On December 2, 2021, the "History of Nanjing's Century of Literature", published by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, officially met with Nanjing writers, critics and other sectors of society. After the first release of the new book, it received strong attention and heartfelt congratulations from inside and outside the Nanjing literary circles. On the occasion of the second anniversary of Nanjing's reputation as the "Capital of World Literature", this work showing nanjing's literary history of more than a hundred years is not only the first overall review of Nanjing literature since modern times, but also a theoretical response to world literature.
A Century of Literary History in Nanjing
Zhang Guangguang
Published by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House in 2021
Nanjing, China's only "Capital of World Literature"
On October 31, 2019, on World Cities Day, Nanjing was named the "World Capital of Literature" by UNESCO, enjoying the same reputation as Edinburgh, Melbourne, Dublin and other literary cities. As soon as the news came out, people first went around confirming its authenticity. In fact, behind this selection, the Nanjing literary and art circles have been preparing for a long time and have made many unknown efforts. When people confirmed that the news was true, they quickly thought that Nanjing had developed from the peak of the Literature of the Six Dynasties and the Tang and Song Dynasties to an important town of Literature in the Southern Ming and Qing Dynasties, and indeed deserved to be called the "Capital of World Literature".
Not only that, the selection of the "World Literary Capital" pays more attention to the overall situation of the development of a city's literature, which of course includes the role and status of literature in the current urban development. Since modern times, Nanjing literature has developed for more than a hundred years, and has long realized the transformation from classical to modern. In terms of cultural connotation and aesthetic style, Nanjing literature still retains the seclusion and indifference from the thousand-year tradition, and has an innate literary imagination for The history and culture of Nanjing, on the other hand, Nanjing literature pays more attention to the conscious innovation and development of history and reality. Since the 1980s, Nanjing literature has been at the forefront of national creation and theory in the fields of poetry and novels, which has delivered fresh blood and created vitality for Contemporary Chinese Literature, constituting the "Nanjing Plate" of Contemporary Chinese Literature, which is the most powerful proof of the innovative spirit of Nanjing literature.
Nanjing, the "Capital of World Literature"
Contemporary writers in Nanjing have a unique temperament and considerable recognition. Ye Zhaoyan, Su Tong, Bi Feiyu, Han Dong, etc., "on the basis of inheriting the cultural temperament of Nanjing's simplicity and elegance, have formed their own language styles, such as Su Tong's delicacy and agility, Ye Zhaoyan's freedom and purity, Bi Feiyu's delicacy and gentleness, Han Dong's introverted and calm, Zhu Wen's natural and simple, etc.", thus creating a number of excellent works with Nanjing characteristics and contemporary literary representative significance.
From this point of view, whether looking back at the depths of history or from a contemporary perspective, Nanjing is a veritable "capital of world literature".
The voyage of Nanjing literature needs the "ballast stone" of historical materials
Good literature is inseparable from the evaluation of the fire, in a sense, historical materials are the "ballast stone" of the literary ark's long voyage, "Nanjing Century of Literature History" in the emphasis on highlighting the characteristics of Nanjing and Nanjing elements at the same time, but also reflects the grand vision of the development of Chinese literary history, speaking with materials, speaking with texts, showing higher literary standards and rigorous academic style.
The writing of "A Century of Literary History of Nanjing" lasted seven years from its inception. "Seven years ago, it was just a small seed that had just begun to be conceived at No. 12, Sitiao Lane in Qinhuai District; seven years later, it grew into a cared for tree on the streets of the 'Capital of Literature.'" Zhang Guangguang, the lead author and deputy director of the New Literature Research Center of Nanjing University, said so. Seven years of writing, the collation and collection of historical materials have occupied a lot of energy, and thankfully, Nanjing has played a huge role in the protection of local materials. In The Second Historical Archive of China, the Archives of the Jiangsu Writers Association, the Nanjing Municipal Archives, the Nanjing Library, the Jinling Library and other institutions, the modern and modern literary historical materials are well preserved, providing a guarantee for the collection of historical materials for the century-old literary history of Nanjing.
Swipe left and right to view the book shadow of "Nanjing Centennial Literary History"
In this work, it can be found that many historical materials have entered the category of literary history for the first time, for example, the chapter "The Confrontation of Darkness and Light (1937-1949)" describes the literary activities under the tragic circumstances of the fall of Nanjing and the Massacre of the Japanese Army, especially the documentary reportage and Theatrical activities of Wang Pseudo, which are based on newly excavated historical materials. In addition to such "discoveries", there are also some historical materials of contemporary literary phenomena, from which you can also see the living Elements of Nanjing. For example, the influence of the rise of the "third generation" poetry trend on Nanjing poetry in the 1980s, in addition to introducing the most important "their literary society", this book also details a number of poetry groups that were influenced by "them" in the Nanjing poetry circle at that time and their manifesto ideas, such as "everydayism", "orientalism", "new colloquialism", "super sense", "hermeneuticism", "color school" and "breathing school", etc. Behind these detailed ideas, it reflects the consistent spirit and tradition of Nanjing literature:
During this period, the Nanjing Youth Poetry Group intensively put forward the above poetic propositions, which coincided with the literary ecology, humanistic tradition and the spirit of low-level care in Nanjing' pluralistic coexistence. Nanjing was not at the center of the poetry world at that time, less bound by popular poetry concepts, and the spiritual temperament of Nanjing's open culture and creation provided support for the free exploration of poets.
In addition to the above-mentioned meaning of integrating historical materials into the narrative of literary history, at the end of this book, there are two literary chronology that occupy a considerable amount of space -- "Directory of Literary Writers in Nanjing In the Past Hundred Years" and "Chronology of Literary Newspapers and Periodicals in Nanjing In a Hundred Years", which make the historical value of this literary history more prominent. These two chronologies clearly list 416 writers and 234 kinds of literary newspapers and periodicals in Nanjing since the advent of modern literature in chronological order, which is the most complete and complete list of Nanjing writers and the chronology of literary newspapers and periodicals so far. In addition to its historical value, its significance can also be seen in the course of the development of Nanjing's century-old literature and its own laws. As the author states:
"One thing that I am particularly happy and proud of is that we have found that in the past hundred years, we have not only had a large number of relatively typical Nanjing writers, but also the outstanding writers in the entire history of modern and contemporary Chinese literature are basically inextricably linked to Nanjing."
In the list of writers, only before 1949, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Pearl Buck, Guo Moruo, Zhang Hexhui, Xu Zhimo, Zhu Ziqing, Yu Pingbo, Ba Jin, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, Zhang Ailing, Yu Guangzhong, Bai Xianyong and other shining names in the modern Chinese literary scene, and there was a certain gratifying "chemical reaction" with Nanjing literature. It is worth noting that in this list, there is also a group of Nanjing critics. Linked to Nanjing' as an important town of national literary criticism, the group of critics is huge, so the introduction of this group also more objectively sees a prominent manifestation of the development of Nanjing literature, that is, "literary theory research and literary criticism jointly participate in the formation of the phenomenon of 'Nanjing writers'".
First, the number of 234 kinds of literary activities has been shown to illustrate the outstanding degree of activity in Nanjing, in addition, the information such as the duration of existence, publication cycle, organizer, and editor of each literary newspaper listed in the chronology more intuitively reflects the flow of literary newspapers and periodicals, and then "objectively, truthfully and richly shows the complex process of Nanjing's century-old literary history".
List of Literary Writers of the Hundred Years of Nanjing and Chronology of Literary Newspapers and Periodicals of the Hundred Years of Nanjing
Pay attention to the outstanding writers and young generation in Nanjing
The contemporary part of the "Century of Literary History of Nanjing" is almost synchronized with the development of contemporary Nanjing literature, which involves many famous and non-famous writers in today's literary circles, and the main strategy is to highly respect classic writers, pay full attention to excellent writers, and vigorously excavate young writers. It not only fully respects the literary history status of classic writers, but also takes into account the regional characteristics of non-famous writers, and more importantly, explores the potential of literary novices and reserves in literary history writing, and enhances literary vitality. In order to omit as few Nanjing writers as possible, the authors provided many new lists through the Literary Association, the Writers' Association, and the old gentlemen in the literary world. For example, the writers who have received full attention include: Online writer Chen Bin (online name "Dancing"), post-80s writers Sun Pin and Zhu Jing, and post-90s writer Pang Yu. Zhang Guangguang commented on the significance of this writing strategy, "First of all, it should be an attempt to enrich the practice of literary history writing, secondly, it should try to open up a unique vision of entering the great literary history through local paths, and secondly, such an urban literary history is also an encouragement to young writers."
In Nanjing, in addition to a group of writers who have been "classicized", there are also a large number of creators who are tirelessly committed to writing, and there are three generations of old, middle-aged and young people, who have already gained a good reputation in contemporary literature, and their promotion and contribution to Nanjing literature are obvious to all. Limited by factors such as length, national literary history is often not taken into account, and the writing of Nanjing's century-old literary history has given this group of Nanjing poets and writers the evaluation of literary history that they deserve, which is also the fruitful result of Nanjing's long-term attention and attention to the creation of local writers in Nanjing's critical circles.
Mr. Wild Boar: Nanjing Tales
It contains 20 new novels by post-90s writer Pang Yu describing the painful growth of the younger generation in Nanjing and the search for the secrets and truths of life
Pang Yu
Published by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House in July 2021
"I want you to look good"
In the subtleties of life, depicting the "pain" and "itch" in the world
By Zhu Hui
Published by Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House in January 2018
Edit | Xiang Radar, Zhang Shuyu
Figure | Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House / Pictures from the Internet