Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 702: Three articles in one go

After dinner in the evening, the two children did their homework at home, and his wife went shopping with her friends. Fang Minghua took the German Shepherd Xiao Doumiao out for a stroll. Although there was a small yard at home and Xiao Doumiao could run around, Fang Minghua still liked to take it out to play.

Exit Chaoyang Gate and walk south along the city wall - Fang Minghua usually doesn't walk north. If you walk north for a while, you will reach Xijing Railway Station, the place with the worst security and the most rampant thieves. There is no need to go there to make yourself uncomfortable.

He led the German Shepherd south, turned into the city wall from Zhongshan Gate, then walked along Dongxin Street to Jiefang Road, making a big circle. The man and the dog walked leisurely for almost two hours before returning to their own yard.

When he walked into the door, the nanny Xiaoqin saw him coming in and said, "Brother Fang, Brother Jia came to see you just now."

"What about people?"

"I said you went to walk the dog, and he said he would come back later."

Didn't we just meet this morning? Why are you here again now?

Fang Minghua pondered in his mind and went upstairs. He first looked in the two children's rooms and then returned to the study. Not long after, he heard the voice of the nanny greeting guests downstairs, so Fang Minghua went downstairs.

As expected, it was Jia Pingwa who came.

"Brother Jia, I heard from Xiaoqin that you were looking for me. Is there something?" Fang Minghua greeted.

"It's nothing serious. I just passed by your place and wanted to come in and sit for a while. I didn't expect you were out walking the dog." Jia Pingwa said with a laugh.

"Oh, Xiaoqin, take the watermelon out of the refrigerator." Fang Minghua shouted to Xiaoqin in the yard.

The two chatted while eating watermelon.

After eating three pieces of watermelon in one breath, Jia Pingwa saw Fang Minghua continued to chat aimlessly, and seemed a little restless. He suddenly changed the subject: "Minghua, how is the preparation for the article you wrote some time ago on the discussion of humanistic spirit going?"

"You asked about this this morning when you were fishing, and you bring it up again now. You didn't come here specifically to ask about this, did you?" Fang Minghua asked back.

"No, no, I just said it casually." Jia Pingwa quickly denied it.

"Come on, Brother Jia, I don't know your temper. Come on, let's go upstairs and take a look." Fang Minghua said, then stood up and walked upstairs.

Jia Pingwa quickly followed and went up to the study on the second floor. Fang Minghua turned on the computer and said, "Well, everything I wrote is in this directory."

Jia Pingwa leaned over to take a look.

What the hell!

Not one article, but three!

"Can I see it?"

"Of course, take your time."

Jia Pingwa sat on the chair and looked carefully.

The more Jia Pingwa read the three review articles, "The Mental Symptoms of the Great Discussion on Humanistic Spirit - Also on the Cultural Resource Issues of Contemporary Literature", "Literary Criticism in the Context of the "Great Discussion on Humanistic Spirit", and "Secular and Elite Demands", the more he was surprised. The first review article had a more novel argument, sharply pointing out the flaws in this discussion on humanistic spirit.

1. Unclear spiritual connotation. What exactly is the "humanistic spirit"? There are many interpretations. Although everyone uses the concept of "humanistic spirit", some say it is the humanistic spirit of modern Western times, some say it is the ideological connotation of traditional Chinese culture, and some even basically point to the "ideals" and "beliefs" of real politics. It's a mess.

When some scholars proposed "rebuilding" or "returning" to the humanistic spirit, some people questioned and criticized its connotation: "If it is 'lost' now, then what was the state of our humanistic spirit before it was 'lost'? Was it in its heyday? Did it become a tradition or 'mainstream'? Did it decline after its peak?
Second, the spiritual orientation is not clear. The misunderstanding in its understanding is obvious, and the object of criticism also deviates to a certain extent.

3. The spiritual expression is too simplistic. Both the advocates and skeptics of the "humanistic spirit" generally lack a calm and rational attitude, and are full of simplistic and emotional disputes.

The article ends by mocking Pan Fengdong from Fudan University, "Am I hiding in a small building? It reminds me of a line from The Feast at Hongmen: A young man is not worth a plan!"

Jia Pingwa read the three articles in one breath and said they were good.

"Minghua, the three articles you wrote are so good, especially the first one. What is the point of having a great discussion on the humanistic spirit? A group of scholars have been arguing for two years and they haven't even figured out the connotation and spiritual direction of the great discussion on the humanistic spirit, and they are still pretending to have a weird discussion?! And that Pan Fengdong is simply a clown!" Fang Minghua smiled slightly.

That’s what I meant, but not entirely.

Didn’t I state my own views on the humanistic spirit in the last two articles?

These three reviews were soon published in the Literary Gazette and immediately caused an uproar in the academic community, especially the first article which caused a group of young students in Shanghai to be furious.

They were the first to initiate a great discussion on the humanistic spirit, and were proud of it, but in the end they were criticized by Fang Minghua for being shit.

I don't understand anything, what's the point of discussing this?

"This Minghua is too arrogant. I can't stand it anymore. I'm going to write an article to refute him!" In a classroom at Fudan University, some students - both graduate students and professors - were discussing Fang Minghua's article. One of the men waved his fist and shouted.

Several students looked at him.

"Professor Pan, what are you criticizing?" The speaker was Wang Xiaoming, another professor in the Chinese Department and one of the initiators of this great discussion on humanistic spirit.

He looked at the somewhat crazy Pan Fengdong with a frown on his face.

"The articles refuting him are pure bullshit!" Pan Fengdong cursed.

"His first article, "The Mental Symptoms of the Great Humanistic Spiritual Discussion - Also on the Cultural Resources of Contemporary Literature," points out the serious flaws in this discussion of the literati spirit. To be fair, do you think he is right?"

“Please read the following two articles: “Literary Criticism in the Context of the “Great Discussion on Humanistic Spirit”” and “Secular and Elite Desires””

It describes various phenomena such as the current literary crisis, the loss of humanistic care among intellectuals, the dissolution of ultimate human values, etc.

"The article says that the essence of humanism or humanism should be based on the ideas and tendencies of the Renaissance. So, what is the essence of the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance? In a nutshell, it is to exalt humanity and oppose divinity, to oppose the way of God with humanity, to affirm human worldly happiness and oppose asceticism, and to take reason as the basis."

"Take a look at the last few paragraphs," Wang Xiaoming pointed at the newspaper article and read it word by word:
"In short, the humanistic spirit we advocate today should be a people-oriented spirit that strongly cares about and takes responsibility for the fate, happiness and suffering of mankind, and for the existence, value and dignity of human beings.

“But on the other hand, secularization also has the effect of deconstructing old morals, old norms, old values, and even political and cultural authoritarianism. Its deconstruction of everything sacred also makes it a way to desacralize political authority and cultural hegemony, and a way to eliminate all monopolies.”

"Do you think what he said makes sense?"

Several students around nodded.

Although Minghua's tone in these three comments was somewhat sharp, and some of his words were full of sarcasm and directed at them, to be fair, what he said did make sense.

It not only points out the defects, but also proposes solutions to the problems, and also gives a detailed explanation, which is closely linked and makes people admire it.

Pan Fengdong was so angry.
But it’s hard to say much.

After all, my students are here today, so I can’t just be unreasonable and talk nonsense, right?

"Hey, which school did Minghua graduate from? What diploma does he have? How come he is so awesome?" a graduate student suddenly asked.

"What diploma? He's just an educated youth who graduated from junior high school. I heard that he attended a correspondence course at Northwestern University a few years ago." Pan Fengdong's tone was full of contempt.

But everyone was silent.

Damn it, a bunch of professors, PhDs, and master's degree students can't beat a college student in a correspondence course!

But what they didn't expect was that Fang Minghua's diploma at this time was no longer just a correspondence college diploma.

(End of this chapter)