"Cosmic Wind" jointly organized by Tao Kande and Lin Yutang with a fund of 350 yuan each
The first issue of "Wind and Rain Talk" magazine published by Tao Kande's "Talking Magazine"
Tao Kande with his eldest son Tao Ming and eldest daughter Tao Jie (1943)
In 1936, he sent Lin Yutang to take a group photo in the country, with Mrs. He Manqing, the third from the left in the front row, and Tao Kande from the right in the back row
Theme: How to return to the scene of Republic of China literature -
"Tao'an Memories" reading salon
Time: September 24, 2022 evening
Venue: Lama Shuting
Guest: Shu'an Scholar and writer
Xie Qizhang is a bibliophile and expert in modern literary materials
Shi Hang Screenwriter and planner
Yuan Yidan is an associate professor at the Department of Chinese, Capital Normal University
Song Xi is a contributing editor of this book as a researcher of young literature and history
Tao Xuan Granddaughter of the author Mr. Tao Kande
Moderator: Yang Yi, editor of Chung Hwa Book Company
Organizer: Chung Hwa Book Company
Tao Kande (1908~1983), spectral name Guangxie, nickname Zhelu, Zhuan, pen name Yuan, Kang De, Taoan, etc., from Shaoxing, Zhejiang. In his early years, he was an apprentice in Suzhou, went to the northeast to make a living, and in the early 30s of the last century, because he was appreciated by Zou Tao, he served as the editor of "Life" weekly, and later assisted Lin Yutang in editing "Analects" and "The World on Earth". In 1935, he founded the Human Book House and cooperated with Lin Yutang to establish the magazine "Cosmic Wind". Later, he founded Kang De Study Room and presided over Taiping Bookstore. After 1949, he worked as an editor at Chuangxin Bookstore, Shanghai Phison Publishing House, New Knowledge Publishing House, and Ci Hai Editorial Office of China Book Co., Ltd. He is the author of "Collection of Novels in Vain", edited "Peiping Yigu", "Autobiography Chapter I", etc., and translated a variety of works.
One can be a talking point
And many thought-provoking books
Host: Chung Hwa Book Company recently published "Memories of Tao'an", which caused some small sensations. Today, I invite several teachers to share their reading experience, tell the wonderful stories involved in the book, and see if they can bring us back to the literary scene of the thirties and forties of the last century and feel the cultural atmosphere at that time.
Shuan: Tao Kande lived from 1908 to 1983, such a span. He debuted very early, and in the 30s of the last century, he was already a very important figure in the Shanghai literary circle. The three magazines he edited—Analects, Cosmic Wind, and The World on Earth—connected many people, and many important writers in the history of modern Chinese literature had close ties to these three magazines, including Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Guo Moruo, Lin Yutang, and Lao She. Editing magazines is to make friends, such as Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren, who have been out of peace for a long time, but they are also related to Tao Kande.
His main work was in the 30s, and after the 40s his life began to decline, until the 80s. "Tao'an Memories" is actually a record of his uphill and downhill process, first writing "the second half of my life", and then writing "my first half of life". He is from Shaoxing and has a special wind bone. I read this book, and the most interesting thing is this person. Tao was not a literary man, and he did not expect the book to be published at all, nor did he expect the book to be a literary work. But he has dealt with literati for so many years, and the Chinese context at that time was indeed very prosperous and strong, and he wrote this book in the words of that time, and the writing was very clean, especially accurate and vivid. I think a person writes an article, writes his own character, and does not write it on purpose - "I only say things, I meet this person", this is the highest level of the article.
"Tao'an Memoirs" has facts, character, and writing, and it is a book that can become a talking point and has a lot of content that can make us think deeply, and we can think of the era that the author went through. I highly recommend this book, I think it is rare to read works of this era. There is a kind of person in life who is not critical of the world, but if the world picks on him, he will be very clear: "I don't embarrass you, but everyone is absolutely clear about my embarrassment." "We think of the Zhou brothers, who are also from Shaoxing, they are all like this.
We've read many, many about the '30s, but this book is really different from other books. For example, the anecdote about Zou Taofen is something we have not seen in other books; For example, speaking of Lao She, how did he become a professional writer, how much role Tao Qingde played in it, especially how much role he played in the book "Camel Xiangzi", and how the relationship between the two was not good in the future; There are also some magazines edited by Tao Kangde, which I personally think are very important. But I value another point more.
Everyone knows that the Soviet Union published a book called "The Encounter of a Man", by Sholokhov. This is where a great deal of value lies in the book "Memories of Tao'an" - some of the experiences written by the author, we knew a name or a little concept before, but no one actually wrote about it. This book does add a lot of things that I didn't know before. And the author's personal experience is very closely related to our times.
Another point is that this book was written in the early 80s, and people are already starting to be able to say something. He died in 1983, just as his life was finally in time. To sum up, I think this book is a person at a certain age, freely talking about his life's experience, and there is some similarity with the experience of our parents or grandparents. I think this is probably the greatest value of this book, and it is also different from the related literary and historical memoirs.
He edited journals and spawned works
It is an insurmountable history of literature
Xie Qizhang: Song Xiyu, the special editor of this book, has directly dealt with Tao Kande's descendants for five or six years, and Yucheng has more than half of the credit for this book.
Song Xiyu: The first time I learned the name Tao Kangde was when I was a child looking through old books left by my grandfather on the bookshelf of my grandmother's house. One book is "Selected Letters of Lu Xun" published by the Shanghai People's Publishing House in September 1973, which is rich in content but has a deep imprint of the times. The "Afterword" tells many of the recipients in the book, how Lu Xun corresponded with them, and later with the changes of the times, the situation of these people also changed, including Tao Kande.
Many years later, when I was interested in the literary scene of the thirties and forties of the last century, I found that the name Tao Qingde could not be bypassed, and the periodicals he edited and the works he spawned were also inseparable from literary history. But he took a wrong step in the 40s, paid the price for the rest of his life, suffered all the hardships, and was very miserable.
In 2016, I saw Mr. Tao Jie, the eldest daughter of Mr. Tao Kande, write two articles and publish them in Southern Weekend. The article talks about how Lu Xun's letter to her father was lost and auctioned, and she elaborated in detail based on her father's memoirs. I therefore knew that Mr. Tao had left a precious memoir, and realized that it must have a very rich historical value. With the help of a friend, Mr. Zhu Chunxiang of the Shanghai Library, I wrote an email to Tao Jie, saying that this memoir could fill the gap in literary research and suggested that it be officially published. Later, Chung Hwa Book Company was willing to accept the editing and publishing of "Tao'an Memories", and it took several years, and I also did some small work in between.
My position on Mr. Tao is "editor". Everyone has heard of publishers and writers, and it is rare to add the word "home" after the editor. I define this because he edited several important magazines in the thirties and forties, including Analects, The World on Earth, and Cosmic Wind, and made indelible contributions to history. At that time, it was called the "Analect School", which was once stigmatized, and now we see more of its positive value. Tao Kangde also spawned many works, the most representative of which is Lao She's "Camel Xiangzi". Although he and Mr. Lao She later had an unpleasant relationship, "Camel Xiangzi" was born with the help of Tao Qingde, and he also preserved the manuscript as a precious new literary artifact, which is indispensable, undoubtedly contributed. His editing experience and experience, his editing achievements and great deeds are all condensed in "Tao'an Reminiscences", and this aspect of the content is worth reading.
In the book, you will also read some anecdotes from the literary world. For example, Lao She, Zou Taofen, Lin Yutang, everyone used to see mostly that kind of tall and positive description, rarely see them behind the spotlight with ordinary people the same joys, sorrows, sorrows, Tao Qingde's memories are precious.
The appendix contains some articles about Tao, including memories of relatives. At that time, I asked the family to write such an article, considering the need to present Tao Qingde as a person through more perspectives, and the children also had a more complete observation of his life from another perspective. I think it is particularly worth paying attention to the two reminiscence articles about parents written by teacher Tao Jie. In a 1983 letter to a literary researcher in Shanghai, Zhou Li'an, a peer friend of Tao, said that although Mrs. Tao was "a virtuous wife and mother-type figure, she was very well learned" and "especially familiar with the modern literary circle", and Tao Jie's article on her mother fully explained the greatness of this ordinary woman. She also wrote very thoroughly about the details of how the father educated his six children, which is worth reading from the perspective of family education.
When we return to the distant historical scene
What kind of person will be selected as the tour guide
Yuan Yidan: I checked the correspondence with Mr. Tao Jie, probably in March 2017, and I also saw Mr. Tao's long article through Southern Weekend about the publication process of "Camel Xiangzi", and this article quoted a memoir that had not been published at that time. My professional background is modern Chinese literature, and when we talk about the sketch literary craze in the 1930s, especially when we talk about the sketch magazine centered on Shanghai, everyone knows that Tao Kande is a very important trader, and he is also a role such as the "midwife" in many famous articles in the history of modern literature, so I want to know what kind of content the memoir will have.
I contacted Professor Tao Jie through Professor Gao Feng from the English Department of Peking University and wrote to her. At that time, Ms. Tao had been in the United States most of the time, and I happened to come to Peking University Press in April to deal with some related copyright issues, so I made an appointment with her to meet in Chengze Garden. Teacher Tao was very talkative and spent an afternoon sharing with me some of her father's and mother's experiences with herself. Because I was participating in the collation of "The Complete Works of Long Yusheng" at that time, I wondered if the book could be published through Shanghai ancient books. Later, I learned that Xiyu had a similar idea to Chung Hwa Book Company. After five years, today's book has come out in such a beautiful and complete appearance, which not only provides a valuable historical material for the modern literary research community, but also for the general reading community, so today you have the opportunity to talk about the value of this book.
Another small episode, in Tao Kande's circle of friends, everyone is very concerned about his interaction with Zhou Zuoren. I myself have also been following the research of Zhou Zuoren for a long time, and I have a little connection with the descendants of the Zhou family. At that time, I thought that it would be a very good thing to let the descendants of the two families have the opportunity to exchange information in each other's hands, so I went to visit Teacher Tao Jie with Mr. Zhou Jiyi, and there was a photocopy of the correspondence between the two sides currently presented in the front of "Memories". This is also a historical material that has been preserved after such a long history of twists and turns, which is very rare.
Today's salon is called "How to Return to the Literary Scene of the Republic of China", when we return to such a distant historical scene, what kind of people will be selected as tour guides? Instead of resorting to the central figure, it is better to follow a linked figure like Tao Kangde to take a look. The literary world is actually composed of relationships between people, and there are so-called "strong links", such as teacher-student relationships or closer friendships; There are also "weak links" composed of geography, academic affiliation, etc. At critical moments in life, sometimes "weak links" work better than the "strong links" you hope for. The relationship between Tao Kande and Zhitang (Zhou Zuoren), Dingtang (Guo Moruo), and Yutang is a weak link. Strong links belong to a specific cultural class, and strong adhesion to each other means exclusivity; Characters who act as weak links often do not have a clear political and cultural stance, and can connect different cultural circles and political factions. At certain historical moments, the secrets or weaknesses of the central character are reluctant to confide in his strong links, but instead open their hearts to seemingly insignificant weak links.
Everyone may be very impressed that the book mentions that Zhou Zuoren in Tiger Bridge Prison was still reading "Heavenly Nights", and after being released from prison, he lived in the home of his disciple You Bingxi, shirtless in the summer, and put on a coat only when a friend came to visit, shaking not a folding fan, but a pu fan. Such a state was observed by Tao Kande, and he was very careful to record these details. To give another small detail, the book says that Guo Moruo's tone and posture are extraordinary when he speaks, and he knows that the audience will deliberately pause when they want to applaud, indicating that Guo Moruo is not a simple literary scholar, he has a talent as a politician.
Really return to the scene of Republican literature
You have to go back to the yellowed newspapers and magazines that have fallen off that day
Yuan Yidan: In a moment, Mr. Xie Qizhang will show us the essay magazines edited by Tao Kangde, please pay attention to the material form and aesthetic interest of these magazines. I learned through "Tao'an Memories" that the original titles of "Cosmic Wind" and "The World on Earth" were actually cut by Lin Yutang from Zheng Xiaoxu's post, and the book specifically mentioned that the inner font of "The World on Earth" is imitation of the Song script. All these details of the material form of the text, which we often overlook, and the details of the living habits of the characters, will help us return to the scene, brush away the dust of history, and inadvertently glimpse the hidden structure of the literary world and the inner world of the characters, which is why I particularly value Tao.
Song Xiyu: Today, Mr. Xie brought the original copies of the magazines "Cosmic Wind", "The World on Earth" and "Analects" that Mr. Tao Qingde participated in editing. It seems that collectors of modern literary historical materials have long noticed Mr. Tao.
Xie Qizhang: I now have a feeling of returning to the scene of the Republic of China: how important it is to have a daughter. Jin Shiyao, a contemporary of Tao Kande, could not have published so many books in his later years without the help of his daughter. There is also Shao Xunmei's daughter, who has spared no effort in launching her father's books, and now she is about to publish the complete work. The same is true of Feng Zikai's daughter. There was also a once famous painter, Wang Zimei, everyone has never heard of it, and his daughters spared no effort to push his comics, and they did a very hard job. Now when it comes to this book, it also depends on the persistence of Tao Kande's eldest daughter for so many years.
Second, I just communicated with Professor Yuan, in fact, to really return to the scene of Republic of China literature, you must return to the newspapers and periodicals at that time. Yellowed newspapers and slag magazines can truly return to the context of that time. If you really love and really like historical materials, you can't watch TV series, no matter how beautiful the actor, he can't act.
Yuan Yidan: One issue I pay special attention to is the history of Tao Kangde's reading. Just mentioned that his background is not so good, nor is he from the so-called institutions of higher learning and formal education, how did he enter the context of new literature? Everyone looks at how he got involved with literature in the first half of his life, and at first he did not come into contact with the orthodoxy of new literature. When he was an apprentice at a silk mill in Suzhou, he read the supplement of "Declaration" and the supplement of "Xinjolhou Lin". "Happy Forest" is the position of the Mandarin Duck Butterfly Pie, and he was initially attracted to these. Then he entered the new literature in the sense of literary history, through the creation of the "Fantasy Island", which is a group of young guys with a backbone creation society, who want to overturn the established order of the literary world. Tao Kangde came into contact with some resources around the creation society by chance, and was not a new literary orthodoxy that began with "New Youth" and "New Wave".
Then, there are still two paths ahead of him. One was to make ends meet, contributing to a publication called Red Rose, which was actually a novel like "Mandarin Butterfly" or "Saturday School". But he had a sense of hierarchy in his heart and felt that submitting articles to "Red Rose" was just for rice plots, so he didn't want to say hello when he met the editor of "Red Rose" on the tram. He still felt in his heart that there were tall publications, but he could not enter the system of serious literature. This turning point is through Zou Taofen. Zou Taofen's "Life" weekly is not an ideological position, but for ordinary youth, focusing on the joys and sorrows of most people and ordinary youth, the style of the publication is very plain and equal, Zou Taofen is also looking downward, so there will be the so-called "100,000+" sales. Tao Kangde broke away from the Mandarin Butterfly school through Life weekly. He then came into contact with Lin Yutang, through which he entered the literary context of the 1930s, a scene that was already a confrontation between the left and the so-called liberalism. This is the process of his entry into the literary world, not at the beginning there are many cultural resources. He is really groping and getting in touch with these people step by step, so his posture has always been very pragmatic, even business-eyed, and not self-styled as a thinker.
This book is in this year's publication
One of the three best books I've read so far
Shuan: I started to think that this was a tall book, a book about how to edit these magazines, how to deal with these writers, but in fact it is really not the main part of this book. My biggest touch is to return to that person's life scene, the scene of life. "Tao'an Memories" is a textured and interesting book, and I like the text of this book, very clean and concise, you can tell at first glance that the author is a well-rooted person. He didn't have so much schooling, but his good place was just right when describing an event, a situation, or an action, an expression, or a reaction. This book is one of the three best books I've read so far in this year's publication. It was really beyond my imagination, I read it, on the one hand, I fell in love, on the other hand, there are some things I never knew, and this book fills in many gaps in the narrative. There will be no more such books, and there will certainly be no such people.
Shi Hang: Everyone is far away from Mr. Tao, so why are you attracted to him? I said eight words, this person "does not eat stuffy losses, not idleness", this may be the Shaoxing temperament mentioned by Brother Zhi'an. For example, I Shi Hang, this person, others feel as if they are particularly intimidating, I am grateful for this era, allow me to be intimidated, and do not cut off the power and network of my home. But when I changed to some things that happened to Mr. Tao, I was a person who didn't dare to let go, and Mr. Tao had to find two sentences when he got the opportunity. Reading his book has the feeling that any big era passes, it's a state of cover, a mudslide, or like watching the cartoon "Ice Age", after the avalanche, suddenly a piece of snow is moving, and a small head is revealed in it - no matter how much the crust changes, I am still there, so I exist for a while. History really has to thank such people, otherwise many things would really be forgotten and really confused.
In fact, it's not that we want to return to the literary scene, it's Tao Qingde who has been returning to the scene all his life, because too many scenes have been covered. There is a passage in the book that I like very much, Tao Kande said, I read too many old novels, people may be a little pedantic, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Cao Cao said, rather teach me to bear the world, not teach the world to bear me, I think this is not right, rather teach the world to bear me, I can not live up to the world. He felt that to be such a person, he didn't understand until he grew up that if you are not great, you have no chance to be responsible for others, and you have to be borne by others when you are old.
It's a black and white book, but with Easter eggs everywhere, and there's a lot of fun. Some Easter eggs you can't say, you can only watch, don't say it after reading it, you just point it to others, "you look at this, you look at this", and that's it.
Tao Xuan: When Teacher Li from China Book Company invited me, I was actually quite scared. I am the only one of my grandparents' second or third generation who is now in Beijing, but I am also the only one who has never seen my grandfather at all. He died in 1983, when I was less than 1 year old. My father is the youngest son of my grandfather, and this manuscript was left in Xi'an for a while, that is, it was placed in my house, because my father is the best computer among their brothers and sisters, which is convenient to handle. At that time, I really didn't think about publishing this book, and after my father died, the manuscript was placed in a very inconspicuous place, and I had to take it out and find it after looking for it.
My grandmother came to Xi'an in her eighties and lived with us for a while. She is a very decent and calm old lady in Jiangnan, who grew up in the northeast when she was a child, so her Mandarin is still very standard. At that time, she would also tell me some things about the past, but I was too young at the time. I remember when my mom checked my homework, my grandmother helped me cover up. My grandfather himself, they talked less, today I listened to everyone interpret my grandfather's personality and some experiences, very interesting, on the one hand, there is some confirmation mentioned to my family, and on the other hand, I also see my grandfather's hard-boned temper from my aunts and uncles.
To grandpa, I have two impressions of the things they mentioned. One is to say that my grandfather regarded books as his life, as long as he had money, he would buy books, as long as there was no money, he would sell books, and when selling books, people may use cars to pull them, because there are very many. Another thing is how I think he has so many names. I remember one of the pen names was in vain, and a friend of my grandfather said that he had such a difficult life because this pseudonym was broken. Now with everyone's efforts, many people can see my grandfather when they see the literary scene of that year, and I think he is not in vain.
Source: Beijing Youth Daily