Liu Xinwu's Literary Memoirs: A Microcosm of a Literary Era

Liu Xinwu is a respected writer. Once upon a time, one of his "Class Teachers" was shocking, and one of his "Bell and Drum Towers" won the Mao Dun Literature Award, while "Liu Xinwu Revealed" caused great praise and controversy, and his life could be described as a mixed reputation. In the book "Liu Xinwu's Literary Memoirs" (Guangdong People's Publishing House, September 2017, 1st Edition), from the center to the edge, and then to the center, the panoramic interpretation of Liu Xinwu's 40 years of literary heart path shows the epitome of a literary era.

This book collects a group of articles by Liu Xinwu recalling his family lineage, origin, growth, study, and embarking on the road of literary creation, recording his growth story on the road of literature, truly restoring his creative process from youth to maturity, and reflecting his understanding and perception of literature. Liu Xinwu's life is quite legendary, he was born into a famous family, but he had a turbulent and displaced childhood; he was indifferent to fame and fortune, but he stepped into the center of the Chinese literary circle in one fell swoop because of "Class Teacher"; he was obsessed with literary creation, but he suffered repeated setbacks on the road of literature; he loved the study of the Red Chamber in his old age, but he was criticized and criticized for it, which will be shown one by one in the book. The text of the whole book is vivid and delicate, truly touching, full of in-depth thinking and sincere emotions, giving people inspiration and thought-provoking.

The book deals not only with Liu Xinwu's personal experience and his family's experience, but also with the imprint of an era. Since the new era, Liu Xinwu has participated in and promoted the modern transformation and civilization of Chinese society with his own creations and academic research, and thus has become a prominent figure in this era. In the past 40 years, the stars have shifted, and Liu Xinwu's thoughts have not stopped, and the times have been new. In the book, he confesses his life experience with a very calm mind and full of emotions. Compared with his novels, this book can let us understand a real and ordinary Liu Xinwu and enter the spiritual world of a writer.

As a controversial red scholar, the most striking thing about this book is naturally his right and wrong with the Red Chamber. In the chapter "Red Story", he publicly told for the first time about the ins and outs of CCTV's "Hundred Pulpits" recording and broadcasting "Revealing the Secret of "Dream of the Red Chamber", and also responded to the incident of being "encircled and suppressed" by the red scholars. The book writes that he was well received when he held a lecture on the "Red Chamber" at Columbia University, a famous university in the United States. Xia Zhiqing, a titan of contemporary Chinese literature, also disregarded his old age and came to the scene, insisting on listening to two lectures throughout the day, and clapping his hands when he heard the wonderful points. It can be seen that there are really different opinions about who is right and who is wrong in the Red Chamber, but it is inseparable from people's love for the Red Chamber.

When Liu Xinwu recalled all this, his mentality was only peaceful, and there was no resentment. He repeatedly stated that "The Class Teacher" is "rough and bulky" and that its fame has a great deal of epochal contingency. In the face of various controversies caused by "continuing red", Liu Xinwu has always been very calm, "praise and depreciation by people, as a pension recipient, it is considered to have completed a thing he is willing to do in the rest of his life." What makes him most happy is that "my lectures on "Dream of the Red Chamber" on TV and my book on "Dream of the Red Chamber" have aroused some curiosities about me after the 80s and 90s: What else has this person written about in addition to the things related to "Dream of the Red Chamber"? Compared with those who questioned and "encircled and suppressed", Liu Xinwu's civilian mentality and frankness are particularly rare.

In Liu Xinwu's heart, people's growth is inseparable from failures and setbacks, and it is inseparable from the invasion of adversity. In his view, the emergence of adversity in life is mostly due to the weakness, shortcomings, and mistakes of the self as internal factors, and the external environment leads to the emergence of life adversity through the gaps and opportunities provided by internal factors. Recognizing this step, you will not always think about "how innocent you are, how unfortunate, how you deserve your sins, and how your fate is not good", and you will be able to maintain a calm mind to face it. But realize this, do not exaggerate too much, and thus lose self-esteem and self-confidence, which will make yourself "fall into self-pity and self-hatred, and even self-abuse and self-abandonment."

After reading the whole book, I not only knew Liu Xinwu as a person, but also added a sense of the times, society, life, destiny, and human nature. The things Liu Xinwu writes seem to be ordinary and small things, but they often contain far-reaching meanings, which make people can't help but think about and taste them carefully. (Jingmo)