Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 368 How can we do without a quarrel?

"By the way, Haisheng, have you read the article in the Literary Gazette recently?"

"Are you talking about Roots of Culture? I've seen it."

"Yes, that's the article. It's absolutely ridiculous." Hu Dong's tone was exaggerated, as if this was not enough to express his opinions and ideas.

Cha Haisheng looked at the other person, surprised by how intense his indignation was.

Seeing Cha Haisheng's puzzled expression, Hu Dong said, "Don't you see the problem with this article?"

"what is the problem?"

"It advocates that literature should be rooted in national culture. In fact, it is nothing more than seeing that the domestic literary world has gradually tended towards Western modernist literature in recent years, and it wants to reverse this trend.

But the problem is that the Westernization of our modern and contemporary literature did not start in recent years, but has been like this since the May Fourth Movement. Isn’t this also a rebellion against tradition?

Besides, if you look at the remarks in it, it seems to be concerned about the country and the people, and has a far-sighted vision, but which national culture does it affirm specifically? It is full of ambiguous and self-contradictory words and sentences.

If our national culture really had so many advantages, we would not have been suppressed by the West for so many years.

Until now, we are still unable to face up to the cultural gap between us and Western countries. This is undoubtedly the tragedy of Chinese literature.

I am not surprised that someone like Lin Chaoyang would act as a "tomb keeper" for a declining culture. From "The Chess Master", I can see that he is a populist and a thief..."

Hu Dong ate his meal while speaking arrogantly and wantonly, which fits the image of some angry young college students of this era. Originally, when he criticized the article "The Roots of Literature", Cha Haisheng's expression was just embarrassment.

The embarrassment came from the fact that on the one hand, he felt that "The Roots of Literature" was not as bad as Hu Dong said, and on the other hand, it was because he respected Lin Chaoyang very much.

When Cha Haisheng heard that Hu Dong's criticism had escalated from the article to individuals, he felt that he could not let Hu Dong continue talking like this. He was about to refute Hu Dong's remarks when he suddenly heard a "bang" sound from the side.

The sudden noise startled the people around. Cha Haisheng and Hu Dong turned their heads to look over, only to see Tao Yumo standing there with his eyebrows raised and a murderous look on his face, staring at them.

Cha Haisheng secretly cried out "Oh no!", his attention was just drawn to Hu Dong, and he didn't notice that Tao Yumo was not far away from them.

Hu Dong looked at Tao Yumo's expression and didn't care. He was about to pull Cha Haisheng aside to continue talking, when Tao Yumo spoke.

"Who are you calling a literary thief?"

Her voice was cool and sharp, with a hint of passion in her anger.

Hu Dong turned his head and looked at Tao Yumo again. It was obvious that the question was directed at him. Hu Dong knew Tao Yumo and knew that she was a colleague of Cha Haisheng.

"Is my opinion not infringing on your comrade's business?"

Tao Yumo's eyes were sharp. "It's getting in the way of my business! What qualifications do you have to slander others behind their backs?"

Hu Dong sneered, "I call this slander? I'm just making a comment. If you like Lin Chaoyang, that's your business, but you can't force us all to like him. What's wrong with me expressing my own opinion?"

Cha Haisheng stood up and said to Hu Dong, "Hu Dong, stop talking."

He then said to Tao Yumo: "Yumo, Hu Dong is just emotional and likes to express his opinions."

Tao Yumo sneered, "Haisheng, you have really changed now. I advise you to stay away from these literary hooligans!"

Hu Dong prided himself on being quite magnanimous towards female comrades, but something Tao Yumo said to Cha Haisheng broke his defenses.

"Who are you calling a literary hooligan? Don't think you can speak nonsense just because you are a lesbian!" Hu Dong stood up and said angrily.

Seeing the other party being angered, Tao Yumo felt a sense of pleasure in his heart.

"What? I just made a comment about people like you. Why are you so angry?"

"You call that a comment? You're insulting!"

"Criticizing the matter but not the person is called commenting, and insulting the person but not the matter is called insulting. You also know this truth? Then what did you say just now? Is this the double standard you use to live your life? You are worthy of being called a college student?"

Tao Yumo was very eloquent. With just two sentences, Hu Dong was speechless. He tried to defend himself, "I was just angry for a moment. Isn't it worse to call me a 'literary hooligan' than what I said?"

"You are talking about indignation, but what I am saying is the truth. You keep talking about women and alcohol. You can't speak unless your genitals are hanging around your mouth. You arbitrarily distort the facts to frame people who disagree with you. If you are not a hooligan, what are you?"

Hu Dong laughed in anger, "What nonsense! What I say is my freedom, which is better than those hypocritical moralists who talk about morality but are full of thieves and prostitutes!"

Tao Yumo's face was full of sarcasm. "A moralist who talks about benevolence, righteousness and morality is not as good as you, a sentimental person who talks about women and genitals, right? It's really ridiculous!

Freedom, freedom, how many crimes have been committed in your name!

A person who talks about thieves and whores but uses moral standards to treat others harshly is called a moralist.

He is really lenient with himself and strict with others!"

The quarrel between Tao Yumo and Hu Dong became more and more intense. Cha Haisheng was left aside by the two. His persuasion was completely ineffective and he didn't know what to do.

It was lunch time, and the quarrel between the two attracted a large number of students to watch.

After listening for a while, the students finally understood the reason for the quarrel between the two.

Tao Yumo's tone was aggressive, but every word she said made sense, and many students agreed with her ideas.

However, poets have a strong aura and filter on university campuses these days. Hu Dong's theory of "freedom" and his rebellious character have also won the recognition of many students. Fierce arguments like these two are common among contemporary college students. In college campuses at this time, even friends and classmates will have fierce arguments when discussing different opinions.

The two quarreled for more than ten minutes. Tao Yumo had the absolute upper hand due to his quick thinking and outstanding eloquence. However, in a quarrel, it is impossible to tell who wins or loses as long as someone is stubborn.

Finally, a professor at the school couldn't stand it anymore, so he stepped forward to pull the two people apart, and comforted them, and only then did the storm calm down.

After get off work, Tao Yumo was still angry. After getting off the school bus, he went home, said hello to his mother, and rode his bicycle to Xiaoliubukou Hutong.

It’s so infuriating that she wants to file a complaint!

"Brother-in-law~"

As soon as he entered the door, Tao Yumo shouted when he saw Lin Chaoyang. His resentment was so great that Lin Chaoyang was so scared that the bowl in his hand trembled and almost fell to the ground.

"Why are you shouting?" Tao Yushu scolded.

Tao Yumo ignored her sister's words, walked angrily to the dining table, sat down, and said angrily: "Sister, brother-in-law, you don't know what happened to me this afternoon. It's so infuriating!"

"What happened?"

Lin Chaoyang asked cooperatively, and at the same time, his hands were not idle. He served a bowl of rice and handed it to his sister-in-law.

Tao Yumo took it subconsciously and instinctively wanted to take a bite, then he reacted, put down the bowl and said angrily: "I'm talking to you about business!"

"Your talk won't delay the meal."

Lin Chaoyang's heartless attitude made Tao Yumo feel like she was punching cotton, but for some reason, after being disturbed by Lin Chaoyang, the anger in her heart subsided a lot.

After regaining some of her sanity, she calmed down a little and recounted what had happened this afternoon from beginning to end.

At the end of her speech, she couldn't help but feel a little angry again, "Brother-in-law, tell me, tell me, what kind of person is this! He is a poet and a college student! It's ridiculous!"

Lin Chaoyang didn't respond to her words, but comforted her: "It's not in vain that I love you all the time. When you encounter problems, you still know how to stand up for me, your brother-in-law!"

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Tao Yumo felt sweet in her heart, "Of course! You are my brother-in-law. He scolded you like that, so of course I have to support you!"

"Yes, yes, that's a good thing to do! Otherwise, I wouldn't even know I was being scolded."

"you do not say!"

Tao Yushu looked at her husband, who coaxed her sister into a state of confusion with just a few words like he was coaxing a child, and she couldn't help but laugh and cry. What a silly girl!

"Okay, okay, let's eat quickly." she said.

"Let's eat." Lin Chaoyang also said.

Tao Yumo was in a cheerful mood at the moment, but she felt a little confused when she looked at the state of her sister and brother-in-law.

"Sister, brother-in-law, aren't you angry when Hu Dong scolds you like that?"

Lin Chaoyang said calmly: "Listening to the crickets chirping, why don't you farm? There will be different reactions after the article is published.

Whether it is mild or fierce, as long as it is criticism, it is unpleasant to hear. If it makes sense, you can listen to it, but if it doesn't make sense, just treat it as fart. Do I really need to go out of my way to curse at him? Wouldn't that tire me out? "

Tao Yumo muttered, "Who is he? Is he worth arguing with?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "So, there's no need to get angry with such people. The trend of Westernization in the literary world has been around for a long time, especially among poets. It's normal for them to be dissatisfied with me. Let's debate. The more we debate, the clearer the truth will be, and the wider the audience will be."

Tao Yumo couldn't help but praise: "Brother-in-law, your mind and courage are much stronger than those people!"

"That's it! What is my identity?"

Lin Chaoyang made a joke, which made Tao Yumo smile.

After chatting for a while, Tao Yumo's anger disappeared, but she still talked about this topic. While eating, she asked Lin Chaoyang:

"Brother-in-law, there are so many discussions about your article out there that even someone posted a discussion article on our school bulletin board."

In the 1980s, there was a strong literary atmosphere and almost every student was a literary youth. It was normal to have such a response on university campuses after the publication of "The Roots of Literature".

"There are a lot of people who praise you, but there are also a lot of people who criticize you! It's just a lot of arguing!"

Compared with the response to Lin Chaoyang’s previous works, there was much more criticism from the outside world after the publication of "The Roots of Literature".

In Tao Yumo's opinion, this kind of criticism is louder than the discussion after the publication of "The Chess Master", and may be similar to the criticism caused by Lin Chaoyang's article "The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Scar Literature".

However, "The Roots of Literature" has only been published for a few days. If public opinion continues to ferment like this, the waves it will cause will probably be even greater than that time.

"Then let's quarrel!"

Lin Chaoyang's attitude was nonchalant.

After all, the views put forward in "The Roots of Literature" are likely to influence the development direction of contemporary Chinese literature in the next few years or even decades.

How can we do without a quarrel?

(End of this chapter)