Recently, Mr. Wang Shuizhao published "Interview with Wang Shuizhao" (hereinafter referred to as "Interview"), which was dictated by him and compiled by Professor Hou Tijian of Fudan University. The book is a collection of twelve in-depth interviews, covering the three most important stages of his study and teaching at Peking University, the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Fudan University, and covering his research origins and academic interests in the study of the New Song Dynasty, Lexicology, Qian Zhenshu manuscript collection, and literary studies. It can be said that this interview is a comprehensive review and summary of his lifelong study, teaching and research experience.
As early as 1998, Mr. Wang published "Notes on Half Xiaoju", which is a collection of eponymous column articles in the literary supplement of newspapers, and records literary and historical research and reading experience in the form of miscellaneous short articles. In 2008, another "Scales and Claws Anthology" was published, named after Mr. Qian Mu's "Eighty Memories of Parents, Teachers and Friends" "One Scale and Half Claws", which was supplemented at considerable length on the basis of the old text of "Notes on Half Xiaoju", and included articles with academic nature and between essays and essays reading notes and thoughts. As a leading figure in the field of literary research in the Song Dynasty, Mr. has written a large number of academic works, and his profound influence in the academic field is obvious to all. From "Notes on Half Xiaoju" to "Scaly Paw Anthology" and now "Interviews", this series of texts provides us with a literary and historical perspective beyond his dedication to academic works, and also has unique academic and cultural value.
"Interview with Wang Shuizhao", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, July 2022 edition
Just as writer interviews can indicate clues to the interpretation of a writer's work, these essay-like texts are first and foremost an excellent footnote to the scholar's own academic experience and methodological turn. As a member of the 55th grade of the Chinese Department of Peking University, Mr. Xi began a long observation of the issue of literary history in the process of collectively writing "Red Skin" "History of Chinese Literature" and "Yellow Skin" "History of Chinese Literature". His designation as the head of the Song Yuan group of the "Red Skin" History of Chinese Literature, as well as his first personal work, Selected Prose of the Song Dynasty, published while working at the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, were all driving factors for him to make Song Dynasty literature his main field of focus. The response led by him to the Japanese scholar Naito Hunan's "Theory of Change in the Tang and Song Dynasties" from the field of Tang and Song Dynasty literature triggered the theoretical construction of "New Song Studies". A major question associated with the phenomenon of "heavy poetry and light writing" is, what kind of classical prose is qualified to enter the writing of Chinese literary history? What are the criteria for evaluating prose in literary history? These questions gave rise to his keen interest in the study of ancient Chinese texts. Professor Luo Yuming once commented that Mr. Wang's academic characteristics are "a generation of learning", "one aspect of learning" and "consistent learning". Among them, "consistent learning" is to strive to understand and understand the overall tradition of Chinese culture, inherit and carry it forward in the work of literary research, and make it play a beneficial role in the construction and development of national culture at present, and all this does not deviate from the modern and global vision. In terms of methodology, it adheres to the literary and national standards of the study of ancient Chinese literature, and constantly draws on new methods, new visions and new materials from other disciplines. And the secret and method support behind these academic productions can be found in Mr. Mister's series of notes.
Selected Essays of the Song Dynasty, Wang Shuizhao
These essays and interviews not only help to reveal the academic history and research methods of scholars, but also constitute a certain intertextuality between their informal (as opposed to academic works). For example, "Notes on Half Xiaoju" includes a "Meditation on Goose Lake Academy". This academic essay starts from Mr. Mister's experience of visiting the former site of Goose Lake College, nostalgic for the "Zhu Lu Meeting" in which Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan explored learning in the second year of Chunxi, and also unveiled another little-known meeting at Goose Lake after that. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Chen Liang, a thinker who was interested in restoration, asked Xin to abandon his illness and Zhu Xi to go to Goose Lake for a while. However, Chen Liang stayed in the local area for ten days and traveled with Xin Wai to travel to Goose Lake, but Zhu Xi finally failed to go to the meeting as scheduled, and Xin and Chen had to separate. After Chen Liangdong returned, Xin abandoned the disease and chased him with illness the next day, and the middle road side abandoned, and the knots in his heart were not visible. However, regarding Chen Liang's motives for actively promoting the meeting between Xin Waixi and Zhu Xi at Goose Lake, the interaction between Chen Liang and Xin Abandoning Disease in Goose Lake, and the reasons why Zhu Xi could not attend the appointment, all relevant literature has been lost, leaving only the five "He Bridegroom" words sung by Chen and Xin to each other. This essay takes the rather limited lyrics and word order of these five poems as clues, plus the relevant historical, political, and academic side materials at that time, supplemented by reasonable and reasonable contemplation, and makes a prudent and meticulous hypothetical inference: Chen Liang wanted to mediate the differences between Zhu Xi and Xin Jiqiao during the independent reign of Song Xiaozong and build the strongest civil-military alliance at that time, but Zhu Xi and Xin Abandoning Disease not only had different political views on the timing and conditions of the restoration, but also had huge differences in cultural personality, which eventually led to the collapse of the Goose Lake Meeting. In the "Interview", he introduced the origin of the idea of this essay and explained why the material was processed into an essay and an informal academic paper. Since this incident has no clear text so far, there is no empirical material that can be used except for literary lyrics, and if it is forcibly written into a perfunctory text, it is more subjective speculation, and it is a pity to let it go lightly, and it is not recorded with the more flexible essay style, and then finalize and verify when there is a chance to find more materials in the future. This disposition demonstrates the wisdom of senior scholars and the serious stance of academic papers. In addition, the "Interview" re-raised the issue of the choice between the research paths of "Lu Xun type" and "gull appearance" mentioned in "Notes on Half Xiaoju" and "Scales and Paw Anthology", and reiterated the judgment that the interpretation of national literature from foreign theoretical viewpoints must be based on the needs of national literature and the enhancement of understanding of national literature first. These texts with different creative times are interrelated and complementary to each other, and although each has its own social text structure that should be placed, it helps us to restore the stable meaning of the corresponding works and scholarly insights, but at the same time points to a richer cultural space beyond the sum of the social texts in which they are located. The conclusions drawn in the text range from long-term and repeated thinking on the same issue to pertinent and targeted emphasis and adjustment.
The emergence of new technologies or new media often leads to the evolution of research methods, and the updating of research methods will create new opportunities for the development of disciplines. Before students write their papers, he always reminds everyone to always grasp the articles from the standpoint of literary research and avoid "part-time work" for other disciplines. However, he has always been open and sensitive to the development of new trends and theories in other disciplines. For example, although he has reservations about the direct application of statistical methods of quantitative research to the receptive aesthetics of poetry, he also encourages students to use them in certain quantifiable interdisciplinary areas. "Starting from quantitative analysis and then qualitative analysis is still quite effective within a certain scope of literary studies", as long as you are aware of the validity boundary of quantitative analysis methods in the humanities. His views on informal texts such as notes and interviews are consistent with his methodological flexibility. For example, there is an article in the "Notes on Banxiaoju" entitled "The First History of Chinese Literature", which talks about the pioneers of Chinese people's self-written literary history as Beilin (Lin Chuanjia) and Nanhuang (Huangren), and briefly marks the characteristics of their respective writings. In 2004, Mr. Huang presented a research paper on the first "History of Chinese Literature" written by Chinese people at the "International Symposium on the Centennial Research on the History of Chinese Literature" jointly sponsored by Peking University and Soochow University, that is, he made an academic output on the ideas provided by this reading note, and then combined with the "History of Chinese Literature" saved by Huang Ren's visit to the library of Soochow University, further revised and written into a text, and finally published "The First Part of the History of Chinese Literature Written by Chinese People" in Chinese Culture in 2008. The Controversy and Its Implications for Academic History". From notes to theses, from the first draft to publication, after more than ten years of literature collection and reflection, this important topic related to the history of local literature written by Chinese people has been completely revealed and thoroughly analyzed. Comparing the earliest reading notes with the final academic papers, we can also understand Mr. Zhu's academic spirit and deductive paths.
Conducting interviews and compiling their results was originally one of the main research methods in the social sciences. The oral history research of historical scholars emerged in the 40s of the 20th century, and its founder, Professor Alan Nevins of Columbia University in the United States, relied on the emerging recording technology at that time to collect and study historical information about individuals, families, important events or daily life. Memories and perspectives shared by oral history narrators are delivered to the audience through unique auditory recordings. The most common form of oral history collection is interviews, which are initially preserved in the form of audio or video recordings, and then in the form of written records to make the information accessible to more people. After the interview method of oral history was introduced to China, it has been widely used in historical research, especially the collection and collation of oral materials of witnesses of major historical events in modern times, and a large number of precious historical materials have been preserved. Around the 60s of the 20th century, when Mr. Tang Degang, a Chinese-American professor, participated in the oral history work of the Department of History of Columbia University in the United States, he completed a number of oral history works of modern and modern military and political scholars, including "Hu Shi's Oral Autobiography", "Memoirs of Li Zongren", "Memoirs of Gu Weijun", "Zhang Xueliang's Oral History", etc., and became the pioneer of oral history in China. With the in-depth understanding of oral history or interview methodology in domestic academic circles, oral history or interview has become a basic method for carrying out various types of social science research, and is an important prerequisite for research work. The focus of oral history or interviews has gradually shifted from a relatively limited historical perspective to a broader cultural field, and senior scholars from various disciplines have become the focus of interviews.
During his tenure at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Mr. Wang worked with Mr. Qian Chung-shu for a long time and often had the opportunity to learn from him in group projects. Among them, the biweekly conversation with Mr. Qian has become his most cherished memory: "From these daily conversations, I have only slightly glimpsed the profound and vast realm of Chinese academic culture and realized some real artistic heritage." In a relaxed and pleasant conversational atmosphere, the speaker has no taboos, and the listener does not need to sit upright, enjoying the feast of the flow of ideas in the joy of the guests and hosts. Unfortunately, the content of these interviews was self-destroyed by Mr. in the catastrophe, and there are few people to recall. As Mr. said, the interview body has its own special carrier value: "Because some things, when writing articles, it is difficult to say, more personal, and some words are irrelevant, it is not appropriate to write into the article, academic papers can not be too branched, interviews are a good form, especially some meaningful details can be written in." Interviews are more vivid, lively, and casual than ordinary papers, and it may be possible to record some really living things in casual conversations. It is precisely because of this consideration that although Mr. has not been qualified to do interviews many times, he has provided us with this valuable interview record under the repeated persuasion of his teachers and friends.
Wen Wei Po once reported on the publication of "Qian Zhenshu Manuscript Collection Chinese Notes", and the title "Experience in Notes Selection and Material Hooking" was very popular with Mr. Wang. In the "Interview", he said that the academic works left by Mr. Qian Chongshu have different forms, "Guan Cone Compilation" is a mature academic note, "Rong'an Guan Notes" is a semi-finished academic work that has been initially edited, and "Chinese Notes" is the most original reading notes. However, the value of this "most primitive" material is no less than that of the "ruminated" and carefully organized notes by the author himself, because "the form of the "manuscript collection" is fragmentary, its content and meaning 'referent' are uncertain, and the 'signifier' is multi-artistic and multi-dimensional." The same is true of the interview text, which, although relatively focused on the topic, can still give readers a sense of constant reading and new play because of their divergent and eclectic arrangement and play.
Collection of Manuscripts of Qian Chungshu, Commercial Press, August 2011
The emphasis on the academic value of the "Collection of Manuscripts of Qian Zhenshu" and the openness to the form of interviews and the text of notes actually reflect Mr. Qian's constant concern for literary research and its carrier form. From his time at the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences until his teaching at Fudan University, he was very concerned about the study of ancient Chinese texts. The compilation of the "Literary Dialects of the Dynasties" is limited to the style and operability of the collection, and the inclusion criteria are strictly limited to monographs and separate volumes of literary review materials. However, there are still quite a few literary materials in scattered form, scattered in various collections, notes, letters, inscriptions, history books, and fangzhi, leaving them for the visit and decision of those who have a heart. Of course, the ancient literature that constructs the national standard has to find material in the concentrated discussion in the volume, but the true face of ancient literature is likely to be hidden in these hidden corners. Mr. Qian's knowledge has been questioned by overseas sinologists, and has been evaluated as unsystematic and vague. Nowadays, scholars have gradually realized that the one-sided pursuit of systematization, the absolute solidification of signifiers and signifiers is also a theoretical myth that should be vigilant. In fact, Mr. Qian has already mentioned that "'few words' and 'chickens and dogs' often express superb insights that benefit people's minds" ("Notes on the Culture of the World of Qian Zhenshu"). Fragmented thinking, informal texts, may not fail to inspire transcendent inspiration. Traditional Chinese holistic epistemology and hermeneutics, characterized by empirical sensibility, comprehensive associations, and intertextual metaphors, are sufficient to reconcile and eliminate the cult of monism and difference brought about by Western logocentrism.
Carefully reading the words in the "Interview", I felt the gentleman's kind and easy tone, as if he had returned to the class of the past. When he was studying under his husband, he was already an academic idol who "looked up to him", and those who did not peek into the mystery of the church were inevitably confused and uneasy. However, in every class, Mr. Mister will discuss with us in an equal and gentle way about the academic issues he has recently cared about, listen carefully to the students' naïve opinions, and never hide that he will also encounter difficulties in deduction and argumentation. The gentleman's relaxed attitude of sitting and talking, the relaxed and focused chat style, the virtue in the middle and the light in the outside, make every listener present feel like a spring breeze, every time they deeply feel, in the majesty, in addition to gossip, there is no Wen Ye.