Literary Master 1978

Many people at the scene fell into deep thought after hearing this.

"What I said may sound a bit mysterious, so let's talk about something practical. The practical function of literature is to speak well, so that others can understand what you want to say and feel happy at the same time.

In the past few years, our literature was very political, and this view cannot be said to be wrong, because literature does have the ability to propagate and guide public opinion, but if literature only talks about politics, it would be a bit extreme.

But I think that literature can accommodate "Sha Jia Bang", "Historical Records", "Les Miserables", "Diary of a Madman", "Tears and Laughter" and "Swordsman of Shu Mountain". "

When Lin Chaoyang said this, the faces of the students around him showed some surprise.

The many works he mentioned just now cover ancient and modern times, China and foreign countries, which is not a problem in itself.

But he compared Sha Jia Bang, Tears and Laughter, Swordsman of Shu Mountain, Records of the Grand Historian, and Les Miserables, which really surprised everyone present.

Needless to say, Sha Jia Bang, the model opera was a specific product of the buzzing period, and now it is a rat crossing the street and everyone is shouting and beating it.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tears and Laughter and Swordsman of Shu Mountain were classified as popular literature and suffered from the club of the literary and art circles. Zhang Henshui and Li Shoumin were criticized to pieces before they even waited for the buzzing period, and their works written with great effort became DC.

Although the literary world has dawned in recent years, the discrimination against popular literature is deeply rooted.

"Comrade Chaoyang, I don't agree with some of the works you mentioned just now.

Model operas at least have a side that is close to the working people, and have their own unique literary and ideological features, but what qualifications do fantasy works like "Tears and Laughter" and "Shushan Swordsman" have to be called "literature"? "

When Lin Chaoyang paused, someone stood up and expressed dissatisfaction.

Lin Chaoyang knew very well that the other party's dissatisfaction represented not only himself, but also many people who had such thoughts.

His pause was also deliberately to give the other party an opportunity, because he knew that when he got here, he would inevitably face questions from some people who elevated literature.

Because of the sudden question, the originally relaxed and harmonious atmosphere of the symposium suddenly became more tense, and all the students focused their attention on Lin Chaoyang, curious about how he would answer.

Everyone saw Lin Chaoyang sip a sip of tea, look indifferent, and slowly speak.

"This student's question just leads to what I am going to talk about next - the fun of literature.

Over the years, when we mention some literary works, we always come up with a word called "low taste".

What is low taste?

Some people say that talented men and beautiful women, love between men and women are low taste.

Then I want to ask, is "the orioles are singing on the island in the river. The beautiful lady is the ideal match for the gentleman" considered low taste?

Cui Hao has a poem saying: Where is your home? I live in Hengtang. I moved my boat to ask you, maybe you are from the same hometown. Is this considered low taste?

The great leader coined this word , not for us to attack others, but for us to reflect on ourselves.

I think that low taste in literature is to use the name of nobleness to do mean things.

Pan Renmei in "The Generals of the Yang Family" and Pan Jinlian in "Water Margin" are victims of this low taste. If we trace the source, it is nothing more than the fabrication and fabrication of poor literati out of their own ugly psychology.

Speaking of benevolence and morality, but writing about thieves and prostitutes, this is low taste! "

Compared with the previous gentle breeze and drizzle, Lin Chaoyang's face was serious at this time, and his tone was sonorous and powerful when he said the last sentence.

His remarks can be said to be unconventional. People have never considered the level of literary taste from this perspective before.

After carefully chewing on what Lin Chaoyang said, we can probably summarize it in four words: not worthy of the name.

This is the "low taste in literature" that Lin Chaoyang despised.

His point of view is confusing at first. How can not worthy of the name become low taste?

Everyone looked at Lin Chaoyang with doubts, and he continued what he had just said:

"I will give you a few examples to help you understand my ideas.

For example, detective stories. People are born curious, and readers' love for detective stories comes from solving puzzles. The process of solving puzzles is the readers' fun, and this process also includes the "suspense and surprise" mentioned in our novels and dramas.

But I told the story well, and suddenly inserted an emotional exchange between the male and female protagonists at the key point of the plot. No matter how well I wrote before, readers will definitely be distracted.

This is the evil result of low taste.

For example, SQ description, literature expresses life, and love is a major proposition of life. In novels, it is natural for characters to express their emotions when they are emotional.

But some writers will not restrain themselves in this kind of description, or pursue weirdness and seek sensory stimulation, which is also low taste."

After giving two examples, Lin Chaoyang's tone softened.

"I give this example to tell you that in the creation process, the author is the master of the world he writes, which is true, but when this world is formed, it has its own operating rules, and even the author who created it cannot talk nonsense.

The work is born from the author's thoughts, but people's thoughts are complicated, and the author must have the ability to examine himself and the ability to empathize with the readers.

If the emotions and thoughts expressed in the work are to be accurately conveyed to readers and moved by understanding, the author must guard his own thoughts.

The summary is that we must avoid whining, posturing, being silly, glib, shouting, being partisan and opposed to dissidents, being too moralistic, making slogans and dogmas, being smeared with grease, and showing off.

Of course, the above ten points are just my personal understanding. It is inevitable that there will be some intolerance in the opinions of one family. Everyone is welcome to criticize and correct us. "

After all he had to say, Lin Chaoyang took a sip of tea again.

Only then did everyone react, and a burst of warm applause erupted in the cafeteria.

Lin Chaoyang spoke for half an hour, and everyone could feel that what he said was not empty talk, but the truth that was combined with his own thoughts and thoughts, and he spoke the truth with substance.

The students reflected on themselves and found that most of them think about how to conceive the story, how to write the characters vividly, and how to use precise words and sentences when creating.

No matter how much I think about what my novels want to embody, expose, and criticize.

Looking back at Lin Chaoyang, it seems that no one among the people present has ever seriously thought about what he is thinking. Just thinking about the problem is not in one dimension.

It is not unreasonable for people to write so many excellent and influential works.

Based on this alone, it was difficult for everyone not to admire Lin Chaoyang.

After the applause, teacher Tang Yuqiu briefly summarized Lin Chaoyang's speech, and then the symposium entered the communication session between students and guests.

"If you have anything you want to communicate, you can speak freely." Tang Yuqiu encouraged the students.

Everyone present looked at each other, a little eager to try.

Chen Shixu, who had met Lin Chaoyang at the National Outstanding Short Story Award Ceremony, was the first to ask his question:

"Comrade Chaoyang, I have a question to ask. I find that when we are thinking about writing, the most difficult thing is not to search for materials, but how to select and arrange them after we have them. Do you have any experience in this regard? Shared?”

After listening to his question, Lin Chaoyang nodded, pondered for a moment and then spoke.

“I think everyone has encountered this question you raised more or less when creating.

British novelist Swift once said: The best words are at the best level. Finding the best words depends on selection, and finding the best level depends on arrangement.

This is like arranging troops in formation, and with proper planning, one man can be in charge and can have the effect of being able to prevent ten thousand men from defeating him.

We can infer that there are always two common problems with this kind of problem: not knowing the choice and not knowing the arrangement.

Stevenson said that literature is the art of tailoring, and tailoring means choice, and there must be trade-offs.

This precisely requires the author to maintain an objective and calm attitude, especially the ability to rigorous self-criticism. I have already explained this point just now and will not emphasize it again.

As for arrangements. Aristotle discussed in "Poetics" that the dramatic structure must have integrity. We can define "completeness", that is, it must have a head, a body, and a tail. We use the Chinese theory of writing articles. In other words, it means inheritance and transformation.

Good creation must follow its internal rules and layout. If a piece of content is harmless to the whole text, it will be redundant. If moving the position still does no harm to the entire article, it means that the layout of the entire article is not considered.

So what are the internal rules and layout? I think it can be chronological order, spatial order, or emotional line, which has a lot to do with the content of the article.

Creation is a very personal process, and many things cannot be generalized. I don’t know if my words can answer your questions. "

Chen Shixu felt very inspired after Lin Chaoyang answered the question and quoted scriptures.

As the other party said, there is no way to generalize about creation. Being able to briefly answer his questions in just a few sentences shows that Lin Chaoyang is mature in creation, at least not something that Chen Shixu can match.

"Does anyone else have questions?" Tang Yuqiu asked again.

Jin Ying raised her hand and asked: "Comrade Chaoyang, we have discussed the innovation of novel forms before in class, and our classmate Jia Dashan also wrote a stream of consciousness exercise..."

She said this and pretended to recite: "Straw hat, straw hat, straw hat, big straw hat, small straw hat, undulating straw hat, spinning straw hat, straw hat with shining sun..."

Her recitation did not continue because the people next to her were already laughing. Jia Dashan, the classmate who was joking, didn't take it seriously, but Tang Yuqiu had to interrupt her joke.

"Jin Ying, just ask questions. Why are you talking so much?"

Jin Ying was scolded, stopped joking, and asked: "'Stream of consciousness literature' is a very new concept for us. I read your "Lai Zi's Summer" and found that you have no understanding of this creative form. I’d like to ask you, what works have you read in this area?”

“The books I read should be familiar to everyone. Marcel Proust, William Faulkner, and Virginia Woolf are all works by these famous artists.

However, I want to remind you that just now you said that you were discussing innovation in the form of novels. In fact, stream of consciousness literature is already an "old thing" that is over 60 years old.

The foundation of novel creation is narrative, and form is just technique. Techniques do not matter whether they are new or old, as long as they are easy to use.

Stream of consciousness literature is not something profound. "

Lin Chaoyang writes stream-of-consciousness literature, but that does not mean that he regards stream-of-consciousness literature as a martial arts secret book. "The Summer of Raiko" was born because he believed that this story is just right for the technique of stream-of-consciousness literature.

Chinese people always subconsciously think that foreign monks are better at chanting sutras, so he couldn't help but want to remind Jin Ying.

If someone else said something like "stream of consciousness literature is not something profound," I'm afraid everyone present would think he was just showing off.

But it happened that the person who said this was Lin Chaoyang, who wrote "The Summer of Raiko". When he said this, not only did everyone not think that he was pretentious.

Instead, I felt a surge of strong self-confidence, a calmness based on strength and talent.

After answering Jin Ying's question, Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but glance at her.

At this time, the faces of future F country-level literary and artistic leaders were full of youthfulness, but their personalities were really cheerful.

Just as he was escaping, Wu Nong's soft voice sounded, "Comrade Chaoyang, I just heard you talk about some literary works. You discussed them together, and it seems that there is no distinction between high and low."

Lin Chaoyang turned around and saw another familiar writer—Wang Anyi.

Wang Anyi, who will be famous all over the world in later generations, is just an inconspicuous little girl in the literary class at this time. Compared with many of her classmates who have become famous, she is very inconspicuous. Now when everyone talks about her, there is a prefix - Ru Zhijuan daughter.

"Hundreds of thousands of years have passed, and it seems that the literati's obsession with classifying literary works into three, six, or nine grades cannot be changed.

If this matter were debated, it would probably last three days and three nights.

I am only stating my opinion. There has never been a unified standard for literary judgment and aesthetic standards. We must also be wary of those who practice cultural hegemony by saying that "literary works have high and low standards."

There is no conflict between Yangchun Baixue and Lower Riba people. The development of literature is not an either-or choice, but a symbiosis and mutual prosperity. "

Lin Chaoyang's words were resounding and his attitude was clear-cut.

In the eyes of everyone, he clearly had an overly young face, but sitting there, he looked like Yuan Ting Yue Zhi, looking like everyone else.