The literary era since 1979

"Teacher Fang, do you think realistic literature can rise again?"

Liu Xinwu frowned, half believing and half doubting.

"My mentor once taught me that realism has eternal vitality."

Fang Yan said: "Because we always have to face 'social reality', but reality is not static forever, but constantly developing and changing, so other literary genres may come to an end one day, but realistic literature has no end."

Liu Xinwu sighed, "But the current situation is that many writers feel that 'realism' is outdated, and their creations mainly rely on imagination, such as magical realism, stream-of-consciousness novels, and existentialist literature. As long as the text and narrative are avant-garde enough, it is a good text."

“Magical realism is also realism!”

Fang Yan said: "'Magic' is just a technique to modify and express reality. Everything is based on reality. Isn't the Dream of Red Mansions like this? For example, Jia Baoyu dreamt about the fantasy world, where reality and dreams intertwined with each other."

"That's right!"

Liu Xinwu applauded, "Especially since Jia Baoyu slept in his nephew Jia Rong's room, it seemed to be a metaphor for Zhu Di's attempt to seize the throne from his nephew Zhu Yunwen, and the dream was used to allude to Jia Zhen's attempt to 'climb on Qin Keqing'..."

Fangyan couldn't help but roll his eyes. Can they still have a good conversation? Why are they so excited when talking about "Dream of Red Mansions"?

Liu Xinwu also noticed that he had gone off topic and smiled awkwardly, then quickly changed the subject, saying that he had thought about supporting the great cause of "realistic literature" and had already agreed to Feng Mu's commission to write a realistic novel for "Huaxia Writers".

Dialects are not without surprises, and so am I!
"Really!"

Liu Xinwu was full of curiosity, "What kind of realistic work is Teacher Fang going to write?"

"I don't have any clue yet." Fang Yan asked back, "What about you?"

Liu Xinwu laughed at himself, "It's the same for me. It's been almost a month, and I still can't start writing. I don't know what to write."

Soon, the subject changed. "However, after discussing this with Teacher Fang, I suddenly had an immature idea. That is to draw on the realistic magical narrative of Dream of Red Mansions and write a magical realist novel. Just like you said, magical realism is also realism."

“It’s not easy to write magical realism like Dream of the Red Chamber.”

Fangyan narrowed his eyes into slits.

"Isn't it very bold!"

Liu Xinwu's tone was full of excitement, "The whole novel is magical realism, just this story, it's completely this story!"

Fangyan curled his lips. Rather than talking about crazy magical realism novels, he would rather talk to him about the conspiracy theories of "Dream of the Red Chamber".

For example, the prototype of Prince Beijing was Prince Shen Yunxi and his adopted grandson Aisin-Gioro Yongrong.

For example, the Jia family moved from Jinling to the capital. This is not a story about the Cao family being confiscated, but a story about Zhu Di moving the capital to Yanjing. The so-called evidence is that the "Ning" in Ningguo Mansion is another name for Nanjing, and the "Twelve Beauties of Jinling" are all originally from Nanjing, and Nanjing is precisely the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

In short, he gave full play to his imagination as a novelist, but as for evidence, most of the time there was no evidence and it was completely imaginary.

Sometimes, if you have one bit of evidence, you can say ten points.

When there is no evidence, they simply "create" evidence and never mention any evidence that is unfavorable to their own views.

They look similar to the "keyboard warriors" in later generations who are good at using conspiracy theories to attract public attention and traffic, and are actually exactly the same.

Low emotional intelligence, "talking nonsense and talking nonsense".

If you have high emotional intelligence, that would be “the president’s brilliant opinion”.

…………

Time passed unknowingly, and near noon, everyone dispersed.

After Fang Yan helped Shi Tiesheng settle down, he was still worried, so he asked his roommates Yu Hua, Wang Shuo and Zhong Acheng to take good care of him.

Afterwards, he left Lu Xun Academy of Literature and rushed to the courtyard house in Nanluoguxiang without stopping.

Yang Xia came out of the small kitchen wearing an apron, her face full of surprise, and asked, "Why are you here today?"

"I miss the meal you cooked for me. I have to come back to have a bite."

"You are just trying to appease me, your mother."

"Hey, how dare I!"

"Hey, wash your hands quickly."

Yang Xia smiled and rolled her eyes, "I'll cook two more dishes for you." "No, no, no, how dare I trouble you, you see I've prepared everything."

Fangyan handed over the food packed in the lunch box, and then was sent to call the little sister in the room to come out to eat.

"elder brother!"

When she saw a figure rushing in, Fang Yan took off her headphones in fear and hurriedly stuffed her Walkman into the drawer.

Fang Yan shook his head and laughed: "You, you, the college entrance examination is coming in two months, and you don't want to study hard, but just play all day long?"

"I wasn't playing. I was just practicing English!" Fang Yan defended herself with her neck stiff.

"Really?"

Fangyan was amused. "Take out your Walkman and let me hear what's playing. If it's not in English, I'll confiscate it..."

"I recruit, I recruit, I recruit, why not?"

Fang Yan said that she was listening to Ye Qianwen's songs, "I rested after finishing a set of papers. Sister Xiaoya said that this is a combination of work and rest."

"Yo ho!"

A smile appeared on Fangyan's lips.

"Sister Xiaoya and Sister Ruoxue also said that with my current grades and abilities, it might not be possible for me to get into Kyoto University or Mizuki University, but I can be sure of getting into key universities such as Renmin University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and Beijing Normal University!" Fang Yan held her chin high, full of confidence.

"I told you you're fat, but you're still out of breath."

Fang Yan said: "Don't take it lightly, you know, your college entrance examination is never just your business."

"I know. My sister's, my brother's. Anyway, my family's college dream has to be realized by me, right?"

Fang Yan said with her hands on her hips.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Fangyan touched the little sister's head and promised to buy her a computer as long as she could be admitted to university.

"Brother, you said this!"

Fang Yan excitedly grabbed his arm, shaking it and saying, "Don't regret it!"

"When have I ever regretted it?"

Fangyan tapped his little sister's forehead gently and noticed the copy of "The Metamorphosis" on her desk out of the corner of his eye.

"This was given to me by Sister Ruoxue when she returned to China. She told me to read more original English works, learn to think in English, and improve my sense of language."

Fang Yan shrugged, "By the way, let's also learn about magical realism."

Reading Kafka's "Metamorphosis", Fangyan pondered for a long time, with a lot of thoughts in his mind. He thought of the magical realism mentioned by Liu Xinwu this morning, and the avant-garde literary works mentioned by Chen Xiaoman a few days ago. His intuition told him that the next novel could incorporate these two things.

Immediately afterwards, works of magical realism emerged one by one in my mind.

"Big Fish", "The Sixth Sense", "Pan's Labyrinth", "Birdman"...

These are obviously out of date, and I think of "The Sun Also Rises", "The Story of Two Donkeys", "The Dust Settles", "Kafka on the Shore", etc. It's a pity that Chen Zhongshi is already writing "White Deer Plain", the domestic work that is most similar to "One Hundred Years of Solitude".

Bailuyuan... Bailu... Deer...

Once my thoughts start to flow, I can't stop them at all. Even when I'm eating, I seem a little absent-minded.

"elder brother!"

At this moment, Fang Yan shouted loudly several times.

Fang Yan suddenly shuddered and came back to his senses, "What's wrong?"

"The World Cup qualifiers will be next week. As long as the Chinese national team can draw, they can qualify from the group and enter the second round."

Fang Yan's eyes sparkled, "Brother, can our whole family go to the scene to watch the game?" (End of this chapter)