teacher!
Fangyan was very surprised, "Then why did you stop publishing?"

Bai Ruoxue replied that Misty Poetry was under tremendous pressure from the mainstream. Although Xie Mian and others defended Misty Poetry, their voices were very small. In addition, most of the publications of Misty Poetry were private publications or campus poetry magazines, which were considered non-compliant publications.

In addition to "Wenming Lake", private publications such as "Today", "Exploration", "Enlightenment" and "Fertile Soil" will also be suspended.

"That's right."

The dialect was not surprised.

At this moment, Su Ya noticed their figures, and was surprised and happy, "Sister Hong! Yan..." Thinking that it was inappropriate to call her by her nickname in such a public place, she immediately changed her words and said, "Fang Yan!"

In an instant, everyone present followed Su Ya's gaze.

"Dialect? Which dialect?"

"Is it the dialect used to write The Horse Herder and The Dark War?"

"What, Fangyan is here! Where is he? Where is he?"

"No way? He could be that 'dialect'? No way?"

"........."

Doubt, excitement, surprise, all kinds of emotions spread among the crowd, and everyone stared closely at Fangyan who was walking towards them.

"Let me introduce you. This is my childhood friend."

Su Ya smiled and said, "He is now an editor at Yanjing Literature. And, just as everyone thinks, he is indeed the author of The Horse Herder and Dark War. He speaks in dialect, no doubt about it!"

"what!"

Suddenly, the whole place was in an uproar.

Bai Ruoxue opened her mouth in shock and stared at Fang Yan.

"Damn it! It's so abominable!"

Tang Shengnan didn't laugh but was angry, "He is really too hateful."

"Why do you say that?" Bai Ruoxue asked puzzledly.

"He is obviously Fangyan, why did you lie to us and say he is not!" Tang Shengnan said angrily: "We are so kind to take him with us..."

"He handled it correctly."

Bai Ruoxue pondered for a while, "If he insisted that he was the writer 'Fangyan', would you believe it?"

"I...I...I don't believe it."

Tang Shengnan pursed her lips.

"You don't believe it, and neither do I. See, we are the ones who don't believe it. Instead of arguing with us about who is right or wrong, why don't you just stop arguing? Look how harmonious the streets are, with everyone talking and laughing."

Bai Ruoxue pulled her and pushed her to the front of the crowd.

Fangyan was surrounded by people, who rushed to ask questions, such as whether he supported Misty Poetry, whether poetry should be understood, what was his opinion on Misty Poetry, etc.

"Ahem, classmates!"

In public, Fangyan was not at all nervous.

"I personally support the diversification of poetry!"

"There are so many genres of Chinese poetry, including the Book of Songs, Chuci, Hanfu, quatrains, and regulated verse. Regulated verse is further divided into five-character and seven-character regulated verses, not to mention the various ci tunes of the Song Dynasty."

"So, why can't multiple poetic styles coexist?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone became excited.

"It's not that we don't want to coexist, it's that they won't let us!"

"Yes, they find Misty Poetry difficult to understand."

"That we have gone astray and are on a dangerous path!"

"........."

Luo Yihe raised his hand and pressed it down, signaling everyone to be quiet, then looked at Fang Yan, "Teacher Fang, what do you think of Misty Poetry?"

“Things that you are not used to for a while are not necessarily bad things.”

“A poem that you cannot understand at first glance is not necessarily a bad poem.”

"But I don't agree with writing poems that are deliberately difficult for people to understand. I also don't agree with saying that some vulgar and vulgar poems are elegant, just like saying that shit, urine and fart are flowers."

"That's like throwing it right next to the toilet, not far from death."

Fangyan raised the corner of his mouth and said, "It may be a bit vulgar, please don't mind."

"Hahaha!"

Laughter rang out, and the tense atmosphere eased.

"My teacher once told me that literature comes from the people, and only when the people like it can it be true."

Fangyan asked back: "Do you like obscure poetry?"

"like!"

Most people shouted almost in unison.

The dialect man said seriously, "Isn't this the conclusion? As long as something is liked by the public, it will burst into infinite vitality, like a wildfire that cannot be extinguished, and spring breeze that blows it back to life. As long as something is disliked by the public, even if it is praised to the sky, it will eventually fall into the toilet, become associated with shit, and stink unbearably!"

"Snapped."

"Clap clap clap."

As Su Ya took the lead in clapping, everyone followed suit.

Luo Yihe was taking the photos most enthusiastically, his face flushed. "I know it may be a bit presumptuous to say this, but I still want to ask, can Teacher Fang write a work for this issue of "Weiming Lake"? "

“I’m not good at writing obscure poetry.”

Fang Yan remembered Li Yue's words and declined politely.

“It doesn’t have to be obscure poetry, anything will do.”

Luo Yihe pleaded: "Please, Mr. Fang, this is the last issue. We hope to run it well and put a perfect end to this magazine that Mr. Yan Bing has high hopes for."

Hey!
The teacher starts and the disciples finish.

When Fangyan heard "Mr. Yanbing" and saw the eager and eager eyes of the Yan University students around him, he couldn't help but sigh.

Since you have begged me so sincerely,

Looks like I'll have to be merciful!

(End of this chapter)