The literary era since 1979

Chapter 198 If you don’t like it, who do you think you are?
"I have a question……"

Chen Guokai raised his hand and asked, "Teacher Fang, how can we explore the culture of eastern Guangdong?"

"Eight words, take the essence and discard the dross."

"Another eight words: critical inheritance, applying the past to the present."

Fangyan made an “eight” gesture, “But before that, we must recognize the unique cultural characteristics of our own nation and region.”

“Cantonese opera.”

"Not only that! There are also Cantonese opera, Cantonese music, Nanyin, Cantonese, Cantonese cuisine, and more."

"There are also dragon boat races, lion dances, and flower drum operas..."

One word after another came out of the mouths of Kong Jiesheng and others.

"What you just mentioned can actually be divided into folk art, music, language, food, folklore, and dance."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "However, architecture, medicine, fine arts, and martial arts have been neglected."

"Martial arts?!"

Everyone looked at each other in surprise and suspicion.

"I also did some research in Shekou these days."

In dialect, he said, "As the saying goes, there are many styles of boxing in the south and legs in the north. In addition to the five famous boxing styles of Hong Family Boxing, Liu Family Boxing, Cai Family Boxing, Li Family Boxing, and Mo Family Boxing, there are also Cai Li Fo Boxing, Tiger Crane Double Form Boxing, Buddhist Boxing, Xia Family Boxing..."

Kong Jiesheng raised his hand and said, "But Mr. Fang, if you write this into your novel, wouldn't it become a martial arts novel?"

"Wuxia and martial arts have two different definitions."

“Although there is only one word difference, the meaning is very different.”

"The key lies in the word 'xia'."

“A person who knows martial arts is not necessarily a hero. Only those who know martial arts and can rely on martial arts to fight for justice are true heroes.”

"Stories like The Case of Peng Gong, The Three Heroes and Five Gallants, and The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, which we are familiar with, all contain elements of martial arts and chivalry. They are both classic martial arts novels and classic public case novels."

He spoke in dialect fluently.

"But whether it's a public case novel or a martial arts novel, they are all popular literature. We are pure literature writers, how can we write these?"

"That's right, martial arts novels are full of fighting and killing, promoting violence, and can't be compared with pure literature at all."

"Our pure literature is like this. Martial arts novels only need to involve fighting, killing and flying around, but pure literature writers have to consider a lot of things."

"........."

The whole classroom was in an uproar, and everyone was excited.

Either they are against martial arts novels, or they are against martial arts elements.

"So, students, what is pure literature?"

Fangyan clapped his hands and asked.

In an instant, the noisy classroom became quiet.

“Can anyone tell me what pure literature is?”

Fangyan glanced around.

“Let literature return to literature itself.”

Seeing that no one answered, Kong Jiesheng stood up.

"It's just a slogan, not a definition."

Fangyan turned to ask Fan Hansheng and Lin Xianzhi.

"Yes, 'Let literature return to literature itself' is just a slogan. The literary world has not given any theoretical basis."

Fan Hansheng nodded in response.

"Thank you, Editor-in-Chief Fan, for your answer."

Fangyan gave a playful smile.

"Pure literature" is actually a nonsense.

There are neither concepts nor theories, nor any works to refer to. It was just a slogan shouted at the time to get rid of the idea of ​​literature serving the political system. However, there is no way to directly say "literature has nothing to do with politics" so one can only say euphemistically, "let literature return to literature itself."

As a result, the sutra was misinterpreted and used by a small group of writers who liked to flaunt their status to deal with popular literature.

In the 21st century, it was used to deal with commercial literature.

In fact, pure literature is a basket that can hold anything. Romance novels can be pure literature, military novels can be pure literature, but why can't martial arts novels be allowed?

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was in an uproar and everyone was talking about it.

"Teacher Fang, what you said is wrong!"

Chen Guokai stood up immediately.

"Then can you explain to me what 'pure literature' means?"

Fangyan leaned forward and looked at him with a kind look.

"Pure literature is..."

Chen Guokai couldn't help feeling nervous under the scrutiny.

Fangyan stood quietly, but his eyes seemed to be saying:
Translate, translate, what the hell is called “pure literature”!
I want you to translate it for me!

What the hell is called "pure literature"! !

The atmosphere in the entire classroom suddenly became awkward.

The "pure literature" writers in the audience scratched their heads and tried to explain, but their last-ditch efforts were unable to justify themselves.

"Editor-in-Chief, what exactly is 'pure literature'?"

Lin Xianzhi put down the pen in his hand.

"There is still no consensus in the literary world. It is just a slogan. Scar writers can shout it out, and of course martial arts writers can shout it out too."

"Why didn't I think of that? Why didn't I think of that?"

Fan Hansheng was very excited watching Fangyan's debate with the scholars. Seeing the students in the class falling silent one by one, Lin Xianzhi cast an admiring gaze and said with emotion:

"Teacher Fang is worthy of being Teacher Fang, tall and strong!"

…………

After a while, the classroom was silent.

The crowd was like defeated roosters. Most of them thought that what Teacher Fang said made sense and were speechless. However, there were still a few who were not convinced and whispered:
"Teacher Fang, what do you think pure literature is?"

“In my opinion, before defining pure literature, we must first clarify what type of literature it is.”

The dialect was extended based on Shi Tiesheng's division.

Popular literature mainly meets the entertainment needs of the public, while serious literature focuses on social, political, and class issues in a specific period, reflecting the times and people's situation in the times and society, such as "Midnight" and "The Shop of the Lin Family".

Pure literature, on the other hand, deals more with the dilemma of humanity.

For example, the innate questions such as meditation on death, contemplation on life, and exploration of survival.

There is no clear boundary between these three literary genres; a work can be both pure literature and popular literature at the same time.

(PS: The division of these three literary types comes from Shi Tiesheng.)
"rustle."

"rustle."

Fan Hansheng and Lin Xianzhi concentrated on recording Teacher Fang's opinions, which are priceless treasures!

After a brief analysis, Fang Yan faced the students and asked:
"So, can anyone tell me whether the popular novel Dream of the Red Chamber is pure literature?"

"This this……"

Every one of them stammered and was unable to speak.

After all, the person standing in front of them was Mr. Fang, who was the first to propose the concept of "Four Great Classical Chinese Novels"!

"So, does "Water Margin", which tells the story of heroes, count as a martial arts novel?"

Fangyan looked around and asked, "Is this considered serious literature?"

Kong Jie said stiffly: "Teacher Fang, I don't know if "Water Margin" can be considered serious literature, but if you say "Water Margin" is a martial arts novel, I will be the first to disagree!"

“Water Margin is definitely not a martial arts novel.”

"Martial arts novels originated in the Tang Dynasty and were originally a branch of 'legendary literature'."

The dialect slowly starts from the origin of martial arts novels.

The legendary novels of the Tang Dynasty can be divided into four categories: biographies, swordsmanship, erotica, and gods and monsters. Among them, swordsmanship novels are the predecessors of martial arts novels.

Later, it gradually developed into "chivalrous novels", and martial arts culture has continued to exist in Chinese literary creation.

It was not until 1922 that Pingjiang Bushousheng's "Legends of Jianghu" was published and was recognized as the originator of martial arts novels.

Breaking away from the routine of Ming and Qing novels, the knights-errant were no longer vassals of the government or recruited righteous men, who used literature to disrupt the law and force to break bans. The knights-errant relied on a martial arts world that was different from the rules of the court and started the first struggle among the martial arts sects.

Hearing this, Fan Hansheng saw Chen Guokai and others raise objections and doubts:

"Teacher Ke Fang, no matter what, martial arts novels can't be serious literature."

"Yeah, I can't figure out how to connect 'martial arts' and 'pure literature'?"

"Of all the martial arts novels I've read, none seem to be about facing the dilemma of humanity as Mr. Fang said."

"........."

Lin Xianzhi feels that these issues can be summed up in one sentence.

Can martial arts novels, or literature on martial arts, really be accepted by the mainstream media?
“Here, I recommend a few books to my classmates.”

Fangyan held up the first finger, "Mr. Lao She's martial arts novel, The Soul-Breaking Spear."

"Mr. Lao She wrote a martial arts novel?!"

They all stared with their eyes wide open, looking like they were saying, "I haven't had much education, so don't lie to me."

"Mr. Lao She originally wanted to write a long novel titled "The Two Boxers", but due to various reasons, it was not completed in the end. He just extracted the main plot and wrote "The Soul-Breaking Spear"..."

Fangyan can say all these thanks to Shen Yanbing's teaching.

When they heard that Lao She had written martial arts novels, many students who were disgusted by martial arts fell silent.

"The second one is Mr. Lu Xun's martial arts novel, The Forged Sword." Fang Yan stretched out his second finger.

"what?"

"Lu, Mr. Lu Xun also wrote martial arts novels!"

Not only the students present, but even Lin Xianzhi and Fan Hansheng were shocked.

"The third one is Mr. Gao Zifeng's "Huang Feihong", which is the first martial arts work to introduce Cantonese dialect into the novel."

Fangyan held up a third finger: "You guys want to dig deeper into the roots of eastern Guangdong culture, this is also worth referring to."

Fan Hansheng murmured to himself, "I am so ignorant! I am so ignorant!"

Lin Xianzhi agreed with this deeply, and just when he thought Teacher Fang had finished speaking, he stretched out his fourth finger.

"There is also a martial arts novel, which may be difficult to find, and it is not finished yet."

"Because the author has stopped updating indefinitely, its name is "Heroines"."

"Do you know who wrote it?"

Everyone shook their heads, and when they heard the answer announced by Teacher Fang, they were shocked beyond words.

"Teacher Fang, Fang, Fang, the author is really always..."

"Yes, the author has gone to save the Chinese nation, so the novel will be suspended indefinitely from now on."

Fang Yan nodded. "He also made a comment on literary and artistic work, which my teacher told me to keep in mind."

Lin Xianzhi concentrated his attention and was determined to write down this sentence no matter what.

"If you don't like something that the people like, who are you?"

Fangyan glanced around with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)