Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 366 The Zhuo County Declaration of Chinese Literature

Many writers were whispering to each other in the venue. No one spoke loudly, but when their voices came together, they formed a sound field above the venue, disturbing everyone's hearing.

"Root-seeking literature? That's a good idea! Find the roots of our literature, find the roots of our culture. Only in this way can our nation regain confidence."

……

"Scar literature, reflective literature, root-seeking literature... Hey, why do they all seem to have something to do with Lin Chaoyang?"

Someone suddenly said this, attracting the attention of others around him.

If you think about it carefully, it seems to be true.

In 1978, Lin Chaoyang emerged with his work "The Horse Shepherd", which poured fuel on the then-emerging "scar literature", making this literary trend burn even more vigorously. "The Horse Shepherd" has thus become a representative masterpiece in the history of the development of scar literature.

In 1979, Lin Chaoyang wrote an article entitled "The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Scar Literature", in which he inadvertently got involved in the great discussion between the "Xichun School" and the "Pianzuo School".

The concept of "reflective literature" he proposed in the article was quickly accepted by the literary world, and quickly replaced "scar literature" to become the most fashionable literary genre at the time.

Today, Lin Chaoyang has proposed the concept of "root-seeking literature". Although the term "root-seeking literature" was proposed by Li Tuo, no one would think that this is his credit. Everyone attributes the credit to Lin Chaoyang.

A writer who proposed three different literary concepts in succession in just a few years reflects not only Lin Chaoyang's profound insights in creation, but also his profound understanding of literary theory.

Everyone present couldn't help but admire.

“Scars, reflection, and root-seeking…”

Zhang Wei muttered these three words, and slowly some enlightenment arose in his mind.

Isn’t the dissemination and inheritance of these three literary concepts exactly the inevitable path for social change and literary development over the years?

Scar literature is a hysterical accusation against the humanitarian flood, because at that time the humanitarian flood had just ended and people needed an outlet to vent.

After a few years, reflective literature emerged because people had passed the stage of catharsis and needed to reflect on and summarize the past.

Now, Lin Chaoyang has proposed the concept of root-seeking literature because with the passage of time, the harm caused to the people by the humanitarian flood has gradually become a thing of the past, and now our society needs to regain the culture that we have lost.

After figuring out the connection between these three literary concepts, Zhang Wei looked at Lin Chaoyang with a shining look in his eyes.

Such a coherent and rich theory cannot be comprehended in a short period of time. I'm afraid Comrade Chaoyang has been brewing it for many years?

The venue became noisy and bustling as the concept of "root-seeking literature" emerged. Writers excitedly whispered to each other, discussed and argued with each other, and never tired of it.

Li Tuo was also very excited at this time, and said: "I think we should let Chaoyang organize today's speech and publish it in the magazine so that more literary creators and readers can see it."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately echoed him loudly.

"You're right!"

"It makes sense."

Everyone unanimously asked Lin Chaoyang to organize his speech. Faced with the unanimous support, Lin Chaoyang could not refuse and simply agreed.

Li Tuo gathered a few more people over there. They all claimed that they were deeply moved by Lin Chaoyang's speech, and they also wanted to take this opportunity to write down their own feelings and join in the celebration.

The writers were excited, thrilled, and their blood was boiling. Their hearts were filled with pride and excitement of witnessing and participating in history. The entire banquet hall was like a burning furnace, filled with a restless and high-spirited atmosphere.

Zhang Guangnian stood silently by, looking at these writers, most of whom were under 40 years old.

For some reason, the resentment towards Lin Chaoyang in my heart gradually disappeared, and was replaced by an indescribable relief and joy.

Looking at Lin Chaoyang surrounded by the crowd, a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Their generation is indeed old, and the new generation is pushing the old generation forward!
Tonight's informal meeting lasted only an hour, which was not a long time, but the writers' noise continued until late at night.

When the meeting started the next day, Lin Chaoyang appeared at the meeting room yawning. Seeing him like this, Zhang Guangnian couldn't help but said sourly:
"It's not okay for a young man to be so listless so early in the morning!"

"I stayed up late last night and wrote something."

Zhang Guangnian knew that what Lin Chaoyang was writing must be a summary of his remarks yesterday. "Have you finished writing it?"

"No, it's not that fast!" Lin Chaoyang yawned again and replied.

Last night, the group of writers excitedly chatted with him for several hours. After finally returning to the room, he thought he could take a rest, but Li Tuo came over and urged him to write the summary article quickly.

By two o'clock in the morning, he couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep.

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Zhang Guangnian didn't say anything. He had listened to Lin Chaoyang's remarks from beginning to end yesterday. He knew that such a mature literary theory must require a great article to support it. How could it be written in one night?

"Write slowly, and when you're done, take it to the Literary Gazette and I'll publish it for you."

Lin Chaoyang joked: "I have to tell Lao Feng about this. You are overreaching!"

"Wenyi Bao" and "People's Literature" are both publications sponsored by the Writers Association. Zhang Guangnian is the second-in-command of the Writers Association, so it is naturally not a problem for him to get Lin Chaoyang to publish an article.

However, the current editor-in-chief of Literary Gazette is Feng Mu, so he would definitely have to inform Feng Mu about this matter.

Zhang Guangnian laughed and scolded, "We had a big meeting, and you had a small one. It's fine that I didn't cause any trouble to you, but you're causing trouble to me? What? Tang Yin, the deputy editor-in-chief, is not considered a leader? I, the former editor-in-chief, don't even have this little face? Stop trying to sow discord with me!"

Zhang Guangnian joined the Communist Youth League at the age of 14. It is no exaggeration to call him an old revolutionary. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Literary Gazette in the s.

"Hey, it's just a joke! You leaders really can't take a joke!"

After mumbling a few words, Lin Chaoyang took his seat. Li Tuo sat beside him, looking very energetic.

Lin Chaoyang stared at him curiously. He was still awake when he went to bed last night. Isn't he too energetic? "What time did you go to bed last night?" he asked Li Tuo.

"Not asleep." Li Tuo replied.

"Didn't you sleep? Why are you so energetic even though you didn't sleep?" Lin Chaoyang asked in surprise.

"I'm so excited! I'm so thrilled! I can't sleep at all!"

Li Tuo had an exaggerated expression and started chattering with Lin Chaoyang again. After listening for a while, Lin Chaoyang couldn't help feeling sleepy and forced himself to go through the meeting.

After taking a nap at noon, he finally felt a little more energetic and stayed up all afternoon.

In the evening, there was a sudden commotion in the Taoyuan Hotel. After asking around, Lin Chaoyang found out that the list of this year's National Excellent Short Story Awards had been announced. The winners included two writers, Li Hangyu, who had come to attend the meeting.

During the meeting, someone won a prize, and the winner was naturally happy. Others followed suit, and combined with the heated atmosphere created by yesterday's meeting, the atmosphere during this meeting was filled with joy and positive energy.

Another day passed, and the National Rural Theme Novel Creation Symposium finally came to an end. The meeting ended at five in the afternoon. The writers will stay at the Taoyuan Hotel for another night and will go their separate ways tomorrow.

In just three days, because of the literary concepts proposed by Lin Chaoyang, everyone was closely united and felt reluctant to part.

In the past two days, Li Tuo would sneak into Lin Chaoyang's room at night and kept urging Lin Chaoyang to write an article. Under his constant encouragement, Lin Chaoyang finally finished the article at around nine o'clock that evening.

Li Tuo excitedly grabbed the article and couldn't wait to call together the many writers attending the meeting.

He called everyone to a meeting without any mobilization, just shouted in the hotel corridor:
"Chaoyang's article is finished!"

The writers immediately emerged and quickly gathered in the banquet hall.

During these two days, everyone had been waiting for Lin Chaoyang's article to be published, and on the last day before the meeting, everyone finally caught up.

After two days of fermentation, the "Root-seeking Literature" proposed by Lin Chaoyang has become a familiar concept to all the writers attending the conference, and has also won the recognition and support of the vast majority of the participating writers.

Being able to see the true version of this article on the last night before leaving made our trip to Zhuo County complete.

There was only one manuscript of the article, and the writers were all eager to get a sneak peek.

Li Tuo took the manuscript in his hand, stood in the middle of the venue, and said loudly: "I know everyone wants to see it, but there is only one copy of the manuscript. How about this, I will be a human speaker and read it aloud to everyone, okay?"

After listening to his suggestion, everyone agreed that this was indeed the best way.

Carrying everyone's expectations, Li Tuo held the manuscript in his hand. His eyes stayed on the manuscript for a few dozen seconds, as if he was silently reading the contents.

After he felt familiar with it, he spoke slowly.

"The Roots of Literature, by Lin Chaoyang.

I used to think about this question a lot: Where has the splendid Chinese culture gone? A friend once told me that he had settled down by the Miluo River, and his residence was only about 20 kilometers away from Quzi Temple.

……

The novel "The Moon and Sixpence" describes a modernist painter, but he sincerely admires classical painters such as Titian, and rarely mentions modernist comrades.

He later fled the bustling city and went to the jungle where the indigenous people lived. He lived in seclusion for many years, endured hardships, and finally found the fulcrum of modern art in the primitive culture and created masterpieces. This is Gauguin who later emerged.

......"

Li Tuo had just received the manuscript and he was not a professional announcer, so he read it haltingly at first. But slowly, his mind was captured by Lin Chaoyang's words and he became fully focused on the article. His voice became full, passionate and full of emotion.

Not only him, but other writers attending the conference felt the same way.

Although most of the content of this article has been understood by everyone through Lin Chaoyang's narration, when these ideas are transformed from language into words and then returned to language to enrich everyone's hearts, they give rise to an indescribable excitement and passion in their hearts.

"…vigorous reform and construction are underway here, we are 'taking' all the science and technology, ideas and systems we can use from the West, and are moving towards a modern life.

But yin and yang give birth to each other, gains and losses complement each other, and the new and the old are related to each other.

Amidst ever-changing changes, China is still China. Especially in literature and art, and in the deep spirit and cultural characteristics of the nation, we still have our national self.

Perhaps our responsibility is to release the heat of modern ideas to recast and polish this self.

......"

Lin Chaoyang's article "The Roots of Literature" is more than ten thousand words long and can be called a masterpiece.

Li Tuo spoke in a loud and high-pitched voice throughout. By the end of the reading, his voice was hoarse, but it still revealed a firmness.

When he finished reading, his eyes were red, his face was full of solemnity, and his sonorous and powerful voice echoed throughout the banquet hall.

“A nation’s past is easy to forget, but also not so easy to forget.

Our literature must have "roots", and the "roots" of literature should be deeply rooted in the soil of national cultural traditions. If the roots are not deep, the leaves will be difficult to grow; if the roots are deep, then it will be full of vitality.

Only when literature has 'roots' can our culture have 'roots' and our nation have 'roots'.

One day, the Chinese culture will be reborn and shine in the world!"

The article ended here. Li Tuo suddenly stood up on the chair, waving the manuscript paper in his hand, making a rustling sound.

"This is the 'Zhuo County Declaration' of Chinese literature!"

This sentence is so heroic that it can swallow mountains and rivers!

(End of this chapter)