The literary era since 1979

Chapter 197 The Roots of Literature
Even though a day has passed, the enthusiasm for discussing the "Change from Zhou to Qin" remains high.

Readers in eastern Guangdong were eagerly looking forward to the "Changes from Tang to Song" and "Changes from ancient times to modern times" which were not mentioned. Finally, after much anticipation, the "Pengcheng Special Zone News" took the lead in reporting Fangyan's second literary lecture in Shekou, focusing on "Changes from ancient times to modern times".

From this, the term "closing the country to the outside world" was derived.

If the main theme of the first lecture was "reform", then the main theme of the second lecture would be "opening up".

The two literary lectures completely ignited Shekou, and the fire quickly spread from Shekou to Pengcheng, Dongguan and other places.

As the provincial capital, Guangzhou is even more famous. Although there is no dialect, its legends have long been there.

When Han Yuemin received the news that Fangyan was returning from Shekou, he immediately notified Huacheng.

The entire editorial department was alerted to the news, and Fan Hansheng, Lin Xianzhi and others ran to the dock to greet them.

It was seen that not only Fangyan got off the boat, but also Yuan Geng and his group. They faced the wind, held hands, and shook vigorously.

"Xiao Fang, if you have the chance in the future, please come to Shekou again and give us a few more literature lectures."

"Sure, Mr. Yuan!"

Fangyan promised solemnly.

Yuan Geng patted him on the shoulder and left with his subordinates.

Watching them walking away, Han Yuemin walked up and asked, only to find out that Yuan Geng was in Yangcheng for a meeting and happened to come to see him off.

"Teacher Fang, congratulations on the successful literary lecture in Shekou!" Fan Hansheng and others' faces were filled with enthusiasm.

"Although this is quite presumptuous, I still want to say it."

Lin Xianzhi hesitated and said, "Teacher Fang, can we publish the content of your speech at the literature lecture in Huacheng?"

Fangyan could see expectation in everyone's eyes and nodded slightly.

Since you ask so sincerely, I will mercifully grant your request.

"Thank you, Teacher Fang!"

Everyone was ecstatic as if they had struck gold.

Fangyan can fully feel their gratitude from the fact that his remuneration is paid according to the highest prescribed standards.

At this moment, Han Yuemin lowered his voice and said, "Yanzi, we are not living in Yangcheng Restaurant anymore. We have moved to a new place."

Fangyan asked in surprise, "Where is the change?"

"Rongyuan Building."

Fan Hansheng explained that when the newspapers reported the story at length, the higher-ups arranged for them to stay directly at the government's guesthouse.

Fangyan smiled but said nothing. He did not ask any further questions. Instead, he wanted to go back to the guesthouse to rest as soon as possible.

"Teacher Fang really needs to take a good rest and get enough rest."

Fan Hansheng said: "The students in the novel writing class were very excited when they heard that you would come to give a lecture. They asked us more than a dozen times."

"Then tomorrow."

Fangyan smiled.

As a young general, he must give strength to the literary Guangdong Army!

…………

The summer novel writing class of "Huacheng" starts in July and lasts for two months.

In terms of the length of the entire semester, it cannot be compared with the literature workshop, and in terms of the number of people, it is almost half less.

Sitting in the classroom were writers such as Chen Guokai, Kong Jiesheng, and Zhang Xin, all of whom were rising stars in the eastern Guangdong literary world.

When the dialect appeared in front of them, they were all surprised, happy and excited.

"Teacher Fang, I really benefited a lot from your two lectures."

"Yes, it would have been great if I could have been there at the time."

"Could you please tell me more about 'The Changes from Zhou to Qin' and 'The Changes from Ancient to Modern Times'?"

"........."

There was a lot of chatter and the class was noisy. Fan Hansheng lowered his hand and asked for silence in the classroom.

Fangyan stood on the podium and did not start speaking immediately. Instead, he asked the students to introduce themselves one by one from left to right and from front to back.

In particular, focus on introducing your own representative works.

One after another, most of them are scar literature and reflective literature, with very few about reform, love, and hometown.

Lin Xianzhi sat at the door of the classroom, listening in with a pen and paper, and saw that Fangyan still did not get to the point, but was chatting with students of various literary genres about current literary trends and future literary directions. As the discussion deepened, the students were chatting happily, but Fangyan's face was obviously gloomy.

“Although I have gained a lot from my discussions with you, I still feel a little disappointed.”

"You are sitting on a mountain of gold, but you are begging with a golden bowl in hand. I really don't understand."

"A mountain of gold? A golden rice bowl?"

Chen Guokai, Guo Xiaodong and others looked at each other.

Kong Jiesheng was unconvinced and said, "Teacher Fang, I don't understand what you mean?"

"All I hear from you is scar literature, reflective literature, and reform literature..."

The conversation turned to dialect, "But I have never heard a single bit of literature from eastern Guangdong."

When this statement was made, there was an uproar and no one could understand the meaning of "local literature of eastern Guangdong".

"Just like the book I wrote, "The Mountain, the People, the Dog," it contains the customs and practices of western Hunan."

"A Bite of China also incorporates the Beijing-style hutong culture and the regional characteristics of various cuisines."

“Literature is the literature of people. People have ‘roots’, and literature also has ‘roots’.”

Fangyan glanced around with a serious look on his face.

"root!?"

Fan Hansheng shuddered, and most of the students in his sight were startled at first, and then fell into deep thought.

Lin Xianzhi's eyes were full of passion. "Teacher Fang, when you say 'roots', do you mean regionality?"

"This is only in a narrow sense, but in a broader sense, it is the traditional culture of the entire Chinese nation!"

Fang Yan said: "The 'roots' of literature must be deeply planted in the soil of the entire Chinese region and national culture. If the roots are not deep, the leaves will not grow, and without roots, it will become a rootless duckweed."

Then he looked around and asked, "Classmates, do you have roots?"

"Yes, of course!"

Kong Jiesheng was the first to stand up and say that "hometown is his roots", followed by Chen Guokai and others, whose answers were almost the same.

"That's right. Local and national characteristics are an indelible mark on literature."

"It's also a unique temperament of writers. Otherwise, why would I call you 'Yuejun'?"

"Why do we call writers from northern Shaanxi 'Shaanxi Army' and writers from southern Hunan 'Xiang Army'..."

“Not only were you born and raised here, but your literary roots are here!”

Fangyan pointed to the ground under his feet.

Hey!
It was as if everyone had been enlightened. In the past, they had just gone with the flow of whatever literary trends there were, like rootless duckweed.

However, he never stopped for a moment to think carefully about the land of eastern Guangdong, nor did he look for his roots.

This is really enlightening, Teacher Fang!

Lin Xianzhi swallowed his saliva. This insight into the "roots of literature" shocked him far more than the previous "change from Zhou to Qin".

Fan Hansheng nudged him with his elbow and said, "Don't just stand there, write it down. Write it all down. Don't miss a single punctuation mark!"

"Not long ago, the guesthouse I stayed in was the Yangcheng Restaurant."

Fang Yan said: "When I was eating, they specially served me a new dish called 'Blue Sea Fish King'..."

"Students, the chefs of Yangcheng Restaurant have been digging deep into the food culture of eastern Guangdong and developing delicacies with a 'Cantonese flavor'. Have you, the writers from eastern Guangdong, never thought of writing a novel with a 'Cantonese flavor'?"

After hearing this, Kong Jiesheng, Zhang Xin and others remained silent, and some even looked embarrassed.

In fact, many of their works, especially their proud masterpieces, either have shallow roots or have no roots at all.

Fangyan smiled and said, "Now do you understand the roots of your literature?"

“It’s the culture of Eastern Guangdong!”

"That's right, if we want to create something, we'll create something with a local theme that has a 'Cantonese flavor'!"

"We must vigorously dig into the roots of eastern Guangdong culture!"

Zhang Xin blurted out this, and immediately received support and approval from many people.

Fangyan glanced around and asked, "Any other questions?"

(End of this chapter)