Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 262 Suicidal Criticism (asking for guaranteed monthly ticket at the beginning of the month)
"Do you think that a liberal arts student who only scored 8 points in math said this just to liven up the atmosphere?" Zhang Chao smiled as he looked at the densely packed students below the stage. Each of them looked up with an energetic face, staring at him on the podium.

"In fact, we have heard many such stories since childhood. For example, the great scholar Qian Zhongshu scored zero in mathematics at Tsinghua University, but was still admitted as an exception. I dare not compare myself to Qian, but our experiences do have similarities."

"I don't know what Mr. Qian thinks of this special treatment, but in my opinion, it is both a blessing and a curse!" Zhang Chao said calmly, which shocked the audience.

The students on the playground looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering why this senior with an infinite halo would deny his own experience. Was it to make a big turn later? Well, Zhang Chao had a lot of criminal records in this regard that were publicly reported by the media...

The leaders were more nervous - how could the word "curse" appear in a speech to middle school students? Wouldn't it spread feudal superstition? But they couldn't go up and chase Zhang Chao down now, could they? They could only endure and continue to listen.

Zhang Chao looked around the audience, as if he had anticipated this reaction. When everyone's restlessness subsided a little, he continued, "Although literature serves the spiritual world of mankind, its birth must be rooted in the material world."

"The material world and the spiritual world together constitute human civilization, just like the two sides of a coin, neither of which can be missing. My score of only 8 in math means one thing - my understanding of the material level of this world is destined to be not deep enough."

“This is a major flaw that I cannot avoid, and it will in turn restrict my exploration and presentation of the human spiritual world—which is one of the most important missions of literature.”

Zhang Chao's words are a bit beyond the syllabus for high school students, but they are not completely incomprehensible. Especially many high school students have already learned some basic philosophical concepts in class and have some vague perceptions of this.

On the contrary, most of the leaders sitting on the rostrum were completely unable to understand the meaning of Zhang Chao's words, and were just glad that Zhang Chao did not say anything more vicious.

Zhang Chao went on to say: “Look at all the works I have published so far, whether they are novels or novellas, there are two big flaws - every story I write, no matter how gorgeous it is in terms of technique, always makes people feel familiar on the spiritual level.

Every character I created, no matter how impressive, was confined to the story and lacked the ability to withstand the erosion of reality and time. "

Seeing the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, he used a more popular explanation: "In other words, the stories and characters I have published lack originality and transcendence. No matter how brilliant the sales they once created, or how many wonderful memories they brought to everyone, they will soon decay in time."

This sentence was like a bombshell, which made everyone present dizzy. The reporters at the scene were also stunned. They thought Zhang Chao was just here to give everyone some inspirational speeches, but they didn't expect to hear a well-known writer deny his previous works in such a decisive way.

This is not self-criticism, it is simply suicidal criticism!
Many of the reporters were originally writers, and those sent to interview Zhang Chao today were selected from those with strong literary skills. After listening to Zhang Chao's "self-criticism", they wrote quickly, leaving sparks on their notebooks.

This is a big melon!
The leaders in the audience also came to their senses. Principal Zhou even winked at Zhang Chao quickly. Unfortunately, he was too far to the side. If he wanted Zhang Chao to see him, it would be necessary for Zhang Chao to have severe strabismus.

Zhang Chao didn't take it seriously and continued, "This is the painful lesson of being biased in one subject, classmates! It affects not only the exam, but also your life. I just said that no one knows more about the first mock exam than me, and in fact, no one knows more about being biased in one subject than me."

"Because I don't have a deep understanding of the material world, and my real-life experience is not rich enough... In short, these various shortcomings have destined me to have a shallow understanding of the operating laws of a material society, so the stories I write are basically 'specialized' stories.

"Young Babylon" focuses on marginalized people in a small county; "Young Like You" is about school bullying; "Your Name" is a fantasy story; "Dwelling Narrowness" has the heroine encounter a high-ranking official; "The Great Doctor" has three doctors always involved in major historical events; "Crime Police Glory" has Captain Cheng fall from a policeman to a prisoner..."

"Have you noticed? I have never written a story with an 'ordinary' background. I always put the characters in unique predicaments or legends, so that I can fully use my skills to cover up the poverty of my works in understanding the material world and the blind spots in shaping the spiritual world."

As Zhang Chao gave a thorough and easy-to-understand explanation, the leaders present were still confused, but the students who had read Zhang Chao's works had already understood a little - although Zhang Chao said so, his novels were still very exciting...

On the playground, several close members of the "Morning Bell Society" Literary Society of No. 3 Middle School had secretly gathered around the president Qiu Xue while the teachers were listening intently.

Hearing Zhang Chao's harsh denial of his own work, these literature lovers were stunned. One of them whispered, "Is he, is he 'first criticizing and then praising'?"

The other one, who obviously knew Zhang Chao well, said in disbelief: "According to convention, he should start showing off now... Why hasn't he done that yet..."

Qiu Xue shook her head and said, "You may have misunderstood. Senior is sincerely criticizing himself this time, not pretending to be... that thing. - Okay, listen carefully, don't miss it. This is a good opportunity for us to learn!"

After hearing this, everyone immediately stopped discussing and focused on listening to Zhang Chao's next words -

"I know that many of my classmates chose No. 3 Middle School because of me, or even because I chose the liberal arts. I also heard that some classmates are complacent about their own academic excellence because of me. So I want to tell you that if you really want to embark on the path of literature, you don't have to be so anxious."

"Mr. Lu Xun first studied geological exploration and mining, and later studied medicine. He did not really turn to literature until he was 40 years old. Was his first officially published work "Diary of a Madman"? No, it was a geological and mineral monograph called "China Mineral Resources", published in 1906."

"My favorite novelist, Mr. Wang Xiaobo, studied trade economics in college. He was not only very good at mathematics, but also taught himself programming. In 1993, he wrote his own text editing software and input method, and used them to create "The Golden Age."

"My teacher Yu Hua was a dentist before he became a writer. Some people say he is the best writer in China at describing violence and pain. I think this has something to do with his work experience. According to statistics from abroad, dentists have one of the highest suicide rates. This may be because they have to face countless painful and distorted faces every day."

"Although Hemingway was a journalist, he was very hands-on and an excellent mechanic. During World War II, he converted his yacht into a patrol boat to scout for German submarines."

“Gabriel García Márquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude, majored in law in college; James Joyce, the author of Ulysses, was a shrewd financial expert and an ambitious entrepreneur; Dostoyevsky, the author of Crime and Punishment, studied at the Military Engineering Academy in college and was good at mathematics.

"There is also Chekhov, who always regarded doctor as his official profession and writing as his hobby. Even after he became famous, this hobby brought him dozens of times more income than being a doctor, but he still insisted on seeing patients - and did not charge them for consultations."

Zhang Chao gave a lot of examples in one breath, and then stopped to take a breath and let the audience digest the information.

Sure enough, these so-called "little-known facts" aroused a lot of discussion among students, and the playground was suddenly "buzzing". In the era when the Internet was not popular, few people would tell people about the "scraps" of these great writers' lives.

Zhang Chao took a deep breath and asked, "Recently, a science fiction novel called The Three-Body Problem is being serialized in the magazine Youth Page · Grand View that I edit. I wonder if anyone has read it?"

A rather uniform and resounding response rang out on the playground: “I saw it.”

Zhang Chao thought that Changfu was indeed his base camp. The popularity of Youth Pie was surprisingly high. In fact, it was because many schools regarded the magazine he edited as one of the must-subscribe magazines. Every class had it on the newspaper rack. He then said, "Liu Cixin, the author of The Three-Body Problem, is an electrical engineer. He created this work in the gaps between his busy work, racing against time."

"There are also Ma Boyong and Shuang Xuetao who have been working with me. One of them studied marketing, and the other studied law and finance."

Hearing Zhang Chao's example of being "close to the people", the students were amazed again. Ma Boyong and Shuang Xuetao also often published novels in magazines, especially Ma Boyong's novels, which were humorous and imaginative, and were very popular among boys.

Zhang Chao said: "Why do I say today's theme is "Learn math, physics and chemistry well and never be afraid of writing"? It's because whether you study science or liberal arts, it actually doesn't affect your path to writing in the end."

"On the contrary, if you study liberal arts but don't use the knowledge of history and geography to fully understand the objective material world, you can't become a qualified writer, because you can't build a real enough world in your mind that can allow characters to move around." Seeing that the students on the playground were all confused, Zhang Chao decided to add a little interactive session and asked: "Everyone can sing Mr. Li Shutong's "Farewell", right? - 'Outside the long pavilion, beside the ancient road, the green grass stretches to the sky...' I would like to invite a student to come on stage and describe what kind of picture Li Shutong's "Farewell" depicts."

As soon as the question was asked, all the students became agitated and many raised their hands. Since this interaction was added temporarily, the host was not prepared and did not know how to maintain it.

Zhang Chao was confident. Seeing that the atmosphere was right, he said, "Everyone is very enthusiastic... Let's put it this way. I was just downstairs and had a good exchange with Qiu Xue from our No. 3 Middle School's Morning Bell Club. Qiu Xue, come up and tell us something?"

Qiu Xue was suddenly called out in disbelief. The students next to her also looked at her in shock. One of them said with a tone of envy, jealousy and hatred: "Have you had a private conversation with Senior Zhang Chao?"

"When? What did you talk about?"

"You hid it so well! You didn't even tell us!"

Qiu Xue didn't bother to reply to everyone's words, and walked up to the podium with a blushing face. Zhang Chao stood aside, gave her the podium seat, and said, "Speak boldly, it's okay."

Qiu Xue took two deep breaths in front of the microphone to calm down. She didn't dare look at Zhang Chao next to her and said in the most standard "good student" language: "Farewell" depicts a scene of the setting sun, drinking and saying goodbye with friends beside the vast and lonely ancient road, against the backdrop of endless fragrant grass, watching friends carrying their bags and walking along the ancient road, their figures gradually melting into the sunset."

After saying that, he stood aside.

Zhang Chao nodded, returned to the microphone, and asked the students below: "Do you agree with what Qiu Xue said?"

There was a chorus of nodding in agreement on the playground.

Zhang Chao smiled and glanced at Qiu Xue, then looked at the students on the playground and asked another question: "Well, since it's a farewell, why is it in the evening when the sun sets? Don't you think it's strange? Since ancient times, farewell poems are mostly set in the morning or at noon, such as Wang Wei's "Weicheng Morning Rain Wets the Light Dust".

Due to the limitations of transportation in ancient times, people rarely traveled at night, even by boat. For example, in the poems we have learned, "Night Mooring at Qinhuai" and "Night Mooring at Maple Bridge", the boat had to stay moored on the shore at night.

So why did Li Shutong bid farewell to his friend in the evening? "

This question confused everyone present. Qiu Xue shook her head blankly, indicating that she didn't know. Zhang Chao motioned her to return to her seat first, and then began to explain: "When we study "Farewell", we must pay attention to the background of the times. When Li Shutong wrote this song, trains and ships had gradually become popular, and traveling at night became a relatively simple matter.

So this picture is not of a friend carrying a bag and traveling far away along the ancient road covered with fragrant grass. Instead, it is of a friend carrying a suitcase and boarding a train or ship, waving goodbye to him amid the sound of steam and whistle. This can explain the "flaw" of this poem. "

There was a chorus of "Oh" sounds on the playground. The Chinese teachers looked at each other in bewilderment. They had taught for so many years and had never thought of this detail.

Zhang Chao sighed: "This is what I mean, the ability to combine knowledge of history, geography and other subjects to build a world in your brain that is real enough for characters to move around in. Without this ability, the ceiling of creation will not be too high."

Seeing that everyone was trying hard to digest the information he had said, Zhang Chao took a deep breath and then said:

"All students who choose liberal arts because they love literature, or simply because they strongly identify with me, and who want to study Chinese in the future, must understand one thing: being a writer is not a profession. Because a profession means working hard, there must be predictable and relatively stable material rewards, commonly known as income.

Being a writer is just an identity that shows that you are capable of writing. Nothing else means anything - it does not mean that you will have a stable income, it does not mean that you can gain recognition and respect from others, and it does not even mean that your works will be published. "

"You can't just watch the thief eat the meat while you don't watch the thief get beaten. If I had been discovered by the security guards when I first sneaked into our school's computer room to post a blog, or if my blog hadn't been seen by the editor of Southern Weekend, I would probably be graduating from college this year and worrying about finding a job."

The slightly tense atmosphere on the playground was relieved by this sentence, and laughter rang out. Zhang Chao's experience in the past had become a legend in the school, and most of the students were familiar with it.

There was even a more bizarre version - Zhang Chao wrote love poems to the dormitory aunt, and the aunt was bewitched and infatuated, so she let him out...

Zhang Chao said: "You can first learn mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology... You can first become a civil servant, engineer, accountant, scientist, lawyer, doctor, athlete... You can first go to work, start a business, or even go to the countryside or work in a factory.

Then it’s not too late to choose to be a writer! Do you know about parallel universes? In this universe, I became a writer at the age of 20, mainly publishing physical books; maybe in another universe, I will not choose to write in 20 years, and then I will be crushed to death by a billboard blown down by the strong wind while walking on the road? "

This sincere remark made everyone feel that Zhang Chao was joking again, but it was not that funny. The leaders were unhappy again, thinking that the students were not happy to hear the "death" and "death" words.

Zhang Chao continued, “So everything is possible. When you regard being a writer as your only goal in life, you invisibly cut off other possibilities in life; your world will become cramped and narrow.”

“Don’t let writing become everything to you. You still have to live, make mistakes, fall, win, and use your life to create another life! I hope that a No. 3 middle school student who is good at math, physics and chemistry will write better works than me based on a deep understanding of the laws governing the operation of this material world!”

Zhang Chao once again glanced at the students on the playground, his eyes full of his 18-year-old self, and then began to enter the summary of today's speech:

"Several years ago, there was a book called 'Harvard Girl Liu Yiting', in which a mother shared her successful experience in raising her daughter to become a top student at Harvard University. But all these years have passed, and I haven't heard of anyone who got their child into a prestigious school after reading that book."

“So today I am not imparting any ‘successful experience’ on how to become a writer. On the contrary, I think my failures and my limitations may benefit you more.”

"Please forgive my willfulness. That's all I want to say today. If I offend anyone or make anyone feel embarrassed, I won't say sorry!"

After saying this, he bowed to the audience and walked down with ease.

The playground was dead silent at first, and then, without any leader leading the applause, thunderous applause broke out. It lasted for more than three minutes before gradually stopping.

Zhang Chao's speech completely shocked everyone!

As Zhang Chao stepped down from the stage, his inner world was also in turmoil...

(Ask for guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month)

(End of this chapter)