How "embarrassing" and ridiculous is Li Shaojun, editor-in-chief of "Poetry Magazine"? Is there anything worth learning from?
Author: General without a gun
I'm ashamed to say that since middle school, I have been "complacent" about being a "literary youth", and I always thought that all "literati" should be the same as me, advocating Tao Yuanming's style of "not bending his waist for five buckets of rice" and Li Bai's arrogance and refinement of "An Neng breaking his eyebrows and bending his waist to do things for the powerful".
Later, I saw and listened more. I realized that I was so simple, and the real literati were not as "simple" as I imagined.
They have both sanctimonious and elegant hypocritical faces, self-righteous and pedantic rigid thinking, and arrogant and powerful desires ...... be good teachers!
The great writer Su Shi in "Answer to Zhang Wenqianshu" used "writing as its person" to describe the internal connection between "writing and being a person", in fact, what he said "literature is like its person", which is simply understood as "character is literary quality".
["Character is literary quality" means that people's thoughts and conduct are the same as the style of the article. Composition is like being a person, what kind of person determines what kind of literary product. No matter how beautifully embellished the essay is, the direction or underlying meaning of its theme can always reveal the author's own character or conduct. 】
Okay, let's talk about the "mutual evidence of people and poems" proposed by Li Shaojun, editor-in-chief of "Poetry Magazine", and see if some of its arguments are similar to what we call "character is literary quality".
It is no exaggeration to say that after reading Li Shaojun's article on "mutual evidence of people and poems", the vast majority of readers may have a question: What does Li Shaojun mean by "mutual evidence of people and poems"? I don't understand at all, it's just too "confusing......!"
However, in Li Shaojun's own words, the so-called "mutual proof of human poetry" is "lyrical words, emotions in the form of words, I write my heart by hand or I write by hand in my mouth, touch the scene and feelings, feel and speak." ——Excerpt from "China Art Newspaper Li Shaojun|Mutual Evidence of People and Poetry and the Realm of Poetry"
However, in our view, the "lyrical speech" in "lyrical speech, emotion in the form of words" refers to the expression of thoughts, aspirations, or feelings through the expression of emotions.
The meaning of "emotion in form and words" is: "People's hearts have feelings for objective things, and they will naturally express them with the help of language." ”
And "I write my heart by hand or I write my mouth by hand" means that what you think in your heart and what you want to say with your mouth should be directly expressed (referring to writing the true feelings without embellishment).
In fact, the meaning of these two words is similar, and they are both used to express a certain emotion stimulated by certain touches.
As for "rhetoric and sincerity", Li Shaojun's explanation is: "To write poetry is to present the true self, to show the living soul and spirit. It highlights the true colors and emotions of the poet, and presents the true image and spirit of the poet. ”
Obviously, we agree with this explanation, but what makes us admire even more is that Li Shaojun can not only put forward the "theory of the true self", but also apply it to his creation, which is really commendable.
Especially in one of Li Shaojun's most famous poems, "Flowing Water", he showed this kind of "writing that presents the true self, shows the living soul and spirit", and shows it vividly, almost to the point that people say "I can't stand it". To tell the truth, his "true spirit" of "consistent words and deeds, teaching for his own use" has to make people "impressed".
(Note: Li Shaojun's poem "Flowing Water" has been jokingly called "Touching *nai poems" by many readers, and interested readers can search and read and experience it on their own.) ）
In addition, what we also need to mention here is that, from the point of view of word meaning, "lyrical words and emotions are in the form of words, I write my heart and my handwriting my mouth, and touch the scene and feel the feelings", the meaning of each of these three groups of words and sentences is not much different, in fact, there is not much difference, I even have every reason to believe that as long as people who have consulted the dictionary, they will never choose such a crude combination.
Of course, as for why Li Shaojun chose such a "nonsense combination of sentences" to use in his "academic" articles, even if it is difficult for us to imagine, we have to help him find a "use the incremental effect of repetition to enhance the sense of language and rationality" to prevaricate, after all, he is the editor-in-chief of the "Poetry Magazine" that we look up to, I dare not easily offend ......!
Li Shaojun then proposed that "poetry criticism emphasizes knowing people and discussing the world, and its essence is also emphasizing the mutual evidence of people and poems", and the reason is: "To understand (criticize) poetry, we must understand the author and the background and living conditions of the times in which he lives, so as to truly understand the poem itself." ”
There is indeed some correlation between "mutual evidence of people and poems" and "criticism" (referring to the "character is the concept of literary quality" we mentioned earlier), but unfortunately, Li Shaojun did not really understand the meaning of "knowing people and discussing the world"; the so-called "knowing people and discussing the world" originally meant that "when understanding or judging a historical figure, it is necessary to study the historical background in which it is located." And there is another explanation in today's dictionary:
"Judge the character and talents of others by observing and analyzing their words, deeds, or texts. ”
Therefore, from the perspective of criticism or appreciation of literary works, "knowing people and discussing the world" is only applicable to the "research commentary" of the "subject image" of the person, and cannot be used for the analysis and appreciation of the "text level". The real criticism (commentary) is to stick to the "text", try to ignore or ignore the identity of the writer, and achieve "knowing the text and discussing the world", which may not be clear to Li Shaojun.
To sum up, it is not difficult to see that in fact, Li Shaojun's "Mutual Evidence of People and Poems" advocates the expression of "direct expression of the heart" and "true feelings", and what he advocates is a kind of "white depiction naturalness" writing technique similar to Zhang Zhihao's "witnessing poetry". ("White drawing naturalness": This refers to the writing technique that the language expression is close to colloquialism, rejects too much artistic embellishment and rendering, and focuses on the real emotion and the sense of presence.) ）
However, what makes people laugh and be generous is that Li Shaojun's proposal of "mutual evidence between people and poems" is obviously too "fixed on one's own" or "resting on one's laurels"; he may not know that the so-called "mutual evidence of people and poems" is actually not novel at all, nor is it creative at all; it is only based on the relevant theories of previous scholars, collects and sorts out some clichés, and then thinks that he has collected these "clichés" and fabricated an extremely general and extremely vague pseudo-academic conceptual vocabulary.
To be honest, such an "all-encompassing" "conceptual scholarship" has no meaning or any value.
- To put it bluntly, it is purely a kind of "self-promotion" of "grandstanding", and it is not elegant at all......!
Finally, we also want to say that we hope that Comrade Li Shaojun, as the editor-in-chief of the "Poetry Magazine", will try his best to urge his subordinate editors to publish more poetry works that meet the aesthetics of most readers with a "normal literary and artistic vision", discover more ordinary folk poets, and do less "self-righteous" and "inexplicable" works!
——This is the great fortune of poetry inheritance and the responsibility of "Poetry Magazine" to promote......!!!
About author:General without a gun, real name: He Tianjun, hometown: Wanzhou, Chongqing, chief writer of the contemporary poetics interpretation platform [Commenting on Poetry and Discussing Dao], independent critic, critic, researcher of practical poetics theory;