To know the true taste of pears, you have to eat them yourself
——Talking about the significance of literary creation for academic research
Author: Zhao Hailing (Associate Professor, College of Literature, Shandong Normal University)
Academic research and literary creation are two runways, two sets of pen and ink, the former needs conclusive historical evidence, rigorous logical reasoning, accurate text expression; the latter is obviously different, the novel drama reproduces life, its essence is fiction; poetry expresses life, but seeks to be faithful to the heart; between the prose and the performance, the sense of truth is the most important, and the language is eclectic, exciting, and self-contained.
As far as people's brain talents are concerned, they often have their own biases, some people have superior logical thinking, are good at seeing the essence through phenomena, analyzing in detail, and the outline is open, such people are suitable for academic research; some people have developed image thinking, rich imagination, keen observation and sensitivity, such people are suitable for literary creation. Throughout the ages, there have been many people who have both, such as Cao Pi, who can not only compose the lingering "Yan Ge Xing", but also write such a profound commentary as "Classics"; for example, Jiaoran, who can not only create beautiful and leisurely landscape poems, but also write poetic treatises with insights such as "Poetic Style". Lu Xun, Wen Yiduo, Gu Sui, Zhu Ziqing, Lin Geng, Guo Moruo, Qian Zhongshu, etc. are also people who have both created and learned. Curiously, is there any benefit to literary creation for academic research? In other words, does literary creation help its academic research shine with a unique brilliance? The answer is yes.
No matter how long Ye Jiaying's academic articles are, people can't help but read them in one breath, and her analysis and expositions are like stripping away cocoons, new insights, and more precise wording and literary brilliance. Profile picture
With creative experience as the foundation, research will be more courageous and insightful
In the forty-eighth section of "Dream of the Red Chamber", Cao Xueqin borrowed from Lin Daiyu, who has rich creative experience, put forward her own poetry theory: all kinds of rules and precepts of Gelug poetry are fixed by people, and naturally they can also be broken, how to better express the heart is how to write.
Dai Yu said, "... If there is a strange sentence, even the flat and false reality is not right. Xiang Ling laughed: "Strangely, I often get an old poem to sneak up on one or two poems, and there are right extremes, and there are wrong ones, and I hear it said, 'One three five, two four six are clear', look at the ancients' poems are also smooth, there are also two four six wrong, so every day I wonder." Listening to you now, it turns out that these rules of style are the last thing, as long as the words are novel. Dai Yu said, "It is precisely this truth, whether the words and sentences are still the last thing, the first intention is important." If the meaning is true, the conjunction does not need to be modified, it is good, this is called 'not harming the meaning with words'. ”
Just imagine, if Cao Xueqin (Lin Daiyu) herself does not often mention the pen, is not good at writing poetry, and can not say such a quite innovative poetry proposition, but will only be afraid to look for chapters and excerpts, only the sound rhyme is a matter of business, seemingly expert, but in fact" "got the Jingbi, lost jingbi".
Mr. Wen Yiduo was first and foremost a poet, and devoted himself to the creation of new poems in his early years, publishing poetry collections "Red Candle" and "Backwater", and became famous early. When scholars at the core of the poet studied the Book of Poetry, they showed the courage and boldness to break through the barriers of their predecessors: "The Han people's concept of utilitarianism is too deep, and they have made the "Three Hundred Articles" into a political textbook; the Song people are slightly better, and they pull the Taoism and do not let go of it -- a turban; the Qing people are more objective, but the exegesis is not poetry; the pockets of the neighbors are full of scientific methods, which is really powerful." Helpless history - materialistic historical view and non-materialistic historical view, it is still far from poetry. Obviously a song collection, why doesn't anyone seriously look at it as literature and art! "Modern poetry and ancient poetry, Chinese poetry and Western poetry, are fundamentally connected, and they are all ways for poets to perceive the world and express themselves. Therefore, Wen Yiduo, who was deeply influenced by the Western symbolist poetry school, naturally applied symbolism, metaphors and other techniques to the study of the Book of Poetry, replaced the "Xing" that often appeared in the notes of the ancients with "hidden language", but the language was not clear, and some symbolic images in the Book of Poetry were explored and analyzed. His study of the Book of Poetry is remarkable and fruitful, and it is really thanks to the practice of poetry creation.
Mr. Wen Yiduo was first and foremost a poet, and when scholars at the core of the poet studied the Book of Poetry, they showed the courage and courage to break through the barriers of their predecessors. Profile picture
"Inspiration" can make academic research interesting and vivid
Contemporary scholar Mr. Ye Jiaying studies poetry, and every time she starts from "feeling hair", she has made a lot of achievements, which is naturally closely related to her good at poetry creation.
Her academic articles, no matter how long, always make people can't help but read them in one breath, because her analysis and exposition are like stripping away cocoons, new ideas, and more precise wording and literary brilliance. Mr. Xu Gongzhi, former editor-in-chief of Literary Heritage, stressed the importance of inspiration in academic research, saying: "Without inspiration, learning may be dry, and the article lacks essence, qi, spirit, and talent." "Inspiration does not come out of thin air, but comes from extensive reading, in-depth thinking, but also from the perception and taste of the world and the fireworks of the world, and literary creation is an important way for people to experience and taste real life with their hearts." With inspiration, academic research will not be cold, dull and boring, but rather winding, fascinating, and full of surprises and discoveries.
When Mr. Lin Geng talked with his classmates in the Department of Chinese of Peking University, he said: "Although we are not examining the evidence for the sake of the examination, the problem of the examination is always unavoidable. Examination does not mean drilling into piles of paper, piling up materials, and closing one's eyes and listening. A good examiner is like a good detective. Every day we go to and from class, we follow the same path, but we either turn a blind eye to the world around us, or turn a blind eye. If Holmes had also walked down this path, his observation would have been different from ours. He can see problems in things that are familiar to us. Any slight change, not even a trace, could escape his eyes. He knew even by smell what was going on. This sharp intuition and ability to spot problems is the detective's professional sensitivity and the first element of the examiner. "Mr. Lin Geng is a scholar and a poet, and considering it here is an interesting and tireless thing to do." He is not like the general pedant, when it comes to evidence, the first thing to talk about is to check the catalogue to pick up the version, to turn over the different texts of the school, etc., what he pays the most attention to is to train "sensitivity", to be as alert as The Detective Holmes, and to rely on "intuition" or even "smell" to find out where there is wind and grass, clues. This "sensitivity", now called "problem awareness", is also synonymous with the "inspiration" that Mr. Xu Gongzhi particularly emphasizes. The "inspiration" for learning, like the "inspiration" for poetry, is a panacea for activating the mind. "Inspiration" not only makes academic research interesting, but also makes the language used in academic articles smooth, natural and vivid.
In recent years, the academic circles have advocated the integration with international scholarship, the influence of Western theoretical ideas on Chinese scholarship has gradually widened, and the integration of China and the West is the trend of the times. What needs to be noted is that some literary and art critics are becoming more and more difficult to speak, and some English terms are always deliberately embedded between the lines, the language is obscure, the word order is upside down and unconventional, and it is like falling into the fog of five miles... The road is simple, and the real learning is that everyone advocates a simple and clear style. As Mr. Qian Zhongshu said: "All makeup comes from inferiority psychology, knowing that you are inferior to people, intentionally making a better appearance than people, knowing that you are inferior, desperately putting on makeup to be higher than your own appearance, every move, it is too laborious, and the outside has more than enough to cover up the inadequacies inside." ”
There is also a bad atmosphere spreading in the academic circles, that is, exhausting means to stretch the paper indefinitely, it seems that the longer it is, the more learned it is, and 20,000 words seem to have more weight than 10,000 words, regardless of whether it is full of warts. The reasons for such drawbacks are manifold, one of which is the lack of creative practice. As far as contemporary poetry criticism is concerned, I prefer poetry reviews written by critics with experience in writing poetry, such as Wang Jiaxin, Huang Canran, Zhang Qinghua, Dong Xiyang, etc. Their words are not vain, words have substance, go straight to the heart, vivid and vivid. Years of poetry creation practice have enabled them to have sharp vision, delicate feelings, broad vision, and accurate judgment.
The feelings and persistence manifested in literary creation are conducive to the formation of academic research
Writing is practice. Whether it is creating poetry, novels, or writing prose or essays, we must pay attention to the intention, clarify what kind of ideas we want to express, and what kind of information and energy we want to convey to readers. From the feelings of home and country, justice on earth, to a fleeting good thought, a cluster of flower buds in spring, a rain, a remorse for doing bad things with good intentions... Every idea is the cultivation and cultivation of one's own mind and personality. Insisting on writing for many years will make people's hearts become more and more broad-minded, compassionate, words and deeds more and more restrained and sincere, and gradually become a person with feelings and perseverance. This kind of feeling and perseverance will bring candlelight and concentration to academic research.
I remember that some scholars said that the knowledge that is used to supplement the world is living learning, the learning that is not supplemented in the world is dead learning, and scholars with feelings should do living learning when doing learning. Those studies related to the national economy and the people's livelihood are living learning, those related to the spiritual inheritance of Chinese culture are living learning, and those related to Chinese artistic achievements and aesthetic interests are living learning... Therefore, when we choose a topic, we must first choose knowledge that is useful to the real society. Regarding feelings and perseverance, I admire this passage said by Mr. Wang Guowei in "Words and Sayings on Earth": "Those who become great undertakings and university inquirers in ancient and modern times must pass through three realms: 'Last night the west wind withered the green tree. Go up to the tall building alone and look at the end of the world. 'This first realm also. The belt gradually widened and finally did not regret it, and was haggard for the people of Ishwa. 'This second realm also. The multitude looked for him a thousand times, and looked back, but the man was in the middle of the light. 'This third realm also. He borrowed Song words to warn the world: Once the goal is chosen, it is necessary to be indifferent to the mingzhi, stay away from the hustle and bustle of the world, spare no effort, no complaints, no regrets, even if you endure all kinds of sufferings and setbacks, do not retreat, the so-called "sincerity, the golden stone is open."
Mao Zedong said in his "Theory of Practice" in 1937: "If you want to know the taste of pears, you have to change the pears and eat them yourself." If you want to know the composition of atoms and the same properties, you have to carry out physics and chemical experiments to change the situation of atoms. This passage is used to explore the significance of literary creation for academic research, and it also has its own profound truth and inspiration.
Guangming Daily (2021-01-20, 14th edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily