Today (October 16), the 2021 Tianfu Book Fair "100 Chinese Poetry Classics Series" new book readers' meeting is very lively.
Zhou Xiaotian, the winner of the Poetry Award of the Sixth Lu Xun Literature Award, not only shared poetry with the readers who came to the scene, appreciated poetry, but also presented ink treasures to "read ancient and modern books and make friends in the world".
Zhou Xiaotian wrote on the spot
It is understood that the "100 Series of Classic Works of Chinese Poetry" commented by Zhou Xiaotian includes "100 Poems of poetry", "100 ancient poems", "100 Poems of Tang Dynasty", "100 Songs of Song", "100 Poems of Song", "100 Yuanqu", "100 Poems of Ming and Qing Dynasties", "100 Poems of The Present", and "100 New Poems", which include the essence of the poetry of various dynasties and generations. At the same time, Zhou Xiaotian also edited or participated in the compilation of classic best-selling reference books such as "Appreciation Dictionary of Poetry Classics and Chu Ci", "Appreciation Dictionary of Tang Poetry", and "Appreciation Dictionary of Poetry of The Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties". These books contain thousands of classic poems from the Spring and Autumn Warring States period to the end of the Qing Dynasty, which can be described as full of Yingzuihua and wonderful.
The scene of the event
After the event, Red Star News reporters conducted an exclusive interview with Zhou Xiaotian to discuss the charm of ancient and modern poetry, the social effects of the Tianfu Book Fair, and the road of Zhou Xiaotian's poetry creation.
Zhou Xiaotian
Red Star News: The "100 Classic Works of Chinese Poetry Series" involves poetry from different eras from ancient times to the present. In your opinion, what is the significance of our study of classical poetry today? "One Hundred Years of New Poetry" has enthusiastically produced a large number of poetry lovers, why can new poetry be loved by everyone?
Zhou Xiaotian: Heidegger once quoted the German poet Hölderlin as saying that man should poetically inhabit the earth. The most terrible thing about life is boring. Learning classical poetry and new poetry can improve the interest in life, correctly view life, have more interpersonal affinity, reject negative emotions, appreciate the charm of language, and improve the ability to control language.
These ideas come from the teachings of Confucius. The new poem is loved by everyone, and Quicksand River believes that it is all about freedom:
(i) Discard the old style of poetry, and the poet gains the freedom of form;
2. Abandoning the elegant and ancient words, the poet is given the freedom of language;
Third, the exile of Qu Da Wanyu's tradition, the poet is given the freedom of interest.
Red Star News: The "Appreciation Dictionary of Poetry classics and Chu Ci", "Appreciation Dictionary of Tang Poetry", "Appreciation Dictionary of Poetry of The Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties", etc., which you have edited or participated in, have become best-selling reference books. In your opinion, what are the characteristics of the "reference book" of poetry appreciation, and what is its relationship to poetry itself?
Zhou Xiaotian: I think that every good poem must contain the discovery of beauty: the discovery of poetry in life, and the discovery of beauty in language. And these discoveries are the poet's writing point and the reader's point of view. And these writing points or points of view, beginners are often difficult to find because of the lack of reading experience, so they need connoisseurs to give guidance. It is precisely because of this that poetry appreciation books can become "tools", that is, means to help readers achieve the goal of knowing why they are.
Appreciate whether the article is well written or not, all depends on whether the writer has a golden eye and a broken word. And the situation of missing or looking away from the eyes is also inevitably frequent, which leaves room for the reader to play. Appreciation doesn't need to be exhaustive, as long as it's helpful for the reader to read. The relationship between appreciation and poetry, in short, is the relationship between gourmets talking about food.
Red Star News: What was your path to poetry? Have you ever had an impact on your poetry style because something special happened?
Zhou Xiaotian: I loved poetry, and at first I believed in Lu Xun's saying: "I think all good poems have been written by the Tang Dynasty", so I became a lover and researcher of Tang poetry. Later, it was found that there was another sentence under Lu Xun's sentence: "In the future, if you don't turn out the Qi Tian Dasheng in the palm of Rulai's hand, you don't have to be caught off guard." ”
Around 2000, I read Nie Cyan's "Scattered Yisheng Poems", and I knew what it meant to "turn out the palm of Rulai's hand". In ancient times, such labor as carrying water could not enter the seven-word poem, but Nie wrote: "This head is high and that is low, and the piece of wood can be flattened." "The previous sentence is still oil, and the next sentence is deeply physical." You have to admire. It was under his inspiration that I wrote the "Foot Wash Song" and "The Song of the Demon Demon" that Mr. Wang Meng applauded, which may also be his preference, but as soon as someone applauded, I came to my strength. Wang Meng summarized it into five points:
"1. Antique, coherent and elegant;
Second, novelty fashion, keep pace with the times;
Third, lively and vivid, happy and sunny;
Fourth, different, independent portal;
Fifth, connect with tradition, seamless. ”
Red Star News: What advice do you have for young poetry lovers to write and read?
Zhou Xiaotian: If you can't write it, then read it. When you're overwhelmed by the excitement of reading, you can write it. But we must have the consciousness of writing something, that is, we must have the discovery of beauty. This is the seed of poetry. Without seeds, poetry would not take root and blossom and bear fruit.
For example, recently a young friend held a manuscript of "Poetry in the World", a famous place and a poem, and there was only a lack of poems about Mount Everest, which were not in the poems of previous generations. He asked me to write a poem, and I agreed to it. Why?
First, the manuscript will be published by the People's Daily Press, with a wide readership.
Second, the topic of Mount Everest will definitely find a good writing point.
When I woke up, the next morning, I pondered, thinking of Zhuangzi's saying that "summer insects cannot speak of ice", and Mencius's "Confucius climbed Mount Tai and the world is small", and Mount Tai was only three thousand meters above sea level. Both points involve an epistemological proposition. So he began to write a poem of seven musts: "Eight thousand meters of snow column clear sky, Hugh put the cold ice language summer worm." Drama pity Confucius small world, did not know the first peak in the world. "Some people commented in the circle of friends: the height of Confucius and the height of Mount Everest, as well as the height of Mount Everest that Confucius did not recognize, are intriguing.
Red Star News: Every year the Tianfu Book Fair opens in Chengdu, it will become a carnival for readers. In today's era of fragmentation, the "slow reading" of reading a book and the "fast reading" of mobile phones have become two extremes. Why is there still a large number of readers for book reading, such as "delayed gratification", which needs to be obtained through long reading?
Zhou Xiaotian: The relationship between two kinds of reading is like the difference between dinner and fast food. The so-called meal, nutritional collocation is the most reasonable, the most beneficial to the health of the body. However, because of the relationship between work and time, office workers cannot enjoy dinner, and fast food is a way to make up. Of course, you can't always eat fast food, resulting in malnutrition. So once the conditions permit, it is still necessary to eat more meals.
Red Star News reporter | Qiao Xueyang Zeng Qi
Edited | Duan Xueying
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