Chapter 230 Fang Minghua’s Lecture Notes
“This year is 1985, and the 1980s is almost halfway over. Since 1979, our country has just emerged from that special era. Literature is at the right time to take on the responsibility of recording this period. The special mission of history.”
“In our country, almost all literate people are eager to read novels. Reading has given rise to a huge demand for writing, and too many people have chosen or are about to choose writing. For the profession, including all of you here.”
“There are thousands of magazines in our country now, and many famous magazines have hundreds of thousands of copies, and some even exceed one million copies, like "Contemporary", "People's Literature", "Harvest", etc."
"Through reading, readers want to know more about what is happening in our country, so in response to the requests of readers, writers write to record the past and the past. Now, several schools have emerged.”
"Such as scar literature - mainly records the pain that era caused us; reflective literature - mainly looking back and thinking about that period of history; "educated youth literature" - mainly describing tens of millions of urban students going up mountains Mainly the experience of going to the countryside, etc. In a word, what to write about is what writers of our time are most concerned about."
"But today, in 1985, the situation seems to have changed. Both readers and writers have some kind of resistance to novel forms that have remained unchanged for many years. The familiar novel stories make people feel a bit boring: whether it is scar literature, reflective literature, or educated youth literature.
"Just like this. Society is changing, and literature also needs to change. I wrote several stream-of-consciousness novels in the past two years, which were an attempt at this kind of change, although it caused huge controversy. "
Fang Minghua stood on the stage and talked. The audience was quiet. Occasionally, there was the sound of the pen tip touching the paper.
"There are more arguments like this this year." "Transparent Carrot", "White Bird", "You Have No Choice", "Variations on No Theme". I wonder if you have read these novels? "Fang Minghua asked.
"Read it!"
A response came from the audience.
"Very good, have you noticed that these novels are different from the ones you have read before? Can any classmate tell me what is different from the past?" Fang Minghua asked with a smile.
Someone in the audience raised their hands.
Fang Minghua noticed that the young man wearing black-rimmed glasses who came in just now also raised his right hand!
"This classmate, tell me."
The young man pushed up his glasses and replied in Mandarin with a Jiangnan accent:
"I think the difference between these novels and the past is that the previous ones The author is more concerned about what to write, and the authors of these novels are more concerned about how to write. The content they write is about things around them. They seem to be more concerned about the current joys, sorrows, and joys, or looking back on their childhood and looking for their hometown and past events."
"You are right!" Fang Minghua praised: "What is your name? Are you a college student?"
The young man wearing glasses suddenly felt a little shy, and then said: " My name is Tong Zhonggui, I graduated from Yantai Normal University and am now an editor at Zhongshan magazine. I am on a business trip to Xijing and came here when I heard there was a lecture.”
This young man who looks unattractive is actually the editor of the famous "Zhongshan" magazine!
The audience in the auditorium cast envious glances.
Fang Minghua was also a little surprised.
Tong Zhonggui, editor of "Zhongshan" magazine, isn't this the famous Su Tong in the future?
As famous as Yu Hua, Ge Fei and Ma Yuan, he is a representative of pioneer writers.
His representative works include "The Yellow Bird", "Wives and Concubines" and "Binu".
Of course, I am still an unknown editor now.
In this era, Fang Minghua has seen too many young talents, so he is not surprised.
After the slight surprise passed, he said:
"The editor is right. What's more interesting is that the stories written by these writers are no longer as bitter and revengeful as the previous stories. Deep, no longer so sensational, no longer so complete and rigorous in structure. "Do you feel that their stories have become fragmented and often give people a scattered impression? At the same time, their stories also lack the ability to sublimate readers. elements, lacking the atmosphere of enlightenment and admonishment for readers, and even lack of aesthetics in the traditional sense. ”
“This is an important genre of so-called modernist literature, which we call avant-garde literature.” Fang Minghua wrote four big characters on the blackboard.
"What is a vanguard? Its original meaning comes from the famous French "Larouse Dictionary" - the so-called vanguard refers to the vanguard of an armed force, whose task is to prepare for the armed force to enter action (Military term), the history of the term "vanguard" began with the French Revolution, and then turned to cultural and literary arts terms (beginning in the early 19th century)"
"Due to historical reasons, the traditional writing of novels in our country has Although the background goes back a long way, it was at the beginning of the twentieth century A rupture occurred. "
"That was when the modernist movement in Western literature was surging. In the first seventy years of the twentieth century, the world's novels experienced an unprecedented revolution. First, the stream of consciousness entered the novel. For the nineteenth century of the golden century of novels The novels of the century were completely subverted; then came the absurd novels represented by Kafka and Camus; then came the new novels represented by Griet and Sarraute; and then came the black humor novels that are popular all over the world and are still popular today. The world will not decline.”
For three hours, except for occasional questions, only Fang Minghua’s voice echoed in the entire auditorium:
From Enlightenment to Existentialism: The evolution of contemporary avant-garde literary trends.
Contemporary avant-garde The basic characteristics of literary trends of thought.
The limits, paradoxes and fallacies of avant-garde literary trends of thought:
Challenges of problems, meaningful forms to obtain the pleasure of language
Jia Pingwa, who was sitting in the front row, was smiling, but Lu Yao next to her was frowning.
Su Tong, who was standing in the aisle, listened intoxicated. He seemed to feel that Fang Minghua's lecture directly opened a door to literature for him, which was so different from before.
Liu Meimei, who was sitting in the back row, looked confused. What Fang Minghua said was a bit profound for her.
I don’t understand.
But the way he lectures is so charming.
Amid different reactions from the audience, Fang Minghua ended today's lecture.
We received warm applause. Those who understood and those who did not understood stood up and applauded.
The lecture was a great success. In the evening, Xijing TV Station reported the lecture on the news channel.
“News from our station: Comrade Fang Minghua, a well-known writer in our province and deputy editor-in-chief of "Yanhe" magazine, gave lectures to some writers from our province, students from Xijing Literature College, and Northwest University students this afternoon in the auditorium of Northwest University. An in-depth and simple literary theory class received a huge response."
Fang Minghua was watching the news reports at home.
It was his mother, Zhang Fenglan, who pulled him out of the room to watch.
"Xiaohua, look at you on TV." Zhang Fenglan watched with great interest: "I wonder if our neighbors have seen it?"
Fang Minghua was stunned after hearing this. Speechless.
It’s been almost a year since I moved here, and my mother often goes there to show off.
Forget it, as long as she is happy.
(End of this chapter)