In the coldest month of winter, the trees in Yanjing City are withered and there is no trace of green. Today is a northerly day, the sky is gloomy and everything is desolate.
Tao Yushu was on vacation after her exams. She didn't have to go to school. Lin Chaoyang rode her bicycle to the city. When the north wind blew, his heart felt cold, and he couldn't help complaining in his heart.
After riding for almost an hour, with his nose almost frozen from the cold, Lin Chaoyang finally arrived at the location of today's symposium, the Yanjing Federation of Literary and Art Circles Building, which is also the office of the editorial department of "Yanjing Literature and Art".
After saying hello to Zhang Dening, Zhou Yanru, Li Qingquan and others, and warming up for a while, he was taken to the conference room on the third floor.
When I walked in, I saw that there were quite a lot of people there, more than Lin Chaoyang imagined.
Li Qingquan led Lin Chaoyang to greet this group of people, which basically covered the fields of writers, critics, and editors. Many of them were directly or indirectly related to Lin Chaoyang.
For example, Yan Gang of "Literary News" is not only an editor, but also a well-known critic. He once wrote a review for "Wrangler", and in the third month after "Little Shoes" was published, he also wrote a review for "Yenjing Youth"
newspaper published an opinion piece;
Wang Zengqi from the Yanjing Peking Opera Troupe had met in the editorial office of People's Literature before. His "Carriage Biography" was just published in People's Literature two or three months ago, which can be regarded as a formal return to the literary world. Today he
It was invited by Li Qingquan;
Another acquaintance is Li Shuguang from the Humanities Society, who was responsible for the publication of the single volume of "Little Shoes".
Today's symposium has more than ten guests, all of whom are influential and prominent figures in the Yenching literary world. It can be seen that "Yenjing Literature and Art" has really put a lot of thought into this symposium.
After greeting everyone, everyone chatted with each other before the symposium started.
When it was almost nine o'clock, everyone saw that it was almost time, and their voices became lowered consciously.
The symposium was hosted by Li Qingquan, the person in charge of "Yanjing Literature and Art", and Lin Chaoyang sat next to him.
A banner hangs directly above the wall on the north side of the conference room: Literary Symposium on the Novelette "Little Shoes". On the long table in the middle of the conference room are everyone's nameplates and teacups. A circle of people from the literary world listens to Li Qingquan.
Speech.
After Li Qingquan finished speaking, it was time for everyone present to perform.
The first person to speak was Yan Gang. He said a few polite words before starting to communicate with everyone.
“I remember that it took me two nights to read the novel “Little Shoes”, and it left a deep impression on me at the time.
I think the most touching thing about the novel is its spiritual core - the innocence, kindness and tenacity that are unique to children.
I used to read "The Wrangler" by Comrade Chaoyang. The character Xu Lingjun has a long psychological description. In ordinary works, this kind of psychological description is usually boring, but Comrade Chaoyang handled it very well at the time.
In "Little Shoes", he showed his strengths in this area and skillfully used inner monologue and psychological description, allowing us to have a deeper understanding of the children's thoughts and feelings, and also feel the relationship between Xiaozizi and his sister.
Mutual help and growth in adversity.
The innocent smiles and perseverance in the eyes of the siblings facing their poor life suddenly come to life on the page. This undoubtedly enhances the emotional resonance of the story and makes the images of Coyotito and his sister more vivid.
The second is the depiction of the social environment and character relationships in the novel. In the story, the poverty and crowding in the mountain village, as well as the mutual aid and competition between neighbors build a three-dimensional social ecology.
At the same time, the character traits of parents, teachers, neighbors and other characters and their subtle relationships with the protagonist are fully demonstrated in the novel, making the social background of the story more complete..."
Because of the process, the communication at the symposium seemed somewhat rigid.
However, the symposium at this time is much better than that of later generations. At least everyone does not gather together to laugh and laugh, and it ends after being carried in a fancy sedan chair and praised.
Yan Gang had praised "Little Shoes" for a long time, and then changed the subject and mentioned some areas that he felt were lacking in the novel.
“However, I think the structure of the novel is still a bit loose. This may be due to the overall tone of the novel and the conflicts are not intense enough.
As a result, the handling of the character branch lines is a bit hasty and stiff, and the logical connection with the main plot is not completely coherent. This treatment weakens the compactness of the story to a certain extent, and from the reader's point of view, it is less attractive.
force."
Yan Gang's comments were both positive and negative, and his attitude was objective, making everyone present unconsciously nod in agreement.
After listening to his speech, Lin Chaoyang felt a little touched in his heart. "Little Shoes" is adapted from a later Iranian film of the same name. The original film itself is a tender story, so it is really compact in terms of plot and mobilizing readers' emotions.
Not that good.
This is also a common shortcoming of this type of story, especially compared to the wanton catharsis of trauma literature in the past two years, the shortcoming of "Little Shoes" is even more obvious.
However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Although the freshness, timelessness and warmth of "Little Shoes" cannot arouse the hysterical strong emotions of readers, it can moisturize and touch people's hearts silently, and this kind of touch is often more lasting.
and unforgettable.
When it was Wang Zengqi's turn to speak, he also mentioned this point.
"In the past two years, there have been more anti-Y novels in the literary world, and many of them have been very influential, such as "Scar", "The Head Teacher" and "The Wrangler".
I also occasionally tried to write about this aspect, but after finishing it, I found that there was neither great suffering nor great sadness in the novel, and there were no heart-rending plots about life and death, which made people not moved at all.
Sometimes I also reflect on myself, am I the persecution I suffered when I was buzzing, and I suffered too little? Why do other people write out of bitterness, with runny noses and tears, but when I come to me, I feel so miserable.
What if it doesn’t work anymore?
Later, I felt that this might have something to do with personal concepts.
I feel that over the years, everyone has suffered a lot and has suffered a lot. Now that we are finally living a little more comfortably, there is really no need to dig up those old debts and make everyone feel aggrieved and uncomfortable.
Comrade Qingquan invited me to attend the symposium, so I will say a few words from the bottom of my heart.
The novel "Little Shoes" is good because of its truth, goodness and beauty.
Staying kind and positive in difficult situations has a profound impact on cultivating young readers' empathy, sense of responsibility, and perseverance in the face of difficulties.
The deep love between brother and sister, honesty and trustworthiness, and respect for others depicted in the novel are all virtues and values ​​that we should cherish and carry forward.
I very much agree with Comrade Chaoyang’s creative concept and creative purpose. Works of this type happen to be the literary works that are most lacking in our Chinese literary world at this stage."
Wang Zengqi is a very unique existence in the Chinese literary world. He was active in the literary world early on, but it was in his sixties after the 1980s that he truly became famous in the literary world and became famous.
He is good at novels and essays, and many of his works such as "Ordering", "Da Nao Chronicles", and "Three Friends of Suihan" were widely welcomed by readers as soon as they were published.
His works do not pursue painstaking efforts, nor pursue esotericism. They are plain and simple, eloquent, and as if they are homely. They always aestheticize daily life with personal and trivial themes, and are full of frankness, beauty, and optimism.
, free and easy and accessible without being burdened by external things.
But at the same time, his creative style has also been criticized by the contemporary literary world.
Labels such as "beautifying life," "falsifying pain," "exaggerating true feelings," and "avoiding reality and embracing fiction" have been affixed to Wang Zengqi by those who claim to be profound in the literary and critical circles.
In the eyes of these people, Wang Zengqi's thoughts and his aesthetic concepts are vulgar and kitsch, lacking the literary creator's profound insight into and criticism of life and society.
Therefore, it is not surprising that a work based on simplicity and beauty such as "Little Shoes" is deeply loved by him. This is why he agreed to Li Qingquan's participation in the symposium.
There was nothing wrong with Wang Zengqi's praise of "Little Shoes", but his words intentionally or unintentionally made some people present feel unhappy.
The popularity of scar literature in the past two years has been a general trend in the literary world, and it represents not only the literary world, but also the inner voice of the broad masses of the people.
As soon as Wang Zengqi finished his speech, some people immediately expressed different opinions on his words.
"The novel "Little Shoes" is certainly good, but we cannot simply attribute its popularity to the praise of truth, goodness, and beauty.
I think the greatest success of the novel lies in the author's meticulous depiction of the overall social environment and style. In it, we can not only see the truth, goodness and beauty, but also the complexity of human nature and the subtlety of interpersonal relationships.
Issues such as the urban-rural gap and educational inequality alluded to behind the novel's story are also worthy of our attention and reflection.
If the novel is purely oriented to praise the truth, goodness and beauty, then it will not be able to carry the power and thickness given to it by literature itself."
The speaker was Zheng Zhiyuan, a middle-aged writer from the Yanjing Literary and Art Association. His tone was sonorous and powerful, and the content of his speech could be considered insightful, but it was obviously too targeted.
The atmosphere at the symposium suddenly became tense because of the two people's completely opposite speeches.
Frankly speaking, Lin Chaoyang actually appreciates Wang Zengqi's views.
The source of literature is words and records, and no one has ever given it any lofty meaning or historical mission.
Wang Zengqi and Zheng Zhiyuan’s views are opposite, and we cannot say who is right or wrong. However, Lin Chaoyang has the perspective of later generations. He always feels that if literature places too much emphasis on profundity, criticism, literariness, and ideological nature, it will be tantamount to pushing himself to the limit.
The opposite of the people.
Because you have to admit that once literature embarks on the path of pursuing profundity and criticism, it will easily become distanced from the lower class people, resulting in a lack of environment and soil. In the end, it can only be high-minded and unpopular, or even self-destructive.
Although Wang Zengqi's views are not comprehensive, they are at least close to life.
Literature can only have a bright future if it is close to life and the people.
The atmosphere in the conference room became deserted due to tension. At this time, Lin Chaoyang suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"Comrade Chaoyang, what do you think?" Li Qingquan looked at his actions and knew that he must have something to say, so he handed him a message.
"What Comrade Lao Wang and Comrade Lao Zheng said has some truth to it. I am not laughing at your speech, but I am thinking of the exchange with Mr. Wu Zuxiang a few days ago."
When everyone heard Wu Zuxiang's name, cautious curiosity appeared on their faces.
As a Chinese writer spanning the history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, although Wu Zuxiang has stopped writing in recent years, his influence cannot be underestimated, not to mention that his status in the academic world is much higher than his creative achievements.
"We talked about Lao She at that time. Everyone knows that since the founding of New China, Mr. Lao She's main creative energy has been on drama creation. In 15 years, he has created 23 plays, including "Teahouse" and "Dragon".
"Xugou" is a masterpiece that has been handed down from generation to generation.
In fact, personally, I feel a little sorry for Mr. Lao She's choice, because I think his talent in novel creation is far greater than that in drama.
But Mr. Wu’s words at that time made me sincerely admire Mr. Lao She’s choice.
He said that the reason why Mr. Lao She chose the field of drama was because of his patriotism. Mr. Lao She believed that given the cultural level of most working people at that time, there was an obstacle to reading novels, but there was no such obstacle if it was watching a play.
Mr. Lao She wrote "Longxugou", he wrote about the harm done to the people by the old society, and also wrote about the changes brought about by the new China. He wrote "Teahouse", writing about the big society, but also about the little people.
The greatest beauty of literature is that it not only has thousands of different meanings in the minds of readers, but also in the writings of different writers.
Going back to what you two just said, everyone has different opinions on the usefulness of literature, but the consensus we can reach is that literature is very useful.
As for how to use it, it depends on each person's ability.
But what I want to say is, with Lao She’s talents and achievements, even if he knows how to make compromises in creation, who dares to boast that he is the ‘people’s teacher’?”
After Lin Chaoyang finished speaking, everyone looked thoughtful.
His words seemed vague, but at the end he made a very sharp point, that is -
No one can point fingers at the people from above in the name of literature.
Lin Chaoyang used a gentle attitude to ease the conflict of views between Wang Zengqi and Zheng Zhiyuan, but at the same time he expressed his attitude in a gentle yet strong manner, and it was quite insightful. Everyone present could not help but look at him with a hint of something.
Be cautious and respectful.
Chapter completed!