On October 21, sponsored by the Jiangsu Writers Association, poet and writer Han Dong held the first personal creation seminar in his 40-year writing career. Li Jingze, vice chairman of the China Writers Association, Zhang Qinghua, He Xiangyang, Sun Jilin, He Yanhong, and Lin Zhou, commentators who came from afar, Ye Zhaoyan, Su Tong, Li Xiaoshan, Mao Yan, Huang Xiaochu, Xiaohai, and Zhu Yanling, who attended as relatives and friends, as well as Bi Feiyu, who "arranged this meeting," as well as the publisher of Han Dong's works and representatives of Han Dong's work unit, gathered in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing to celebrate the glorious retirement of the sixty-year-old poet and the publication of the new poetry collection "Miracle."
△ "Han Dong Poetry Creation Seminar" was held in Nanjing
"Han Dong is going to retire, I may have to retire in two or three years, it's really a generation of people getting older." Li Jingze's remarks made the "contemporary literature people" present sigh infinitely. The autumn mood outside is getting stronger, and Han Dong's generation has now entered the autumn of life.
Once, their understanding of literature was different, and the paths they took were not the same, but as Li Jingze said, "Han Dong has strongly proved that he maintained a strong creativity at different stages of his life, and he was always able to inspire, and sometimes even question, his contemporaries from a unique perspective." And our literature has always needed people like Han Dong, walking in a few, remote places, and his vision can always effectively inspire us."
△ Han Dong
△ Lee Kyung-taek
" Poet of Poets " " Novelist of Novelists "
Li Jingze, who has not attended the writers' seminar in Jiangsu for ten years, expressed his respect and gratitude to Han Dong, "because as a contemporary, he experienced the 1980s and 1990s together, and after entering the new century, he was inspired and influenced by Han Dong at some stages of his literary career." Then, his speech changed the "Handong Poetry Creation Seminar" into the "Handong Creation Seminar".
"I still remember when I saw the "Reading Together in the Window" series of short stories in the early nineties, I had a feeling of being stimulated and shocked." Li Jingze said that looking back at the changes in Chinese literature since the 1980s, especially in the 1990s, Han Dong was an important initiator and inventor of the novel's thinking, concepts, and grammar. What he changed was not only the artistic concept of the novel, but also inspired us to express and organize the complex experiences of the transition period.
Li Jingze recalled that he and Han Dong had a relatively close cooperative relationship in the 1990s, when he was an editor in "People's Literature" and hosted the novel section, Han Dong had great support for his work, often sent him manuscripts, and some very active novelists in the 1990s also established contacts through Han Dong and "People's Literature".
Li Jingze compared Han Dong to a "novelist of a novelist": "Such a novelist always has an inexhaustible pioneering spirit. Over the years, countless Chinese writers have made unremitting explorations of how literature faces modern life and modern experience, and Han Dong's exploration is worth cherishing and studying. "
"In 1997, I first came to Nanjing, and I met Han Dong at the Pioneer Bookstore, where a group of friends ate, and I remember it vividly." Li Jingze sighed and said, "Now, in the blink of an eye, 24 years have passed, and Han Dong has retired, but Han Dong, as a poet, as a writer, and as an artist, will never retire." "
△ "Han Dong's Poems"
Zhang Qinghua, a professor at Beijing Normal University, believes that talking about Han Dong is a very necessary, meaningful, but also difficult topic. What's the hard part? Because Han Dong has long entered the history of literature, and Han Dong has continued to create since the 1990s, the volume has become larger and larger, but the critical circles and contemporary literary research circles have not made sufficient discussions.
Moreover, I think that Han Dong is essentially a writer who strives to transcend or overflow worldly norms, which makes us feel sincere respect and even awe for him, but it is difficult to deal with it, that is, how do you resolve and synthesize the dislocation between his literary creation and the so-called secular norms? This is also a difficult point. "
Zhang Qinghua believes that as one of the most important poets in contemporary China, Han Dong can afford the title of "poet of poets": "He is a poet with methodological significance." When we read Han Dong's poems, we not only accept the poems in the sense of text, but also deeply influenced by his outlook on life and cognitive methods. The practice of deconstructivism in contemporary Chinese poetry did begin with Han Dong, as well as the values of populism and the advocacy of oral writing. "
In a methodological sense, Han Dong offers the unity of poetry and truth." Zhang Qinghua said, "It is often said that a poet's writing should be true, good, and beautiful, but in fact, he only emphasizes beauty and goodness, and does not recognize the importance of truth." Because truth may be unbeautiful, it may be cruel, it may be distant from beauty and goodness, and there may even be conflicts. And Han Dong provides a model of contemporary poetry and truth. "
"Han Dong continued to be complicated after the 1990s, and the most iconic text was "A and B." Zhang Qinghua said, "Although there is no way to select it into the classic anthologies, such a poem is a text of epochal or epoch-making significance, and the absurdity or nothingness of life it reveals may pose a challenge to the writing of contemporaries or have a subversive impact." I think this is the most pioneering part of Han Dong as a poet, but it is difficult to enter the usual classic vision, and this is the value and significance of studying Han Dong. "
And Han Dong's "These Years." Zhang Qinghua said, "Reading it feels very close to the most core, real, and feared part of our life experience. We may be in the middle of it, but we can't find a suitable expression, and Han Dong has found it, and the meaning of Han Dong is that he does not use a complex metaphor system, does not use a gorgeous metaphor system, he directly uses this discourse that is closest to daily life, which is what Zhuangzi called '卮言'. "
"For Han Dong's understanding, I think it is still effective to know people and discuss things." He Ping, a professor at Nanjing Normal University, said that just like what Kukai said to Bai Juyi in "The Legend of the Demon Cat" that "Chang'an is a poet everywhere", Han Dong, who once appeared as an aesthetic provocateur, is a "poet everywhere" era, but Han Dong has both Li Bai and Bai Juyi in him, and he personally wrote from Li Bai's era to Bai Juyi's era.
Han Dong is the poet who has participated in the poetry festival the least. His daily routine is to take his lunch box to the studio for a day's writing, and he is a marginal person in the noisy and fiery literary life. Therefore, when we read Han Dong's poetry, we cannot be 'Han Dong in the poet's sense', but a real and living Han Dong. As he wrote in "These Years" and "Some People Don't Like to Talk", his poetry is indeed such a person as he is. He Ping said.
Poetry with true exemplars, poets who successfully overcame the "midlife crisis"
Han Dong once helplessly said that after "About the Big Wild Goose Pagoda", his poetry writing seemed meaningless anymore, thus knowing the power and horror of the "masterpiece". At the seminar, each seat featured a copy of Han Dong's latest poetry collection, Miracles, which contains 125 new poems that Han Dong has created in the past year or two.
△ Han Dong's latest personal poetry collection "Miracle"
In Zhang Qinghua's view, "Miracle" is full of too much sadness, because it handles too many emotions of life and death. But the poet deliberately suppressed the tendency of lyricism, forcing himself into a dead corner of "truth" that deliberately expressed cruelty. For the feeling of decay, Han Dong's treatment is implicit, adding a lot of irony, silent self-deprecation, and more inner forgiveness and compassion, which is very moderate and appropriate. Because once you master it well, it is easy to write acid. If we don't want to write poetry sour, read More Han Dong. So in the final analysis, Han Dong is a model of poetry and truth. "
In the eyes of the poet Andhe Xiangyang, the head of the Creation and Research Department of the Chinese Writers Association, there is a key word in the poetry collection "Miracle" - "look". The imagery of 'seeing' is so many, so moving, it is an emphasis, a search and affirmation of reality. In his case, the art of poetry became an art of 'view', so there was a rare sense of painting and narrative in his poems. The most representative is "The Dream Family", 'The best life has passed, I lead you to see the family in this dream, although the oil lamp is dark, the bright hall is their heart'. Beings are resurrected in "seeing." When you pay attention, when you are 'looking', it is an act of love, and poetry becomes the product of love. "
"Han Dong especially likes the French thinker Simone Weiyi, who does not join any sect, that is, to keep the thinker 'looking'," He Xiangyang said, "an absolute calmness, an observer's identity, this is Han Dong's pursuit as a poet, and I pay tribute to this pursuit."
"Chinese poets have a midlife crisis, whether it is Xu Zhimo or Wen Yiduo, the selected books are all the works they wrote in their twenties and thirties, which basically belong to youth writing." Hu Xian, a poet and editor-in-chief of the Yangtze River Poetry Journal, said that Han Dong belongs to the poets who have successfully overcome the crisis of middle-aged writing, and he is still evolving.
For example, the poem "Miracle" is written about daily life - "Pushing the door, with the wind, the sun pouring in at the same time." So he's a gracious person, someone I want to meet. His transformation was particularly natural, and Han Dong relied on his poetic talents to turn everyday facts into a kind of fact in poetry. Hu Xian said, "There is a saying in the West that there are gods in small things, and I think Han Dong's poems write about the gods on small things, and when it comes to gods, there are no small spirits, they are all big." "
"We see that Han Dong's poetry is all everyday, pyrotechnic, and we may not feel the particularly powerful part of Han Dong's poetry." He Ping especially reminded him of the last two or three sentences of Han Dong's poem, "Just like the end of "To the Pancake Couple", 'Even the most severe urban management is moved by it, and it is really not easy to say a word'. Han Dong's poetry has internal tension and inherent complexity, and the last two or three sentences bring a powerful reversal to the previous poetry, thus constructing a particularly rich and powerful part. "
Xiao Hai, a poet and vice chairman of the Suzhou Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature, believes that Han Dongzhi's importance lies in his returning poetry to life. "The literary concept we embraced in the 1980s was 'distilling typical characters in a typical environment.' But Han Dong is not, he pulls poetry back to life, no longer looks down on life, no longer grand narrative, he feels that the poet is a member of the crowd, he returns to the basic humanity and the basic seven passions and six desires. This is a huge twist. From this we can say that a good poet is a poet with a worldview. "
"Some of the things that Han Dong abandons may be exactly what some people flock to."
There was also a special row of family and friends at the seminar that day. Professor Su Tong of Beijing Normal University, Ye Zhaoyan, vice chairman of the Jiangsu Writers Association, Li Xiaoshan, professor of Nanjing Academy of arts, Mao Yan, professor of Nanjing Academy of arts, and Huang Xiaochu, former president of Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing House, all sat on the sidelines in the name of Han Dong's group of relatives and friends, and each recalled their acquaintance with Han Dong.
△ "Han Dong Relatives and Friends Group" composed of Huang Xiaochu, Li Xiaoshan, Su Tong, Ye Zhaoyan and Mao Yan
Huang Xiaochu said that he was still in college when he knew Han Dong's name, and the first time he met Han Dong was in the spring of 1986, "The first time I saw Xiao Hai in Han Dong's house, when Han Dong's family was already full of friends, Su Tong and I were very warmly welcomed by Han Dong after we arrived, and we ate the most delicious osmanthus duck in my life, which is the old duck in the osmanthus season." Huang Xiaochu said that he was a layman for poetry, and often did not know where poetry was good, but he could see what bad poetry was, and Han Dong always wrote good poetry, "because I can never write such poetry."
"Han Dong is a relatively poor person," Huang Xiaochu said, "As a person who has achieved such success in writing, he still maintains a state of poverty, and must have given up something, which may be exactly what some people flock to." "
Su Tong and Han Dong met because of a letter from Feng Xincheng, that is, in 1984, Han Dong was already a famous poet, Su Tong, like many college students at that time, could recite "About the Big Wild Goose Pagoda" and "I Have Seen the Sea", and one day rode through most of Nanjing City to Han Dong's home, and the result was empty. When I met Han Dong, he was already brewing a novel. When it comes to writing fiction, we've been helping each other and growing each other. Su Tong said that Han Dong likes to write in a clean field, "even if it is a table, he hopes to be clean, so in a sense it is also a symbol, some like Han Dong, some do not like Han Dong, but everyone thinks that Han Dong's writing is very clean."
"Now everyone often talks about 'greasy', and Han Dong can be said to be the first anti-greasyist." Su Tong said, "Whether it is poetry or fiction, rhetoric has been simplified or even abandoned by Han Dong. His weapon, in his own words, is 'sharp and delicate', which is Han Dong's imagination of the world he wants to face in his creation. "
Ye Zhaoyan said that his relationship with Han Dong was more "pro" because he was born to know. He and Han Dong's brother had memories of playing together, they went to see the villain book, Han Dong followed them, "I am a relatively kind person, his brother often pulled me to run, I just want to think what to do if this child is lost, my earliest memory of Han Dong is like this." Ye Zhaoyan said that he had a direct relationship with Han Dong's brother when he embarked on the road of literature, when they started a publication together, and he also brought a lot of works from Beijing, and later Han Dong's path to writing may have something to do with this, but it is not absolute.
Ye Zhaoyan believes that Han Dong's biggest advantage is that he is a good person. He hoped that if young people learned from Han Dong, they would still learn more about the kind of good that they were human, "the temperament of a poet is more important than poetry."
Mao Yan said that not long after he arrived in Nanjing, he played with Han Dong for many years. In the past few years, I have worked with Han Dong, and I will talk about literature and poetry almost every day, "Han Dong may just talk casually, but it is particularly enjoyable for me."
Li Xiaoshan called Han Dong "Han Er", "This is more cordial, our family and friends group is Han Er's mother's family, the mother's family heard that the guests from other places gave Han Er so much praise, especially happy, such praise hope to come a little more, because Han Er deserves it."
Nanjing, Jiangsu and even the whole country have so far benefited from a tradition of "they" construction
Until now, Han Dong is still a literary image among contemporary Chinese poets and contemporary writers who can continue to have an impact on young writers and young poets. It is difficult to find such an image in Nanjing, Jiangsu and even the whole country, including his works, his literary advocacy, and the group of writers and artists who have been leading the characteristics of young subcultures for so many years, which is a tradition built by 'them' in the 80s. He Tongbin, a young critic and deputy editor-in-chief of the Yangtze River Literary Review, said, "I myself have deeply benefited from this tradition. "
You may not know that Han Dong's father is one of the main founders of "Youth", and Han Dong's brother and Han Dong both work in "Youth". Han Dong still helps the magazine "Youth" as a column host, and "Han Dong Reading Poetry" has a wide influence among college students across the country. Xiang Xiaoning, chairman and editor-in-chief of Nanjing Publishing and Media Group, said that two generations of a family, father and son, have paid a lot for "Youth" and are determined to cultivate new literary talents, which can be described as a good story in the Chinese literary world.
"Jiangsu's literary circles are literary circles that truly love literature." Zhang Qinghua said, "I am also a contemporary of Han Dong to have a poet like Han Dong, who can appear in a literary field and literary ecology like Jiangsu, and who can also be respected and understood in such a literary field and ecology." "
"I'm not used to it and I don't know the rules, but it gave me a chance to thank you." For the first personal seminar in his life, Han Dong said, "Over the years, writing has been helped by friends, and I remember the people who helped me very well, thank you." "
When it comes to poetry, Han Dong does not change the true color of the poet: "Our generation of poets who write in modern Chinese has indeed reached a peak in the creation of modern Chinese poetry. The subject here is not me, but my generation. There are two factors, one is the maturity of modern Chinese, and the other is a sense of world consciousness. What is world consciousness? World consciousness is not local consciousness, not central consciousness, nor only Western consciousness, but naturally 'in the world'. You are a part of the whole and do not conflict with the whole. It is not the kind of existence that can only be established in the sense of opposites, contrasts, and competitions. As far as poetry is concerned, these two points are the reasons why a generation has made great progress. "
△ Bi Feiyu
"We held a successful and pleasant seminar," Bi Feiyu, chairman of the Jiangsu Writers Association, concluded the meeting: "For Han Dong personally, this meeting may not be so important, but for us Jiangsu Writers Association, this meeting is very important. Jiangsu is a fertile land for literature, and naturally it is also a fertile soil for poetry. Han Dong's person, Han Dong's text, Han Dong's poetic spirit, Han Dong's poetic aesthetics, including his personality as a poet, are all very precious. For the sake of the future of our Jiangsu literature, especially the future of poetry, we must do a good job in the study of Han Dong and go deeper. "
(Courtesy of Jiangsu Writers Association)