As the saying goes: "Ten years to the east of the river, ten years to the west of the river." When Mo Yan left the military circles, no one would have thought that 16 years later, "Rich Breasts and Fat Buttocks" would be famous at home and abroad for the Nobel Prize for Literature, nor would they have thought that Mo Yan had become a "signpost of literature in the new era", let alone that Mo Yan would fight back so fiercely against the red classics of old writers. Let's talk about Mo Yan's tartland against the red classics from Mo Yan's three speeches.
In 2005, Mo Yan gave a lecture entitled "How I Became a Novelist" at the Open University of Hong Kong: Chinese literature should have started in the early 80s of the 20th century, and under the influence of Western novels, the literary concepts formed in the past 30 years from 1949 to 1979 have collapsed and writers' minds have been truly liberated
In 2005, Mo Yan received an honorary doctorate from the Open University of Hong Kong and gave a lecture entitled "How I Became a Novelist" at the investiture ceremony.
He said that when he was a child, he did not have the dream of being a writer, and his ambition was how to fill his stomach - "Before the age of ten, I was basically naked. "It's not surprising that you didn't wear pants before the age of fifteen.
"The dream of a writer stems from the fact that you can eat dumplings three times a day" - I talked too much, and I got tired of it, and when I was a guest at "Oriental Selection", I finally changed it to "love for literature".
"I was born and raised in such a poor economy and such a depressing political environment, so the literary dreams that arose at this time were far from a true understanding of literature. ——The real experience is: born in New China, grew up under the red flag, pampered, flamboyant, and a small general of the Cultural Revolution.
The use of the pseudonym "Mo Yan" is to admonish himself to talk less – not at all. Wang Mengkua Mo Yan: Some writers write very well, but their eloquence is not good, and Mo Yan is one of the writers who writes well and has good eloquence.
"Telling the truth is undoubtedly the most valuable quality of a writer" - what Mo Yan lacks is this quality: naked at the age of fifteen, eating coal, is it true that he is embarrassed to say it?
The "prejudice theory" arises here.
"My imagination is hungry" - (causing the audience to burst into laughter) The imagination of 18 people dying in a day in the village, and being basically naked before the age of 10 is indeed extraordinary and self-proven.
In the second half of his speech, Mo Yan commented on the development of Chinese literature as follows:
"The real literature of China, or the literature that can dialogue with the world, the literature that transcends the narrow concept of class, should have started in the early 80s of the 20th century. ”
In the early 80s, Mo Yan, Yu Hua, and Yan Lianke began to enter the literary world, and the west wind blew strongly, giving rise to a group of avant-garde and magical realist writers. In Mo Yan's words, this is called "the real literature of China, or the literature that can dialogue with the world." However, I do not think that Mo Yan's works are "literature that transcends narrow class concepts", and he himself admits that "I used novels to oppose the party from the beginning."
Mo Yan's remarks negate all literary works before the 80s of the last century, including the red classics after the founding of New China.
The more ruthless words are at the end: "Under the influence of Western novels, the literary concepts formed in the 30 years from 1949 to 1979 have collapsed, and the writers' minds have been truly liberated." ”
The literary concept of "falling apart" is the direction in which literature and art serve the masses after Chairman Mao's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art", and take the road of combining with workers, peasants and soldiers.
Mo Yan said at the press conference after winning the Nobel Prize:
"Looking at it again today, there are indeed huge limitations, overemphasizing the relationship between literature and politics, overemphasizing the class nature of literature and ignoring the humanity of literature. ”
"Writers of my generation, when they started writing in the 80s of the last century, recognized this limitation, and all our creations are breaking through this limitation. ”
"The writer's mind is truly emancipated. It means breaking through the confines of the speech.
As a reader, I can indeed appreciate this change, and I am dazzled by the literature of various genres, but they are not "my dish". The writer's mind was indeed liberated, and he himself was voluntarily imprisoned - shielded the novel for thirty years!
In September 2009, Mo Yan gave a speech at the "Perceiving China" forum in Frankfurt, Germany: From 1949 to the present, there are indeed a number of works that do not have the quality of world literature
In September 2009, Mo Yan was in Germany to promote his novel and gave a lecture at the "Perceiving China" forum in Frankfurt.
He first came to a "four super" remarks that brought him closer to the Germans, and received three applause.
Then he praised a group of excellent German writers who he believed were in line with the "four supers". Then he made a harsh critique of Chinese writers:
"In contemporary Chinese literature, that is, from 1949 to the present, there are indeed a number of works that do not possess the quality of world literature. ”
This "batch of works" mainly refers to the works of the 30 years from "1949 to 1979" mentioned earlier in Hong Kong.
Because the authors of these works are limited by the times, they dare not and are unwilling to express the true emotions in their hearts. ”
This is Mo Yan's subjective assumption, Mo Yan is accustomed to making up things out of thin air, but he is skeptical of old writers who have experienced the baptism of war and the contrast between the old and new societies.
Whether the author's feelings are true or false, the reader has the most right to speak. It can be said that I grew up watching these red classics. I was deeply moved by the ideals and beliefs of young people during the war years and the beauty of human relations between people expressed in the book. For example, the protagonist in "Red Flag Spectrum" is Zhu Laozhong, and the most unforgettable is the love story of Yun Tao and Chunlan, Jiang Tao and Yan Ping. That kind of pure, noble love is not seen in Mo Yan's works.
After unceremoniously criticizing the works of the first 30 years, Mo Yan praised himself after the 80s:
"Personally, I think that Chinese contemporary literature has made great achievements in the last 30 years. We have written a lot of excellent works of world literary quality"
Books are written for the reader, and the reader has the final say on whether it is good or not. It's the first time I've heard the author praise himself like that.
What did the German Gu Bin mentioned by Mo Yan say about Mo Yan?
"This is not literature...", this is a very incisive assessment. It is more intolerable than evaluating Mo Yan and Yu Hua as "unpopular", "vulgar" and "unsightly".
In November 2009, Mo Yan gave a lecture entitled "Language and History" at Peking University: Revolutionary historical novels are far behind the new historicist novels in terms of ideological and artistic quality; they can only write from the standpoint of the proletariat and the revolutionary army, which is one-sided and untrue; and the Cultural Revolution has "pushed revolutionary historical novels to a very extreme and absurd position" and must be discarded and open up another path
After introducing Zhang Qinghua of Beijing Normal University who defined his "Red Sorghum Family", "Fat Breasts and Fat Buttocks" and "Wine Country" as "new historicist novels", Mo Yan talked about why he broke with revolutionary historical novels:
Revolutionary historical fiction "is ideologically and artistically far behind the new historical fiction of the moment." ”
Which is the higher and lower of this gap? "The eyes of the masses are clear."
Why do we want to "use war and history to express our subjective thoughts and thoughts that are out of step with the times"? Isn't this "entrainment of private goods"? These old writers are all loyal communist fighters, and the emotions they express are not private but public. This is also to be criticized?
Mo Yan said: "During the Cultural Revolution, revolutionary historical novels were pushed to a very extreme and absurd position." Moreover, there was a later talk of "ridiculous". I feel that Mo Yan has gritted his teeth. Why do you hate it so much? The reason given by Mo Yan is that the writers of revolutionary historical novels stand too low:
"The writers of the previous generation, limited by the limitations of the times, could only write from the standpoint of the class, the standpoint of the proletariat, and the standpoint of the revolutionary army. "What is written is definitely one-sided"
"Writers should stand on a supra-class standpoint. "Where does the super position come from?
In his speech, Mo Yan mentioned his "Breast and Fat Buttocks" written from the standpoint of human beings, which was criticized by old writers:
Doesn't this prove that Mo Yan did not stand on the standpoint of human beings? Because the so-called "superclass" stance does not exist. More than 90 years ago, Lu Xun said:
Such a person is really a phantom created by the mind, which is not found in the real world. To be such a person is like pulling out your hair with your own hands and leaving the earth......"
Which do you want, Mo Yan literature or red classic literature? I think everyone can make the right choice.