Devote your whole life to the cause of literature and art
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Author:Zhao Yong (Professor, College of Liberal Arts, Beijing Normal University)
After a long wait, Tong Qingbing's "Oral Autobiography" was finally published in January this year. As a disciple of Teacher Tong, I am glad that he was able to leave this oral history, and I am also deeply grateful to all those who have devoted their efforts to the compilation and publication of this book.
Teacher Tong has made a clear description of her life path through its narration - when she was poor when she was young, her grandmother took out 4 silver dollars (that is, the money she was going to use to buy a coffin) for her to study, so she did not drop out of school. Then he went from Liancheng No. 1 Middle School to Longyan Normal School, and from Longyan Normal School to Beijing Normal University, graduated early and stayed on to teach, and eventually became a beloved and respected university professor - this is not only the life trajectory of Teacher Tong, but also the growth journey of many scholars. Compared with his peers, Mr. Tong's luck is that when many people had to abandon their studies in the 1960s, he went to Vietnam and Albania to teach for three years each, and went abroad to meet the world. He said that he had taken almost all the courses of the Chinese Department at Hanoi Normal University, and that he had read poetry and books at Tirana University by "stealing books". Someone summed it up to him: "You finished your master's degree in Vietnam and then your ph.D. in Albania." So it's not surprising that you're now a PhD supervisor. "If you think about it, this is really the truth.
In March 2011, Tong Qingbing taught to undergraduate students at Beijing Normal University. Photo by Zhao Yong
"Park: Tong Qingbing's Oral Autobiography" Tong Qingbing's Oral Narration Luo Ronghai Finished by Guangxi Normal University Press
Teacher Tong's housekeeper's book is "Dream of the Red Chamber", because he has read the book countless times, and several chapters of it have reached the point where he can recite it; and the first paper he wrote was "On the Merits of Gao Yan's Continuation of the Dream of the Red Chamber", which was published in the Journal of Beijing Normal University in 1963, when he was only 27 years old. I am pointing out this fact here to emphasize a truth that Teacher Tong often talked about and also talked about in this book during his lifetime. After staying in the Literary Theory Department, Zhong Zi'ao was his teacher. He believes that reading books and making cards (excerpts) is an important method, before the age of 50, you can't write articles, you can only make cards; only when you become a well-educated person, you can wield an axe. But Teacher Tong realized from Zhu Guangqian, especially from his teacher Guo Preheng, that the correct way to do this is to read and write at the same time, and read while writing. Teacher Tong said that the ancients had the saying of "regretting their few deeds", "but I do not regret, I think this is like a child learning to walk, he can stand up and take the first step, that step may be very unstable, it is going to fall, or crooked, it doesn't matter, you will walk more and more steadily, the more you go, the better." If he had to wait until he learned to walk like an adult, and then he had to walk like an adult, he would never be able to take the first step. ”
Hume said: "Only an autobiography of oneself who has been humiliated can be a true autobiography." "Since remembering this famous quote, I have had a yardstick when reading other people's autobiographies, and Teacher Tong's book is naturally no exception. For example, Teacher Tong specifically talked about the first lesson he took when he was a teacher at the beginning of the year. Although this lesson was carefully prepared, and even the speech was read and given to Mr. Huang Yaomian for advice, he still smashed it. It was also because of the failure of the lecture that he was expelled from the literary theory teaching and research department and became a small section member of the Social Science Department who drank tea and read newspapers.
This is the shame of Teacher Tong, and it should be his unforgettable traumatic experience. Since then, how to improve his teaching level and academic level has become a problem he has pondered repeatedly. There is a section in the book, called "My Teachers", which is about the strong lineup of teachers of the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University in the 50s - Li Changzhi's thinking is active, Tan Pimo is clearly organized, Mu Mu Tiantong's heart is not lost, Liu Pansui loves books as fate, Huang Yaomian advocates professors to govern the school, Guo Preheng's learning is unfathomable, Ye Cangcen lectures calmly, Yang Minru is approachable in class, Deng Kuiying is familiar with poetry, Wang Rubi's annotations on ancient Chinese are not bad, Lu Zongda is familiar with ancient Chinese, and QiGong's "pig running" is broad and profound. Zhong Jingwen's unremitting learning is touching... Teacher Tong should fondly recall every teacher, which is not only to pay tribute to them, but also to summarize their experience in teaching and learning, so that they can melt in their own blood and become an important element of standing up, getting rich and strong. Among these teachers, the people who had a decisive influence on him naturally first recommended Mr. Huang Yaomian.
Mr. Huang Yaomian (1903-1987) was already a first-class professor in the 1950s, a writer and a well-known literary and art theorist. After Mr. Tong stayed in school, Mr. Huang pointed out to him that literary theory, whether teaching students or doing research, should be combined with specific works. That is to say, after speaking of an argument, it is necessary to take the work for analysis and supplement the writer's creative experience. In this way, the lectures not only explain the reasoning, but also lay out the facts, and the students love to listen. Otherwise, "from theory to theory, from concept to concept, from logic to logic, there is nothing concrete", the theory becomes a dry thing, and the student will doze off. And more importantly, and more interesting to the students, "I put myself in it, putting my own seeing, hearing, experiencing, and even dreams into class." Speaking in this way not only makes the lesson richer and more vivid, but also more attractive to students, and enables students to understand that literary theory is closely related to everyone's life, everyone's experience, and everyone's life, not a pure concept, a pure academic. ”
After listening to Mr. Tong's countless lessons, I can testify that Mr. Tong is really good at laying out facts and reasoning, and is really good at "putting himself in it.". What I think about now is that the reason why Teacher Tong later became a lecturer, and even regarded the class as his own festival, was probably due to his initial "shame". Because since you have lost face before, you must find this face later. And this process of searching is actually the process of his deep thinking about teaching skills.
Mr. Huang's importance to the literature and art major is also self-evident. After the state resumed applying for a degree system in the early 1980s, Mr. Huang was reluctant to apply for a doctoral program. At that time, Teacher Tong looked for him, hoping that he would lead the army and take command, but his statement was very rude: "How dare you be so bold, you are young, you want to take a doctor." I'm not a Ph.D., you're not a Ph.D., can we train Ph.D.? It's impossible. How can you get yourself into trouble? It's not good. In 1983, the second declaration, Teacher Tong looked for Mr. Huang again, and this time he openly showed the bottom card with him. Teacher Tong said, "Mr. Huang, now is not the question of whether you want this doctoral point or not, now I want this doctoral program, and our entire teaching and research department wants this doctoral program." This is related to the question of what position our teaching and research department, this teaching and research department you founded, in the whole country. After another bitter persuasion, Mr. Huang reluctantly agreed. As a result, he nodded, and the Discipline of Literature and Art of Beijing Normal University got the first doctoral program in the national university.
Mr. Huang has another remark about Teacher Tong that I think is more important. In May 1979, Mr. Tong accompanied Mr. Huang by train to Xi'an to attend the inaugural meeting of the "Literary and Art Theory Research Association of Colleges and Universities" (later the "Chinese Literary and Art Theory Society"). On the way, Mr. Huang said: "There are often emotional expressions in the things you write, why don't you try to create something?" Write poetry, essays, novels, that's all. The current literary theory is all based on concepts, which is completely a logical deduction, in fact, many concepts are useless, and only some concepts are useful. Through your own creative experience, you know which concepts are useful and which are useless, and then when you lecture later, you will get rid of those that are useless. And those concepts that you feel useful in the creative process, you must focus on understanding first, and then understand them deeply, so that your lessons will be well taught. These words touched Teacher Tong greatly, so in the 1980s, he cooperated with his wife, Teacher Zeng Tian, to publish the novel "Sails of Life" and the novel "Lilac Light". The latter is based on a true story from Teacher Tong's family life, which is actually where Teacher Tong feels humiliated. And he spoke frankly, without the slightest concealment, which also shows that he is open-minded.
In fact, regarding literary creation, Teacher Tong originally planned to do a lot of work in his later years. He said he "conceived at least three novels, and two more were written but not yet published." Because people live to this age, they do not have the impulse to rush to take it out, in short, to do the best, to be able to take it out." But unfortunately, because of his sudden death, not to mention that the idea can no longer be fulfilled, even if it has been written, it is impossible to come out, the reason is very simple, because they have not been "approved for ten years, added and deleted five times".
Now that I think about it, Teacher Tong's practice is not only the result of Mr. Huang's pointing, but also his recognition of a high level. Because in his view, like Lu Xun and Mao Dun, who are engaged in creation and theory at the same time, or from creation to theory, or from theory to creation, this is what a scholar-type writer or writer-type scholar should have. That is to say, only when a person is "amphibious" can he let the theory illuminate the creation and let the creation enrich the theory. Teacher Tong said: "I think that if a teacher can write both papers and novels, it will have a great impact on students. Students will look at the teacher differently and think that the teacher is not simple—not only will he say this, but he will do it. He can say and do, he is a literary man. ”
Sincerely! This is Teacher Tong's "master's own way", he is such a literary person!
Guangming Daily ( 2022-04-09 12th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily