This article is divided into six parts: preface, content of "Literary and Art Study", from "orthodox dogmatists" to "right-leaning", "double hundred" policy and "literary and art study", anti-rightist struggle and "literary and art study", and concluding remarks.
preface
Wei Junyi (1917-2002) was transferred from deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese New Democratic Youth League and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "China Youth", the organ of the Central Committee of the Chinese New Democratic Youth League, to deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Committee in 1963. The following year, "Literary and Art Studies" was founded, and Wei Junyi served as the editor-in-chief. Regarding "Literary and Art Study", Wei Junyi once wrote in "Remembrance of Literary and Art Study" in January 1986: "In my life as an editor, I have been walking in the rain of bullets and bullets, although the wound has healed, but as long as I touch it slightly, there will still be some pain", referring to the suspension of "Literary and Art Studies", she wrote: "Every time I think of this, my mood will not be calm for a long time." This journal, which was popular with young people and sold more than 300,000 (which was a remarkable number at the time), quietly came to an end after publishing many critical and self-censorship articles in conjunction with the anti-Rightist. There is not even a final statement of reasons for ending — for there would have been no reason". "This magazine, which we have devoted a lot of effort to, has been declared discontinued for no reason."
So, what kind of magazine is "Literary and Art Learning"? No notes about the magazine have been found in the literature or on the Internet. In the Encyclopedia of China. There is also no trace of "Literature and Art Study" in the projects of "Chinese Literature" and "Literature and Art Newspaper". In the Chronicle of Chinese Literature edited by Chen Wenxin. The following account is found in the Contemporary Volume (Hunan People's Publishing House, 2006), but there is no text related to "suspension".
On April 27, 1954, the literary and art popularization magazine "Literature and Art Study" edited by the Chinese Writers Association was founded. The main task of publishing this journal in the inaugural speech is: "to carry out literary education among the vast number of young people, popularize literary knowledge, improve their literary appreciation ability, and cultivate reserve forces for the literary lineup." Tang Kexin's short story "My Master" was published in the inaugural issue.
In December 1957, the month's "Study of Literature and Art" was merged into the "People's Literature" and formed an editorial board with Zhang Tianyi as the editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", Chen Baichen, Wei Junyi, Ge Luo as the deputy editor-in-chief, and Ai Qing, Wu Zuzhen, Yuan Shuipai, Zhao Shuli and other 9 people as the main members.
Huang Qiuyun (1818-2001), who was de facto deputy editor of "Literary and Art Study" at that time, wrote in the revised edition of his memoir "Years of Wind and Rain": "Since the inception of "Literature and Art Study" in April 1954, until december 1957, a total of 45 issues were published, each issue of 48 pages was about 80,000 words, the number of prints increased from 120,000 to nearly 400,000 since its inception, and the number of letters received every month reached more than 1,000, which is enough to show that it is extremely popular among the vast number of young people. According to Huang Qiuyun's recollection, there were about 550,000 people classified as rightists in the country because of the struggle against the rightists, most of whom were intellectuals, and the total number of intellectuals at that time was less than 5 million, that is to say, about one-tenth of the intellectuals were classified as rightists. The final result is that many magazines, such as "Literary and Art Studies" and "New Observations", have to close their doors. There are also some magazines that barely maintain their publications, but like the main magazine "People's Literature" under the supervision of the China Writers Association, the quality of the "Literature and Art Newspaper" has dropped significantly due to the shortage of editors, and the circulation number of "Literature and Art Newspaper" has dropped from the original 180,000 to 120,000 copies, a full-third reduction. Although it is not clear whether the "People's Literature" has decreased in the end, after Qin Zhaoyang became the executive deputy editor of "People's Literature" in December 1955, until the first half of 1957, the number of "People's Literature" circulation only increased by 2 times, from about 100,000 copies to more than 200,000 copies.
But the number of circulation of "Literature and Art Study" in the heyday was close to 2 times that of "People's Literature", about 2 times that of "Literature and Art Newspaper", or even more than 2 times, as Wei Junyi said, which is a rather remarkable number. So what is it like to stop publication altogether "without any reason"? What is it that makes it critical? Through the principle of "double hundred" (a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending) and the struggle against the Rightists, where will Wei Junyi and the Chinese revolution go together and how will they survive? The purpose of this article is to focus on the period when Wei Junyi edited "Literary and Art Studies", and to find out wei Junyi's personal affairs and the era in which she lived.
I. The content of "Literary and Art Studies"
According to the aforementioned Wei Junyi's "Remembrance of Literary and Art Studies", "Literary and Art Studies" has an editorial committee and an editorial department. The editorial board is composed of writers who are enthusiastic about youth work (Huang Yaomian, Xiao Yin, Li Geng, Peng Hui, Gongmu, etc.). The editorial department is basically all young people, only Du Maiqing, Huang Qiuyun, Yang Dang and Wei Junyi are about 30 years old, and the other editors are under 30 years old, and the entire members have not engaged in editing work before this. They form a new team, learn from others little by little, and then immediately put into practice, just like the newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, everyone is full of spirit and energy.
Although Huang Qiuyun was the de facto deputy editor of "Literary and Art Studies", according to the "Wind and Rain Years" supplement, Huang Qiuyun's transition from acting director of the Fujian Branch of Xinhua News Agency to the editorial department of "Literary and Art Studies" was in September 1954, and as an editorial committee member, his name was also published in the magazine since the 6th issue (September 27, 1954). In addition, before the second issue, the editors were only collectively recorded in the name of the "Editorial Department of the Literary and Art Study of the Chinese Writers Association", and the names of the editors-in-chief Wei Junyi, Huang Yaomian, Xiao Yin and other editorial committee members were clearly published from the third issue.
Early literary studies
So what kind of magazine is "Literary And Art Learning"? Let's start with Wei Junyi's memories of "Memories of Literary and Art Studies" in January 1986. Wei Junyi made the following record in this memoir.
This magazine is neither a review magazine nor a creative magazine. It is not a journal of literary and art studies and a magazine of Chinese learning assistants. As the name suggests, the magazine is just a literary study. Let the professors and experts explain the history of literature in an easy-to-understand way and then serialize it. Like Wang Yao's "History of Chinese Poetry", Wu Xiaoru's "History of Chinese Novels", Zang Kejia's "New Poems after May 54" and so on. Articles introducing famous books occupy the bulk of the magazine's space, but this is not a "connoisseur analysis" or a handout for an anthology, as secondary school teachers do. It does not publish the original text as it is, but only introduces its outline, guiding readers who want to study literature and are interested in literature to find books for themselves to read. The scope of such "masterpieces" is extremely extensive, from ancient times to the present, including Chinese and Western masterpieces abound.
At that time, the Soviet "The Story of Zoya and Shula" and "Ordinary Soldier - Matlosov" were very popular, and most young people had read them (this is what many middle-aged people today have to do with the "pure 50s" that they cherish infinite nostalgia). The original intention of Wei Junyi and others was to expand the horizons of young people who love literature and let them understand things other than books. In the magazine, a large number of Western works of the 19th century, represented by the novels of Balzac, Chekov and others, as well as contemporary works such as "Defending Yan'an", the new Soviet work "Tractor Station Station Chief and Chief Agronomist" and other works are introduced.
Although it is necessary to "expand the horizon", there are naturally boundaries (in the environment at that time), so it is basically limited to the scope of literary common sense. However, in the spirit of the idea that it is better to be too narrow or broader, the way of thinking is the same, it is better to be active than a tendon, only to consider it this way.
The magazine organized readers to discuss the two works, "Tractor Station Master and Chief Agronomist" and "New Young People from the Organization Department" (hereinafter referred to as the "Organization Department"). The purpose is nothing more than to guide young people to think more about problems, care about the diseases that exist in the motherland that are advancing, and cure them together. Young people are not satisfied with eating sugar in the "sugar jar" (a common adjective used for youth life in the fifties). In order to understand the situation of young people, the magazine has organized a national network of correspondents.
At the same time, in order to maintain contact with the masses, the Beijing correspondent hosted a film screening. Organize writers, give literary lectures, and skip the tickets for public releases. In addition to literature, the magazine also selects a number of works of art for the author to explain the subtleties of these works in order to help readers improve their artistic appreciation. In particular, a series of readers' seminars were held. The magazine also publishes a number of young people's study works, and there is a small column dedicated to the publication of study works, which is used to publish short stories by unknown young contributors, followed by comments. The works of Zhang Tianmin, Shang Jiuxiao, Xiao Shan, and others who later became writers were originally published in this magazine.
Wei Junyi once said: "In order to run the magazine well, we work tirelessly and forget to sleep and forget to eat. Many of the main leaders have also done things like editing magazines, and before taking charge of "Literary and Art Studies", many of them were already in the position of director or director. But at this time, we are still like when we first started working, everyone takes turns to go to the proofreading room of the printing factory in Qianliang Hutong in order to proofread, and if a problem is found, it is solved on the spot. This significantly shortens the printing man-hours. I always remember that I used to go to the printing factory with Huang Qiuyun and Wang Xihou in a shaky bus. Everyone is tirelessly immersed in this job. No one has ever said something like, 'You can write books as a writer (or you are in a higher position), and doing such work hinders your future'. But this simple magazine, which we had devoted ourselves to, was suspended for no reason. ”
Just as Wei Junyi said above, "We have poured our hearts and souls into making it," "Study of Literature and Art" is not only a "magazine for the popularization of literature and art," and this magazine has not been suspended without any reason; in the struggle against the rightists, readers have been organized to discuss the Organization Department, and they have been criticized for their concern for the chronic diseases of the motherland and many ideological ideas. Wei Junyi himself was also criticized for "right-leaning" at this time, but as the editor-in-chief of "Literary and Art Studies", he should not have been classified as a right-leaning camp at first. I will discuss this matter in a later chapter.
So now, the author has sorted out Huang Qiuyun's "Publication Words" at the beginning of the inaugural issue of "Literary and Art Study", and the work content of "Literature and Art Study" is as follows.
1. Help readers to correctly read, appreciate, and understand the works, so that they can understand the ideological content of the works at a deeper level, and better understand life and be more educated through the works.
2. Provide knowledge related to domestic and foreign classical literature, help readers correctly understand the traditions of Chinese and foreign cultures in a stage, and improve their cultural literacy on a wider scale.
3. Provide knowledge related to writing, introduce creative experience, publish and introduce excellent works that reflect real life, and cultivate new talents (talented newcomers).
4. Provide knowledge related to literature, art and science.
5. Answer questions related to the reading and writing of literary works that readers are concerned about Organize readers to discuss questions that are of a highly general nature.
6. Report on popular literary activities, and publish readers' gains and experiences in studying literary works.
In the inaugural issue of "Study of Literature and Art", immediately after the "Publication Words" at the beginning of the volume, Hu Yaobang, then secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the New Democratic Youth League, published "Literary and Artistic Works Are Teachers and Friends of Youth", and then published "Medicine" written by Feng Xuefeng to Lu Xun, and Zang Kejia's poem "Earth, I Have a Mother!" written by Guo Moruo! commentary, with the original text and appendix attached. Even Shakespeare and His Plays, written by Mu Mutian to commemorate the 390th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, was published in magazines as "literary knowledge" . In addition, in the "Discussion of Problems" column, wei Junyi wrote "Talking about How to Read Literary and Art Works" on the basis of including readers' contributions "The content of the works is not directly related to their own lives, what is the use of reading such works", in this article, she wrote: For works that are not directly related to her own life, such as Lu Xun's works, whether the works written related to land reform and the War of Resistance have practical significance, what is the purpose of reading literary and artistic works, and so on. I hope to organize literary and artistic groups in various schools, factories, institutions, and troops to conduct discussions, and then send us a summary of relevant opinions (editor of "Literary and Art Studies"), which will be published in the 2nd and 3rd issues. After the next issue of the magazine, the People's Literature Publishing House also began to publish contemporary literature such as Du Pengcheng's "Defending Yan'an" (No. 4) in June 1954, as well as Soviet literature, and from the third issue onwards, it serialized "literary knowledge" such as "Book of Poetry", "Chu Ci", "Lefu Poems", Wei and Jin Wuyan Poems, and Tang Poems written by Wang Yao. On the one hand, "Literary and Art Studies" publishes such readers to engage in and raise questions, and on the other hand, it also publishes articles written by first-class writers and researchers aimed at young people. It also includes from contemporary literature to Chinese and foreign classics, and this editorial policy can be said to be very beautiful.
Portrait of Wei Junyi in his youth
This article is in 2010 my high school classmate and friend in his doctoral dissertation stage need to use the Japanese scholar Toshiyo Nanbara on the study of Wei Junyi and "Literary and Art Study" related materials, because the students do not know Japanese, entrusted me to translate Chinese, Japanese manuscript is very long, after the translation into Chinese there are nearly 30,000 words, so it has not been published in domestic magazines, this paper is too long, published in the country need to delete the content, in line with the requirements of translating "Sindaya", respect the original author, And every sentence is the translator's painstaking effort, so the translator is reluctant to delete the manuscript, and the translation has been lying in my mailbox for 11 years. Domestic research on Wei Junyi and "Literature and Art Learning" is rare, the Japanese scholar's research on Wei Junyi and "Literature and Art Learning" has been very detailed, can not bear to copy the manuscript has been sealed, and now decided to use the platform of Toutiao Jun to publish and share with interested friends. Friends who like it can like the comments and reprint, pay attention to me to pay attention to more good sharing.