The Paper's reporter Xu Xiao
Ba Jin, Ke Ling, Jin Yong, Zhao Jiabi, Xu Chi, Wang Daohan, "The Anhui Southern Incident", "Auto City", "Chinese Literature Department"... The bits and pieces of literary history and cultural history in the 1980s are brought together into Jiang Zengpei's new work "Literary Character and Character: Notes of a Editor-in-Chief".
The book contains more than 50 essays on Huairen narratives, including sincere recollections of writers and scholars of the older generation such as Ba Jin, Wang Daohan, Lin Fang, Ke Ling, Wang Yuanhua, Zhao Jiabi, Luo Zhufeng, Qian Junzhuo, and Ding Jingtang, as well as affectionate recounts of friends and colleagues such as Li Ruqing, Lu Wenfu, Lu Yanzhou, Li Guowen, Shi Tiesheng, Xie Quanming, Zou Jiali, Guo Zhikun, and Hao Mingjian. These articles embody the bits and pieces of literary history and cultural history in the new period, outline the development of an old literary and art publishing house, and also show a cultural character that is passed on from generation to generation.
Since entering the publishing house in the 1970s, in his decades-long publishing career, Jiang Zengpei has planned and launched a large number of excellent books that have had a profound impact on future generations, from large-scale books with great reputation such as "Contemporary Literary Library", "Novel Industry Library", "Literary and Art Exploration Book Series", to "Replayed Flowers", "Speculative Essays", "Motor City" and other single-book books that have both social value and achieved impressive results in the market, writing a rich and colorful stroke for the history of contemporary Chinese literary publishing. It has also made positive contributions to the development of China's publishing industry. It is precisely because of these outstanding achievements that Jiang Zengpei was selected as one of the "100 Outstanding Publishing Figures in the Sixty Years of New China" in 2009.
As a publisher, in addition to accumulating fruitful cultural achievements in his career, Jiang Zengpei has also become close friends with the authors of these works, including many giants in the academic and cultural circles, as well as well-known authors who have achieved good results in their respective fields. Jiang Zengpei wrote in the text of this book: "Most of the literary artists and editorial colleagues I have met in the work of literary and art publishing are the literary artists and editorial colleagues I have met. In the process of organizing and compiling manuscripts, I have more contact and interaction with them, which allows me to read 'people' at the same time in the process of reading 'text'. To read the work in depth, you also need to read good character. ”
Literature and Character: A Editor-in-Chief's Reader's Notes symposium.
A few days ago, the Shanghai Publishers Association, the China Modern Press and Publication Museum, and the Shanghai People's Publishing House co-sponsored a symposium on the publication of the book at The Duoyun Academy and Drama Shop. Dozens of guests from the publishing and literary circles reviewed Mr. Jiang Zengpei's publishing achievements around the topics inside and outside the book, and discussed how to inherit and carry forward the spiritual outlook of the older generation of publishers in the new era, and do a good job in cultural publishing with vision, mind, character and responsibility.
"As an editor, I read both books and people"
"One of the advantages of editing is that you read the writer's work and get to know a lot of writers at the same time. According to Mencius, both books and people were read. Jiang Zengpei said that the title of the book at the beginning was "Reading People's Notes", and later the publishing house summarized it as "Literary Character and Character", highlighting the connotation of the book.
In addition to his identity as an editor and publisher, Jiang Zengpei is also an excellent writer, whether it is essays, essays, or reviews of the times, literary and art reviews, it is easy to write. Even now, at the age of eighty, he can still read his new works in the press and on the Internet. In "Literature and Character", the most important articles are written by him and the past two years, and only a small number of old works are finally available.
Cover of "Literature and Character"
"In today's publishing world, it is difficult to find a second publisher like Mr. Jiang, who is diligent and prolific." Cao Peilei, deputy editor-in-chief of the Shanghai People's Publishing House, said. In his view, "literary works and character" is the theme of Jiang Zengpei's new works, and it is also a topic that a publisher has to face.
Through this book, Mr. Jiang not only shows his friendship and feelings with these famous artists and everyone, but also shows how as a publisher he shoulders the mission of creating high-quality books and doing a good job in cultural inheritance. This provides a good example and teaching material for how to do a good job in publishing in today's era, and to be a good editor. Cao Peilei said.
Zhao Lihong, vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers Association, prefers to refer to Jiang Zengpei as a "literati." For many years of dating, Zhao Lihong never saw him stop thinking, writing and working, which made him admire it.
"When I read Teacher Jiang's "Literature and Character", the first thing that came to mind was his literary character and character." Writer Lou Yaofu said, "Once we went from Hebei to Beijing for a meeting, and the highway only took more than an hour, and I said Teacher Jiang, you can let someone pick it up." But he didn't, but took the green-skinned train for 5 hours. After we heard about it, we dismissed the idea of chartering a car and went to buy a train ticket like Teacher Jiang. ”
Cao Yuanyong, executive vice president of the Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House and director of the Shanghai branch of the society, remembered that when he first entered the literary and art club, he and Jiang Zengpei once went on a business trip, "That night I thought it would be okay to give me a triple room to squeeze in", but I did not expect to live in a standard room with Jiang Zengpei. "At that time, there was a humanities society in the north and a literary and art society in the south, and the president, editor-in-chief, and party secretary of the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House actually lived in a standard room with a small editor who had just joined me on a business trip." This made Cao Yuanyong deeply feel the incorruptible style of an old publisher and old party member.
"Literature and character are the most core issues in the cultural, literary, and literary circles, and how to combine literary and personal character so that literary and personal character can be unified, and the power of literature can achieve greater social results." Jiang Zengpei said.
Jiang Zengpei
"We should not forget the spiritual wealth left by a generation of cultural people"
For Jiang Zengpei's new work "Literature and Character", Zhao Lihong believes that it is close to prose or documentary literature, but it is not an ordinary journalist's text, nor is it a simple character commentary, but "a literati's depiction of his familiar and beloved friends", accurate and warm.
His descriptions of these characters are true and accurate, and his descriptions of each person's personality, his comments on his achievements, and his place in his time are very accurate. Most importantly, he is writing as a friend, whether it is a predecessor like Ba Jin and Ke Ling, or a peer like Xie Quanming and Li Ruqing, all of whom are written with feelings. Zhao Lihong also often visited Ba Jin's home, which was considered to be a year-old friend, so he said with great certainty that Jiang Zengpei 's description of Ba Jin and the insight and portrayal of the inner world were very accurate."
After reading the whole book, Cao Yuanyong felt that Jiang Zengpei was using his sense of responsibility, sense of mission and expert attitude to record the portrait of the literati of that deceased era.
"From these portraits, we see the unique spiritual atmosphere of the 1980s and 1990s, the openness of that era, the courage to explore and the spirit of the times that are particularly precious. Including Mr. Ba Jin and Mr. Wang Yuanhua, their attitude toward culture is a spur to us today. Cao Yuanyong said.
Literary critic Li Guoyi said that generation of cultural people has extraordinary significance in the entire history of Chinese culture, and everyone has the responsibility to pass it on, "If we don't sort it out and summarize, future generations will not be able to understand it, and they will be lost." ”
In Li Guoyi's view, keeping pace with the times is of course an important responsibility of media people and publishers, but more importantly, there is a kind of original intention that cannot be forgotten, "The original intention is based on humanistic and cultural character, and there must be a humanistic concept and humanistic values, which is the core content of Lao Jiang's account of these cultures." ”
"This book should serve as a reference book for people in the publishing industry. As we come to that era, we should not forget the precious spiritual wealth left by that generation of cultural people. Li Guoyi said.
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Ding Xiao