March 24th is the 60th anniversary of the birth of the poet Haizi, on the evening of March 21, "tonight, let's talk about Haizi together" activity was held in Yonghe Library, Haizi's students, the editor of the new book "But There Was a Covenant in the World: Haizi Poems", Li Wenzi, the founder of Yonghe Scholars, and Peng Mingbang, the curator and producer of "But There Was a Covenant in the World: Haizi Poems", talked about "Haizi" from "Cha Haisheng" to "Haizi", telling Haizi's poetic life.
Transforming Suffering into the "Food" of Poetry
During the dialogue, Li Wenzi vividly talked about Haizi's hometown, Haizi's childhood, Haizi's study career, and the origin of his poetry.
Haizi in childhood was intelligent, introverted, and withdrawn, which made the villagers remember it deeply. Haizi's grades in junior high school and high school were as good as ever, and he was a proper small-town problem-solver. But when he arrived at the university, Li Wenzi found that Haizi's transcript appeared "good" and "medium" after consulting relevant information. Because since college, Haizi has often soaked in the library, read "Dream of Red Mansions" with all his heart, looked through rare books, memorized more than 200 cards about red studies, and Jia Baoyu even appeared in poems. In addition, he also likes thin gold calligraphy and stone drum scripts.
The strong cultural atmosphere of Peking University has nurtured Haizi, making him constantly close to poetry creation. Li Wenzi said that Haizi had listened to lectures by Beidao, Yang Lian and Gu Cheng at Peking University, and he quoted the poems of Beidao's "Strange Beach" in his graduation speech to a classmate, and Yang Lian's culture and Gu Cheng's fairy tale nature had a profound impact on Haizi. Not only that, he had face-to-face encounters with Gu Cheng and Yang Lian, and the "Walden" he borrowed from the library of China University of Political Science and Law was first lent to Gu Cheng, and his exchange with Yang Lian in the water room of the School of International Relations also remained in the memory of Haizi's friends.
When Hai Zi was about to graduate from Peking University, with the help of his classmates, a mimeographed poetry collection "Little Station" was "born", which was a collection of Hai Zi's poetry studies. One of the poems, "Oriental Mountains", writes his inner feelings about planting trees with his classmates in Huyu, Changping, looking at the distant mountains.
The topic of food and scarcity was also touched on at the event, and Peng Mingbang had a special feeling about it. Peng Mingbang is the same age as Haizi, and he also has the experience of leaving home to live and study in his teens, and he also has the experience of starvation. Peng Mingbang believes, "Because of the experience of lack of food in his life, Haizi's poetry creation has been achieved, and those who are hungry and suffering have been transformed into food for his poetry." ”
Most of the early poems were related to love and reading
The new book "But There Was a Covenant in the World: Hai Zi's Poems" is a special gift from Li Wenzi, Hai Zi's student when he was teaching at China University of Political Science and Law, to commemorate his teacher Hai Zi.
Peng Mingbang said that after years of collecting and sorting, Li Wenzi salvaged from the dust of time 50 poems and 4 translated poems that Haizi had scattered in various internal newspapers and magazines and self-printed poetry collections, as well as some unpublished photos of Haizi. These poems have not been included in other published collections of Haizi's poems and complete poems, so they can be said to be a "newly discovered Haizi".
For decades, Li Wenzi has carefully flipped through hundreds of books and newspapers in the 80s of the last century, and she also searched for clues related to Haizi in the school newspaper of the China University of Political Science and Law in that year.
Haizi's early poems are mostly related to folk songs, love, and reading. For example, in the poem "Northern Hemisphere": "The girl is the door of the northern hemisphere / Behind every door / There is love / More or less love / I sit behind my door / Sit beside myself / Touch my knees / Love you, this is the biggest thing I do / ". "It's Raining" condenses his spiritual dialogue with Qu Yuan and Whitman, and the torture about life and death is contemplative. He writes of Whitman "He is a living oak tree, strong, loud / Breathing deeply into the moon and his own veins / Breathing deeply" and he writes Qu Yuan, "Qu Yuan with an orchid in his hand / Stood with me / He fell into the river / I survived / Life and death were equally not easy / When I think of the other side / I become silent".
In addition, Haizi has translated poems by Langston Hughes, Randal Jarrell, and Sylvia Plath. Li Wenzi said that although there are only four poems, they are vast and varied, and they are also included in the book this time. The original English poems are also included in the book, which is convenient for readers to read.
He enriched the cultural psyche of the Chinese
For Li Wenzi, it took her decades to finally understand her teacher Haizi, and she really had an understanding in the face of those once obscure long poems.
Haizi reported to China University of Political Science and Law on August 31, 1983 and passed away on March 26, 1989. When Li Wenzi met Haizi, he was only 22 years old. Li Wenzi bluntly said that whether it was Haizi's poetry or Haizi's teaching, she didn't like it back then. "He lectures on the ceiling and never makes eye contact with the students. In 1984, Haizi and his colleague Wu Lin planned a poetry club at the University of Political Science and Law, and founded the "Stardust" poetry magazine. She said that Haizi wrote the first message of the journal "Written to the little star who picked up the pen".
On April 12 and April 26 of the year of Haizi's death, two memorial services were held, especially the second memorial service attended by 300 people, and the poet Luo Yihe took "I Consider the Real Epic - A General View of the Poetry of the Genius Haizi Who Died Early" as the title, and his three-hour passionate speech completely shocked Li Wenzi, she said that the teacher Haizi she was familiar with was "turned into gold".
For decades, Li Wenzi has followed Haizi's footsteps, not only in the paper world, but also in his hometown, his campus, his book collection, and the people he has met. Li Wenzi has been to Haizi's former residence many times, and has read more than 1,000 kinds of books and newspapers owned by Haizi, allowing her to go deep into Haizi's spiritual world step by step. In the 80s of the last century, Haizi owned "Reading", "Poetry Exploration", "Dream of Red Mansions Journal", etc., and he had already learned to draw creative nourishment from various academic journals.
Li Wenzi even found that Haizi's collection of books is all classics from the 80s, as well as various famous book series, and foreign translations account for 70%. Haizi loved Whitman very much, and he also loved French poets such as Pierre Leverti and Rimbaud, and he wanted to "compete with Rimbaud". Haizi also has a variety of Sartre's writings, and he admires Sartre's statement that "words are seen as crops, not symbols".
In Li Wenzi's view, Haizi is different from poets in the general sense, his theoretical literacy is excellent, he has a period of scientific research work in the rule of law system at the China University of Political Science and Law, and he also has a teaching of new methodology. He also studied law, philosophy and aesthetics, "He had ambitions, he had a mission, and he was determined to become a national poet." Li Wenzi said that Haizi has enriched the cultural soul of Chinese and is worthy of continuous study.