CCTV variety show "Reader": Wenxin returns with the tension of the times

The opening statement of the third season of the large-scale cultural program "Readers" of the Central Radio and Television Corporation said: "No one can completely change the world, but the impulse of human beings to understand the world and change the world determines our progress and leap." ”

Can we change the world? This is not a new proposition, but it is a grand proposition.

After more than 1,000 days of absence, the third season of "The Reader" returns with a tension of the times. In the first program, Academician Yang Yuanxi, deputy chief designer of China's Beidou satellite navigation system, told the story behind the Beidou satellite navigation system. China's atomic clock accuracy rate has reached a three million-year error of one second. What is the power to change the world? That's it.

From the third season of "Readers", it can be felt that literature is the "finishing touch" in this program, which illuminates the entire life struggle story of readers and plays a leading role. That's where Reader's strengths lie. At a time when short videos are prevalent and some variety shows are supreme in entertainment, too many viewers hope to get spiritual nourishment and be inspired by watching such programs, so that we feel that our world is brilliant.

This made me think about how to re-understand the role of literature in life. When we Chinese ancients talked about literature, we always put "wen" in the first place, that is, we paid attention to the core role of "wenxin" in literature. Talking about the beauty of literature is the result of the influence of Western aesthetics and artistic views later, which makes the "Wenxin" tradition of our classical era ignored.

After the third season of "Readers" aired, I got a little enlightenment: the whole program of "Readers" actually used "Wenxin" to lead readers, and at the same time used "Readers" to activate "Wenxin". The so-called "Wenxin" is the "Wenxin" in Liu Xun's "Wenxin Carved Dragon"—the basic texture or perceptual schema of the world that integrates the "three talents" of heaven and earth as the essence of "astronomy", "geography" and "humanities".

Everyone has a "literary heart", that is, they can find the meaning of life through language and language life. The feeling that "Reader" gives me is to break through the relatively narrow definition of "literature is the art of language", so that literature can return to the "wenxin" in daily life, where we can re-find the source of literature and let us feel the charm of literature with "literary heart".

Break through the traditional boundaries of "literature is the art of language", and let aesthetic literature return to a more open language life

The Reader contains both stories and memories, as well as the reading of literary works, the text presentation of literary works, and the soundtrack, which together constitute a display of the daily literary life of the strivers of life.

With the development of various arts such as film and television and popular music, the status of literature seems to be declining. But at the same time as it is declining, it is also rising: literature dives deep into the life of every ordinary person and every strivers in life, illuminating his life path in a silent way. In the new program, netizens were touched by Ru Zhengang, nicknamed "Mai Dad's Vegetable Mother" by the outside world, and The "Ten-Year Covenant" of the former Lianzhuang. For them, the seed seemed to be the most unique words, and they wrote their deepest love for agricultural technology, for the land, for each other in the fields of hope.

In this way, The Reader breaks through the narrow boundaries of aesthetic literature, that is, literature is not regarded only as aesthetic art or beautiful art. It re-shows the charm of literature: literature is the language life of man. In this concept, The Reader quietly makes an important response and change, that is, to answer people's questions about the status and meaning of literature in life. It has contributed to people's re-understanding of the charm of literature.

It is no longer satisfied with showing the beauty of the language of literature, but showing the expression of the heart of the text

"Reader" is not satisfied with showing the beauty of literary language, but shows the original meaning of the word "literature" in the Chinese and Chinese character traditions, that is, the expression of "wenxin" as a fusion of "astronomical", "geological" and "humanistic" hearts. Whether it is scientist Yang Yuanxi, doctor Zhang Dingyu, or principal Zhang Guimei, they all have a "Wenxin", living in this world with a "Wenxin", and finally releasing their "Wenxin" by reading works aloud, and then activating the "Wenxin" that the audience usually hides in the depths of their hearts.

The literary themes of the third season of "The Reader" are more diverse. For example, poetry, novels, essays, screenplays, and even non-fiction writing. In the third season of "Readers", Zhang Guimei's family letter to her parents is her own creation, her own regret in life, and her gratitude and regret to her parents. Through reading aloud from home, she made up for the lack of her life and reflected her filial piety.

In the era when reading is becoming more and more niche, "Reader" and the public form a good chemical effect, for many reasons. Every ordinary person must pursue the realm of life and think. Once he enters the time of thinking, he must use literary language to think about his life, a truly meaningful life, a life of reflection, a life of reflection. Entering this process, he asked for help in literature. Reading shows the lives of others through literary works, shares other life experiences, and then dialogues with other life experiences, forming what the aesthetician Gadamore calls "the fusion of horizons." The vision of people in different eras is integrated, so that the meaning of life is more diverse and fuller.

No matter who you are, as long as you have a literary heart, you are living a literary life, you are living a language life, and you are using literature to illuminate your life path. Because everyone has a literary dream, a literary heart, and a lover of literature, literature can bring meaning, value, and light to everyone's life.

Program producer Dong Qing once said that he hopes that in the future, "Readers" will be a shining photo album, not only recording literature, but also recording the times, and undertaking a kind of "picking up the remains" work. I hope that young people and college students can really love "Readers", can watch "Readers" carefully throughout the whole process, and understand the significance of literature in illuminating the path of life.

(Wang Yichuan, the author is a professor at the Research Center for Literature and Art of Beijing Normal University and vice chairman of the China Literary and Art Critics Association)

Source: Wen Wei Po