In the early morning, the shores of the West Lake are sparkling.
Wang Shuo and Zhong Acheng got up in confusion, went downstairs with a splitting headache, and heard the sound of footsteps in their ears.
I saw Fang Yan directing Zhu Wei and others, setting up the venue and placing seating signs on rows of tables.
"Hey, you two are awake?"
"Teacher Fang, don't tease us. How dare we be 'you'."
Wang Shuo shivered when he heard the word "you" and his whole body immediately became energetic.
"Is yesterday's rice wine delicious?" Fang Yan joked.
"I regret that I listened to Teacher Fang. This rice wine is really evil." Wang Shuo covered his aching head.
“Yes, you don’t get drunk when you drink it, and you will feel more energetic after drinking it. It is more energetic than Moutai and Fenjiu.”
Zhong Acheng felt thirsty. Swallowing, "Next time I won't dare touch this wine again."
"You call the ignorant fearless."
Fang Yan said: "There will be a meeting soon. Go to the cafeteria to refresh your stomach. I asked the master in charge of the ladle to cook a pot of soup to sober up."
"Thank you, Teacher Fang, thank you, Teacher Fang."
The two of them showed awkward but polite smiles, and then ran to the cafeteria.
Wang Shuo trotted all the way. As he ran, he looked back and saw a "scrawled puppy" with a middle-parted hairstyle rushing in front of Fang Yan.
"It's your boy."
Fang Yan looked up and down, "How are you doing recently? After writing "Seventh Night", have you written anything new?"
Yu Hua nodded repeatedly, I have a lot of feelings about my trip this time. I plan to use the eighteen-year-old "me" as the protagonist and write about an eighteen-year-old boy who embarks on a journey that marks adulthood with the encouragement of his father. He encounters various frauds and crimes along the way. , indifference and cruelty.
After briefly telling the story, "I've already thought of a name, it's called "A Journey at the Age of Eighteen"."
"You still like to tell it from the perspective of death and malice. Write.”
Fang Yan shook his head and laughed, "It's good. This 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 vigilant.
“Why don’t you leave?” Zhong Acheng was surprised.
Wang Shuo asked: "Who is that person?"
Zhong Acheng followed his gaze and said, "Oh, him, Yu Hua, who wrote "The Seventh Night". It is said that this novel was written under Teacher Fang's step-by-step guidance, and won this year's National Outstanding Novel. "The novel!"
Wang Shuo narrowed his eyes and felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He seemed to have a challenger for his position as the number one horse boy under Teacher Fang!
In sight, Fang Yan handed back the signed "World of Reasoning" again.
"Thank you, Teacher Fang."
Yu Hua took it and said, "My parents and their colleagues especially love to read your book "Song Ci, the Punisher of the Song Dynasty"."
Fang Yan smiled and said, "You are still at the Cultural Center in Haiyan, right?"
Yu Hua nodded, confused.
"Have you ever thought about going to a bigger stage, such as becoming an editor at "World of Reasoning"?" Fang Yan asked.
"Huh? Me?"
Yu Hua was confused, but quickly recovered his senses. After much hesitation, he politely refused, "Teacher Fang, I can't eat spicy food."
When Fang Yan asked, he found out that the co-author mistakenly thought that the editorial office of "The World of Reasoning" was in Sichuan. He showed a playful smile:
"That's wrong, it's not in Rongcheng, but in Yanjing. I just went there. Those two are the editors of "The World of Reasoning"
"Yan Jing!"
Yu Hua's eyes lit up instantly.
“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 is not a long journey from Haiyan to Hangzhou. After all, it is within Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces." Go round and round, if you really want to travel far, why not go further?"
Yu Hua couldn't help but feel excited and her heart was beating fast.
Fang Yan cast a meaningful look. Yu Hua was not as simple as a "pioneer writer".
I think about the many cartoons I watched when I was a kid, including "The Legend of Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit", "Little Fugui the Magic Chef", "Gourd Little King Kong", and "Snow Child". They are all listed in the literary consultant column. His name, no wonder there are so many knives that can poke people's tear ducts buried in the plot.
Talents like this are not only needed by "Mystery World", but also needed by my own cultural and entertainment publishing company in the future.
What is missing most in the 20th century? Talent!
This seminar not only formally established the genre of root-seeking literature, it was also an interview for direct employment from BOSS.
…………
After breakfast, the West Lake Conference started on time.
More than 40 participants were sitting in the huge conference room, all looking at Fang Yan and Li Xiaolin.
As representatives of the editorial departments of "People's Literature" and "Harvest" respectively, they served as the hosts of this national seminar.
Before the official start, let’s talk about the opening remarks.
“Today’s academic conferences are increasingly pursuing so-called internationalization and standardization. Meetings are like listening to reports.”
“However, we all feel that this time it undermines participation in the conference. A sense of distance between everyone.”
"So, we decided to do the opposite for this meeting. The theme of this first day is not limited to root-seeking literature. We can discuss it freely. We can talk about world literature and Chinese literature. As long as it is related to literature, as long as it is Anyone here who is interested can chat.”
As soon as these words came out, the whole place was in an uproar, chattering, and it was so lively.
During the discussion, Fang Yan raised his voice and continued to speak loudly: "There is no clear title, no keynote report, and no arrangement for reading papers or comments. There will be no limit on speaking time, interruptions and interruptions. Everyone can enjoy it Say whatever you want, without hesitation!"
Li Xiaolin added, "Just treat it as a literary salon."
Yu Hua looked around, Han Shaogong, Gu Hua, and Tie. Ning and others stood sideways and whispered to each other.
"Yanzi and the others have a good idea. Although we all met yesterday and drank wine, we are still not familiar with each other. If we hold a 'literary salon' and eat sunflower seeds around issues of common interest, While chatting about literature, we gradually became familiar with each other.”
"The Literary Salon is quite new. It feels like a meeting of immortals."
"There used to be a famous salon in our country, hosted by Mr. Lin Huiyin, and all the guests came and went. "
"Yes, yes, I've heard of it too!" "In that case, Then we have to think carefully about how to speak later and what topics to talk about without making a fool of ourselves.”
“I’ve thought about it a long time ago, it’s me. I will talk about Western modern literature, the literary explosion in Latin America and magical realism.”
"..."
Seeing them discussing enthusiastically, Yu Hua was confused for a moment, where am I, who am I, what am I doing?
At the moment of confusion, someone could no longer hold it any longer and stood up immediately, the first to speak:
"I am Ji Hongzhen, an associate researcher at the Creative Research Department of the Writers Association. ”
“I want to talk about The topic is a topic that I have been researching and thinking about when I was a master's student at Yan University. It is called "The Clash between Civilization and Ignorance". Some of the insights are based on Teacher Fang's "Guns, Viruses and Steel". Come out..."
"Bah bang bang."
The applause rang out, and while Fang Yan was clapping his hands, he was greatly surprised. This person is incredible. "The Story of Xiao Hong" was written by her.
I saw her talking endlessly about "the conflict between civilization and ignorance" for almost an hour.
During this period, even when faced with questions from all directions, I was able to answer questions fluently and have clear thinking.
Although Yu Hua didn’t understand, he was shocked and kept shouting in his heart, Damn, that’s awesome!
Immediately afterwards, it was Han Shaogong's second turn, talking about the antinomies of literature and art.
After saying that he was satisfied, he handed the handover baton to Wang Shuo.
Although he has no education, 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 big colorful bird flew outside. Everyone ran out to see it. Acheng ran at the front, jumping to catch the colorful feathers, but the bird Flying away, I think this free meeting is probably a good dream..."
"Wrong, this is not the interpretation of the dream."
Shi Tiesheng waved his hand and talked about Freud's "The Analysis of Dreams".
And Zhong Acheng brought out Zhou Gong's Interpretation of Dreams, and the conversation went further and further, and finally he talked about Chinese literature and Zen.
Holy shit, that’s awesome!
Yu Hua is like a repeater. Whenever someone stands up to speak, regardless of whether he understands the words or not, he will always shout "fuck you, awesome" in his heart, but when he thinks about it, I can't be a cheerleader on the sidelines, my mind starts racing.
The last thing I can think of is Kawabata Yasunari, Kafka, and "Seventh Night".
Fortunately, the content of speeches is not restricted and can be varied and freely expressed.
Everyone was relaxed, sipping tea and peeling melon seeds. Everyone's mind seemed to be opened and they participated in the conversation very immersedly. On the surface, everyone's speech was completely different. Yes, no one should be with anyone.
But the good thing is that there are no restraints. Everyone can say what they really want to say most, and they can express the thoughts that they may have been holding back for a long time. In fact, these topics are all about the Everyone has their own opinions on where Chinese literature in this era, especially contemporary literature, should go.
Either talk about the "stream of consciousness" led by Wang Meng, or talk about Wang Zengqi's "folk custom novels"...
Or talk about the counter-cultural French "New School of Novel" , or talk about the "magic realism" known as Latin American explosive literature.
There are those in the West and there are those in the East. From morning to night, sparks rub against each other.
At this time, the sky outside the window was dyed red by the sunset, and an orange-red sunset was embedded in it.
Yu Hua saw that the meeting continued until now, and Fang Yan remained silent, like a tool presiding over the meeting, or a bystander:
"Teacher Fang, what do you think?"< br>
“Yes, Yanzi, most of us have spoken, and it’s your turn to speak.”
As soon as Shi Tiesheng said this, he was immediately echoed by Tie Ning, Wang Anyi, Zheng Yi and others, who all clapped and booed.
"Okay, then I will say a few words." Fang Yan stood up with a smile, "After listening to your speeches all day, I wonder if you have noticed that in your narration, in fact, They all have one key thing in common, that is, they agree that Chinese culture Learning must be based on extensive and profound 'cultural excavation and development' in order to dialogue with 'world literature'. Is there anything wrong with my statement?"
"No!"
Everyone After whispering to each other for a while, they almost answered in unison.
“This raises a question, that is, how to dig and develop it?”
Dialect said: "Is it retro, or avant-garde? Or is it integrating into modernity, continuing tradition, or doing both?"
"It's okay to continue tradition, but retro, I think it's unnecessary!" ”
“Not only must we not go back to the past, but we must 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! One, a third, or even countless people agreed with the statement.
“Indeed, looking for roots is not about retrospecting, but about finding the combination of traditional culture and modernization. Good culture must be praised, bad customs must be criticized, we must sort out our 'roots', and cut off excess The 'branches' let our ancient, healthy, and deep-rooted living roots in the fertile soil bloom with strange flowers and bear plump fruits..."
"From your speech just now, I heard that there are two trends. One is the new growth of modern Western literary genres, grafted onto our roots. For example, there are many avant-garde writers who imitate Western literature. The other is the Looking for vitality through reflection on the roots of our local literature is just like what Shao Gong, Zheng Yi, and Gu Hua just said. "
Fang Yan stretched out a finger, "But whether it is the former or the latter, there is a literary and cultural comparison."
"Don't talk about culture, just culture. Comparison in literature is a difficult thing to do."
Li Xiaolin said what everyone here 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 the same title as Qian Zhongshu, "consultant".
After several exchanges, we found a way to not only promote "root-seeking literature" to a higher status, but also help the society promote "comparative literature" to the whole country, that is, to put "root-seeking literature" "Bundled propaganda with "comparative literature", both academic and literature blossomed.
Listening to the introduction of "Comparative Literature", Ru Zhijuan, who was sitting next to Wang Anyi, suddenly interrupted:
"I'm sorry, when I mentioned this, I thought of some time ago, A strange novel came to our editorial office."
"How to say it?"
Li Xiaolin and others have turned their attention to her, not only because she is Wang Anyi's mother and a representative of reflective literature, but also because she is the actual person in charge of "Shanghai Literature" and determines whether the submitted novels can be published again. Published in "Shanghai Literature".
"This is written by a writer from Tibet, called "The Temptation of Gangdise"."
No one knew the title of the book that Ru Zhijuan said, and then said The name of the author "Ma Yuan" is also strange to people.
Fang Yan was slightly interested, "Has this novel been published?"
"No, Comrade Ziyun and I didn't understand it. It's not in the form of a traditional novel at all, and the narrative is a bit complicated."
Ru Zhijuan said: "It's a bit like Borges, and there are shadows of magical realism. We have been undecided whether to send it or not, so we brought it here specially and wanted to ask everyone to help us check it out, especially You, Director Fang!"
He said while taking out the manuscript from his bag. : "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, which I plan to publish in At this meeting, I will share it with everyone.”
Fang Yan showed a faint smile.
“That’s right! Yanzi, you’ve written a new work again!”
Tie Ning and Wang Anyi looked at each other, surprised and happy.
Fang Yan glanced at Zhu Wei, and Zhu Wei knowingly distributed the copies he had prepared 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)