On November 27, 2020, 57-year-old Lao Mu died at his home in Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province. The poet who withdrew from people's vision for thirty years was suddenly commemorated because of his death. And Lao Mu is remembered, not for his poetry, but for a selected book of poems he edited.
The 1980s was the golden age of China's century-old new poetry history, and during the past ten years, a large number of anthologies and poetry collections have been printed and distributed throughout the country, either publicly or internally. Among them, the most influential anthology is the "New Poetry Tide Poetry Collection" compiled by Lao Mu.
Regarding the compilation and publication process of this selected poem, in March 2018, I asked the poet Tang Xiaodu to go to Lao Mu's WeChat and interviewed him through WeChat. At that time, he was in his hometown of Pingxiang, Jiangxi.
Old wood. (Hu Min/Photo)
<h3>One</h3>
The old wood's real name is Liu Weiguo.
The publication of the New Poetry Collection was first attributed to the May Fourth Literature Society of Peking University.
One day in the late winter of 1984, Lu Lin, president of the May Fourth Literary Society, who was in the midst of a poetry boom, and Liu Weiguo, vice president of the May Fourth Literary Society, who had just graduated from the Chinese Department of Peking University and was assigned to work in the Literature and History Teaching and Research Office of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, got together and chatted about wine, and they wanted to do one thing.
Lü Lin, born in 1961 in Chengdu, was admitted to the Department of Chinese of Peking University in 1980, during which time he took a year off due to illness and graduated in 1985. During his time at the university, he was an active figure, serving as the president of the May Fourth Literary Club, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese student magazine "Daystar", the president of Yanyuan News Agency, and the director of the radio station.
Liu Weiguo, born in 1963, is a native of Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. In 1979, he was admitted to the Department of Literature of the Department of Chinese of Peking University with the first place in the city and the second place in the province. The class teacher is the famous children's literature writer Cao Wenxuan.
Just after entering Peking University, Liu Weiguo once walked around the campus, saw the folk magazine "Today" posted on the bulletin board, and was attracted by the poems of Kitajima, Munch and others that were mimeographed on it, and began his poetry career. He and five classmates founded a mimeographed literary journal, Flying Saucer, on which he published his first poem.
Liu Weiguo served as the building director of the 32nd student dormitory and the president of the student union of the Chinese Department. In his sophomore year, he took a year off from school due to acute hepatitis, repeated to the 80th grade, and graduated in 1984.
On this day, Lü Lin went to the dormitory of the Party School of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee to find Liu Weiguo, and consulted with him to ask him to compile two books on poetry for the May Fourth Literature Society.
"I didn't say yes at first, because I was already working, and the unit had work discipline, so it was impossible to have time to compile these two books. Second, how to start compiling these two books is really bottomless, but I can't help but have the love of Lu Lin's friend during school, and because I drank a few bottles of beer, I agreed. I remember that it was December 31, 1984, and the guest I invited was Yanjing beer. Liu Weiguo told me that he finally promised Lü Lin to help them compile the two books "New Poetry And Poetry Collection" and "Young Poets Talking about Poetry".
In order to compile and select this set of books, in January 1985, the May Fourth Literary Society set up a special editorial committee of the "Unnamed Lake Series", with Lü Lin as the editor-in-chief and Liu Weiguo as the deputy editor-in-chief. Other members of the editorial board include Li Yulong, Fan Xuwen, Sun Guoyong and Zhao Jingchun.
<h3>Two</h3>
"On New Year's Day 1985, I only did one thing, that is, I wrote a letter to the poet Yang Lian, in which I explained that the May Fourth Literature Society of Peking University would compile and internally print a new poetry anthology and a poetry treatise, and ask him for help. When I was studying at Peking University, I met Yang Lian at the home of Mr. Xie Mian (who was just an associate professor at the time) and discussed poetry. Yang Lian's reply arrived on the morning of January 3, and in the afternoon I rushed to Room 117 of a dormitory building at the Beijing Institute of International Relations, where Yang Lian temporarily lived because of his father's relationship. Yang Lian's enthusiasm is still unforgettable, and I would like to pay tribute to him here. Yang Lian gave me his printed collection of poems and provided addresses and paging phone numbers for North Island and Jianghe. He called Kitajima Zhenkai and Jianghe Laoyu, and he told me he would greet them. Old Wood told me.
"At kitajima' house, kitajima gave me a stack of manuscripts and stated that he had made changes. He gave me a copy of sun city notes and asked me to return it to him when I was done using it. He wrote a text message to Munch asking me to take the letter and go to Munch. For the first time, I knew Munch's original name was Jiang Shiwei. He also went downstairs with me to make a phone call to Gu Cheng. Gu Cheng happily made an appointment to meet me. Old Wood said.
Munch, who lives in Building Forty-Three of The Jinsong Community, read the Letter from Kitajima carefully and then received me. He gave me two copies of his printed poems and several volumes of folk poetry. Munk said he had no job, and since he didn't have a fee, he was a friend. Old Wood recalled.
"Going to Gu Cheng's house is quite difficult. Gu Cheng lived with his parents. Gu Cheng's father, Gu Gong, was a military poet who worked in the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, so his home was in the general rear compound, and the door was closed, and he needed to call Gu Cheng to come and greet the guests. Gu Cheng's poems can be said to be hundreds, piled up on a dining table. After spending an afternoon at Gu Cheng's house, Gu Cheng always wanted me to choose more of his poems, and Xie Ye made tea next to him. Old Wood said.
"Jiang He lives in a hutong in Beijing, near the White Pagoda Temple. Every time I think of the river, I think of his ex-wife Tadpole... She boiled water outside the door and made tea for me and the river. After Jiang He provided his poems, he introduced me to Many. He said that there was a hairy head (Toto's nickname is Maotou), and he had a lot of poems, you can look for him. In the river, I learned that there is another poet in "Today" called Toto.
"Toto is the strangest poet I have ever met, and he only gives me an hour, that is, within an hour, I have to make a choice in a pile of poems and copy them. I was young and vigorous, and I immediately agreed and selected and copied it within an hour. Old Wood said.
Kitajima was the leader of the today literary magazine, and he also called Yan Li, Lin Mang, and Xiaoqing. It is worth remembering the enthusiasm of the poet Lin Mang. After he provided his work, he told me that the poet Belling had a lot of folk poetry journals, printed poems and copies of manuscripts, and told me his phone number. Old Wood said that he visited these people one by one.
In China in 1985, the telegraph was still a fast way to communicate. Due to the tight time and the urgency of the press, Liu Weiguo adopted the method of patting and sending telegrams to some important poets and important friends. In the summer of 1980, Liu Weiguo and Han Dong, a student who was studying in the economics department of Shandong University at the time, met on the train, and when they saw each other, they sent each other poetry manuscripts for advice. When collecting poems, Liu Weiguo first thought of asking his friend Han Dong's poems. "Han Dong was a friend of mine in college, and I sent him ten poems by telegram, including 'About the Big Wild Goose Pagoda', "Our Friends," and "You've Seen the Sea." I asked for ten of his poems in the telegram because I had decided that the poets in the second volume of the New Poetry Collection would be at most ten poems long. He said.
"Poet Belling, to record his help in compiling and selecting the New Poetry Collection and the Young Poets Talking About Poetry, he provided many folk periodicals, printed poems and copies of poems." Lao Mu said that because of Beiling's enthusiastic support, he collected the best masterpieces of a group of powerful young poets in China at that time.
"Zhai Yongming was the one who read the manuscript copy of her "Woman" group poems and immediately selected her group poems into the "New Poetry Collection". Zhang Zao's "In the Mirror", Bai Hua's "Expression", Ouyang Jianghe's "Resume", etc., are because I read a poetry newspaper in Sichuan and selected them into the "New Poetry Collection". Wang Xiaolong, Wang Yin, and Lu Yimin were found in some mimeograph publications and mimeographed poems in Shanghai, and I also found excellent poets Chen Dongdong and Zhang Zhen. They are now the best poets in China. For example, Lu De'an, his poems "Father and Me" and "The Night and Woman in Wojiao", when I read it in the Fujian folk magazine "Friday", I was deeply moved, and immediately decided to choose ten of his poems. Recalling the scene of the original draft, he was like a family treasure.
Lü Lin gave Liu Weiguo only one month of draft collection tasks, in addition to the draft, selected manuscripts, he more often used his spare time to Peking University Library, Capital Library and other major libraries in Beijing to read a variety of books and newspapers related to poetry, from which to select and copy excellent poetry works. Among them, the most copied by his classmate Luo Yihe was six poems published in Guangdong Youth Poetry and other publications, including Pioneer.
"Luo Yihe was a college classmate of mine, and during my college years, I often asked him some questions about poetry. What impressed me most was that every time I went to his dormitory, I found him reading classical Chinese poetry. Luo Yihe sometimes appears shy, typical of the literati style. Luo Yihe's father, Luo Gengmo, was a famous economist. Once, when I was eating at his house, Luo Gengmo was still at the dinner table, asking Luo Yihe to read the Quan Tang Poems again. After graduating from university, Luo Yihe worked as an editor of October. Once, he praised Liu Yang in Yunnan to me, and sure enough, he sent a group of poems by Liu Yang. That's his character. In poetry, he was an idealist. He participated in the Youth Poetry Club of the Poetry Journal, but due to his early death, he did not receive the evaluation he deserved during his lifetime. His collection of poems was published after his death. In 1991, the poet Song Lin gave me this collection of Luo Yihe's poems published by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House in Paris. Luo Yihe said to me that year: Thank you for giving me six poems. My friendship with him was like that. ”
At the end of January 1985, after a month of intense, busy, and night-time drafting, transcription, and collation, Liu Weiguo successfully completed the compilation and selection of this set of books.
On March 3, 2018, Lao Mu met with Tang Xiaodu, Xichuan and Wang Jiaxin. (Hu Min/Photo)
<h3>Three</h3>
The editorial board of the "Unnamed Lake Series" has hired famous professors Ji Xianlin, Cao Jinghua, Zhu Guangqian, Hou Renzhi, Wang Yao, Chen Yixuan, Xie Mian, Sun Yushi, Yuan Xingpei, Le Daiyun, Liu Xuan, Ma Zhenfang, Min Kaide, Wang Jingshou and Zhang Wending from Peking University as consultants. In particular, Xie Mian's preface played a role in "fueling the waves".
Talking about the past when he asked Xie Mian to write a preface, Liu Weiguo said: "Mr. Xie Mian gave us a course on Contemporary Literature, so it was easier to ask him to write a preface. When the three proofs of the "New Poetry Collection" came out, he wrote the preface to the "New Poetry Wave Poetry Collection" ("Review of the New Poetry Wave") in two days. ”
In April 1985, after three months, the "New Poetry And Poetry Collection" and "Young Poets Talking about Poetry", organized by the editorial committee of the "Unnamed Lake Series" of the May Fourth Literature Society of Peking University, planned by Lü Lin, edited and selected by Liu Weiguo, and funded and printed by the Sansan Company affiliated to the Youth League Committee of Peking University, were published in the form of internal distribution.
Speaking of compiling this set of books, Liu Weiguo told two interesting stories.
"The most memorable thing is the dispute between me and Lü Lin, whether the poetry collection is called 'Obscure Poetry Selection' or 'New Poetry Collection', Lü Lin advocates the former, and Mr. Xie Mian is on my side, advocating calling it 'New Poetry Collection'. When Lü Lin first went to the Party School of the Beijing Municipal CPC Committee to find me, he only asked me to compile two books, one was a selection of poems and the other was a treatise on poetry, and there was no title. By the time I submitted the manuscript, the book was titled "New Poetry Collection" and "New Poetry Trend Poetry Theory", because the scope of my compilation and selection went beyond obscure poems ("Today" school of poetry). Therefore, it can only be summarized and named in terms of new poetic trends. ”
The second interesting thing is attribution. "At that time, I wrote poems under the pen name 'White Horse'. Because Lü Lin did not agree with my use of the pen name 'White Horse' as a compiler, he had to temporarily give up the pen name of 'Old Wood'. ”
The "New Poetry Collection" priced at five yuan, small 32 folios, divided into upper and lower volumes, a total of 813 pages. Among them, the first volume has 474 pages and the second volume has 339 pages, including 467 poems (groups) by 87 young poets.
As an editor, Liu Weiguo only received 350 sets of books to be paid for editing, and he gave almost all of them to friends in a month or two, leaving only two sets for commemoration.
In addition to the first and second volumes of the "New Poetry Collection", Liu Weiguo also compiled a poetry collection with the nature of teaching reference materials, "Young Poets Talking about Poetry". As for the original intention of the book' selection, he wrote in the Preface: "This book is unnecessary. Poetry should be done by critics, and all the poet does is write poetry. His work represents everything he has to say. But I have compiled this collection to look at poets looking at poetry from the critic's point of view, at their work; or, just feelings. ”
Young Poets on Poetry, Small 32 Folio, 180 pp. There are 52 poems and chapters by 28 young poets, including Beidao, Shuting, Jianghe, Gu cheng, Yang Lian, Yan Li, Lin Mang, Tian Xiaoqing, Xiao Chi, Liang Xiaobin, Wang Xiaoni, Xu Jingya, Wang Xiao, Cui Huan, Niu Bo, Han Dong, Yiping, Wang Jiaxin, Sun Wujun, Bai Hua, Zhai Yongming, Bei Ling, Luo Yihe, Daozi, Zhang Xiaochuan, Shi Guanghua, Haizi, Song Qu, and Song Wei.
Regarding the origin of the compilation of "Young Poets Talking about Poetry", Lao Mu recalled: "The May Fourth Literature Society set up an editorial committee for the Unnamed Lake Series for this purpose, of course, there must be several books to be called a series of books. Lü Lin told me that there were selected poems of Peking University, selected prose of Peking University, selected novels of Peking University, and so on, but why did he change the "New Poetry Tide Poetry" to "Young Poets Talking about Poetry", I remember that he explained that he should not make the goal too big. The idea of compiling "New Poetry Tide Poetry Theory" ("Young Poets Talk about Poetry") is that since Mr. Xie Mian wrote "In the Face of new rise", there is the rise of poetry and the rise of poetry. The book was also not called for papers, but was searched from magazines, poets' offices and folk periodicals, printed poetry collections, student literary journals, newspapers, and other sources. ”
"New Poetry" and "Young Poets Talking about Poetry"
<h3>Four</h3>
The "New Poetry Collection" (including "Young Poets Talking about Poetry") was first printed in 10,000 sets. Although it was distributed internally, in just a few months, through the adoption of national mail order, college sales, etc., the book was still sought after and snapped up by college students and young poetry lovers across the country, and it was quickly sold out. Then, within a year, the May Fourth Literary Society printed another 10,000 copies and continued to sell well, making this set of poems the best-selling, most sought-after, hottest, most popular, and "far-reaching" (Beidao) poetry collection in 1985.
The publication of the New Poetry Collection was a major event in the Chinese poetry scene in the 1980s.
After thirty-four years, looking back and re-retrieving the poetry works in the "New Poetry Poetry Collection", we will be amazed to find that the works that have been recognized as classics in the history of modern Chinese poetry have all been selected or first published in the "New Poetry Poetry Collection", such as: Kitajima's "Answer" and "Declaration", Shu Ting's "To the Oak Tree", Jianghe's "The Sun and His Reflection", Munch's "Sunflower in the Sunshine", Yang Lian's "Norilang", Liang Xiaobin's "Snow White Wall", "China, My Key Is Lost", Li Gang's "". Blue Sailors", Xu Demin's "Purple Starfish", Han Dong's "About the Big Wild Goose Pagoda", "Our Friends", Luo Yihe's "Pioneer", Wang Xiaolong's "Taxis Always Drive In Despair", Psyllium's "Three Primary Colors", Zhai Yongming's group poem "Woman", Wang Yin's "Remembering a Czech Movie Can't Remember the Title", Bai Hua's "Expression", Lu Yimin's "American Women's Magazine", Zhang Zao's "In the Mirror", Lu De'an's "Father and Me", Yang Liuhong's "Baisha Island", Ouyang Jianghe's "Resume", Liu Yang's "To the Boxer Ali", and so on.
Before the publication of the New Poetry Collection, Duoduo's name was unknown and unknown in the poetry world. However, because the editors fully recognized the artistic value of Toto's poetry, he broke with the convention and selected as many as twenty-six poems by the unknown poet at once, making Toto famous in one fell swoop. Haizi is Lao Mu's good friend, an ordinary poetry lover, no name, but Lao Mu is very appreciative of Hai Zi's poetic talent, and selected one of his novel and unique lyrical short poems "Girls" into the "New Poetry Tide Poetry Collection", thus allowing Hai Zi to emerge. Nishikawa, before the publication of the "New Poetry Collection", only published a few poems sporadically in mimeographed publications, and Laomu attached great importance to Nishikawa's poetry, and selected two of his poems, "Autumn Sound" and "Candlelight", into the "New Poetry Poetry Collection", making these two poems become Nishikawa's "poetry debut" in the strict sense of the word lead. Ouyang Jianghe, who has previously published works under his original name "Jianghe", officially launched the pen name of "Ouyang Jianghe", which began with the three poems selected for "Resume", "White Love" and "A Night in the Shadow" in the "New Poetry Poetry Collection". In addition, poets who became famous in the Chinese poetry scene with the help of the publication of the "New Poetry Collection" include Zhai Yongming, Bai Hua, Wang Yin, Lu Yimin, Luo Yihe and others.
The publication of "New Poetry and Poetry Collection" has influenced and driven publishing units across the country to publish a number of modern poetry collections: "Selected Obscure Poems" published by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, "Selected Obscure Poems" published by Central China Normal University Press, "Exploring Poetry Collection" published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, "Sixteen Modern Poems of Beijing Youth" published by Lijiang Publishing House, "Selected Poems of Five" published by Writers Publishing House, "Selected Contemporary Experimental Poems of China" published by Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, and "Obscure Poems" published by Nankai University Press. 100 Comments on the Poetry of the New Generation", "The Grand View of Chinese Modernist Poetry Groups 1986-1988" published by Tongji University Press, "The Turbulent Poetry God - Selected Poems of the New Wave" published by Huashan Literature and Art Publishing House, "Selected Poems of the Third Generation of Poets Exploring" published by the China Federation of Literature and Literature Publishing House, "Emotions and Feelings - Selected Poems of the New Generation" published by the People's Literature Publishing House, "Selected Self-recommended Masterpieces of Contemporary Young Poets" published by Hohai University Press, "After The Obscure Poems - Selected Poems of Chinese Pioneers" published by Nankai University Press, "300 Obscure Poems" published by Huacheng Publishing House, "Selected Poems of the 1980s" published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, and so on. The publication of these anthology of modern poems eventually formed a spectacular craze that promoted the maturation of modern Chinese poetry.
Jiang Hongwei