Today, the Southwest United University has completely come out of the state of "being forgotten in the smoke and clouds of history". For a long time, the study of this very special university is almost inevitable, and the great value it contains continues to be excavated, leaving important enlightenment for latecomers in the fields of university education, intellectual research, and cultural creation.
After the humiliating southward migration and westward migration, at a time of national crisis, how the intellectuals (and students) of the three institutions of higher learning positioned themselves and how to assume their responsibilities was a question raised by the times, and they also made a wise choice, as Yao Dan said in "Literary Activities in the Historical Situation of southwest United University", "Regard cultural creation as the foundation of the survival of the nation... Therefore, the intellectuals of the United Nations General Assembly "take cultural creation and cultural dissemination as their main historical mission and spiritual tradition", and they believe that the cultural bloodline formed by the convergence of cultural continuation and creation will play an irreplaceable role in the future.
In the relatively independent and free campus of Southwest United University, in the surging tide of creation, there is a particularly active group, composed of teachers Such as Bian Zhilin, Feng Zhi, Yan Busun and others, and students Mu Dan, Wang Zuoliang, Du Yunxie, Zheng Min and others, who devote themselves to the study of poetry, taste personal and contemporary experience, learn from the creative methods of modern poets such as Eliot and Auden, seek new poetic consciousness, stimulate life, and at the same time stimulate the inherent vitality of the Chinese language, and finally open up the territory of modern Chinese poetry. Zhang Tongdao, one of the editors of the "Southwest United University Modern Poetry Notes", which records the works of 24 POETS of the United Nations University, said in the "Post-compilation": "The campus poetry crowd composed of teachers and students introduced Western modernist poetics into Chinese new poetry, singing freedom, suffering and land firmly and confidently under the pressure of darkness, torturing the contradictory soul of the self, becoming the fulcrum of the integration of modern poetics with Chinese clay, promoting the modernization of Chinese new poetry, and creating a peak of modern Chinese poetry." ”
Nowadays, when we enter the poems in "Poetry Banknote", in addition to appreciating the aesthetic and creative charm of the poets, we can also feel the war-torn era that remains vividly in the poetry line, and the poets' anxious and accessible, painful and gorgeous hearts in the context of the times.
This article is from B01-B03 of the Beijing News Book Review Weekly's February 25 feature "Southwest United University and Modern Chinese Poetry".
"Theme" B01丨 Southwest United University and Modern Chinese Poetry
"Theme" B02-B03 | "Southwest United University Modern Poetry Banknote" A book with a famous school and a poetry school
"Theme" B04-B05 丨 "Southwest United Poetry Crowd" wrote the vitality of modern Chinese poetry
"Literature" B06 | Look for the truth of human nature in "Provence"
"Social Science" B07丨 Interview with Francis Fukuyama: Will the epidemic accelerate the fading of the wave of globalization?
"Art" B08 | Love Through Cinema: A History of French FanFilm Culture in the Twenty Years After The War
Written by | Li Guangrong (Professor, Southwest University for Nationalities)
01
A reading of the poetry of the United Nations General Assembly is the demand of the times
Thirty years after The history of China passed in the middle of the 20th century, the Chinese people suddenly looked up, and the literary and art garden declined. How to write works, how to write poems? Everyone was at a loss.
At this time, three elders stepped forward to offer suggestions for the prosperity of literature and art. They are: Mu Dan, Du Yunxie, Yuan Kejia. The three of them have several characteristics in common: one is the Southwest United University, the second is the modernist poet, and the third is the long silence and careful voice. They invariably point the poetic path to the world trend, promote the modernist poetic style, and advocate a new start from the poetic path that has been cut off for thirty years.
Stills from the documentary "Southwest United Congress". In stormy times, a pedestrian staggers forward.
Mu Dan's posthumous works "Spring", "Autumn" and "Winter" were published, Du Yunxie published "Autumn" and led to a discussion about "obscure poems", and Yuan Kejia's translation of "Selected Works of Foreign Modernists" was published in 1980. They offer poetry ideas, styles, and even debates—thinking in the midst of arguments, but without playing the "Southwest United Congress" sign, and not saying that modernist poetry is also a tradition of Chinese poetry in the 1940s. Then they planned to publish a book: The Nine Leaves Collection. The Collection of Nine Leaves concentrates the poetry of Chinese modernism in the 1940s in front of the reader's eyes, causing a warm response from the academic community. The researchers found that "four leaves" in the "Nine Leaves" were graduates of Southwest United University, and that their poetry had a stronger modernist meaning. As a result, the Southwest United University has become the object of excavation by researchers, and a "Southwest United Poetry Crowd" has been excavated to tempt everyone to develop. However, the various newspapers and books that Southwest United University poetry was published in the 1940s, and each researcher started by consulting poetry, which was time-consuming and difficult, and what was not seen was complete, so the search for the original poem became a mountain in front of the researchers, not to mention many people who were far away from large libraries. The 1980s were an era of curiosity, creativity and progress, and the more difficult it was to reach, the more people had to visit. As a result, providing a reading book of southwest united university poetry became the demand of the times.
Mudan manuscript.
At that time, the way of finding newspapers and periodicals was relatively backward, and the library did not pay enough attention to modern literature, and it was quite difficult to edit a book. Faced with this situation, Du Yunxie and Zhang Tongdao stepped forward to undertake the task of editing the poetry of the Southwest United University. Du Yunxie was the creator of the poetry of southwest united university, transferred to southwest united university in the autumn of 1939, graduated in the autumn of 1945, and was in school for six years, spanning the three periods before and after southwest united university. He did not catch up with Yan Busun to talk about "modern English poetry", but he was very close to Yan Busun's pro-burners Mu Dan, Wang Zuoliang, Yang Zhouhan and so on. He is one of the leaders of the Holly Literary and Art Society, participated in the organization of the society's creative activities, and is familiar with the poetry of Southwest United University. Zhang Tongdao is a cutting-edge critic, has a good artistic feeling, is more familiar with the development of Chinese poetry, is a lover of southwest United University poetry, that "Modern Chinese Poetry and Southwest United Poetry Crowd" reflects his academic level, but also represents the highest achievement of poetry research in Southwest United University at that time. They were old and young, each doing their best, and were the best combination of modern poetry edited by the Southwest United University at that time. Living up to the expectations of the academic community, they went through all the hardships and won the "Modern Poetry Banknote of Southwest United University" in 1997, completing the historical mission.
02
The poets of the United Nations General Assembly promoted the maturity of Chinese modernist poetry
The "Poetry Banknote" was published and became very popular, and the more than three hundred poems collected in the book gave researchers a great impact, and the 3,500 copies of the book were quickly sold out. Readers' aesthetic tastes are different, and various evaluations can be made of poetry, but there are two feelings that everyone shares: "Southwest United Congress" and "modern poetry".
As we all know, southwest United University disappeared for a long time, no one knows, until the 80s of ideological emancipation, Southwest United masters and students began to gather, recall, commemorate, research, the society gradually knew the achievements of this university, its literary charm with the reading and commenting of the "Nine Leaves School" also gradually rippled away. The advent of "Poetry Banknote" allowed everyone to concentrate on the poetry of Southwest United University, which led to a number of research articles, college students had materials to write graduation papers, and the poetry of Southwest United University sowed seeds in the hearts of various readers, especially college students. It can be said that "Poetry Banknote" has contributed to the dissemination of the Southwest United Congress and its literary achievements, making it deep and extensive. Before and after the "Poetry Banknote", books such as "Flute Blowing String Recitation Closely", "Flute Blowing String Recitation in Spring City", "History of National Southwest United University", "Historical Materials of National Southwest United University" and so on were published one after another, which promoted people's overall understanding of Southwest United University and also provided relevant background materials for the study of "Poetry Banknote" and the literature of Southwest United University. Since then, researchers have had clues, found a path, and all aspects of Southwest United University have been excavated one after another, which has become a hot spot of people's attention, and "Southwest United University" has frequently appeared in various media. Examining history, these books are the basic reading materials for people to understand and study the Southwest United University, and "Poetry Banknote" has played a role in fueling the understanding and dissemination of the Southwest United University, and the Southwest United University can appear frequently as a "hot word", and has a merit of "Poetry Banknote".
Bian Zhilin.
"Modern poetry" refers to modernist or modernist poetry, which is a different genre from realism and romanticism. China's modern poetry gradually became a trend in the 1920s, but in the mid-1930s it entered a dilemma, and the Southwest United Congress changed and was pushed to the peak. With Yan Busun's teaching of Eliot and Feng Zhi to introduce Rilke and Bian Zhilin's translation of Auden, the poets of the Southwest United University were able to stand at the forefront of the world's poetry and engage in creation, they abandoned Dai Wangshu's personal sorrows, refused to feel the wind and snow, insisted on replacing feelings with reason, turned reality into thoughts, forged unique imagery, looked for novel metaphors, refined powerful words, reflected the content of modern life, and gave people a refreshing feeling, which was very different from the previous Crescent and Symbolism. Even the old subject matter is suddenly new in their writings: telling the lover that "your eyes see this fire"; spring "light, shadow, sound, and color are naked, / painful, waiting to penetrate into the new combination". So fresh, exciting and powerful, not much in the past. "Poetry Notes" gives people a clear impression: the Southwest Union masters and students write modernist poems. Coupled with the guidance of "Before the Book" and "After the Compilation", the researchers firmly believe that the poetry of southwest united university belongs to the modern school. Therefore, "Poetry Banknote" has promoted the in-depth study and continuous discussion of modern poetry of Southwest United University in the academic circles, seen the height reached by Chinese modernist poetry, and then determined the important role of Southwest United University poets in the maturity of Chinese modernist poetry. It can be said that this is a contribution of "Poetry Banknote" to the study of modern Chinese literary history. Linked to this, the in-depth study of the poets of the "Nine Leaves School" in the Central and Southwest United University affirmed the contributions of Mu Dan, Du Yunxie, Zheng Min, and Yuan Kejia to modernist poetry, and established their literary history status, especially Mu Dan, who was identified as one of the most accomplished poets in modern China by an obscure campus poet, including a merit of "Poetry Banknote". Cautiously speaking, the shaping of the image of The Mudan poet is the joint role of the previously published "Complete Collection of Mudan Poems" and "Poetry Notes".
03
The selected poems reflect the editor's preference
However, the word "modern poetry" has different meanings: "modern poetry", "modern body poetry", "modern poetry". The editors of the Poetry Notes clearly understood the latter. This is not surprising. Du Yunxie admired Bian Zhilin's modern poetry, which was greatly influenced by Auden and focused on modernist poetry, and his "circle of friends" was dominated by modernist poets of the Southwest United University, and he compiled "poetry banknotes" natural modernist poems as the main body. Zhang Tongdao admired modernism, and under the atmosphere of modernism occupying the main tide of poetry at that time, it was inevitable that he would make a modernist interpretation of the poetry of southwest United University. In this way, the modernist poems of the "Poetry Banknote" compiled by them are many. Objectively speaking, in the Southwest United University, the modernist poetic style is relatively strong, and the poetry achievement is also the highest. This determines that "Poetry Notes" is a collection of poems featuring modernism.
However, the interpretation of "modern body poetry" is different. In the Southwest United University, in addition to modern poetry, there are also a large number of ancient poetry. Ancient poems by Chen Yinke, Wu Mi, Liu Wendian, etc. were circulated among teachers and students, and modern writers such as Zhu Ziqing, Yang Zhensheng, and Wang Li also wrote ancient poems. Editing a "modern poem" without "ancient poems" can be called "modern poems". "Poetry Banknote" does not have a single ancient poem, and it is not impossible to understand the title of the book as "Southwest United University Modern Style Poetry Banknote". From the perspective of editorial thinking, "Poetry Banknote" is the inheritance of Wen Yiduo's "Modern Poetry Banknote", and even the word "banknote" is consistent with the latter. In fact, "banknote" is "copying". Wen Yiduo compiled "Modern Poetry Banknote", first of all, "modern" as a concept of time, as opposed to "ancient", the collected poems are all modern social poems; secondly, as a "modern body" concept, do not accept ancient poetry. Therefore, "Modern Poetry Banknote" contains some non-modern poetry. Although "Poetry Money" tries to collect modern poetry, there are also some non-modern poetry. From the perspective of poets, Li Guangtian, Zhao Ruihong, and Miao Hong are not modern poets, and in terms of poetry, "Blood Speaks", "Title Lin Pu (And Preface)", and "In Memory of Mr. Wen Yiduo" are not modernist styles. Thus, modernist poetry is only the majority of the Poems, reflecting the editor's preference.
Smell a lot.
Because there are not many poems outside the modernist, "Poetry Banknote" gives readers the impression that there are not many other poems in the Southwest United University except for modernist poetry, which cannot but be said to be a blind spot in understanding caused by "Poetry Money".
On the other hand, the modernist poetry collected in "Poetry Notes" is not extensive. People always have limitations. Although Du Yunxie knew more about the poetry of the first and middle periods of the Southwest United Congress, he knew less about the poetry of the early and late periods, so he did not receive much. For example, in the early Nanhu Poetry Society, there were fewer poems from the New Poetry Society and the Literary and Art Society in the later period; Shen Jiping, Chen Shi, and Miao Hong were not "alone". Of course, the people in the middle of the book have the advantages that outsiders can't reach, but it is also inevitable to fall into what Mr. Wang Yao said is "hidden" and cannot look at the overall situation, and the drawbacks of "Tang people choose Tang poems". In the "Poetry Notes", the same is a collection of poems, which collects Zheng Min and Du Yunxie, but does not accept Miao Hong and He Da; the same prose poems, which receive Chen Shi, do not accept Liu Beifen. Although it can be understood that the information is difficult to find, Du Yunxie is old, but in fact he has not fully consulted the newspapers and magazines, because even the eighteen sets of poems published by Du Yunxiu in the Ta Kung Pao, "Airport Communication", have been missed. If the alumni of southwest United University were mobilized to join in their work, young editors would not leave such a big regret when they ran to the library.
South Lake Poetry Society. The earliest literary and artistic society of Southwest United University. The picture comes from the documentary "Post-90s".
However, we cannot blame the editor for this. Because what they compiled was neither a "poetry collection" nor a "poetry selection", but a "poetry banknote". "Banknotes" can be banknotes this or that, out of subjective intent, neither seeking perfection nor refinement. What we have to judge is whether this "subjective intention" can meet the needs of the public: the introduction of "Poetry Money" in 1997 is in line with the wishes of readers. But after more than twenty years of reading "Poetry Banknote", it will naturally have higher requirements for it. Perhaps, this is the scale of time, not the flaws of the original book.
In other words, "Poetry Banknote" has pushed the Southwest United Congress and its poetic modernism into society and into the hearts of readers, which is already a very remarkable achievement.
04
Receipts are not limited to the duration of existence of the General Assembly
The editorial idea of "Poetry Banknote", in addition to highlighting the modernist poetry with the highest artistic achievements of southwest United University, and pushing the southwest United University, the place of poetry production, to the society, has two points worth endorsing:
The first is that the receipt of articles is not limited to the existence time of the Southwest United University, but to the actual and style of the creation of the work. The matrix of the work is the writer, the social organization is only the place of personal life and work, the writer may change the place but the writer himself has not changed. The teachers of Southwest United University and the school are contractual, the school is hired once a year, the teachers accept the letter of appointment, and the two sides have established a working relationship. The school implements a credit system, and students can graduate after completing enough required credits. Therefore, the relationship between teacher-student writers and Southwest United University is flexible. Some writers leave southwest united university or publish works after the school is over, or continue their style of creation, it is impossible to separate southwest united university. If the article is received within the time of existence of the Southwest United Congress, it is not in line with the reality of creation, and it also damages the integrity of literary works. Therefore, the "Poetry Banknote" was received from 1937 to 1948, after the end of the Southwest United Congress. For example, the "Collection of Letters of Consolation" was created before the poet entered the Southwest United Congress, but when it was published and published, the poet had already entered the Southwest United University and received it; "Forty Poems" was published in 1948, but most of the poems were created during the Southwest United Congress period, and the subsequent poetry style was consistent with the previous ones, and it was also received. This is worth affirming. If the acceptance is consistent with the school's end, it will shatter the work and its style.
Second, the pattern of teachers and students arranged in volumes. This is probably the creation of the Poetry Banknote. Students include the teacher's work, and the teacher is juxtaposed with himself or even listed after his own name (in a common way), which seems disrespectful and arrogant. As a student of Southwest United University, Du Yunxie has great respect for his teachers, and he has expressed this sentiment in many places. He compiled poems from southwest united universities and ranked the teacher's works in front of the students as a way to express his respect for the teacher. In terms of the actual work, some of the poetic achievements of Southwest United University students exceeded those of some teachers--this is an academic conclusion. But to compile a book is not to compete in the book, but to present the work, so there are different ways to arrange it. In fact, the mixed arrangement of teachers and students is not a big problem, "disciples do not have to be inferior to teachers", teachers are proud of students, and good teachers hope that students will surpass themselves. However, Du Yun xie did not take it, but presented the works in a volume arrangement. This has created a good reputation among southwestern united masters and students. In 2004, I proposed to compile the "Selected Literary Works of southwest United University" to consult Mr. Wang Jingshan, who mentioned the style of "Poetry Banknote" and believed that "this is also a law". My later books were disguised in their arrangement, which can be regarded as accepting the influence of "Poetry Banknote".
05
The value of "Poetry Banknote" in many aspects
So, is the republishment of "Poetry Banknote" intended to further expand the popularity of Southwest United University and the influence of modernist poetry? I am afraid that such a mechanically narrow understanding cannot be made. In fact, the value of "Poetry Money" is multifaceted. The significance of the re-edition of the "Poetry Banknote" should also be understood from many aspects. For example, "Poetry Banknote" is titled "modern poetry", which is not the first book since the 1980s, but it is one of the most influential. After it, there are hundreds of books titled "modern poetry". For another example, "Poetry Notes" includes twenty-four poets, including six teachers and eighteen students, and won the title of "Southwest United University Poetry Group", and later researchers mostly used this name to study the poetry of Southwest United University poets. For another example, the poets Du Yunxie, Mu Dan and Shen Jiping in "Poetry Notes" once participated in the Chinese Expeditionary Force to go to the battlefield of India and Burma, and used their personal experience to write battlefield poems that could see hand-to-hand combat and hear the sound of killing, while Miao Hong charged into battle and sacrificed heroically, and they condensed their lives and poems into four big characters: "Don't fight" - anti-war ideas are the most brilliant lines of poetry they dedicate to mankind! Reading their poems, one can gain the courage to fight and the wisdom of non-war.
The most basic is that there is no southwest united poetry collection to read. The artistic brilliance of southwest united university poetry has been known to people, but to appreciate its beauty can not only rely on reviews or fragments searched everywhere, to determine the correctness of other people's judgments also needs a complete work, further study of southwest united university poetry more needs overall materials, in short, has the needs of the market. Why is it that twenty years after the "Poetry Banknote" is out of stock, there is still no better and more complete collection of poems of the Southwest United University? This is the shame of my waiting: I still can't finish it despite all the difficulties. Perhaps the difficulty we are facing today is still no less than that of Mr. Du Yunxie, but the difficult situation is different.
"Modern Poetry Banknotes of Southwest United University", edited by Du Yunxie and Zhang Tongdao, version: Yazhong Culture | Beijing United Publishing Company, August 2021
In the case of Du Yunxie's death and Zhang Tongdao's change of career, Cao Xuefeng selected "Poetry Banknote" for reprinting based on his reading experience as a student and did a lot of technical work. The first was to change the titles of the original volumes to "teachers" and "students", and to draw up the titles of the two volumes. The second is to withdraw the titles of the poems in the original catalogue and directly use the names of the poems; third, to supplement and improve the poet's profile; the fourth is to change the title of the poems that were later revised to the original words; the fifth is to adjust the order of some poems according to the time of poetry writing; the sixth is to include the original edition of the poems as much as possible; the seventh is to make an inscription to explain the version; the eighth is to make appropriate annotations, pointing out the differences in the text of different versions; and the ninth is to correct some errors in the original "Poetry Notes" The tenth is an appendix to a xiongwen by Zhang Tongdao, which is the peak of research that has not been surpassed so far. These tasks seem to be small, but they require some academic skills and time to do, in order to maintain the original appearance of the poetry of southwest united universities and make it convenient for readers to read.
However, some errors remain uncorrected. Here it is necessary to point out the error of Yang Zhouhan's "Female Lion (IV)". The original title of this poem, "Travel", was included in the "Wen Yi Duo Complete Collection: Modern Poetry Banknotes" and was falsely called "Female Lion". The original version of "Poetry Banknote" recorded the error, and the new version of the "Poetry Banknote" traced back to the "Modern Poetry Banknote", and still retained the error. Errors in the collection can lead to the evil consequences of false rumors, so it is pointed out. I pointed out this mistake in the book "Research on the Literary Society of southwest united universities", and it seems to have gone unnoticed. Although it does not affect the overall perfection of the new edition of the "Poetry Banknote", it makes it flawed and regrettable.