Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 174 Only the people can judge me, Zhang Chao! (Second update)
At the end of March, Zhang Chao reluctantly returned to Yanjing from Harbin.

On the one hand, almost everyone wanted him to express his opinion, and on the other hand, Song Jia also wanted to come to Yanjing to do post-production dubbing for "The Cliff".

If he doesn't come back, it will be him instead of Bai Ye who will attract public anger.

The first person to meet Zhang Chao was his class teacher Yu Hua.

During this period, he was exhausted for his beloved disciple. In fact, he was a beneficiary of domestic literary criticism in his early years. For example, Bai Ye, who is at the center of this vortex, once praised him as "a master of writing about small characters."

As for friendship, there must be some of this. So facing Bai Ye's request, he was also very embarrassed.

Especially this month, his "Brothers (Part 2)" was released, which happened to collide with the "Zhang Bai dispute". Because of his identity as Zhang Chao's class teacher, this work was also attacked by literary critics -

Zhang Yiwu, a professor and literary critic at Yenching University, commented: "Being overly sentimental and good at mobilizing readers' emotions is the result of Yu Hua's fame in the field of pure literature being transferred to the mass reader market over the past 10 years. It is a change that follows the footsteps of his student Zhang Chao and transforms into a commercial trend."

Li Shaojun, editor-in-chief of Dijiao magazine and literary critic, said: "Yu Hua's previous excellent works, such as Shouting in the Rain and Xu Sanguan Selling Blood, all showed his advantages of clean language and clear narrative clues. But Brothers seems very complicated and messy. I wonder if it was influenced by his world-famous student."

Young critic Wang Xiaoyu said that after watching Brothers (Part 1), he wanted to wait and see, but after watching Brothers (Part 2), he could not help but "add insult to injury" because the narrative was too scattered and unrestrained, "shocking."

……

The literary criticism community seems to be trying to tie up Yu Hua and Zhang Chao and attack them together. Now that Zhang Chao cannot be attacked, they turn around and attack his teacher.

Zhang Chao sighed: "I don't know whether they are saving themselves or destroying themselves."

Yu Hua said: "Whether it is self-rescue or self-destruction, this matter can't be dragged on any longer. No matter which side, the emotions have been heated up to the peak. If they are not released, it will be a tsunami of public opinion. By then, even you will find it difficult to stay out of it."

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "I have actually been waiting for this day. Teacher Yu, don't you think we can change the ecology of domestic literature through this?"

Yu Hua asked doubtfully: "Change the literary ecology? Isn't it a bit naive to think so? Of course, I am not criticizing you. But the current situation is the result of more than 20 years of accumulation. It is probably difficult to shake the foundation just through such a dispute.

You have defeated Bai Ye, but there are still many critics who are more powerful than him, or as powerful as him."

Zhang Chao thought for a while before speaking: "Teacher, don't worry. I will handle it. However, I would like to ask you for a favor..."

After listening to Zhang Chao's plan, Yu Hua was silent for a long time, then smiled helplessly and said, "This is too easy to help. But if you do this, the domestic literary criticism circle will not be a question of reputation, but whether it can continue to exist."

Zhang Chao said: "There is no creation without destruction. As long as literature exists, literary criticism will exist. This time it is just a change of blood."

Two days later, Zhang Chao stood in front of nearly a hundred media outlets at the Yanshi University Media Reception Center. This time, even CCTV sent reporters.

The reporter's first question was very pointed: "Mr. Zhang Chao, you said in your blog that you would 'no longer defend yourself.' So, at today's press conference, did you change your mind and decide to 'defend yourself'?"

Zhang Chao smiled and replied, "'Self-defense' means self-defense, and the purpose is to clarify the truth and clear the name. The reason why I named the article "No More Self-Defense" is because I feel that I don't need to defend myself. In the past two weeks, many readers have defended me. Their defense is more objective and sharper than mine. So the purpose of today's media meeting is not 'self-defense', but 'self-narration'."

Another reporter asked: "Regarding the 'Zhang Bai dispute', many people think that this is a personal grudge between you and Bai Ye, a senior critic. What do you think?"

Zhang Chao nodded and admitted openly: "The 'Zhang Bai dispute' is indeed a personal grudge. I don't need to elaborate on the cause, right? But I think a more accurate description is - it started from a personal grudge and gradually became a public feud."

The reporter pressed the issue: "Public vengeance? Can you elaborate on that?"

Zhang Chao paused and said, “I have never been against critics affirming or denying me. What I have always been against is critics kidnapping writers by deliberately creating a contradiction between literary quality and marketization.

Sales volume is certainly not the only criterion for evaluating literary quality, but how can sales volume be the opposite of literary quality? In the 80s, many pure literary works and magazines had extremely high sales, often exceeding a million copies, and critics at the time seemed to think there was nothing wrong with this.

But in the past decade or so, any work with high sales has been questioned for its literary quality. I won’t say anything about myself - my teacher Yu Hua, his "Brothers" sold more than 100 million copies in two volumes, but what did critic Li Jingze say?

"He should have been calmer and more resolute, and he should have known what he should do. Now we see that he doesn't seem to know what he should do or what he is doing. I think this is particularly disappointing."

Such statements may not hurt mature writers like Mr. Yu, but they will mislead thousands of young people who love literature, giving them the illusion that good literature must be anti-market and anti-popular, and must be self-admiring and self-pitying.

In this evaluative context, critics separate literature from the masses, taking advantage of writers' innate pursuit of literariness and inducing them into a discourse system that is more in line with the critics' interests.

They put high hats on the writers, but they also secretly tightened the rope around the writers' necks, completing a kidnapping in full view of the public. Many of the kidnapped people happily counted money for them - as long as these critics were willing to give them some cheap praise.

So I say this is not just a private grudge, but a public grudge!"

The reporter then asked: "Since you say it is a 'public hatred', do you think that literary criticism should completely withdraw from the literary stage?"

Zhang Chao said: "You have confused the concepts. What I have been talking about before is 'literary criticism that kidnaps writers', not 'literary criticism'. What 'literary criticism that kidnaps writers' most often does is to set up a private court, just like what happened to me some time ago.

May I ask what is the purpose of the article "Don't let "pornographic and violent publications" occupy the spiritual world of young people"? Isn't it just a private court to make me quit the literary stage from now on? "

Having said this, Zhang Chao paused, looked around at the reporters, and then continued:

"Since they are so impatient, I will give them a chance. Starting tomorrow, there will be a special voting page on Xinlang Blog, and everyone can participate.

If everyone thinks that I, Zhang Chao, am a pornographic, violent, and black writer, then I will withdraw from the literary world and no longer engage in any literary creation!

The people, and only the people, can judge me, Zhang Chao!"

(The third update will be around 12 o'clock)
(End of this chapter)