On April 23, "World Book Day", the "National Reading Conference • 2021 China Good Book" ceremony was broadcast on CCTV, and Su Cang's prose collection "On Paper" was shortlisted for the "2021 China Good Book", which was praised by experts and readers.
Prior to this, "On Paper" also won a number of important awards, this book was selected into the "China Press, Publication, Radio and Telegraph" 2021 Excellent Bestsellers List Literature Sub-list, China Education News 2021 Teachers Favorite 100 Books, "China Teachers Daily" 2022 "Ten Books" Feature List, etc.
Why can a collection of essays about China's excellent traditional culture be loved by principals, teachers and students? Maybe we can find the answer in the book.
The collection of essays "On Paper" deeply excavates the unique spiritual values, ways of thinking and cultural consciousness of the Chinese nation through the writing of ancient papermaking, grass stage opera class, Longjing tea farmer, beekeeper's family, mulberry silk, rice wine aging, West Lake boat lady and other craft trades, customs and customs. In order to write the subtleties of traditional craftsmanship, Su Cangsang went deep into the lives of craftsmen, ate and lived with them, and worked with them.
In order to write the "Bee Herding Map", Su Cangsang traced the footprints of three generations of beekeepers, took the blood pressure meter and medicine, traveled thousands of miles, footprints throughout Urumqi, Qitai County, Jiangbulak, Biliu River, Yining, Ili River Valley, Guozigou, Sailim Lake; when writing "Spring Silkworm Chronicles", she got up at 3 a.m. and fed 100,000 silkworms with mulberry leaves with silkworm farmers; in order to write Fuyang Yi ancient Zhai ancient method of papermaking, Su Cangsang went to Zhujiamen Village in Dayuan Town, followed the paper master to the mountains to cut moso bamboo; when writing "Follow the Drama Class to Wander", Su Cangsang followed the drama class for a full month, and even sang "Farewell" and "Funeral Flowers" on stage, completely becoming one of them...
Because of this, the prose collection "On Paper" has emerged a large number of rich details.
She wrote of the tea farmer Huang Jianchun: "His hand is the hand of natural tea roasting: five fingers are combined, tightly sewn, from the root of the finger to the finger, there is a slight curved arc, and it fits tightly with the roasted tea pot." Huang Jianchun is one of the best people in the village to stir-fry tea, and the tea he stir-fried is green, fragrant, sweet, beautiful, and feels like touching silk. ”
She wrote in "Winter Brewing": "The appearance of glutinous rice fished out of the spring water is like the moss on the eaves of a winter roof awakened by the spring rain." When poured into the wooden steaming barrel, it looks like a light snow near the end of the year in Jiangnan, thin, thin, and matte. ”
The realities that we ignore become vivid and meaningful in Su Cang's pen. Su Cangsang said: "All my words are mud-stained, dewdrops, steaming experience, is a rushing creative impulse, but also a breakthrough in my own writing ambitions." ”
In the face of the fading ancient art of craftsmanship, thanks to a writer like Su Cangsang, she left us these precious people, rare things and little-known details with her delicate tone.
She observes their clothing, skin color, looks, hands that have been working all year round, observing their daily diet, interpersonal interactions, Su Cangsang is a deep experiencer, which is the preciousness of "On Paper", and it is also the moving place of "On Paper".
Su Cangsang's prose has gradually become a typical representative of current American writing. Her essays are also often used as high school exam questions and college entrance examination mock questions across the country, so she is known as "college entrance examination hot writer". When asked what kind of literary outlook and outlook on life she hopes her prose will convey to teenagers, she said: "Keep the heart of a child, receive the earthly atmosphere, believe in the spirit of all things, and the beauty of the book world." ”
After the publication of the essay collection "On Paper", Su Cangsang took it and held more than ten lectures in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Taizhou and other cities. She walked into campuses in various cities and talked to students across the country about the story behind "On Paper".
Su Cangsang told everyone that writing should be true, and it is necessary to understand the details through practice. She hoped that young students could feel the traditional virtues that shone in the working people on the land of China, and discover the beauty of our customs and humanities.
"Prose should be beautiful, prose should be true, prose should be spiritual, prose should be atmospheric, and prose should be responsible." In the lecture, Su Cangsang pointed out the direction of prose writing for students, and sincerely expressed the hope that everyone would "read more, remember more, observe more, and experience more", and always have a pure heart and a compassionate heart, which is also the only way to improve writing ability.
Su Cangsang hopes that his writing can plant a literary seed in the hearts of students, and also hopes that "On Paper" will become a window for students to understand the lives of working people in southern China.
After the lecture, Su Received Letters from students. One of the letters said that Su Cangsang's writing could resonate with her in every line, "and it also made me realize that only real things can touch people's hearts."
This letter from the student, literally and enthusiastically responding to Su Cangsang and her writing.
There is a great beauty in "On Paper", which comes from the excellent traditional Chinese culture, but also from the sincerity and depth of the writer, which is also the reason why the prose collection "On Paper" can be loved by many teachers and students.
Recommended by famous artists
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Mo Yan (famous writer): Loneliness is not pain, loneliness may be an intriguing happiness. Writing because of loneliness is not for utilitarian purposes. To experience loneliness and dissipate loneliness in lonely writing, such a lonely article must be a readable article. Only talent without loneliness can not work, only loneliness without talent can not work, talent plus loneliness, the taste will come out, like a cup of tea, like a ring of cool jade. I feel that the vicissitudes of the Su family are such people who hide in a small building in the drizzle weather and write lonely articles, if they don't write articles, they must be people holding up oil-paper umbrellas in the alleys... What I appreciate most is that the high intention and the big thought are naturally derived from the small, and they do not speak wildly, do not rise to the false fire, so as to avoid the now popular empty, numb, sour, rotten, and false prose diseases. I like Su Cangsang's prose like this... There are many things to say about the way prose is written, if I want to say it, it is a "true" word, true feelings, and as for what to write, it is secondary. There is truth and greatness, there is truth and beauty, and in this sense, Su Cangsang's prose is not small.
Mai Jia (famous writer): These days slow down, and my mind is dense, just because of "On Paper". When everyone rushed forward, Su Cangsang returned to the farmhouse and tradition, like a loving mother and a woman, weaving herself into the most beautiful and excellent writer (of course). Kind hearted, skilled craftsmanship, willing to be lonely. I've been watching the eruption of vicissitudes, on "Paper" to keep it. This book has a dedication spirit, and it is also the home that the vicissitudes of the text have been looking for.
Yan Jingming (famous critic): When we say that someone is an essayist, it must also be determined according to some kind of standard that does not have to be debated and has no rules, although there are not many people in it, each with its own characteristics, but they always have some commonalities, which makes people feel that it is worth treating as "essayists". Su Cangsang is one of them... The extreme can be where the goal is, and the peak is revealed. Su Cangsang treats his characters with respect, affection and benevolence. She uses a kind of kindness and love of the creator to show the character's kind character and benevolent action.
Meng Fanhua (famous critic): Her articles have both the elegance and interest of traditional Chinese scholars and doctors, and the feelings of home and country of modern intellectuals; there are both state affairs and family affairs, as well as the sound of wind and rain reading. However, the greatest charm of her vicissitudes of prose is not only the object of writing or the use of words, but most importantly, her true feelings, and her words are words that flow from the bottom of her heart.
"On Paper" has a source, a scene, a destination, a sound, color, taste, texture, dense texture and vitality. The work is close to the natural and simple and durable human heart, as well as the beloved love they transmit to the work in their hands, so there is a sense of bright and transparent language, as well as the sensitivity and quiet joy of coexisting with the cold and warm of the characters in the text.
——On Paper, People's Literature, vol
She offers the last silkworm mulberry in Jiangnan, China, between the papers, and the sound of silkworms is like rain, and the pen is turned into a cocoon. The flickering memories of a nation's nebula, the original intention of the civilization of the cultivated weaving society, the distant and nostalgic feelings along the Belt and Road, she weaves the whole imagination of the world with the matter of silkworm mulberry. It is a dictionary of the mulberry walking on the ground, the meeting of the thousand-year-old silkworm daughter's heart and the heart of the wen in the contemporary field, a non-fiction agricultural poem of flexible beauty and literary quality. Arriving at such a grand and profound theme in the form of American text, Su vicissitudes are rarely reached.
——"Spring Silkworm Chronicle" and the award speech of the October Literature Award
"Follow the Drama Class to Wander" presents the unknown living conditions and ideological feelings of the folk drama class, the bitterness and bitterness of the century-old Yue opera are condensed into various moments at this moment, and the ordinary day and night are intertwined with the indescribable life situation of "home" and "wandering", "dream" and "life". It is real and subtle, and it cannot be completed in the study. The neglected real lives around us have become so vivid and meaningful after breaking free from conceptual existence.
—— "Follow the drama class to wander", "October" volume opening words, QiJun Prose Award speech
The "Bee Drawing" is clearly written, like a conversation between living beings, expressing the natural emotion of labor for vitality.
——The first sentence of "Bee Drawing" and "People's Literature"
Editor: Wang Hao
Review: Hu Xiaozhou