In Mr. Lu Xun's "Two Collections of Essays on Jieting", there is an article called "Three Households in the Literary World". The article was published in the July 1935 issue of the monthly magazine Literature and was later included in the Second Collection of Essays by Jieting. Recently, I read this article by my husband again, and I think it is still very practical.
In this article, Mr. Lu Xun said that there are two major households in the literary world, namely "broken settlements" and "upstarts". The so-called broken settlement has "the money that the ancestors are going down to lose", while the upstarts have "the money that the father has accumulated is still more". Anyway, in the literary world, it is necessary to have some "spare money".
In the literary world, "broken settlement" dominates, after all, they have some foundation. From rich to broken, they inevitably have the feeling of "the world is hot and cold", and they are "lingering" in the text. Mr. Lu Xun said that there is a special charm in the broken settlement, that is, "Gu Ying's self-pity".
Mr. Lu Xun
The upstarts are climbing up the literary world, but after all, they do not have the foundation of "breaking down", so "in the end, it seems a little shallow, and it is pretending to be like a model." "Nouveau riche will also pretend to be decadent, which is their means of "climbing" the literary world. Mr. Lu Xun said that the upstart is not "self-pity", but "smug and complacent".
The "complacency" of upstarts is, of course, unaccustomed to being broken and settled. In the view of the broken settlement, the upstart has a "small family phase", which is the so-called "custom". "He wants to drop the text, and if he doesn't drop it right, it's vulgar." "He wants to write poetry, and if he can't do it well, he's vulgar."
Mr. Lu Xun said that if it lasts for a long time, after the upstart upstart has been uproot for a long time, it is possible to "ya". However, "the rapid changes in the times can sometimes not give him a lot of cultivation work, so the outbreak is not long, and the destruction follows." Mr. Lu Xun named such people "broken upstarts", which is the third "household" in the literary world.
Mr. Lu Xun said that "broken upstarts" will also change, "to go to the positive side, it is less evil; to go to the negative side, it is to be depressed." At the end of the article, Mr. Lu Xun concluded: "The people who have made Chinese literature improve are outside these three households. ”
The articles written by Mr. Lu Xun decades ago still seem to be writing about the current literary world. In our current literary circles, some people are "gu ying self-pity", some people are "self-satisfied", and some people are both "gu ying self-pity" and "self-satisfaction", but they have neither the conviction of "self-satisfaction", nor the style of "Gu Ying's self-pity", "only boredom".
Looking at the current literary world, especially the poetry world, aren't there many "broken upstarts"? They suddenly climbed to the top of the poetry world, as if "bursting". But they are precarious in their high positions, and there are signs of "breaking". Some of them have a very "evil and few" habit and look at everyone with cold eyes, while some of them have become "deflated three" and will only play rogues.
But now the poetry world is still their world, or they have the final say. They touted each other, gave each other awards, and they all became "complacent." However, such praise, such an award, what is going on, their hearts are clear.
What has become of the poetry scene now? It became the object of ridicule and scorn by everyone. The poet became a derogatory term, to the point where everyone shouted and beat. As a result, they felt aggrieved in their hearts, and inevitably secretly "looked at the shadow and pitied themselves".
Let's end this article by borrowing the words of Mr. Lu Xun, "Those who want to make a difference in the Chinese poetry world are outside these three households." "But people outside these three households are not eligible to enter the poetry world." Therefore, the current poetry world is afraid that it will not be saved.