Literature and History Building
After a short winter break in my hometown, I took another steamboat back to Shanghai to start my second semester. Since Liu Weixun came to pick me up and help me take away a box, I was able to easily return to Shida. In the 326 bedroom, only Zheng Wenbo returned. Although the separation did not take long, the students met and were extremely affectionate. In the afternoon, the Modern Chinese Exemption Exam was only attended by more than 10 people. The questions were not difficult, but I did not do well.
The next day, Mr. Xu read out the results of the last semester's examination. I have good examination results in the two major compulsory courses of selected essays and study works and modern literary works, and the public compulsory courses such as the history of the international communist movement, the general history of China, foreign languages and physical education have passed the examination results. Modern Chinese, there are 4 people in the class who are exempt from study, I have no share, some chagrin, if you are not busy with housework, there is time to prepare, it is likely to pass.
First semester transcripts
The second semester of professional courses, mainly modern Chinese, introduction to literature and modern literary history, also added two elective courses, which are busier than the previous semester.
The teacher of the Introduction to Literature class did not speak very vividly. His face was dull yellow, his glasses were deep, he was wearing a scruffy, torn hat, cardigan, blue pants at the knees, washed white, and the pair of yellow velvet work shoes on his feet, cracked. The lectures are slow, very strenuous, sometimes look at the lecture notes, sometimes seem to be recalling, the mantra is "maybe", "maybe", and finally even the reference book forgot to arrange.
In the modern literary history class, the teacher spoke too quickly, and I couldn't get the point. And the English test was a mess, and more than twenty words could not be written. I felt depressed and deeply remorseful, but when I thought about it, how could I be depressed at this point of frustration? I urge myself that from now on, we must make a good plan, whether it is an introduction to literature class or a modern literary history class, we must make efforts, pay close attention to reading books, consulting materials, and doing a good summary, and we must not forget while reading; English must also catch up.
Since then, according to my own plan, I have eaten breakfast every day, going to the speech room to listen to English, and going to the school library after class. After a period of hard work, the results of the English test and the Chinese test have been greatly improved. It can be seen that as long as you are willing to work hard, you can achieve good results.
In an introduction to literature class, the teacher asked us to discuss two topics: First, "Why is it that literature and art are not subordinate to politics, and not mentioning literature and art is divorced from politics?" Second, what is the view that literature and art are tools of class struggle and that literature and art serve politics? Most of the students were not very interested in the introduction to literature class, but the discussion on this issue was very lively. However, on such a large theoretical issue, even the theoretical circles cannot argue clearly, and our controversy naturally cannot have any conclusions.
A few days later, under the organization of Liu Weixun, a member of the class study committee, the class held another discussion. Zhu Dake made a long speech, from the origin of literature and art, to various means of expression, from the social function of literature and art, to Christianity and Buddhism, which lasted for several hours. This surprised me, it seems that I don't know anything about it, he is already very researched. On some issues, Xu Zhenning put forward different views, and the two argued. The blackboard newspaper in the class, which was run by Zhu Dake, sent an article he wrote "Returning to the Soul", and his imagination and writing ability also surprised me.
One day, Song Lin went to consult Teacher Zhu Wenpin because of his poetry collection. I accompanied him to Teacher Zhu's house on the eighth floor of the Changjiang Hotel. I wished the teacher to make coffee for us and asked us with concern about some things in the department. When the conversation arose, he took out two episodes of the printed score and said that it was carved when there was no book to read in the "Wen ~Revolution". He lamented that political movements, for a person's life, were too destructive. He himself was branded a rightist in 1959, and for 20 years, he could not write articles and could not speak, which was a very painful thing for him who was lively and active.
Speaking of that time, he specifically mentioned a teacher in the department, saying that this person was very bad, did not learn any skills, did not know anything about reading, but with a good composition of birth, saw the wind and made the rudder, like a fish in the water. In 1957, he wrote a big-character newspaper against Xu Jie's people, and as a result, the school newspaper went up, sent it all the way to the Central Committee, and appeared on the front page of the Liberation Daily. He bought a large stack of newspapers, distributed them everywhere, and as a result joined the party, he was particularly aggressive with the rightists. After graduation, there was nothing to teach, and he was sent to Nanjing University for further study, and when he returned, he was placed in the Modern Literature Group. With that newspaper, he went around swindling and cheating, his quality was inferior, he didn't want a wife at home, he went to engage in improper relations between men and women, and as a result, he was expelled from the party. After listening to it, we were both very surprised: Chinese temple is not big, and the demon wind is not small, is this true?
This semester, there were good teachers like Wang Guangzu and Zhu Wenpin lecturing for us, and we also met teachers who made people cry and laugh, such as the "teacher on duty". After more than half a semester of party history class, we still don't know what the name of the lecturer is. Whenever I go to a party history class, the students will think of him, "Hey, I want to see the teacher on duty again!" ”
The title of "teacher on duty" came from this: In the first party history class, as soon as this teacher got on the podium, he gave people a strange impression, wearing a pair of yellow-rimmed glasses, wearing a yellow military uniform, and the wind and discipline buckled tightly. The first thing he said when he came up was, "Every time I go to class, I shout 'Go to class, the squad leader on duty shouts the password', and when it is the turn of the squad leader on duty, I have to shout 'stand up', do you understand?" As he spoke, he shouted, "In class, the head of the duty squad shouts the password!" A squad leader had to shout, "Stand up!" The students reluctantly stood up, and the teacher continued to shout, "Hello students! The students did not expect that this teacher would be like this, and some people shouted, "Hello teacher!" The other part of the crowd laughed. In the future, every time he went to class, he always had to call the duty class leader, and the classmates called him "the duty teacher".
Movie "The Prince's Revenge"
During that time, we watched many movies and performances in the school auditorium. What is seen more is the translation and production of foreign imports. For example, when the movie "The Revenge of the Prince", I was deeply attracted by its plot, especially admired by the philosophical, personality and thought-provoking language of the characters in the play. There is also the French comedy film "Crazy Nobleman", a Spanish nobleman who was removed from office by the king for his greed and lasciviousness. He wanted to take advantage of his servant Raz Jr.'s obsession with the queen and take revenge on the king, but due to Raz Jr.'s wit, his plot did not succeed. The plot is interspersed with many exaggerations, misunderstandings, and hilarious. (To be continued)
Note: Pressed color photos, taken by the author's mobile phone when he returned to his alma mater in 2013, the illustrations in the text are reproduced from the Internet.