Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 869 868 "Even a magazine like Harvest has become impetuous."

But the last chapter of his published book "My Twenty Years of Literature" ends with this interview with Dong Qian.

There is this sentence above.

Today is Saturday, and it is Fang Minghua's turn to host a reading salon at Xuecheng Bookstore.

Today we are talking about poetry.

Fang Minghua hasn't paid attention to poetry for a long time.

Although he did not pay attention to it, the poetry world was still very lively, with many awards.

As the name suggests, the "Poetry Reference Ten Years Award" is a summary and praise of the most outstanding poets and their works in the past ten years of the publication of Poetry Reference. The special thing about this award is that it does not give out cash prizes, but only gives spiritual encouragement. Due to the great influence of Poetry Reference among the people, it is still cherished and respected by poets.

The 3rd Star Cross-Century Poetry Award, the Times Literature Award New Poetry Award.
There are also various poetry gatherings.

The annual "Youth Poetry Festival" has been held for more than 1980 years since 20, and there are also the "Hengshan Poetry Festival", the "Third (Guilin) ​​International Chinese Poets' Writers' Festival" and the "Global Chinese Poets' Poetry Festival".
Of course, there is also the debate between "folk writing" and "intellectual writing" which has been going on for several years.

These have nothing to do with Fang Minghua. Even if someone has invited her to participate, Fang Minghua will always decline.

Today he will be talking about a collection of poems that was just published this year - "Selected Poems of Lu Li".

The poems in this collection were not written in recent years, but Lu Li himself is an old poet who was born in 1914 and died in 1999.

This collection of poems was written to commemorate him. It selected the best poems he had written in the past. Fang Minghua chose several representative works for analysis and reflection.

"Today, I will focus on Mr. Lu's short poem "Earth"."

There is a short poem written on the small blackboard beside Fang Minghua:
Always think of yourself as a pearl

I am always afraid of the pain of being buried

Think of yourself as soil.
Let the crowd trample you into a path.

"Anyone who has a little knowledge of modern poetry knows that, for most modern poems, it is an amplification of extremely personal individual experience. Because modern poetry is essentially an art form produced under the trend of Western individualism. It focuses on the ultimate expression of individual experience and personal emotions, which is the opposite of the traditional collective emotional resonance. "

"Why does Tang poetry have such a profound influence on all Chinese people? To put it simply, it can be said that Tang poetry and Song poetry reflect and express the common collective emotions of us Chinese people. They are our common spiritual home."

"And this little poem talks about collectivism." Fang Minghua pointed at the poem on the blackboard and talked about it: "Why did the author write such a little poem? We must understand the background of this poem."

"The background of this poem is 1938, when the author went to Yan'an and threw himself into the melting pot of revolution. The whole poem has only four lines, among which "treat yourself as soil" and contribute everything you have to the collective (country). This feeling is the real life experience gained by the sincere poet Lu Li in the new living environment of Yan'an. Behind him are the life ideals and value standards unique to that special era. The poet threw himself into the fiery revolutionary struggle at that time, willing to be "soil" and let everyone "trample on it to make a road". This life attitude full of national and social responsibility can be said to have influenced generations of Chinese people."

"Here's another little poem. It's at the other extreme."

Fang Minghua said this while writing another poem on the blackboard.

“Since childhood, I have been alone”

Taking care of
Stars of the Ages

This is written by the young poet Bai Helin. It is extremely refined. The poet pays tribute to and reproduces the famous Tang Dynasty poet Chen Ziang's "Song of Climbing the Tower of Youzhou" in a few dozen words in an unconventional, modern poem form. Everyone knows this poem, so I won't write about it here. "Although the above two poems are both short poems, they represent two completely different writing cores, and even two divergent emotions and writing positions. What is commendable is that these two modern poems, including most of the poems left in the history of our contemporary poetry writing, have actually inherited the poetry bloodline of our farming nation for thousands of years, and are also partially compatible with the direction and trend of modern poetry (the mainstream of Western literature after the Industrial Revolution) that respects the individual."

After the literary salon ended, the readers left while talking. Finally, Fang Minghua came downstairs and Lei Xuecheng came up to greet him.

"Minghua, take a break and have some tea."

Fang Minghua nodded.

After making the tea, the two sat in Lei Xuecheng's room and drank it. Through the window, they could see people coming and going on the street.

The two chatted.

"Minghua, I was watching a program on Lecture Room. How did you expose the fact that I evaded the ticket to go to Beijing to meet Bei Dao?"

Fang Minghua smiled slightly after hearing this.

In the spring of 81, Fang Minghua won the second prize in the "Poetry Essay Contest" held by "Harvest" magazine. On the train to Yenching to receive the award, she met Lei Xuecheng by chance. He evaded the ticket to go to Yenching just to meet his idol: Bei Dao, who won the first prize.

That was the first time the two met.

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After hearing this, Fang Minghua took a sip of tea and replied slowly, "I have already given you face by not mentioning your name and only saying that you are a friend of mine. Also, I did not mention during the lecture that you brought a little girl to our magazine library in the middle of the night to steal books. I have already given you face."

"No, no, absolutely not." Lei Xuecheng was shocked and couldn't help but look outside the door - a middle-aged woman in her forties was calculating something with a calculator at the counter. It was Lei Xuecheng's wife - the proprietress of the store.

It was the winter of 83. Fang Minghua was still the security guard of a magazine. One night, it was his turn on duty and he caught a book thief, who was Lei Xuecheng. There was a little girl following him, who was later revealed to be his neighbor's girl.

But not my current daughter-in-law.

Fang Minghua laughed, and Lei Xuecheng laughed too.

Those were all ridiculous things I did when I was young, and they are particularly interesting to think back on now.

"Hey, Minghua, have you heard the news that Harvest magazine is going to offer a 'million-dollar prize' to writers? Haha, this prize money exceeds the prize money of your World Chinese Literature Award." Lei Xuecheng changed the subject again.

Fang Minghua did not answer but asked: "Do you think it is credible?"

"It was all said on TV. Chen Yongxin, deputy editor-in-chief of Harvest, spoke eloquently in response to reporters' questions and proposed a plan to offer a "million-dollar grand prize."

Fang Minghua shook his head after hearing this.

"Is it interesting? The idea of ​​one million is obviously out of touch with China's national conditions. It is definitely not a good idea to give a young writer who has not yet made his debut one million to let him "rise to the sky". And those successful young and middle-aged talents must have already married into business, and one million is just a passing thing for them.

"What about the old writers? They are supported by the state, and they won't spend even one million. One million is another "great leap forward" for Chinese literature. Our Chinese literature award of 20 is considered relatively high, and a one million is just a gimmick."

Lei Xuecheng nodded after hearing this and sighed: "Even a magazine like Harvest has become impetuous."

(End of this chapter)