Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 199 The highest standard of graduation defense in history
After Zhang Chao received Kong Qingdong's call, he was also confused. After thinking it over carefully, he was still not sure who was torturing him at this critical moment.

To be on the safe side, Zhang Chao went to the academic affairs offices of the two schools and carefully checked his attendance records, homework and final grades. He only felt relieved after making sure there were no problems with these "hard indicators".

As for the essay and novel, he was 120% confident that he could pass them.

Yanda arranged for him to defend his thesis on June 6. Zhang Chao finished revising the final draft of his thesis and submitted the defense materials one week before the defense.

Then I stayed at home and went over my paper over and over again, including the cited references, to make sure there were no mistakes.

This time he used "poetic escape" to govern the entire paper. Based on his previous research on Wang Xiaobo's novel techniques, he pointed out that the ultimate goal of Wang Xiaobo's creation was not to show off his skills, but to create a "poetic world" and deconstruct the disciplined and boring real world, thereby completing a spiritual betrayal.

His novels are meaningless, without history, morality, culture, structure or value in the traditional sense. They are a complete rebellion and subversion against traditional literature.

Zhang Chao also incorporated a lot of his own thoughts and experiences in novel writing. From the perspective of a fellow creator, he analyzed Wang Xiaobo's psychological characteristics when he was writing "Wanshou Temple".

Before he knew it, Zhang Chao had written 10 to 20 pages of notes for the defense, anticipating all kinds of questions that the teacher might ask.

Generally speaking, undergraduate graduation defense does not require such a complicated preparation process, and the questions are usually the same few common ones, such as "reason for choosing the topic", "value of the topic", "theoretical basis", "methods and ideas", etc.

Even Yanjing University is almost the same, the only difference is that the teachers are more capable and ask more detailed questions.

However, as the directors of two departments of the superior ministry came to his home to review the results, he had to be more cautious.

Sure enough, three days before the defense, Zhang Chao was called to the office of the dean of the Chinese Department of Yenching University for a meeting. In addition to the dean Wen Rumin, Cao Wenxuan, Kong Qingdong, and other senior professors such as Qian Liqun were also present.

After Zhang Chao greeted several teachers, Wen Rumin said, "Student Zhang Chao, we have all read your thesis and it is not a big problem. However, some people are indeed concerned about your graduation.

You should not be too emotional. Because your situation is indeed very special, it is normal for everyone to care about you. As long as we act uprightly and do things properly, we are not afraid of any test. "

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Don't worry, teachers. I'm not afraid of 'concern' or 'concern'."

Wen Rumin nodded and said, "That's good. You are the first class and the first student of the Yanda Writers Class after it was reopened after more than ten years. You are also the first answer sheet submitted by our Yanda Writers Class to the society in the new century.

We also want to convince those doubters in society and universities - if we were to raise the standard of your graduation defense, would you have the confidence?"

Zhang Chao was relieved after hearing this. He was still confident about the paper. So he replied, "Of course I am confident - but I don't know what the specifications are?"

Wen Rumin said: "Generally, a defense team consists of four instructors, one full professor and several associate professors or lecturers. But your defense team may be composed of six people. In addition to the two professors from our school, we will also invite one professor from Nanjing University and one professor from Fudan University, and finally the ministry will appoint two people to sit in on the defense.

The entire defense process will be recorded and videotaped and kept as data.”

After listening to the lecture, Zhang Chao asked after a while: "Is this the highest standard of undergraduate graduation defense in the history of Chinese departments in the country? Will everyone do this in the future, or is it just me?" Professor Qian Liqun then asked: "If you are the only one who does this, would you feel that this is targeted at you, or even bullying you?"

Zhang Chao fell silent, the answer was self-evident.

Cao Wenxuan sighed and said, "To say that it is 'targeting you' is a bit too much. But this is a problem faced by the 'Writers Class' of Yanda University, the 'Postgraduate Writers Class' of Yanshi University, and other universities that want to open or reopen similar classes, such as Nanjing University, Northwest University, and Fudan University.

How can we convince society that our universities are setting up 'writers' classes' to serve the prosperity of literature, rather than turning them into some kind of privileged channel? Two years ago, it was because of you that everyone took this action; two years later, people will still look at your performance to measure the value of the 'writers' class'. "

Zhang Chao asked: "Isn't my creative achievements in the past two years enough to prove this value?"

Cao Wenxuan said: "If your creation is used as a benchmark, then there are only a few who can reach this standard. There is no second one. So the focus is on the assessment of 'academic level', which still has a certain reference value.

This is why Yanda University, rather than Yanshi University, asked you to attend this meeting today."

Qian Liqun continued: "Although I have retired, I am one of the professors in our school who will be advising on thesis defense this time. In fact, I have not been a defense instructor for undergraduates for many years.

The requirements for your defense this time will be stricter than those for ordinary undergraduates, but definitely not outrageous. Since you have set a precedent, do you have the courage to set a high learning standard for the 'Writers Class'? "

Zhang Chao thought for a moment before saying, "There is nothing wrong with these. But I can't just let those boring doubters rub it around, no matter if they are a few specific people or many unspecified people.

Since I have accepted all these conditions, can I put forward some of my own requirements? Of course, these requirements will not affect the defense process. "

Wen Rumin said: "As long as the request is reasonable, just ask!"

Zhang Chao said: "I hope that my defense process will not only be recorded and videotaped, but also broadcast live. If the school cannot coordinate media resources, then I will find them. An undergraduate graduation defense usually takes 15 minutes; even if I am special, it will take twice as long, which is half an hour.

I believe that many TV stations are still somewhat enthusiastic about reporting on me, and this won’t take up much of their time.”

As soon as Zhang Chao said this, several professors felt a little tricky - after all, there are too many uncontrollable factors in live broadcast. If Zhang Chao performs well, everyone will be happy; if he does not perform well, Yanda will also be embarrassed.

But Zhang Chao never fights a battle without confidence. Seeing how confident he is, he seems to be sure that he can shine in the live broadcast?
Just when everyone was silent, Kong Qingdong took the lead in breaking the deadlock. He smiled mischievously and said, "How can we let Zhang Chao suffer the loss? Since we have prepared the highest standard graduation defense in history for him, we should allow him to enjoy the most grand defense ceremony in history."

Qian Liqun also nodded and said, "Since we have already broken the rules, we might as well be a little more unrestrained. Zhang Chao has the confidence, but we are still hesitant and make a fool of ourselves as students."

As the dean of the department, Wen Rumin naturally had to be more thoughtful. He thought for a while before saying, "In principle, I agree that the media can come to report on the scene, but whether to use a live broadcast method to present your defense process, I still need to discuss with the school leaders.

This is a serious matter, and we need to consider it carefully!"

(End of this chapter)