Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 381 Only what belongs to the nation belongs to the world

Li Tuo became famous earlier than Lin Chaoyang. He was one of the first writers to become famous in the new era and had extensive connections in the writer circle.

Unfortunately, these external factors cannot determine the sales of works after publication. He has been in the industry for many years, but he has been half-hearted in writing, so the output of his works is not large.

He has never written a novel and rarely any novellas. Most of his works are short stories, which have been published several times either individually or in a collection.

Sales volume is just so-so. From the publisher's perspective, it is definitely a money-losing product.

This situation is also very common in today's literary world. Even though there are many readers who buy books, most of them buy literary journals, classics and well-known bestsellers.

As for those works that are not so influential, their sales will never be high.

"Then you have to reflect on yourself. Have you worked hard in writing over the years? Why are your books selling so poorly? Why do you only earn so little money?"

Lin Chaoyang said the most heartbreaking words in a joking tone, and Li Tuo couldn't help but feel angry when he heard it.

"You have high sales, you are amazing! You have received royalties, it's really a waste of money!"

How does the saying go? I am afraid that my brother is suffering, but I am also afraid that my brother is driving a Land Rover.

Of course, it's just a joke.

After some jokes, Li Tuo said, "Your receipt of royalties this time has opened Pandora's box. I said last year was the 'Lin Chaoyang Year', but it was a little early.

Look at what you have seen this year, the promotion of "root-seeking literature", the publication of "Crossing Guandong", and now he has become the first writer in New China to receive royalties...

Each of these events is a major event that has shaken the literary world! I think this year should be called the 'Year of Lin Chaoyang'."

He then said, "No, no, last year was the 'Lin Chaoyang Year' for the film industry, and this year is the 'Lin Chaoyang Year' for the literary industry."

Lin Chaoyang couldn't help but sneer when he heard his words, "Alright, alright, what's the big deal."

He forcibly stopped the topic of royalties, and Li Tuo took out another copy of the Yanjing Daily and said, "Take a good look at this article."

Lin Chaoyang took a look at the article in the newspaper. It was a commentary article titled "Beware of the Restoration of Feudal Culture - On the Fallacy of 'Root-Seeking Literature'."

Without even reading the article, Lin Chaoyang sensed a strong flavor of interpreting root-seeking literature from a political perspective. He continued to read on, and the content was indeed similar to what he had expected.

"…Root-seeking literature is ambiguous and complex in its ideological orientation and value assessment. While expressing admiration for feudal culture, it also rejects the feudal tradition based on Confucian culture.

Fundamentally speaking, this complex and contradictory attitude is the result of a lack of scientific and dialectical perspective and the wavering of ideas caused by an unsteady political stance.

……

They focus on remote areas such as villages, border areas, and deserts, regard certain disadvantaged cultures as the "roots" of literature, and abandon the vast mainstream culture of the Central Plains. This argument is absurd.

At the same time, the idea of ​​regarding marginalized and disadvantaged cultures as advanced cultures is also stupid.

……

All literature has a certain connection with politics. As a trend in the development of literature, it is impossible to expect that root-seeking literature will completely break away from the influence of politics, and it is even less likely to affect our firm steps on the socialist cultural path..."

Lin Chaoyang spent nearly ten minutes reading a commentary article of more than 2,000 words.

Seeing him raise his eyes, Li Tuo asked, "What do you think?"

"I sit and watch."

The witty remark caused Li Tuo to glare at him, so Lin Chaoyang had to say seriously: "Some of the arguments in the article are correct, but these people always seem to be accustomed to over-interpreting them."

Lin Chaoyang pointed to the content of the article and said: "The attitude is complicated and ambiguous because it is not intended to prove anything for anyone or to carry anyone's banner. We pick up good culture and throw bad culture back. Is this difficult to understand?
Abandoning mainstream culture and promoting minority culture is an accusation that is completely false. I am just citing two representative examples in the article.

Finally, he insisted on elevating it to politics, that's his business. I talk about culture, he talks about politics, so why bother to criticize each other all the time? "

Hearing the complaint in Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Tuo felt better.

"Hey, you have bad days too."

Lin Chaoyang glanced at him, his eyes full of contempt for his way of trying to find a balance.

Li Tuo cleared his throat and continued, "We have to be vigilant. At first, the criticism of root-seeking literature focused on the literary aspect, but I found that some people have recently begun to interpret it from a political perspective."

Ever since Zhou Yang attacked him at the National Outstanding Short Story Awards Dinner, Lin Chaoyang knew that the development of root-seeking literature in the literary world was bound to be subject to widespread politicized discussion.

In the past few months, the discussion on root-seeking literature has been in full swing in the literary world, and has even begun to affect the cultural and ideological circles. The two sides were originally arguing back and forth and having a lot of fun.

But the publication of "Crossing the Guandong" suddenly gave the supporters of root-seeking literature the upper hand in this great discussion.

No matter how well people speak or how much they argue, it cannot be as effective as the release of a work that is widely representative.

"Crossing the Guandong" has a heavy historical and cultural tone. Although only half of the content of the more than 600,000 words has been published, the large number of descriptions of northern folk culture in it all interpret the concept of root-seeking literature.

It should be said that "Crossing the Guandong" has set a benchmark for root-seeking literature for the literary world and the general readers.

If someone compares the root-seeking literature of later generations with Lin Chaoyang's version of root-seeking literature, he will find that under Lin Chaoyang's contextual interpretation, his so-called root-seeking literature and the root-seeking literature of later generations have undergone some subtle changes.

The root-seeking literature of later generations is, to a certain extent, urgent. It is the result of a group of literati whose national and cultural confidence have been shattered and who are eager to find confidence in traditional culture.

But Lin Chaoyang does not have such urgency. First of all, he is confident. The so-called "seeking roots" is to "find what can be used in traditional culture", just like the modernists' appropriation and cultural transfer.

Although the two are very similar in form, they are essentially different in their roots.

Therefore, Lin Chaoyang is not afraid of some people's pan-politicized interpretation of root-seeking literature. It's just that there are too many such articles, which is indeed a bit annoying.

He clearly didn't mean that, but these people wanted to misinterpret it. He couldn't just keep making excuses for this. Li Tuo sighed again and said, "These people are trying to make things difficult for us from different angles. Chaoyang, how about you write another article to refute their remarks?"

Listening to his words, Lin Chaoyang indeed felt such an impulse in his heart.

But when he calmed down, he thought again that there was probably nothing more difficult in this world than changing other people's minds. No matter how brilliantly he wrote the article, it might not achieve the desired effect.

So he waved his hand in a disinterested manner, "Forget it, let them quarrel. When they get tired of quarreling, it will be fine."

Li Tuo couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, "I was counting on you to carry the banner for us!"

"I think you have evil intentions and want to put me on the fire." Lin Chaoyang teased him.

Li Tuo retorted aggrievedly: "How can I roast you on the fire? You are already on the fire."

Lin Chaoyang was speechless for a moment. What Li Tuo said was absolutely right. After all, it was he who proposed the concept of root-seeking literature.

“Chaoyang, you should always express some opinions. After all, you are the leader of root-seeking literature!” Li Tuo said expectantly.

Lin Chaoyang pondered for a long time, then took out a piece of manuscript paper and wrote a line of powerful words on it with a pen.

“Only what is national is global!”

Li Tuo's eyes fell on the paper. He read out the words softly, chewing them continuously, with a thoughtful look on his face.

After a long while, his eyes became brighter and his expression became more excited.

"Only what is national is global! Only what is national is global! Wonderful! So wonderful! This sentence is so wonderful!

This sentence is really like a Buddhist saying. It is just ten words, seemingly concise and easy to understand, but it conveys the truth. "

Li Tuo excitedly held the manuscript in his hands. The more he read, the more delighted he became. This sentence can be said to have laid the theoretical foundation for root-seeking literature!

After being happy for a long time, Li Tuo asked, "Chaoyang, this sentence looks familiar to me. Is it not your own idea?"

"Lu Xun, "Qie Jie Ting Miscellaneous Essays." Lin Chaoyang answered concisely.

Li Tuo slapped his head and said, "Ouch! I didn't even think of that."

Didn't you remember it? Didn't you see it?

Li Tuo said to Lin Chaoyang again: "You have a good idea. Use this sentence as the core argument and write an article for those people to read!"

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "Everything that needs to be said is in this sentence. Those who oppose it either don't understand it or are just deliberately singing the opposite tune and accusing you. No matter how much you write, it's all nonsense."

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Tuo also felt that there was some truth in it.

He thought for a moment and asked Lin Chaoyang, "Then write it again for me, this time use a brush and write in large characters."

"What? Do you want to post another big-character poster?" Lin Chaoyang asked jokingly.

"Why are you posting big-character posters? You'll know when you get back to it."

Li Tuo kept Lin Chaoyang in suspense and urged him to finish writing the calligraphy. Then he left happily with the calligraphy.

A few days later, a piece of gossip suddenly spread in the Yenching literary circle.

According to rumors, Li Tuo gathered a group of people and sent a framed large calligraphy piece to the Yenching Daily. The calligraphy contained only ten words: Only what is national is global.

This outrageous operation directly confused the Yanjing Daily. At first, no one understood what it meant.

Until Li Tuo mentioned the commentator's article "Beware of the Restoration of Feudal Culture - On the Fallacy of 'Root-Seeking Literature'" published in their newspaper a few days ago.

The newspaper immediately understood that Li Tuo's gift of calligraphy was a rebuttal to the article. They felt both amused and helpless and wanted to refuse the gift. However, Li Tuo and his group insisted on giving it to the newspaper and did not give the Yanjing Daily a chance to refuse. They had to send out the "gift" anyway.

The fact that they gave the "words" is of course not the point; the point is the content of the words and the person who wrote them.

After this publicity, it became known to everyone in the literary and cultural circles of Yenching within just a few days, and is still spreading to other fields and regions.

The impact of this incident does not seem to be as great or as direct as directly counterattacking in well-known newspapers and magazines, but it uses an alternative method that is almost like performance art to give the whole thing a strange and vigorous vitality.

The vitality of an article lies in the people who read it, while the vitality of gossip lies in the mouths of gossipers. The audience of books and newspapers is destined to be far less than that of gossipers. Li Tuo's actions can be regarded as a deep understanding of the essence of communication.

Men of letters who speak with their pens have an unparalleled talent for spreading gossip.

In addition, root-seeking literature itself is one of the current focuses of the literary world, and the heated discussion has been going on for several months.

The whole incident continued to ferment in less than half a month and spread to almost half of the Chinese literary world. Even some local newspapers and magazines paid attention to this incident and reported and reprinted it.

The curious nature of this incident itself will be forgotten after people hear the story, but Lin Chaoyang's quote from Mr. Lu Xun's "Chejieting Essays" is unexpectedly matched with the public opinion environment faced by root-seeking literature.

After hearing the whole incident and this sentence, many people developed a liking for root-seeking literature based on national sentiment and rational judgment.

Even many people who originally opposed root-seeking literature fell silent when they heard Lin Chaoyang use this sentence to explain the central idea of ​​root-seeking literature.

“Only what is national is global.”

In the hearts of these people, although the prejudice against root-seeking literature will not disappear, everyone understands one thing.

The so-called root-seeking literature is not as weak and narrow-minded as they criticize. It may continue to be passed down as a literary trend and continue to influence China's contemporary literary scene.

This sentence proposed by Lin Chaoyang will also become the best footnote to root-seeking literature and will be regarded as a guiding principle by many supporters of root-seeking literature.

(End of this chapter)