commemorate
Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen Anthology originated
Author: Ye Shuming
Not long ago, Mr. Lin Zhenming, the veteran editor of Huacheng Publishing House, called me from the United States to talk about the past when he edited "Shen Congwen Anthology" with me in the early 1980s.
When I entered Huacheng Publishing House at the end of 1980, the preparatory stage of Shen Congwen Anthology had ended, and I was one of the responsible editors in the text editing stage. I have not experienced how to prepare it at the beginning, but I heard Lin Zhenming say that it originated from a very small thing. At the end of the 1970s, the publishing house held a symposium of old writers in Beijing, inviting xia Yan, Xiao Qian and other old writers and old translators to attend, and Shen Congwen was also included in the list of invitees.
Mr. Shen Congwen
Before the meeting, Lin Zhenming called Elder Shen and asked if he wanted to send a car to pick him up, and it was not easy to call a taxi in Beijing at that time. Old Shen thanked him. The next day, with a light rain, the meeting time is approaching, and many participants have arrived, but they have not yet seen the figure of Shen Lao. Lin Zhenming and Yi Zheng (the old writer Yi Junzuo's zhesi, who was also working at the publishing house at the time) stood anxiously waiting at the door of the venue, when they suddenly saw Shen Lao walking slowly along the wet road with an umbrella. At that time, Shen Lao was nearly eighty years old, taking a bus by himself, going around and bumping. It is hard to imagine that this old man who walked alone in the rain was a giant who left such brilliant achievements in the Chinese literary world. Lin Zhenming and Yi Zheng were deeply moved, and at that moment, the idea of publishing Shen Lao's collection of essays came to mind.
Mr. Shen Congwen's handwriting
I sincerely admire the qualities of these old editors, who at that time had long faded out of the literary world and immersed themselves in costume research and archaeology. Not many people remember his early literary works. After the "Cultural Revolution", when scar literature was prevalent, almost all literary magazines and publishing houses were staring at scar literature, and the eyes of Lin Zhenming, the old editors, had already crossed over scar literature and turned to the eras, works, and people before these scars were produced. They knew that Chinese literature at that time once had a broader sky.
Shen Congwen in his youth
Cover of Shen Congwen's novel "False Candle"
All the editing work of "Shen Congwen Anthology" was done by Huacheng Publishing House, but when I opened the 1982 Huacheng edition of Shen Congwen Anthology, I found a strange phenomenon, the publishing units were actually Hong Kong Sanlian Bookstore and Huacheng Publishing House, and the publication instructions were written in the name of the editorial department of Sanlian Bookstore Hong Kong Branch. I still vaguely remember this detail, because at that time, the left wind was still blazing, and there were different opinions on the publication of Shen Lao's collection of essays, and the publishing house was under considerable pressure. Just when the Hong Kong Commercial Press published Shen Lao's "Research on Ancient Chinese Costumes", Hong Kong Business and Hong Kong Sanlian are actually one family, Huacheng proposed two joint editors to hong Kong Sanlian to publish Shen Lao's anthology, the two sides hit it off, and Hong Kong Sanlian joined in this way. From the perspective of Huacheng, the use of the Hong Kong Sanlian signboard is to alleviate the material opinion of some people in China about the publication of this set of books.
This is the only group photo I (left) have with Mr. Lin Zhenming (right), when we were compiling shen congwen anthology
I still believe that the 12-volume Shen Congwen Anthology (plus an information volume) is one of the most valuable large-scale anthologies published by Huacheng Publishing House since its establishment. It is the first set of Shen Lao's anthology with the most complete content and the largest scale in history. The wind began at the end of Qingping, and later set off Shen Congwen fever in China, and it lasted for a long time, and even became hotter and hotter, in fact, it began with this set of January 1982 Huacheng version of "Shen Congwen Anthology". I was able to participate in editing, and I consider myself to be the proudest thing in my half-life editing work.
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