After everyone sat down, Shen Changhe first welcomed Yu Dong, and then mentioned Cheng Huichang, thanking the old gentleman for still paying attention to the development of the school after his retirement.
In fact, Cheng Huichang officially retired in 1989, but after retirement, he still served as an instructor for current students.
In the face of thanks, Cheng Huichang waved his hands indifferently, "It doesn't have to be like this. I am eighty-two this year and I don't have much time to come. I am really lucky to be able to spend my time in school. Since today everyone is here for Yu Dong's "The Crowd" Come here, don’t waste time, let’s get started directly.”
Shen Changhe nodded and said, "Since I proposed to convene this seminar, let me first talk about my views on the writing methods in this novel. In fact, there is not that many twists and turns in the story in "The Crowd". Although overall the consciousness fluctuates very strongly and the plot jumps a lot, from each paragraph, the narrative is flowing."
"In a small scale, the story always unfolds loosely over time. But this way of writing reminds me of "The Scholars", where the stories are spread out, and characters appear one after another. Although it seems that It seems messy, but it has specific connotations. The form is scattered but the spirit is not scattered."
When Shen Changhe said this, Li Qin, the editor-in-chief of Jinling University Press, nodded in agreement.
"Zhou Zuoren once said that it is right. It is like a stream of water. It always flows eastward towards the sea. Wherever it flows, wherever there is a bend in the Han Harbor, it must be filled with water. If there is any rock, water or grass, it must be filled with water. It has to be brushed and caressed for a while before moving forward. These are not the masterminds of its itinerary, but apart from these, it will be invisible."
"This kind of writing that looks like an assembly line creates a unique and unique tone, and also makes an original picture appear on the paper. This creative technique allows "Crowd" to activate the body temperature and pulse, bringing the city to life. Restored from dry and cold symbols, showing inner vitality and vitality."
Li Qin is young, not yet forty years old. He has always had a high opinion of Yu Dong and has publicly expressed his appreciation for Yu Dong's works more than once.
After "The Crowd" came out this time, he read it as soon as possible and even wrote a review article about it, but it has not been published yet.
And the words he just said were all written in the article.
Cheng Liye probably felt that it was not good to raise the tone so high at the beginning, so he said, "The novel "The Crowd" does have some remarkable points in terms of writing techniques, but in some places it is because of the pursuit of the fluidity of consciousness. , but neglected the coherence of the story and did not do a good enough job in criticizing reality."
Shen Changhe smiled, he understood Cheng Liye's intention, it was just that he was afraid of being too flattering and it would be bad for Dong.
He said, "You are just nitpicking. How can a work cover everything? Since it is a seminar, we should pay more attention to what this novel has achieved, rather than what it has failed to achieve. Lao Cheng, my own Children, you can’t just give them a hammer if they’re being ignored.”
After Shen Changhe finished speaking, bursts of laughter erupted in the conference room.
Everyone here knows the relationship between Cheng Liye and Yu Dong, and naturally they also know the intention of Cheng Liye's words.
"I think the language used in this novel deserves our more attention."
Cheng Huichang suddenly spoke, and as soon as he spoke, the conference room fell silent. Everyone wanted to hear what this old man who studies ancient literature thought of "The Crowd".
"In my opinion, "The Crowd" is also a language experiment. There are some slang words and colloquial expressions in the novel, which vividly express the atmosphere of the time and place. In addition, a kind of literary language is used in the description of the characters and environment.
The intertwined style of language gives people a classical and intuitive feeling."
After the old gentleman finished speaking, everyone present could not help but nod. Indeed, as he said, the novel is very unique in its use of language.
And the key is, whether you use slang or classical Chinese, everyone can understand it, and it is smooth and does not feel abrupt, which is very rare.
Cheng Huichang continued, "Our Chinese culture has a core, and the core lies in place. But blindly expressing places is inconsistent with the times, so I say "Crowd" is a language experiment, which at least in
Try to find a more acceptable writing style in the dialect."
"In addition, another advantage of writing in dialect is that it can express the characteristics of local characters without going into details. For example, in "The Crowd", as long as we see someone using the word "you" or "you", we will naturally know that this person is not from Shanghai.
.Of course, this can also be seen in many novels."
"Mr. Cheng is right." Shen Changhe took over, "Moreover, if we only retain local vocabulary, it will not show the brilliance of the language strategy of "The Crowd". Its core feature is that it is different from and surpasses previous dialect novels.
Let Shanghainese realize the compatibility of sound and meaning when the spoken language is converted into written language."
Li Qin continued, "Yes, "The Crowd" not only combines ancient and modern times in the use of language, but also combines classical and avant-garde in content..."
Yu Dong on the side didn't say a word from beginning to end. In fact, he didn't think so much when he wrote this novel... It can't be said that he also thought a lot when he wrote the novel, but he wasn't like Shen Changhe and others.
Think about these more academic things.
For example, Shen Changhe said that "The Crowd" made Shanghai dialect compatible with sound and meaning when the spoken language was converted into written language. Yu Dong also thought about it, but what he wanted was to retain the characteristics of Shanghai dialect and then allow people from non-Wu speaking areas to also be able to speak it.
Understand.
And he couldn't do it on his own, so he often relied on Cheng Yanqiu's help.
However, Yu Dong understands and is familiar with such academic research meetings, because he has participated in them many times before, but this is the first time that it is as important as today.
They didn't seem to be prepared to let Yu Dong speak. They only occasionally chatted with him, mostly because they didn't want him to sit too bored.
After Yu Dong listened for a while, he finally understood why Cheng Huichang came to participate in this seminar.
The old gentleman has been talking about classical things from the beginning to the end, from the classical style language intertwined with white and white to the storyteller's writing techniques, everything revolves around the word "classic".
Later, a kind of scene formed. Cheng Huichang said a few classical sentences, and everyone followed up to analyze a paragraph. Then Li Qin said a few innovative sentences, and everyone followed up to analyze a paragraph.
The topic of the entire seminar repeatedly jumped between classical and avant-garde.
What's interesting is that no one thinks there is a problem.
Perhaps they were all enjoying what they were discussing and did not pay attention. On the contrary, it was Yu Dong, the bystander, who saw it most clearly.
Later, Yu Dong remembered Bian Zhilin's poem, "You are watching the scenery on the bridge, and the people watching the scenery are watching you upstairs."
They were studying Yu Dong's novels, while Yu Dong was studying them on the sidelines.
The originally scheduled two-hour research meeting lasted for more than three hours. Everyone talked a lot, drank tea, and smoked cigarettes.
There are more than 20 people, most of whom are smoking cigarettes. Cheng Huichang, who is over eighty years old, still keeps rolling cigarettes.
Yu Dong didn't drink a few sips of tea, but went to the toilet many times, mainly to get out and breathe fresh air.
When the seminar ended, Shen Changhe said to Li Qin, "Editor-in-Chief Li, I would like to trouble you to summarize what we discussed today."
Li Qin smiled and waved, "Don't worry, Director Shen, leave it to me."
Of course, the research meeting cannot be held in vain. After it is held, you will definitely need some paper materials for easy reference later.
Shen Changhe wanted Li Qin to write an article to summarize and condense the things discussed at today's meeting, and then publish it in some newspapers and periodicals.
"Mr. Cheng, let's have dinner together tonight?" Shen Changhe asked Cheng Huichang for his opinion while packing up the information.
Cheng Huichang twisted his neck and shook his head with a smile, "I'm getting older, and I feel a little tired after sitting here for just a few hours. I won't participate in the meal. You can go ahead."
Shen Changhe nodded. He also knew Cheng Huichang's physical condition. It was already very difficult to sit here for three or four hours today.
"Then I'll take you back."
"No need." Cheng Huichang waved his hand, "I'm not that old yet."
Then Cheng Huichang looked at Yu Dong again and said with a smile: "Yu Dong, come to Jinling University more often when you have time. Although you teach at Jinling Arts, you teach drama creation major, which is a waste of your talents. Jinling University
The Chinese Department is pretty good, and we have more time to communicate with each other. Besides, your father-in-law is the deputy director of the department, which is also our fate."
Yu Dong hurriedly said, "Definitely, definitely."
Cheng Huichang nodded and continued, "If you come again next time, remember to tell me. I also know that you have written a poem and the lyrics are very good. We can communicate next time if we have time."
"Mr. Cheng is too complimentary. What I did was just scribbling and it really made people laugh. But since I have the favor of Mr. Cheng, I will definitely make trouble when I come back again."
"That's good, I'm leaving."
Then the old gentleman waved his hands to everyone and walked out slowly.
Everyone just stood and looked at the back of the old gentleman without moving. They waited until the old gentleman had probably gone far before Shen Changhe waved his hand: "Let's go eat."
On the way to eat, Yu Dong was recognized by the students again, and he was also a classmate he met in the afternoon.
However, these students were also very smart. They shouted "Hello principal, hello teachers" first, and then looked at Yu Dong: "Is Teacher Yu Dong's meeting over?"
After the students left, Shen Changhe asked curiously: "How did they know you were coming to the meeting?"
Yu Dong explained with a smile, "On the way here in the afternoon, I was recognized by the students and signed my name for them, so I wasted a little time."
Chapter completed!