The magazine founded by Ba Jin and published "Me and the Temple of Earth" is 70 years old

On the exterior wall of No. 675 Julu Road, Shanghai, there are several signboards of "Shanghai Writers Association", "Harvest", "Shanghai Literature" and "Sprout". Among them, Shanghai Literature, as the earliest comprehensive literary and art journal in Shanghai after the founding of New China, celebrated its 70th anniversary this year.

In the editorial office of Shanghai Literature, there is a well-made Western-style armback chair, which has a history of nearly 100 years. Since its inception, Ba Jin, Jin Yi, Wei Jinzhi, Zhong Wangyang, Ru Zhijuan, Li Ziyun, Zhou Jieren and other predecessors have all sat in this chair, leading Shanghai Literature through every stage of contemporary literary history and witnessing the ups and downs of new Chinese literature.

"Literature and Art Monthly" era

The history of Shanghai Literature began with the founding of Literature and Art Monthly in January 1953.

In 1952, the East China Federation of Literature and Culture and the Shanghai Federation of Literature and Culture co-located at No. 675 Julu Road. In the second half of the year, Ba Jin, Huang Yuan, Tang Tao, Wang Xiyan, Shi Ling, Liu Xuewei, Jin Yi, Lai Shaoqi, and Wei Jinzhi formed an editorial board and began to prepare for the organ's literary and art journal "Literature and Art Monthly". Ba Jin is the editor-in-chief, but not responsible for the specific work, and Huang Yuan, Liu Xuewei, and Tang Tao are the deputy editors. The nine editorial board members are all young writers who became famous in the 30s of the 20th century, and most of them have edited fan titles. They were all "young writers around Lu Xun", and the four characters of "Literature and Art Monthly" were collected from Lu Xun's calligraphy at the suggestion of Liu Xuewei.

In January 1953, the inaugural issue of "Literature and Art Monthly".

"Literature and Art Monthly" has had a strong fandom since its inception. At the same time, he believes that except for some policy articles, what is said in other articles is not always a conclusion, and advocates that different opinions should have the opportunity to be fully expressed, discuss with each other, and explore each other in order to reach the correct conclusion. For these somewhat "heretical" ideas, the "Literature and Art Monthly" adopted a "roundabout" strategy and tried to be tactful in its expression.

In the early days, "Literature and Art Monthly" was full of vitality, and successively published works by old writers such as Ba Jin's "Strong Warrior", Shituo's "Forward Song", Bian Zhilin's "Cailing", and also launched new works such as Wang Anyou's "Top Dressing", Chen Dengke's "Leaving Hometown", Gao Xiaosheng's "Termination of the Contract", Changyao's "Two Poems" and other new works.

In the eyes of the circle, "Literature and Art Monthly" is strict on the outside and wide on the inside; To the new strict, to the old lenient. At an editorial meeting, an editor suggested that the works of an old writer described a large number of trivial matters of life and did not show the main idea, and one editorial board member cited Belinsky's words to refute it: "Only those who describe daily life are geniuses, and those who pursue vigorous struggle scenes are mediocrities." ”

Since the inception of the "Literature and Art Monthly", there have been so-called "Hu Feng School" and "Zhou Yang School". The editor-in-chief Ba Jin and the first deputy editor Huang Yuan rarely intervened in editorial affairs, and the real masters of the editorial board were deputy editors Liu Xuewei and Tang Tao, of which Liu Xuewei, who actually presided over the work, was supported by Peng Baishan, then deputy minister of culture of the East China Military and Political Commission, and Tang Tao was supported by Xia Yan, director of the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. As early as the 30s, Xia Yan and Zhou Yang were listed among the "Four Men", while Liu Xuewei and Peng Baishan had been helped by Lu Xun and Hu Feng, and had a personal relationship with Hu Feng.

Soon, Liu Xuewei ceased to be the deputy editor of the "Literature and Art Monthly", and Tang Tao became the actual person in charge. In December 1953, the seventh meeting of the Presidium of the Shanghai Writers Association decided to reorganize the editorial board of Literature and Art Monthly, consisting of eight people, Ba Jin, Tang Tao, Jin Yi, Wei Jinzhi, Wang Ruowang, Wang Yuanhua, Ye Yiqun, and Kong Luosun, and Liu Xuewei no longer served as the editorial board.

Liu Xuewei has a strong personality and dares to do things; Tang Tao, on the other hand, lacked revolutionary qualifications and had a harmonious personality. In 1955, Liu Xuewei was implicated in the "Hu Feng case" and was listed as the second person in the case, and was wronged for 24 years, and was not rehabilitated until 1980.

After these changes, the fandom of "Literature and Art Monthly" gradually faded. At the end of 1954, the Literature and Art Monthly launched a self-criticism, criticizing the newspaper's inappropriate pursuit of artistic "perfection" and ignoring the new forces from the masses that thrived every day in life.

In the spring of 1957, Qian Gurong, a professor of Chinese at East China Normal University and a literary theorist, wrote a long essay entitled "On "Literature as Anthropology". At that time, the Soviet "Principles of Literature" said: "The depiction of people is the tool used by the artist to reflect the overall reality." Qian Gurong pointed out that of course, literature can and must reflect reality, but he opposes the reflection of reality as the direct and primary task of literature, especially the depiction of people as only a tool and a means to reflect reality, otherwise the result is, "the person who is regarded as a tool to reflect reality has really become a tool without spirituality, and does not attract people's interest at all." This article became one of the most influential literary criticism articles during the period when the "double hundred" policy was strongly advocated.

Fu Aiyi, head of the theory group of the "Literature and Art Monthly", once recalled that the editorial board thought that this was an article with great theoretical value but was likely to attract criticism. Tang Tao was always cautious, he estimated the possible consequences, circulated the article to the editorial board members before it was published, sent someone to communicate with the author, and printed 50 copies of the article and distributed it to the relevant leaders of the East China Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, as well as some famous literary theorists and professors for review. Feedback varied, but none of them were completely negative. Finally, the article was published in the May 1957 issue of Literature and Art Monthly.

This coincided with the eve of the "anti-rightist" movement. Soon, Wen Wei Po was the first to publish critical articles, and wider criticism followed, and a special collection and publication of the "

Fu Aiyi once said that Tang Han's literary style resembles Lu Xun, and he also takes Lu Xun as a model everywhere in his dealings. Lu Xun's friend Shen Yinmo has said many times: "Lu Xun is deep in the world, good at coping, and like the ancient words he is good at, it is beyond the reach of the scholars and doctors at that time." Qian Gurong survived and was not branded as a "rightist", which, in addition to many factors, is also related to the fact that Tang Tao took some measures before publishing the article, especially the extensive solicitation of opinions from all sides.

Several times renamed

After the "Great Leap Forward", readers began to tire of the literary and artistic works of the false Great Sky. At the same time, "Literature and Art Monthly" is often mistaken by readers for a literary newspaper, and its circulation has decreased significantly. The editorial board decided that the content and title of the "Literature and Art Monthly" should be changed.

In October 1959, "Literature and Art Monthly" was renamed "Shanghai Literature".

In October 1959, "Literature and Art Monthly" was renamed "Shanghai Literature", positioning it as a large-scale comprehensive literary monthly magazine in China, focusing on creation, facing the whole country, and highlighting the characteristics of Shanghai. After 6 years and 9 months and 81 issues, the Literature and Art Monthly came to an end.

In January 1964, Shanghai Literature was renamed Harvest.

As early as 1957, Liu Baiyu, Shao Quanlin, Ba Jin, Jin Yi and others founded the first large-scale literary magazine "Harvest" in New China, with Ba Jin and Jin Yi as editors-in-chief. The magazine was criticized by the "fandom" and "Independent Kingdom", and was affected by the difficult economic situation, and it ceased publication in 1960. Therefore, after Shanghai Literature was renamed "Harvest", people called it "New Harvest" or "Small Harvest".

In January 1964, Shanghai Literature was renamed Harvest.

The "New Harvest" issue was recalculated and marked as "Total No. 1", and works such as "Seventeen Poems of Mao Zedong", Haoran's "Bright Sun", Ulaanbagan's "Burning Fire", Jin Jingmai's "Song of Ouyang Hai" and other works were published, but they only lasted for two years and published 14 issues, so that in May 1966, they were ordered to stop publishing and the editorial board members were successively decentralized.

In October 1977, Shanghai Literature was revived under the name "Shanghai Literature and Art".

In October 1977, "Shanghai Literature" was the first to resume publication among the old literary journals in Shanghai, and the editor-in-chief was still Ba Jin. At that time, the influence of the "Gang of Four" had not yet been eliminated, and the editors of Shanghai Literature believed that the old title was risky, and after repeated discussions, the title of the issue was "Shanghai Literature and Art", and the publication said: "Encourage the free development of different forms and styles in art, and advocate free debate of different opinions on art." We first ask the author to create a work that reflects our great era. ”

In January 1979, "Shanghai Literature and Art" was changed back to its original name "Shanghai Literature".

In January 1979, "Shanghai Literature and Art" was changed back to its original name "Shanghai Literature", which is still in use today.

Golden years

Editor Peng Xinqi once recalled that Shanghai Literature was rejuvenated as soon as it was restored. The editorial department pays great attention to cultivating the strength of young literature in Shanghai, and has spent a lot of effort to cultivate and support writers, often organizing authors to collect styles, and arranging monthly literary exchange activities. The editorial office also compiled a "Writing Reference" for communication with literature lovers.

In the early winter of 1982, Cai Xiang, who worked in a factory in Shanghai, submitted a manuscript to Shanghai Literature and was invited to the editorial office for an interview. The first time he went, he met Zhou Jieren, the young and thin and vigorous theoretical group leader in Room 304 on the third floor of the Shanghai Writers Association. The second time I went, I met Li Ziyun, deputy editor-in-chief. Li Ziyun is in his early fifties, dressed freshly, with a Beijing accent, half-leaning on a black cowhide sofa to read a manuscript, in Cai Xiang's opinion, even the smoking posture has a calm and unhurried elegance.

Li Ziyun has served as Xia Yan's secretary for a long time, she treats people sincerely, speaks straightforwardly, and is close friends with Qian Gurong. She is a very insightful literary critic, although she is not from a professional background, she has a great influence in the national literary circle, and has cultivated a group of literary critics such as Chen Sihe, Wang Xiaoming, Chen Depei and so on.

Sometimes, Cai Xiang felt that Li Ziyun was a little too "politicized", but later he found that this was a very valuable character in her. Li Ziyun is very strict with editors and extremely disgusted with using power for personal gain, she does not oppose editing writing, but does not agree with editors publishing articles in her own journals. In the 80s, she was the one who wrote the most checks, and she wrote happily and never complained. All these have profoundly influenced the "Shanghai Literature" team.

At that time, Room 304 was very lively every day, and sometimes you would see well-known writers such as Wang Meng, Deng Youmei, Feng Jicai, Li Tuo, Wu Qiang, Ru Zhijuan, and Wang Anyi, as well as a group of outstanding scholars such as Chen Sihe, Wang Xiaoming, Nan Fan, Li Jie, and Yin Guoming. Some people are often called in to revise the draft, such as Wu Liang, Wang Xiaoming, Cheng Depei, Cai Xiang and other grassroots critics, and it is usually Zhou Jieren who chairs the draft.

At noon in winter, many people will go to Room 304 to warm up the stove, exchange all kinds of news, analyze the situation, sometimes happy, sometimes worried.

Writer Chen Cun once wrote that he did not know anyone in the literary world at that time, he was a spontaneous author, his attitude was "arrogant", and he did not give gifts, and although his artistic opinions were different, the editors of Shanghai Literature were very tolerant, dedicated and talented.

He recalled that Yu Bingkun became his first responsible editor in 1979 because of "Two Generations", and when Yu Bingkun deleted the manuscript, Chen Cun resolutely refused, word by word, Yu Bingkun finished deleting it and asked him to copy it again, so he copied the deleted one back. Cao Guanlong even ran to the printing house by himself and rightfully changed the deleted words back. Before the novel was published, the two became known for refusing to revise it.

Li Ziyun once summoned Chen Cun to persuade him to change the overly negative word "survive" in the novel, Chen Cun retreated and said to "survive", Li Ziyun kindly asked, why can't he say "life"? Chen Cun heard that Zhou Jieren deleted a sentence from his "Blue", and rushed to call Zhou Jieren up from his lunch break bed, saying: "Old Zhou, you are too old to understand at all!" Zhou Jieren couldn't stand the entanglement, so he had to hook that sentence back and ask him to take responsibility for himself.

For a time, Chen Cun was the most published Shanghai author of Shanghai Literature, participated in almost all PEN meetings organized by the editorial office, and won three novel awards. In 1985, when the Shanghai Writers Association finally won five professional writers' places, Ru Zhijuan did not fight for his daughter Wang Anyi, but told Chen Cun to quickly go through the transfer procedures. For a month or two, Chen Cun was the only professional writer in Shanghai.

At this stage, Shanghai Literature published a number of influential novellas, including Chi Li's "The Ballad of the White Cloud Cangdog", Zhu Sujin's "Golden Leaf", Wang Anyi's "Love and Love in Hong Kong", and the works of Liu Xinglong, Zhang Xin and others. Most of these writers are regarded as the backbone of the literary scene of the nineties.

Literary critic Wu Liang once recalled that after 1985, the publication of literary journals was extremely prosperous, and he and Cheng Depei soaked in the library of the Writers Association all day, and every month the new periodicals would be read, and they could get news in advance about what works Mo Yan and Han Shaogong would come out.

In December 1990, Yao Yuming, editor of Shanghai Literature, went to Beijing to write a manuscript and specially visited the writer Shi Tiesheng. It was about half past ten in the evening, and Stetson had just returned from the Temple of Earth, and they chatted for a while. Until the parting time, Yao Yuming instinctively asked: "What have you been doing recently?" Shi Tiesheng seemed to have something to say, hesitated for a while, and finally said: "Well, forget it, I'll talk about it later." ”

Yao Yuming did not expect that soon after returning to Shanghai, he received a thick letter from Shi Tiesheng, which contained the manuscript "Me and the Temple of Earth", about 15,000 words. At that time, the prose published by "Shanghai Literature" was generally six or seven thousand words, and Shi Tiesheng asked in the letter whether the manuscript was too long, and whether it was the way of "Shanghai Literature".

Yao Yuming was very excited after reading it, rushed to the office of deputy editor Zhou Jieren, and almost shouted to him: "Shi Tiesheng has come to the manuscript, the writing is really good!" Zhou Jieren also said excitedly after seeing it: "Hair, send it immediately!" The first issue next year. ”

Considering that the novel in this issue was not heavy enough and lacked a key draft, Zhou Jieren proposed to publish "Me and the Temple of Earth" as a novel. He believes that "Me and the Temple of Earth" is rich in connotation and not single in structure, and it is valid to publish it as a novel. But Shi Tiesheng strongly disagreed, saying that this is prose, it cannot be published as a novel, and if "Shanghai Literature" has difficulties, it is okay not to publish it.

In the end, the title of the column set by "Shanghai Literature" was neither novel nor prose, but "Shi Tiesheng's recent works", and Shi Tiesheng accepted. And this also triggered the subsequent stylistic debate of "Me and the Temple of Earth".

After the publication of "Me and the Temple of Earth", some readers said: In 1991, there were no articles in the entire Chinese literary circle, only "Me and the Temple of Earth" standing. The famous writer Han Shaogong said: "I thought that even if the 1991 novel had only one of his 'Me and the Temple of Earth', it could be said to be a good year. ”

A major town of literary criticism

Li Tuo once said that Shanghai was the main source of literary reform in the 80s, and a very important reason was that Ba Jin was in Shanghai. Cai Xiang, who was transferred to Shanghai Literature as a theoretical editor in 1983, recalled that the theoretical section of Shanghai Literature was very active, often organizing important literary discussions, and there were many literary exchange activities.

Even in its own golden period, the influence of Shanghai Literature was never as good as "Harvest", and even less so than "People's Literature" during the period when Wang Meng was editor-in-chief. However, "Shanghai Literature" pays more attention to theory, once made its own unique voice in the system, and played an important role in many nodes that influenced the development of national literary and art theory. Among them, the role of Li Ziyun is inseparable from many such nodes.

In 1982, writers Feng Jicai, Li Tuo, and Liu Xinwu exchanged correspondence to discuss the issue of "modernism." "Modernism" was a sensitive issue at that time, and literary journals in Beijing were reluctant to publish it, so Li Tuo and others had to turn to Shanghai and contact Li Ziyun. This set of correspondence was published as scheduled in Shanghai Literature No. 8, 1982, and the three letters were named "Chinese Literature Needs "Modernism" - Feng Jicai's Letter to Li Tuo", ""Modern Novel" Does Not Equal "Modernism" - Li Tuo's Letter to Liu Xinwu" and "Need to Think Calmly - Liu Xinwu's Letter to Feng Jicai".

On the day that the journal left the factory, Li Ziyun just arrived at the office in the morning when she received a call from Feng Mu, saying that the issue was very sensitive at present, and that focusing on discussion would cause trouble, and asked her to withdraw this set of articles, but Li Ziyun thought that it was not important to discuss it. Feng Mu said, "You know what? A rat poop wants to spoil a pot of porridge. "Li Ziyun said, my rat poop is not as good as this pot of porridge." She said: "You can't control me, the municipal party committee manages me." ”

In the following years, Feng Mu no longer paid attention to Li Ziyun, and the two did not speak when they met. Later, Li Ziyun learned that this was not Feng Mu's opinion, and Feng Mu called to help her. For this reason, she specifically apologized to Feng Mu in the afterword of the book "Those People and Things I Experienced".

In December 1984, Ru Zhijuan, Li Ziyun, and Zhou Jieren, responsible persons of Shanghai Literature of Shanghai Writers Association, planned and held a small-scale symposium on "Literature in the New Period: Review and Prediction" in Hangzhou, and once again became the vanguard.

More than a dozen writers attending the meeting included Ru Zhijuan, Li Tuo, Zheng Wanlong, A Cheng, Chen Jiangong, Han Shaogong, Chen Cun, and Li Hangyu. Among the dozen or so commentators attending the meeting, six were from Shanghai: Wu Liang, Cheng Depei, Chen Sihe, Xu Zidong, Cai Xiang and Nan Fan.

At the meeting, the novel "The King of Chess" published by Ah Chenggang in Shanghai Literature was discussed. Han Shaogong listened to the meeting for two days, and remained silent, just saying that he wanted to get something when he went back. The following year, he published the article "The Roots of Literature", and "Root-Seeking Literature" was named. In the following years, Shanghai Literature became an important base for root-seeking literature.

The "Hangzhou Conference" not only influenced the trend of contemporary novels, but also caused a group of avant-garde young critics in the "Shanghai Criticism Circle" such as Wu Liang, Xu Zidong, Cai Xiang, Cheng Depei, Yin Guoming to rise, leading the "85 New Wave" and becoming a force guiding the development of literature outside the "Beijing Criticism Circle".

Among them, Wu Liang and Cheng Depei were both amateur writers who had not entered university, and because they were attracted the attention of Li Ziyun and Zhou Jieren because of their diligent writing of critical articles, they were transferred to the creative research room of the Shanghai Writers Association and began their careers as professional critics. Mr. Wu once said that Shanghai Literature had launched a large number of young critics, and by 1985 their influence had grown, and many magazines competed for their articles, just as galleries now compete for famous painters.

Later, in its second issue in 1985, Shanghai Literature published "The Temptation of Gundes", which was recorded in the history of contemporary literature. The author Ma Yuan became famous in one fell swoop, and avant-garde novels became famous.

In the mid-80s, Zhou Jieren began to fully preside over the work of Shanghai Literature. His daily work has become "pragmatic", and he interacts closely with entrepreneurs in order to solve the cost of running a journal. Cai Xiang has said that this is a necessary transition stage for both Zhou Jieren and them, allowing them to move out of some kind of personal illusion of the early 80s and into the real Chinese society.

In 1998, Zhou Jieren died of illness, and Cai Xiang took over as the executive editor of Shanghai Literature. In the January 2000 issue of "Editor's Note," he said the magazine would continue its previous serious style, rejecting kitsch and "allowing real ideas and art to grow here, narrating a real China, a real world."

In April 2003, Chen Sihe, head of the Chinese Department of Fudan University, received an invitation from the Party Group of the Shanghai Writers Association to become the editor-in-chief of Shanghai Literature.

Chen Sihe recalled that at that time, the magazine was in trouble, owed half a year's salary, and the editor-in-chief resigned to become a professor at the university. Probably for the sake of balance, he was invited as a foreign monk. At that time, the people around him did not approve of him becoming editor-in-chief, some were worried about his body, and some felt that this was a place of right and wrong. But he himself has been thinking about how intellectuals should play their role in the era of market economy since the 90s, and felt that this position could take into account the education, publishing and humanities academic thought dissemination he was interested in, and constituted an ideal position for intellectuals, so he finally decided to accept this position and go to the bull knife to try.

In the 80s, the academic articles of Chen Sihe and others were published in Shanghai Literature, but after the 90s, Shanghai critics could not find a magazine in the local area that could provide a large number of review articles. Some people think that too many theoretical articles will affect the readership, but Chen Sihe believes that theoretical articles should never be withdrawn from Shanghai Literature, which is the tradition and responsibility of this journal.

During the same period as Chen Sihe, the Shanghai writer Zhao Lihong became the director of Shanghai Literature magazine.

In 1978, Zhao Lihong was still a student of the Chinese Department of East China Normal University and sent a manuscript to the newly revived Shanghai Literature. One day, he received a letter from the editor Zhao Zi, asking him to talk to the editorial office. Zhao Zi is an old qualified editor, and his literary career began in the 40s of the last century, when he was an underground party and an old revolutionary. His letters were written with a brush on rice paper letterhead, solemnly and carefully. Zhao Lihong took Zhao Zi's letter and walked into the editorial office of Shanghai Literature for the first time. At that time, Zhao Zi was sitting on the nearly 100-year-old Western-style chair, which has been in Zhao Lihong's office since then.

When Zhao Lihong first took over as president, it coincided with the magazine's 50th anniversary, and he asked his respected teacher, Qian Gurong, to inscribe Shanghai Literature. Despite the hardships, Qian Gurong has never given up his views, does not say things against his will, and writes articles that he is unwilling to write. In Zhao Lihong's view, this name is the pride of East China Normal University and Shanghai's literary circles, as well as the pride of Chinese intellectuals.

Qian Gurong inscribed five big characters with a brush: "Literature is the study of people." The dignified and powerful painting hung in Zhao Lihong's office during his 18 years as president of Shanghai Literature.

Published on August 28, 2023, the 1106th issue of China Newsweek magazine

Magazine title: "Shanghai Literature" 70 Years: Literature is Anthropology

Reporter: Song Chundan