Li Hao, who has an attitude |: All the words and stories written must first convince yourself

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Under the current liveliness and exuberance of literature, does open controversy and sincere criticism still have a place? Although the literary life of an era appeals to vitality and prosperity, the appearance of bustle and the pursuit of popularity should never be the only measure of literary quality. Attitude is related to the heart, attitude calls for perseverance, we look forward to a direct and sincere discussion, face the literary scene, directly hit the literary topic. To this end, the China Writers Network has set up a column of "There is an Attitude", hoping to build a healthier literary ecology and lead a more ideal literary life.

The first issue of the column starts from the "overall vision", looks at the style, and invites writers and critics to talk about "Literary Writing in Our Time: Pain Points and Expectations".

- Editor

Phase 1 | The Literary Writing of Our Time: Pain Points and Expectations

Li Hao, male, was born in 1971 in Haixing County, Hebei Province. Professor of the College of Literature of Hebei Normal University, Vice Chairman of the Hebei Writers Association. He has published novels, poems, literary criticism and other texts. Some works have been selected in various anthologies or translated into English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Italian and Korean. He is the author of: the novel collection "Who Was Born to Be an Assassin", "Side Mirror", "Blue Test Paper", "The General's Troops", "Father, Mirror and Tree", "Transformer Magician", "The Wife Who Disappeared Behind the Mirror", the novel "Rugui Inn", "Father in the Mirror", the commentary collection "Stars Above My Head", "Reading Ode, Fictional Ode", poetry collection "The King in the Fruit Shell", etc., a total of more than 20 works. He has won the 4th Lu Xun Literature Award, the 11th Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award, the 3rd Pu Songling Literature Award, the 9th People's Literature Award, the 9th October Literature Award, the 1st Sun Li Literature Award, the 1st Jian'an Literature Award, the 7th Dianchi Literature Award, the 9th, 11th and 12th Hebei Literature and Art Revitalization Awards, etc.

All written words and stories

We all have to convince ourselves first

China Writers Network: What problems do you think exist in the creation of novels at present?

Li Hao: Novels of each era may have their more concentrated deficiencies or problems, but there are always some great writers who "jump out of the three realms" to form his excellence. Here, I talk about this topic, which may be the problem of some writers, but never all. Saying this is not an attempt to "absolve" myself of what I am saying, but an attempt to bring it closer to what I want to say.

The problems of the current novel, in my opinion, are mainly: First, the pattern is not enough, the depth is not enough. Our novel now has many "relief art" or "hand-held art", which can be almost impeccable in superficial artistry, and even addictive, but when we read it carefully and look back, we find that it only says our "known", the knowledge and wisdom that we have said many times in sociology, philosophy and literature before, and does not benefit us more--we may prefer that literature can provide us with knowledge that we cannot provide elsewhere and in other "sciences". The second is content with "chamber drama", which is written over and over again as cramped emotions in a small space, and at best extended into a family – where there are almost no social, economic and economic contradictions, no governmental forces and many "outside" influences: it actually avoids richness and complexity in real sense. Third, there is a certain tendency to simplify and coarse, which seems to be more serious than before. It is naturally inappropriate to flaunt a complete disregard for readers, but overcorrection becomes flattery of the preferences of readers, critics and judges, which is another problem. Most of the time we assume that the reader is "lower" than ours, and in terms of knowledge and intellect, why can't we think that the reader is actually at a higher level than ours? Why can't we think of our readers as our spiritual and artistic teachers, and our writing is meant to try to convince them?

I would also like to say that our literary imagination is a problem. Most writers may not realize that the power of writing a real life that allows us to "empathize" is essentially more imaginative; our strange and legendary literary traditions also need to be continued with heart.

China Writers Network: How do you view "youth writing" at present? How do you think young writers can face the complex and changeable "events" and many classic works of the present, without repeating the predecessors and being original? Talk about your observations and findings.

Li Hao: As far as personal limited reading is concerned, I am relatively optimistic about the current "youth writing", I think their knowledge is wide, the reading scope is enough, and some writers also have a good sense of classics - and these, they are better than us and some of the writers of our predecessors. If, in terms of the wholeness, I may still have a few reminders for most writers to say: First, some writers are too "young and old", too aware of the interests of readers, editors and critics, and the words that "come out of nowhere" and "rampage" are too few, too few; second, the meticulousness and patience of art are still insufficient, more or less urgent- this urgency will naturally be reflected in the text; third, philosophical, sociological, historical reading is still a little less, I am not talking about the plug-and-play part. Rather, it can nourish the inner parts of the writer and the work.

"Anxiety of influence" exists in every age, they have, we have, and the "present face" between us and them is basically the same, and it is of course increasingly difficult to write your own uniqueness. The way to get rid of this anxiety, as far as my personal understanding is concerned, I think there are three main possible paths, of course, it is best to have both: one is to read the classics well, read widely, especially the classics of different types and different directions, from which to "take something" according to personal interests and personalities, etc., to get rid of a single dimension and a single source; the second is to learn from real life, because it is constant and new, and some of its provisions should be able to partially "overflow" the previous generations and strengthen the incorporation of new experiences of the individual The third is to emphasize the true feelings of writing, all written words and stories, first of all, to convince themselves, is the part that they believe and cannot not say.

China Writers Network: What is your ideal novel?

Li Hao: The ideal novel in my mind is, first, it is a wise, profound, and generous text. It will always tell its readers that "things are not as simple as you think", and it will always be in our reading and after reading it evokes the question: "Is life like this?" Isn't that necessary? Is there a better possibility? "It will make us feel the subtle feelings in it, and it will make us feel that through this reading, we have entered a new place." Second, it is artistic, more artistic, and charming, allowing us to appreciate the beauty and accuracy of each word when tasting it, so that we have a full sense of surprise when reading the structure, buckles and details in it. Third, it is a novel, unique, innovative text, preferably it can do, without the use of a single word that makes people feel "déjà vu". It even has a "catastrophe" atmosphere, which allows us to re-understand the load of this genre and re-understand our mother tongue.

(Moderator of this issue: Du Jia, Li Yingjun)