Personally speaking, I am deeply indebted to the editor-in-chief of Mr. Ba Jin. I am a member of the younger generation who enjoys this kindness. Mr. Ba Jin’s kind eyes touch everyone’s face and give people at least bloody and necessary conscience. Now that Mr. Ba Jin has passed away, I would rather believe that this kind of touch will continue to develop because of Wen Cheng’s creation of a moral cornerstone for his writing, and it will be like blood. We should be gratified that Mr. Ba Jin died in Gu Mainian and his personal pain was relieved. But from a personal point of view, many people hope that he will live longer. For great people, we often have this contradictory idea. For the family, it is lucky that he can stay after his death, but Mr. Ba Jin has not left a few. He has left his image, his love and him to remind this nation.
Pay tribute to Zong Renfa.
In the early summer of 1986, sitting on the lawn in front of the literature and history building of East China Normal University, looking up at the sky, I was in a state of confusion. At that time, I had written novels but never contributed to the editorial department. I wrote them because I wrote words to express my confusion. The ancient poems hurt spring, sadness and autumn, and the grievances were not exactly the same. In the decade, almost everyone believed that today’s weather would definitely be better than yesterday, and evil would be better, more meaningful and more valuable than today’s evil. But in the face of a better future, People often have a strange sense of confusion, which is a kind of involuntary confusion that they don’t know if they will enter a bright future in some form, just like a couple of child brides who don’t know how to spend their wedding night.
I remember Gefei jumping over the iron fence and jumping into the lawn and coming to my side. He was holding a letter envelope in his hand. Gefei pulled out the letter again and let me share his happiness. It was a letter from Zong Renfa. Zong Renfa told him that his novella was about to be published in the east. It was an important event to publish a novella in that era. Whether it was a national publication, a provincial publication or a prefecture-level publication, it left precious space for the Rightists, educated youths and literates to satisfy their huge needs. Great desire to talk, dear reading, all ears pricked up to listen to their talk. In my memory, Dongwen was sensitive to realize that a new wave of literature, which was different from educated youth literature, was quietly forming and was about to surge. The title of Gefei’s novel introducing Pasternak doctor zhivago actually had some symbolic significance, that is, no one knew that history was formed, just like no one saw grass growing, but Zong Renfa keenly saw the grass tip drilling snow and was seen by him. At that time, he did not compile Gefei’s novella and compiled it. As far as I can remember, many representatives who were later called the third generation poets were familiar with each other. Almost all the representatives of the third generation poets were published in the East at that time. My memory is correct. Most of the articles I first read in Tang Xiaodu, Liu Xiaobo, Roger Lee, Wu Liang and Zhu Dake were also in this publication. I learned about the article by Tang Xiaodu. Many years later, when I saw this novel, the first thing that came to my mind was that it was the cover of the East, and the four words were printed in gold, while the background pattern was like batik coarse cloth or dusk bark. In the exquisite layout, it revealed a rough beauty.
Ge Fei’s happiness greatly infected me. About half a year later, I finished my first short story called Gospel while writing my graduation thesis. I wrote a story about a midwife who took me to the world. I sent it directly to Dongwen without thinking. Of course, I was looking forward to it being published, but I knew it was an extravagant hope. It wasn’t long before I graduated and returned to Henan with a reluctance. After the initial bustle, I tried to write again. I put my novels away like pigeons, but after they flew away, there was no news. Many years later, I saw a statement from Ye Zhaoyan, who said that when he first submitted his manuscript, the rejection letter always flew back on time like a pigeon. I thought that Ye Zhaoyan was happier than me because he had a chance to see those pigeons again. Frankly speaking, I had lost confidence in writing at that time. In the winter of 1987, I went back to the sea six months after graduation. I accidentally saw a letter sent to me by Zong Ren, and there was also a copy of my novel in the east. Zong Ren eagerly asked me where I graduated. I was still writing, and I immediately realized a kind of happiness. I saw a gap in the door of writing. I felt in my heart that Zong Renfa’s letter was the true gospel. I still remember that I received 75 yuan for the remuneration. For me, it was a huge sum of money. At that time, I didn’t know how to spend it. I really couldn’t say whether I would stop writing at that time without Zong Renfa, but it was several years before I knew that he had gone home.
Because of Zong Renfa, most of my short stories are published at home today, not because other publications are pushing me too hard. Every time I write a short story, I want to send it to the editor, and Zong Renfa wants to send it to the publication, which is home. In my mind, Zong Renfa is home. Of course, this is not my own idea, because I found that people who published in Dongwen often appeared at home later, and many of them paid great attention to me whether they went to me later or not. Let’s put it this way, every time I got home, I always felt particularly cordial, as if I met with those people again.
Generally speaking, the most important job of a literary editor is to read the manuscript and then make an artistic judgment quickly. Reading the manuscript is a fundamental consideration of the editing level. Generally speaking, famous manuscripts will be edited at a horizontal level and can be published with a little proofreading. However, an editor who edits and publishes famous manuscripts can hardly be said to be a successful editor, because most famous writers have formed a mindset, it is often difficult for him to lead the way. The most difficult and significant thing for an editor to first edit is that he finds new people in the manuscript. Finding and affirming the artistic characteristics of a new man of letters, judging how he might develop, there is no doubt that Zong Renfa is a master in this field. From the pioneer to the new generation and then to the family born in the 1970 s, Zong Renfa pushed one after another and dared to publish many articles of this new man of letters in a small series.
As far as I know, Bi Feiyu, Zhang Sheng, Li Feng, HanDong, Zhu Wen, Mianmian, Dai Lai, Wei Wei and others all enjoyed this kind of treatment in magazines at home ten years ago, while Ge Fei, Yu Hua, Su Tong and others are still often at home today. If you don’t know a little about the growth experience of young families in China, you will find that young families have become famous now. Looking through the catalogues of their families over the years, you can get the most intuitive feeling, that is, from the middle and late 190 s to the end of 1990 s, when the editors of Chinese publications were right in the The development of Chinese language has greatly promoted people’s dissatisfaction with the situation of Chinese language in the past ten years, but it is hard to imagine what it would be like without the efforts of Zong Ren, Cheng Yongxin, Li Jingze and others.
About four or five years ago, wujun Huang Fa Shi Zhanjun and others dabbled in the research on the development history of China periodicals. Personally, I think this is a very meaningful work. I believe that these studies are not a recognition of the achievements of journal editors, but may enter the core area of China’s contemporary cultural broadcasting history. It may reveal from another angle that the development of China will change complex links. As far as literary periodicals are concerned, it is obviously the most interesting research object. It involves a series of complex literary ideology, the geopolitical significance of new writers, the main marginal periodical market. The field and so on are all puzzling and affecting people’s thinking of running a magazine to a certain extent. It ultimately means that to be an editor in China, we must deal with all kinds of difficulties. In the last decade or so, a number of articles and periodicals have been overwhelmed by these unspeakable difficulties in Zhang Ran.
To be a little more specific than saying that no one can deny that the value of literary foundation is to question the main ideology, but it is not easy to do this in the special context of China. Personally, I don’t think this is a matter of courage. You must have a rich understanding of the reality of China and have some self-questioning ability. To put it into practice at the writing level, you must also find the art form corresponding to this kind of questioning, but in any case, it is still a personal matter for the family, and once the manuscript is sent to the editor, the editor will be under much greater pressure than the writer. I’m afraid it’s hard for writers to experience it. It’s better to say that people’s literary achievements are all avant-garde novels, but they are under pressure when compiling some manuscripts, and these subtle differences will suddenly be amplified in some special periods, as if they suddenly changed from thorns to giants. The important reason for these differences is that publications are geographically different, and it’s better to say that editors have to rely on editing and publishing famous manuscripts to generate at least a sense of trust, but they must also compile and publish certain new manuscripts to ensure their own successors. Then you should grasp the discretion.
Frankly speaking, it’s really hard for me to understand all the subtle pains, but every time you understand them, your respect for Zong Renfa will increase by one point, and it’s really hard to make your home in Jilin still maintain its standard today, and to continuously send new people to China literary world and make it an important green space in China.
From about the mid-1990s, editors no longer found their homes by reading literary periodicals and then signed contracts with them. In many cases, they simply bypassed the publications and directly set up joint editors. In fact, there are many differences in the choice of manuscripts. Of course, editors pay more attention to sales, while journal editors pay more attention to physical quality. Editors almost turn a blind eye to short stories. Now even famous short stories have few opportunities, but literary periodicals will eventually push the key manuscripts of short stories. Yes, it is read by the general public, but mainly by literary people. In such a situation, we will know that even though it is becoming more and more difficult to run a journal, the sales volume of the journal is slipping. Today, the contribution of the journal to China is still indispensable. To put it more simply, I think that the contribution of the journal is greater than that of the literature.
When the media reporters or friends declare that it is the times instead of the periodical times, I must of course admit that they have said a basic fact, but another fact is also necessary, that is, the periodical has actually been in the standard of the article, and the evaluation scale of the real development of the article has been considered. Zong Renfa and others have been involved in editing activities at the same time, and later left the periodical and entered the unified editor, which is probably difficult to deny easily.
Therefore, I think all Chinese writers must pay tribute to Zong Renfa.
March 31, 2007
A reading in memory of Shi Tiesheng
I don’t know Mr. Shi Tiesheng. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Shi Tiesheng, but I have given up. I respect a person very much, but it is difficult for me to become a fan of someone. Many years later, I saw Mr. Shi Tiesheng from a distance in a cultural activity, but I never thought of disturbing him. Mr. Shi Tiesheng is just a reader. I have read many novels from his earliest to his latest, and some short stories from his repeated recitation. I have already written it when I read Mr. Shi Tiesheng, and I absolutely can’t say that I am reading history.
I want to tell you something about Mr. Shi Tiesheng after his death. On the last day of one year, I received a message from Mr. Mo Yan in the stairway of Beijing Xiehe Hospital. Brother, our respected brother Shi Tiesheng died of a cerebral hemorrhage at three in the morning. At that time, I whispered to a pair of relatives. I said that Shi Tiesheng died. We didn’t know each other. It is conceivable that everyone’s knowledge background is different. Although Shi Tiesheng was not a best seller, these people didn’t know each other. My colleagues actually know about Shi Tiesheng and have all read about Shi Tiesheng’s ladder, but no one went there quietly. They seem to want to know more from me. They may think that Mr. Shi Tiesheng knew them and looked at me inquiringly, but after all, he didn’t ask me again. Later, he often recalled the scene in the narrow ladder of the hospital, and he was deeply impressed every time. I think we can regard that scene as a short memorial ceremony held by Shi Tiesheng, who didn’t know anyone. I often think of Shi Tiesheng in Ji. Shi Tiesheng wrote a passage when he was reading his friend Zhou Meiying. He said that friends would never forget that simple and warm hut. Because of its smallness, our knees touched our knees. Because of its vastness, there is a connected world. Friends all over the world are grateful for the generous gift of fate because of the loss of your heart and your eternal spirit. I think that although I don’t know Mr. Shi Tiesheng, I seem to have become friends by reading his words at that moment.
I went on to tell you that I came from the ladder and forwarded this short message to a friend who wrote about Shi Tiesheng’s death. I forwarded it to two people. One is Mr. Wang Hongsheng, a critic who has made in-depth research on Shi Tiesheng in recent years. He later wrote many articles about Mr. Shi Tiesheng. These articles are the most wonderful papers I have seen in Shi Tiesheng. Recently, in October, the magazine published his reading of Shi Tiesheng’s Qi Ji, and as far as I know, Shi Tiesheng had no contact with him. The other one is this friend. I won’t talk about this one here. Remember the name, I can tell my friends that he is a very colorful writer and an excellent essayist. I didn’t hear from this friend. A few days later, I attended the memorial meeting of Mr. Shi Tiesheng in Tsinghua. I met this friend at this meeting. Only then did I know that he was treated unfairly because he participated in reporting the scandal of a famous extremely powerful cultural person. His family members were threatened, and his wife also called to wake up where he should go for a night. This Mr. Shi Tiesheng did contact him. Tell me that when I received the text message, he was wandering around the beach thinking about how meaningless his job was and how meaningless his life was. But when I forwarded the text message, he suddenly jumped out of that bad mood and reconsidered the meaning of living in the world. In the next few days, I saw him organize many articles in the media about Shi Tiesheng’s grief but not injury. Believe me, there is no exaggeration here.
I have read a lot of Mr. Shi Tiesheng’s essays, and a touching power has confined him to a wheelchair. His external life has been greatly affected. His writing has developed a unique style of centripetal walking, thinking and walking. I am most interested in Shi Tiesheng’s extraordinary creation and another dimension of Chinese narrative. We already know that it is almost impossible to tell the story of the soul in Chinese. Of course, our cultural unification recognizes our Chinese characters very much, although my three provinces are one of the essentials of our ancestors. According to Wang Hongsheng, we can tell all kinds of adventure stories in life, but the mystery in novel form can tell people’s fate in historical reality. After the 1990 s, we will also tell about our daily life in progress, but we can rarely tell the story of the arduous spiritual journey of contemporary China people, that is, our true spiritual history.
However, Shi Tiesheng, especially his recent novel, Ding Yilv, has made fruitful explorations in this respect. This is a novel that discusses the soul. On the one hand, it is a novel that is based on sex, but on the other hand, it must be unified by equal love. It is written by Shi Tiesheng because of its certain limits. It is the history of his spiritual trek in that generation, and perhaps even the younger generation. Therefore, Shi Tiesheng’s vast majority of Chinese scholars are different. Modern scholars focus on knowledge, interest, imagination, and Shi Tiesheng has learned from us. The spiritual dimension carries out spiritual narrative in narrative.
I personally think that Mr. Shi Tiesheng’s research needs to be further developed. I look forward to reading more practical papers. I regard this as an important significance for us to commemorate Mr. Shi Tiesheng today in the 21st century.
Written on January 3rd, 11th, the first anniversary of Shi Tiesheng’s death.
Lecture notes of the sixth series
What to write and how to write a big speech in Suzhou
Realistic China Speech at Spanish Forum in China, Spain
The novel was delivered at the China-France Forum on January 1, 1991.
The family made a speech at the first Sino-Australian Forum.
China’s knowledge in contemporary novels was delivered at the Asian-African Conference.
