Literary Master 1983

Chapter 350: The First Study of Yu Xue Concluded

The school needs Su Tong to say those words!

The next person to speak went straight from the department head to the principal. He said, "It's foolish to not study in order to do some business. Think about it, you young people like Yu Qie and Cui Jian. But Yu Qie is still studying, and Cui Jian studied in the cultural troupe for many years."

"A lack of seriousness in your studies will ultimately ruin you! Nothing in this world can be achieved overnight!"

After that, the debate competition turned into a mobilization meeting to promote a positive academic atmosphere.

The school once again emphasized the importance of "discipline" and "academic atmosphere," and used this as an opportunity to implement stricter management. Those who used to skip classes can no longer use "going into business" as an excuse to skip classes openly.

The result was, well, barely, a success.

Besides Jinling Academy of Arts, Su Tong knows that other universities are doing similar things. The academic atmosphere among students has reached an unbearable level in recent years, but this is merely a reflection of societal trends.

Students, professors, and even some researchers have been drawn into this. This kind of debate has actually occurred many times in the past decade, and the answer is not so simple.

Otherwise, it's impossible that Ba Jin spent three weeks writing replies to Qian Qiao's elementary school students' letters, and even fell ill during that time.

Ba Jin was sensitive and prone to internal conflict. He was afraid that as an elder, he might say the wrong thing and ultimately lead his students astray.

Because no one can know how the future will unfold, no one can say for sure:
Have you had enough? Now do as I say!
Why does Yu Qie always dare to answer these kinds of questions?

At first, Su Tong couldn't understand it. He held a gathering with his classmates from Jinling Academy of Arts, still puzzled.

These people felt lost about the future and asked Su Tong, "What should I do in the future? I majored in Chinese literature, should I go into politics or pursue my literary dreams?"

Su Tong didn't know how to answer, because he was also confused about his future.

Another person asked, "Teacher Su, I've fallen for a girl, but she likes someone else. She seems reluctant to let me go and wants me to be her friend... What should I do?"

Su Tong still didn't know.

Because Su Tong is a handsome guy, he had never encountered such a thing before.

Some people even wanted to study abroad. As soon as this was mentioned, someone retorted, "The book 'Da Sa Ba' says that ordinary people shouldn't study abroad! It's better to stay here!"

The man said, "Then why do so many students from Yenching University and Tsinghua University still want to study abroad? Are they all idiots? Their grades are even better than Yu Qie's. Do you think what Yu Qie says is necessarily true?"

The students argued about it, and then Su Tong was asked to make the decision.

"Ms. Su, you're very knowledgeable and have traveled all over the country. Do you think you should study abroad?"

"..."

Su Tong thought and thought, but still didn't know. He could only say ambiguously, "Do what you think is right, and don't leave any regrets."

The student was definitely not satisfied with this answer; he wanted a direct answer like Yu Qie's: either go or don't go.

But that was all Su Tong could say.

Suddenly, Su Tong understood:

It's not that those writers are unwilling to answer or care about people's lives. Rather, it's that they are incapable of caring; they are self-aware.

When a writer steps outside their inner circle and expresses their own profound opinions, it seems absurd to professionals. The more they talk, the more mistakes they make.

Yu Qie could always say a few words, which was no easy feat. This was an innate ability of his, a keen insight into the times, as if he were a person from the future.

The most talented novelist, his greatest ability is not writing novels!

After Su Tong figured this out, she was very excited.

Zhongshan Magazine

After being rejected a series of times, Su Tong found new inspiration for his writing. He pedaled his bicycle frantically back to the magazine office to share his insights: "The most important ability of a writer is not writing novels, but insight, vision! This is the soul of literature; it knows what kind of voice this era needs..."

Xu Zhaohuai, the editor-in-chief of Zhongshan magazine, greeted him warmly and listened patiently before smiling and saying:
“We are also thinking about this issue! Wang Meng of People’s Literature is very dissatisfied with the current literary exploration. He believes that ‘we have ruined a great situation’ by emphasizing technique over substance.”

"We are holding a seminar to discuss Wang Meng's speech; after all, he is the chairman of the Writers' Association. Su Tong, since you're here, why don't you also give your opinion!"

Su Tong recounted her experiences at Jinling Academy of Arts, then said, "I thought of the poem 'Nostalgia' from the Spring Festival Gala. Why is that poem so powerful? I couldn't explain it before, but now I can. It embodies the essence of literature!"

"Yu Guangzhong voiced the opinions that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait wanted to express, which is why his poems are so powerful! This poem of his is completely different from his ornate writing style; it was a stroke of genius!"

Xu Zhaohuai said in surprise, "You're better at it than Wang Meng. To be honest, the literary exploration we're doing was started by Wang Meng, and now the situation is out of control. Everyone in the country is writing experimental literature. And he says we've ruined his plans."

"You have very insightful views and should be the keynote speaker! Our seminar will last for three days!"
-
Yenching University has been implementing a "meal subsidy" policy for nearly a month.

When it's time to issue invoices, the pork rib window is packed with people.

Previously, the statistics relied entirely on the cafeteria ladies' memories and facial recognition. Now, with so many people, it's difficult to clearly distinguish who is poor and who isn't; they simply can't keep track.

This gave the students a lot of room to maneuver, and soon everyone claimed that they usually saved money by eating less than a penny a day, and that the cafeteria would accept anyone who came, giving everyone a share. Things were developing exactly as Principal Ding had predicted.

Before the subsidies were available, only about a hundred people ate meager meals. But as soon as the subsidies came in, everyone tried every possible way to get them.

The female literature students were actually quite happy:
I was on a diet anyway, so when it came time to pay the bill, I indulged myself! I didn't need to make any adjustments.

Everyone's saying that at this rate, the "meal allowance" won't last long. Rumors circulate daily that the food coupons will expire next week because there's no money left!
Yenching University students were terrified that they might run out of food one day, so they immediately lined up as soon as they got their tickets.

“We arrived early today, so we’re sure to get some spare ribs,” Chu Fujun said.

Cheng Guoping chuckled beside him: "From now on, Mondays will become a welfare day for Yenching University students. Decades from now, we will especially cherish this day."

Chu Fujun chimed in, "When Senior Brother Liu Zhenyun wrote about reminiscing about the Yenching University campus, we said it was a nostalgia for the golden age of literature—those years produced so many novelists. When we graduate, we'll also write our memoirs, which will probably be summarized by later generations as 'The Memoirs of Ribs'!"

"We don't know how long we can eat this..." Cheng Guoping said.

"Yes! To write a 'Spare Ribs Memoir,' I'd have to eat them for at least a year. I think that's very difficult."

Lu Buxuan's stomach started churning at the mention of ribs; no matter how full he was, he couldn't resist the urge.

Let me tell you something a little embarrassing.

Lu Buxuan ate meat until he was stuffed for the first time after he came to study at Yenching University.

What's even more sinful is that after eating it four times in a row, Lu Buxuan felt that the ribs didn't taste as good as before.

Sometimes he even felt that spare ribs were nothing special; eating meat was only temporary, but reading novels for fun could keep him entertained for days. He would read them over and over again, and he even enjoyed reading the novel introductions on the book jackets.

A book costs only one dollar and fifty cents; that's the price of Plato's Republic.

Yu Qie's novels are a bit more expensive, two yuan. It means skipping five meals of pork ribs, but it's a lifetime's worth of reading.

In his memoir, Liu Zhenyun recounted that Yenching University had a "book market." He wanted to buy some books but couldn't afford them, so he would go hungry for a few days and exchange his meal tickets for books. In this way, Liu Zhenyun acquired several reference books, marking the beginning of his literary journey.

After handing over their meal tickets, the group took their plates and found a place to sit down.

As usual, Cheng Guoping said, "We have already reviewed Yu Qie's literary journey so far, and now we will answer the previous questions..."

"What makes Yu Qie different from the others?"

"What did you say last time? You said Yu Qie cared about your life. Have you changed your mind now?"

Lu Buxuan said, "I still think so. I feel that he has written about almost all the difficulties I have encountered since I started growing up."

Cheng Guoping and Chu Fujun exchanged a glance and said, "Now I'll share my thoughts. The main reason is that Yu Qie is willing to talk about these things, and he's quite knowledgeable about them."

“Everyone is not blind, and many writers can see it too, but they just can’t write it down. I divide these people into two categories: one is those who can record it truthfully, and the other is those who, based on the former, also offer their own solutions through the story.”

“For example, let’s look at his latest novel, ‘Metro.’ What should we do if others bully us? Yu Qie uses the Chinese-American character ‘Li’ to say that a lose-lose situation is better than a win-lose one. Without that kind of courage, you will never gain the respect of others.”

Chu Fujun also said, "Have you seen the news on TV? After negotiating with the British, they are now about to end negotiations with Portugal. The result is completely satisfactory, but think about it."

Cheng Guoping summarized, "This is also a Chinese principle: 'A good start prevents a hundred blows.'"

Lu Buxuan was puzzled: "What did other writers write? Have they all remained silent?"

“Others don’t have this ability. The more I study writers, the more I understand them. In some aspects, they are far inferior to you and me.” “As a cultural worker, one must be cultured,” Cheng Guoping said with a smile.

These words were like a bolt from the blue.

Cheng Guoping recalled an incident: "A few years ago, a writer visited the Liberation Memorial Hall."

Lu Buxuan immediately became furious upon hearing this. "How could he say that? Who is this?"

Cheng Guoping said, "This is how we normal people would feel if we heard this. After I looked into it more closely, I found that he didn't have bad intentions."

"But what he said..."

"So you can see that some writers don't understand much about the outside world. It's not that they don't want to care about your life, but that they don't have the ability to. When they try to care about you, they end up making things worse."

Lu Buxuan finally understood Cheng Guoping's research.

Lu Buxuan discovered the surface, while Cheng Guoping uncovered the essence: insight is a valuable ability that many people lack.

Wise people know when to avoid it, foolish people overestimate themselves, and only a very few literary giants make the truth clearer through debate. If you read their novels a hundred years later, they are still the same.

After this meal, Lu Buxuan fell completely in love with literature.

Guided by these two "campus poets" from Yenching University, he felt as if he were participating in the literary development of the past few years. Throughout this process, a trigonometric function was present, a mathematical symbol appearing in the realm of literature.

Lu Buxuan went from never reading novels to becoming a literature enthusiast in less than a month.

What's really interesting is that when Lu Buxuan met Yu Qie, he didn't know what it meant. But a month later, Lu Buxuan often recalled that meeting. Sometimes he even dreamed about it.

The "Candlelight 'Night' Talk" series is spreading to the south, and he himself has participated by chance, becoming part of a small piece of history. Just thinking about it makes him excited.

Only he could understand what it was like to be in it.

“Yu Qie is a very sincere person. No matter what I do, he always thinks I’m good and that I have hope,” Lu Buxuan said.

“He didn’t actually criticize us harshly for going into business; he just felt that studying was better, and that was a suggestion. In fact, I think he understood me.”

Chu Fujun envied him: "I told you, you have no idea how lucky you were back then."

Cheng Guoping said, "It is said that when Márquez met Hemingway on the streets of Paris, it was the same! Márquez was so excited that he almost prostrated himself, but Hemingway, who was used to such admirers, smiled and returned the greeting, saying, 'Hey, friend.'"

“That smile, Márquez remembered for a lifetime.”
-
In Nanjing, the southern capital, the discussion meeting held by the Zhongshan magazine was also in its third day.

Most of the writers' discussions in history were useless; they are remembered because of the various strange and unusual events that occurred.

For example, a group of writers from Shanxi Province went to Mount Wutai for a trip. They were disrespectful to the gods and their car overturned, almost killing them all. The writers all expressed that "I am now starting to believe in Buddhism."

At a seminar in Beihai hosted by Beijing Literature, two writers fell in love and eventually got married; meanwhile, at a seminar hosted by October, writer Zhang Xian tried to hook up with a female director.

In the summer of 1983 in Chengdu, Liu Xinwu, an editor of People's Literature, had a quarrel with a young writer.

……

None of this yielded any tangible results; it was purely for fun. They are remembered because the people in the stories are the fun itself.

However, the discussion surrounding "Zhongshan" was quite different.

In summary, Su Tong essentially convinced all the editors present. He now regards "insight" as one of the core abilities of a writer, and believes it is the key to "what makes Yu Qie different from others."

"I think it's due to the personal charm of some people, and has nothing to do with writing novels."

"Why did I use the word 'charm'? It sounds a bit strange..."

Su Tong explained slowly, "Because abilities seem to be something that can be trained, but no one says that I can develop a certain charm; and charm is unique. I have this charm, but you don't. You will have your own charm."

"But I have that ability... This makes it replicable. Chinese people can play table tennis, and foreigners can play it too. The only difference is that we play it well and they don't play it well."

The editors all agreed with Su Tong's statement.

Su Tong used "Boule de Suif" as an example.

In 1880, Maupassant wrote the short story "Boule de Suif," which shocked the French literary world and made him famous overnight.

The novel satirizes the French petty bourgeoisie and expresses sympathy for the lower classes, prompting the French to re-examine the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, a war in which the French were humiliated by Prussia.

Why did the French lose the war?
The viewpoint in "Boule de Suif" is simple: the most righteous are often the lowly butchers, while the most ungrateful are often the petty bourgeoisie. "Boule de Suif" is the pseudonym of a prostitute, who loves her country and cares for her compatriots more than any of the noblewomen she meets on the street.

The noblewomen, however, were not united and it was common for them to betray their compatriots and collude with the Prussians.

They were initially utterly ignorant, believing they were destined to defeat Prussia. After suffering defeat, they became obsequious and betrayed national interests, shifting the costs of the war onto people like "Boule de Suif" so they could continue their extravagant lifestyles.

Only "Boule de Suif" truly stood with France; she still possessed a simple patriotism.

From this perspective, prostitutes are more noble than real prostitutes, at least they have a basic sense of honor and shame.

This is precisely why "Boule de Suif" caused such a stir and became a classic among French short stories. Through the novel, Maupassant pointed out "who in French society truly loves France and who are the traitors to France."

If someone could travel through time and stand a few months before July 1870, before the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and see "Boule de Suif," they would immediately be able to foresee that this country would lose the war.

Unfortunately, Maupassant seems to have been cursed after that. None of his novels since can compare to "Boule de Suif," not even "My Uncle Jules."

Clearly, this kind of "insight" is not something one can always possess.

But Yu Qie had done it before, and more than once.

Therefore, Su Tong wrote a literary commentary entitled "From Maupassant to Yuche: The Role of Insight in Literary Works".

Generally speaking, editors are not allowed to submit articles to their own publications, but the entire Zhongshan magazine staff hopes to submit their articles to Zhongshan.

Xu Zhaohuai said, "Now that the Cervantes Prize is about to be awarded, 'Yu Studies' is very popular. I think your research can put a period to 'Yu Studies'. No one else is as good as you."

"I have something else to tell you. Actually, your recent manuscripts have been recommended to 'Beijing Literature' and 'Youth Literature.' You should pack your things and get ready to go to Beijing. You'll definitely need to revise them."

Su Tong asked, "Who recommended it to me?"

He already knew the answer in his heart, but after Xu Zhaohuai revealed that it was "Yuqie", he was still so excited that he couldn't help but shed tears.

It seemed like a kind of unspoken connection; Yu Qie mentored him, and through studying Yu Qie, he correctly utilized his strengths in literary research. The two never explicitly communicated.

Zhongshan bought Su Tong a train ticket, and he went straight from Nanjing to Beijing. After arriving in Beijing, he heard that a Chinese literature student at Yenching University had painstakingly studied Yu Qie and written "Miscellaneous Talks on Contemporary Writers," in which he emphasized the role of "insight."

The article caught the eye of the "Literary Gazette" and circulated throughout the editorial department.

Although it has not yet been published, it has already caused a great stir, just like Yu Qie's "Latin American Realism" back then.

Today, Yuqie has also come to be studied by others.

Thank goodness I also got published in "Zhongshan"!

Otherwise, once he publishes that article, I won't know how to explain it! Everyone will think I plagiarized him!

Now, things are much better. One is in the south, the other in the north; one is Su Tong, the other Cheng Guoping. Just as Leibniz and Newton simultaneously discovered calculus, the truth of mathematics has been expanded to new boundaries through the efforts of these two individuals.

Isn't cocutting also a mathematical symbol?

Su Tong couldn't help but laugh, but Yu Qie's math skills seemed only so-so. Maybe not as good as mine, since I learned calculus in middle school.

Is this my "insight"?

Unfortunately, I've already become a writer.

Su Tong had two premonitions: the first major "Yu Studies" research had finally produced two top scholars. They would join hands to establish a school of thought, end all other "Yu Studies" research, and unify the world.

Another hunch is that research on Yuqie will continue.

They just don't know when newcomers will come to challenge them.

(End of this chapter)