Reading, since ancient times, has been an important way for people to understand the present and look forward to the future, and books are the spiritual refuge that millions of people carry with them when they resist the complex world.
With the Spring Festival approaching, Wenhui Reading Special Edition invites all the famous artists in the cultural circles across the country to recommend the good books they intend to read or are already reading to readers. The spring breeze is mighty, let us listen to the wind and smell the fragrance of books.
Xie Mian (Professor, Department of Chinese, Peking University)
"Library of Modern Creation": "One Day Samadhi" >>
My books are placed in various places, changping here, Peking University, I call my study "chaotic study" - the books are too messy, everywhere. But my book is very clear, and I know which book is in which corner.
There is a set of books that I will never forget, and my relationship with this set of books is very deep.
This set of books was published in the mid-to-late 1930s and early 1940s by Shanghai Vientiane Bookstore, Xu Shensi and Ye Wangyou, two editors are not very famous, the name of the book is "Modern Creative Library", 20 modern writers are selected, each book is about 200,000 words, traditional, vertical.
This set of books was my prime reading from childhood to adolescence. Because I have loved May Fourth New Literature since I was a child, the first May Fourth New Literature I came into contact with was these 20 books. I remember Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Lao She, Ba Jin, Zhang Tianyi, Bing Xin, Wang Luyan, Ye Shaojun, Zhu Ziqing, Wang Tongzhao, Xu Zhimo, Ding Ling, Lu Yin, Zhang Ziping, Tian Han, Yu Dafu and other modern writers. Lu Xun's book chose "A Q Zheng Biography", "Diary of a Madman", "Kong Yiji", "On the Restaurant", etc., all of which were not missed, and even "Cast Sword" was selected. Tian Hanna received several of his very powerful one-act plays, such as "The Night of the Tiger", and at that time, his works such as "Guan Hanqing" had not yet been written. Yu Dafu chose "Sinking", Ding Ling chose "The Diary of Madam Sha Fei", Zhang Ziping chose "Spring of Meiling"... In less than 200,000 words each, the representative works of the Writers representing May Fourth were selected, and I think the two editors are very remarkable and very discerning.
I have loved this set of books since I was a teenager, and I have continuously collected 19 books, which is not easy, because I was a primary school student and a middle school student, and I didn't have much money on my body. The only one missing should be Shen Congwen's book. I went to Beijing with regret, and then I found Shen Congwen's book in the Dong'an market. I was so happy that I finally put together these 20 books. This set of books has spent the years of war with me, the years of youth, the years of unprecedented catastrophe, and the storms of the outside world have not hurt them, which is very magical. Now, they are in my Peking University home, I have been well kept, because of the age, the paper is yellow, I myself made a hard paper for each book, re-titled.
This set of books and my relationship is really deep. I loved the May Fourth New Literature, was enlightened by the new literature, and learned that many outstanding writers' masterpieces began with this set of books. Later, I went to Peking University to study in the department of Chinese, and I also had a special love for modern Chinese literature. I read this set of books since I was a teenager, and now I'm 90 years old, almost 80 years of reading and accompanying. I have memorized the masterpieces of these writers. The feeling of flipping through this set of books is very pleasant, as if it is a very close friend, the ancients said, "One day Samadhi, drama in fifteen women", now open this set of books, I will not be able to help reading a few, after reading this one, and then look at another ... Such as to the old man! It feels very good. Therefore, in the new year, I want to find an opportunity to return to the "chaotic study" of Peking University, invite this set of books out, and revisit the influence of new literature on me.
On the occasion of the arrival of the New Year, I would like to recommend this set of books to everyone and share it with you. This set of books is not available on the Confucius Network, and it is difficult to see them on old book stalls. Maybe in which corner of the library there will be this set of books, and those who have a heart can go and find it. Its cover is dark green with a granite-like pattern.
Liu Xinwu (entered the "Post-80s" in 2022, marathon runner of literary writing)
Love a gourd flower >>
During the Spring Festival, I want to read Sun Li's novel "The First Record of the Wind and Clouds", in which he integrates prose brushstrokes into the narrative text, overflowing with poetry. For example, in a passage in the book: "Mangzi went to fetch water and drink livestock, and Chun'er spun thread with her head bowed on the embankment, and the spinning wheel turned into a flower in her arms." It was the middle of the night, and the sky was dripping with dew. In the field it dripped on the jointed sorghum trees, around the earthen walls, on the reddened cracked dates, in the wide yard, on the young and strong mango and on the large bluestone stakes lying beside him. At this time, Chun'er was lying on the kangtou in her own home, sleeping very sweetly, and did not know that in such a late night, someone would miss her... A tender green grasshopper on the gourd rack outside the window sucked in the dew and was crying with joy; the gourd was heavy and drooping, and it was full of fur like the tender skin of a baby, and the dew dripped through the fur. Above the shelf, a large white flower, holding a long arrow, opened up to the sky. The grasshoppers barked and crawled slowly there. ”
After reading these words, I thought: What is patriotism? What is a homestead? What is an ethnicity? What are the people? How specific and nuanced Sun Li's writing is! Love it, love the ordinary people who plant spring children, pay their youth and all their lives for the survival, development and strength of the nation, love the dew-moist land under their feet, love the cracked dates, the tender green grasshoppers, love the new gourds that are born all over the hometown like the fur on the tender skin of babies... I have always loved the wide white gourd flower with a long arrow and opening up to the sky in my hometown.
Chen Sihe (Professor, Department of Chinese, Fudan University)
The pioneering work of "Shanghai School Literature" >>
Recently, Fudan University Press launched three kinds of "Haipai Literature Research Series", one of which is Mr. Xu Daoming's "Treatise on Haipai Literature". I'd love to talk about this book. It was originally an old book, published in 1999, and now more than 20 years have passed. Mr. Xu Daoming is my colleague, who originally studied modern literary theory, then studied Zhu Guangqian's aesthetic thought, and then studied Beijing school literature, and wrote a very praised "The World of Beijing School Literature". Then he studied Haipai literature with a bang. At that time, although the term "Shanghai school literature" often appeared in the media, it was not used much for real academic research. Scholars prefer to substitute "urban literature" for a historically criticized term. Mr. Xu Daoming said that the book contains the meaning of "justifying the name of Haipai literature". Despite this, he also collected all kinds of literary creations in Shanghai in detail, and introduced and expounded various literary genres, societies and literati representing the shanghai urban style, and the exposition was reasonable and concise. I think that from the perspective of the research history of "Haipai literature" (not just "Haipai novels"), this treatise is very distinctive and pioneering, and it has laid the foundation for our study of "Haipai literature" today. Latecomers come to the top and can break through it to develop it, but they cannot bypass it and ignore it.
Mr. Xu Daoming died of illness in 2005. In those years, he had just been awarded the title of Zhenggao and began to supervise doctoral students. Unexpectedly, He was jealous of talents and did not let him continue to exert his academic talents to pursue more and greater academic ideals. Fudan University Press republished "On Haipai Literature" this time, not only to commemorate Mr. Xu, but also to make a historical review of today's magnificent Haipai literary creation.
Chen Zishan (Professor, Department of Chinese, East China Normal University)
The historical picture of the maritime art world >>
At the beginning of the new year, I saw many good books one after another, some of which were long-awaited, such as "Wooden Heart Manuscript" and "Yu Dafu Chronology" (by Li Hangchun and Yu Junfeng); some were unexpected, such as "The Biography of John Sheng" (by W.T. Bate) and "Cui Wei but Gu Ji" (by Xu Jun). Of course, the "Great Shen Gong", which commemorates the first anniversary of Mr. Shen Changwen's death, must also be mentioned. Among them, the "Memoirs of forty Years of Art" (by Ding Shu) and the commemorative edition of "Fu Lei's Family Book" can be particularly mentioned, because these two books are directly related to Shanghai.
In the first half of the 20th century, the name Ding Ho was a household name on the beach. He is versatile and harmonious with ancient and modern Chinese and foreign countries, and has made great achievements in many fields such as fine arts (including comics, monthly cards, advertising, illustration, art editing and art education), drama, film, photography and even literary creation. "Forty Years of Art Memoirs (1902-1945)" is the first collection of Ding Shu's column text, like a brilliant and colorful historical picture, Ding Hu's extremely extensive social travel, the unique observation and meticulous depiction of the Maritime Art Circle Wenyuan, like the precious photos he took, is real and vivid, quite readable, and also indispensable for the study of Shanghai culture. The advent of this book should enable more readers to know that Ding Shu, the father of the famous painter Ding Cong, is also very remarkable.
40 years ago, "Fu Lei's Family Book" was launched by Beijing Sanlian Bookstore and became a cultural event that attracted attention at that time. The latest commemorative edition of "Fu Lei's Family Letter" coincides with the first anniversary of the death of pianist Mr. Fu Cong, which is of special commemorative significance. For the first time, the commemorative edition includes Fu Cong's letter to his parents that year, thus making this "Fu Lei Family Letter" a true two-way "family letter". From this, you can also appreciate the charm of Fu Lei and Fu Cong's two generations of literary and artistic masters, which is really rare.
Chen Yan (Vice Chairman of China Writers Association)
Shakespeare classics >>
My conscious reading of life began with Shakespeare, who faced Shakespeare almost repeatedly in my life for work reasons. The more I faced it, the more I felt the need to read it repeatedly. Some of his plays are read after watching the performances, and after watching the performances and then reading, the charm is indeed endless. He explores the endless possibilities of human evolution, allowing us to ride the wind and waves on the voyage of desire. After the reef sinks, the sails are still worth showing. In the choices and warnings of destruction and survival, living or dying, there is both joy and sorrow. Tragedy and comedy, history and reality, human beings and nature, angels and devils, good and evil, hatred and forgiveness, pain and numbness, cruelty and pity, wisdom and calculation, love and fornication, charity and grabbing, compassion and violence, etc., as long as you read, there will be endless questions and answers, written between the lines, but also written on the map of reality. That great sense of richness, totality and depth is a very rich and mellow spiritual nourishment in the trek of life. Choosing a few Shakespeare operas to read during the Spring Festival is a beneficial way to celebrate the festival.
In addition to reading Shakespeare, I was also ready to go into the theater to see a play or two, which is also a habit I have developed over the years. In the limitations of time and space, the drama has formed a kind of compressed biscuit-style essence extraction, which cannot tolerate perfunctory delay. Whether classical or contemporary drama, it is not only full of history and the tension of inner thoughts, emotions and stories, but also allows us to enter a beautiful audio-visual enjoyment in the modern time and space image, which is a different reading that cannot be missed during the Spring Festival.
Ah Lai (Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association)
Du Fu's poetry is a miracle >>
I have recently been reading classical poetry, mainly Qiu Zhao'ao's "Detailed Notes on Du Poems" in the Qing Dynasty, but I have also referred to many other books, such as Mr. Shi Jicun's "Hundred Words of Tang Poems" in Shanghai. "Du Shi Detailed Notes" is a book I often read, and I am reading it at the moment, and every two or three years I will go back to the furnace to re-read it, often read it.
Reading a literary classic is not a short reading that kills time, nor is it a matter of immediately making up some new books in order to get some information. "Notes on Du Shi" seems to be a book that only a pedantic person can read, but I think that a writer, despite experiencing the impact of globalization and various new literary ideas, ultimately has to use Chinese language to deal with and accept all these things we experience. The time of the new cultural movement and the vernacular is still short after all, and the Chinese language and writing are many characteristics of form, sound and meaning, such as four sounds, polysemanence, etc. These language skills are not easy to master and creatively express if they do not return to the classical tradition, especially if they do not return to the classical poetry tradition. Can our narrative literature today give more consideration to the characteristics of Chinese characters, such as shape, sound, and meaning, and whether it can be imaginative and vivid enough? For example, many of our Chinese are often "silent", but I often fantasize that it is alive and is being recited. This is from a technical point of view. But most importantly, in the Chinese literary tradition from ancient times to the present, realism is still a mainstream vein. Every author cannot write this era out of thin air, and today some grand narrative literature is playing the routine of fake big and empty, but if the writer enters from a small incision and becomes a personal narrative poem, it is really difficult to have a relationship with the times. But why did such a miracle happen to Du Fu? Du Fu's more than a thousand poems have his personal feelings, experiences and lives, but they do have a deep connection with the times at that time, and the poems he wrote were called "poetic history" by later generations. As a writer, you need to constantly think about how this happened.
Shen Weirong (Professor, Department of Chinese, Tsinghua University)
Tolkien shocked me >>
It was February 20 years ago, and I watched the annual Oscars on TV as usual. This year's awards seem to have all been awarded to a movie called The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, which is impressive. Unfortunately, I have never had a childlike heart, and I still do not watch fairy tales and fantasy movies, and at that time I only remembered the name of the original author of the film, J. R. R. Tolkien。 In January of the previous year, on the plane back to the United States, I happened to see Tolkien's name appear in the title of the newly released movie, and I looked at it curiously. Unexpectedly, it brought me a deep shock. This is a very positive film, it is based on the story of Tolkien and his three middle school classmates (tea club) as the main line, showing the ideals, righteousness, genius, friendship and love of the young talents of the British generation, so that the "prosperous, bookish, and rebellious" classmates and teenagers, so far I have only experienced in this movie, although I can't get there, my heart yearns for it. And the devastating devastation of the body and mind of this generation of young people shown in the film made me feel pain. The film made me understand the pain of "The Lost Generation" and finally understand why the British soon appeared as a best-selling world-selling recluse novel (1933), and its protagonist, Robert Conway, was a lost youth like Tolkien, and "Shangri-La" was their ideal home. It took Tolkien, a gifted linguist and novelist, to recover from the disillusionment of the First World War to create the greatest novel in British history, The Lord of the Rings.
So, what I want to read most this Spring Festival is a good book published by Wenhui Publishing House in 2008 and I got a high price from the Internet, "Tolkien and the Great War".
Li Tiangang (Professor, School of Philosophy, Fudan University)
The quality is better than Wen's "Five Commentaries on Wang Yun" >>
Mr. Meng Tan Xufeng generously donated and received a batch of good books. Just after New Year's Day, dozens of new books were sent to Shanghai. The first thing I read in a large number of books was Mr. Guo Taifeng, the head of Fudan's 78th-level philosophy department, "The Biography of Wang Yun's Five Commentaries" (Beijing Normal University Press, 2015). This is the only five biographies of Wang Yun on the mainland, which are better than the text and are good and solid.
Wang Yunwu (1888-1979), known as Hongzhen (洪桢), was born in Xiangshan, Guangdong Province, and became a talent by studying English. He had no merit or education, but became an English professor at Chinese public schools, known for reading through the Encyclopædia Britannica. In 1921, he became the director of the Compilation Institute of the Commercial Press, and later served as the general manager of the library, and the operation was successful. Brother Taifeng's biography was pertinent: "At that time, Bao Xianchang, who was the general manager, followed the old ways, wanted to change, and was afraid of chaos. Zhang Yuanji, the talent introduced in the early days, is also more than the year of knowing the destiny, and he and Bao Xianchang have different opinions on how to develop the business of commerce, and the result of the dispute is that both of them have retreated to the second line. Gao Mengdan, the successor director of the Compilation Institute, was loyal and loyal, and pioneering and innovating was lackluster. "Wang Yunwu is ordered to be in danger and make a difference, and Brother Taifeng commented on the sentence in place!"
Guo Taifeng (1947-2006), originally from Quzhou, was born in Shanghai, and died of a sudden myocardial infarction on March 20, 2006! The scene of ai's daughter Akiru obituarying one by one according to the telephone book list is still there. Brother Taifeng worked in the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce and read a lot of archives. Transferred to the Department of Social Sciences of Donghua University, teaching, scientific research and administration are all three, which is extremely hard. The Five Commentaries on Wang Yun is his most important work, and a few days before his death, he held a meeting and talked about the pride in the book. Brother Taifeng is physically strong, and his explosive power and endurance are superior. When I was a sports commissioner, I invited him to join the department's football team, as the main striker, and won the second place in the whole school competition. The posthumous book "The Biography of Wang Yun's Five Commentaries" has a self-prologue, but it has no personal information and is also quite sad. 15 years, because of the writing, people and books passed on together, everyone will not forget the wind brother.
Xu Zechen (Writer)
Mo Yan's "change of law" in his prime years >>
The year has come to an end, and it is time to take stock. Counting a book reader, combing through the books you have read in a year is a serious matter. I don't like to give people a book list, but I often recommend it in passing. It's always good to want to read. I am afraid that I don't read books, and when it comes to books and literature, I have the arrogance of not having a book in the world: what decent things can you people write! Then I would have been very polite to list him a list of book titles. There are not a few people who write seriously, and if you can read it seriously, you will definitely find a considerable number of good books in a year. Due to space constraints, here are two books that I have learned a lot from reading, a fiction and a collection of poems:
Mo Yan's "Late Ripening Man". The series of short stories in the novel collection present a certain commonality, that is, they all have a vast time and space span that can cover the character's life, the world is insightful, the virtual reality is born, the plot breaks and docking in different time and space are decisive and clean, and the blank space and tension are huge, forming a new unique stylistic feature of the short story. In the past, we always believed that Mo Yan had a distinct sense of style and a novel structure in the creation of long novels. Mo Yan confirmed in a clustered manner that this was the "change" of his writing in the heyday, and his understanding and formal exploration of short stories entered a new realm of freedom, and his efforts to expand the territory of the short story genre had great results, which was exemplary.
Sentinel's "On the Side of Nature" is a collection of poems about honghu lake and nature, and has great ambitions to use poetry as a museum. In this series of poems, the poet fully established a personal regional identity, and also made his own great efforts to the literarization of this region. He used poem after poem to connect the individual with nature, life, history, and culture, becoming his own "encyclopedia"; at the same time, what is even more valuable is that he presented an attempt to recount nature in the poetry collection and re-establish a personal injection for the "nature" writing of poetry.
Edit: Jin Jiuchao
Image source: Publisher, author, network data picture
Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Zifen