Xu Zhimo
Did Qian Zhongshu and Xu Zhimo have any relationships? It is generally not involved in the biographies of the two men, and I am not good at jumping to conclusions about the details of the investigation, but it can be generally judged that there is no direct interaction between Qian Xu and Qian Xu.
My friend Fan Shitao later told me that there was a passage in the Early Qian Zhongshu commentary on Wu Mi's poems that mentioned Shima in the Collected Works of Qian Zhongshu, to the effect that Mr. Wu Mi had twice compared himself with the late Xu Zhimo in his poems. As an artist, Mr. Wu Mi is not very popular, and cannot be compared with the accomplished and charming poet, although Wu Mi has no shortage of pretentious poetry, but in terms of personality, he is more interesting than Xu Zhimo, and even must point out (or IMHO) more conceited. From the aesthetic and artistic temperament, Xu Zhimo seems to be still in the stage of enjoying a good life as a child innocently. His main grievances, like those of a spoiled child, either because he didn't have enough candy or because he was uncomfortable eating too much.
Qian Zhongshu's evaluation of Xu Zhimo's poetry is obviously not too high. When Xu Zhimo died, Qian Zhongshu was still studying at Tsinghua, and Xu Zhimo probably did not know that Qian Zhongshu was qian Zhongshu, but Qian Zhongshu definitely knew Xu Zhimo. Paying attention to Qian Xu's relationship may help us understand Qian Zhongshu's judgment of new poetry, which can be roughly understood as Qian Zhongshu's low evaluation of new poetry.
Qian Zhong has a habit of writing "The Siege", that is, he likes to express his literary and artistic views and evaluations of the characters through the mouths of the novel characters, which is a view that those who are familiar with "The Siege" basically agree with. There are two references to Xu Zhimo in the Siege.
The first time was when Fang Hongwei had just returned home from abroad to give a speech at a local school on "The Influence of Western Culture in Chinese History", Fang Hongwei's view was that "for hundreds of years, only two Western things have survived in Chinese society, one is opium, and the other is syphilis...", about syphilis, Fang Hongwei said that if you do not have the opportunity to see the foreign original book, you "just need to read the French novel translated by Mr. Xu Zhimo, "You can know the origin of syphilis." This detail is completely true.
The second time was at Su Wenyi's house, where the poets Dong Xiechuan, Fang Hongwei and Miss Su talked about modern poets. Dong Xiechuan mentioned, "I was in Lushan that year with our old shibo Mr. Chen Sanyuan, occasionally talking about vernacular poetry, the old man actually read one or two new poems, he said that Xu Zhimo's poems are a bit interesting, but it is only equivalent to the realm of Yang Ji's people in the early Ming Dynasty, too pitiful." This detail is based on Qian Zhongshu's conversation with Chen Yan in Suzhou in 1935, but that time Zang Washi was mostly a modern literati.
The first mention of Xu Zhimo in "The Siege" is a bit ironic, and the second mention is basically an evaluative judgment, which can also be roughly understood as Qian Zhongshu's evaluation of Xu Zhimo.
In 1932, when Qian Jibo wrote "History of Modern Chinese Literature", Xu Zhimo was mentioned many times, and when it came to the evaluation of Xu Zhimo, it was basically on the same level as the judgment in "Siege of the City", that is, the negation of affirmation. Qian Jibo once quoted Zhang Shizhao's evaluation of new literature and recounted: "Even if Xu Zhimo is rich in xuanxiang, Guo Moruo is full of intestines, Xie Bingxin is kind and moving, and Wang Tongzhaozhi is laughing with joy", but "New Chinese poetry has not yet been on track."
In 1932, just before and after the publication of the History of Modern Chinese Literature, Qian Jibo's letter to Qian Zhongshu had a warning that "I hope that Ru will be Zhuge Gong and Tao Yuanming; I do not like Ru as Hu Shizhi and Xu Zhimo". Qian Zhongshu seems to have always maintained a vigilance against the life and thought of Chinese liberal intellectuals, and paying attention to this perspective may be helpful for in-depth study of Qian Zhongshu.
Guo Moruo
Those who study Qian Zhongshu have not paid special attention to his relationship with Guo Moruo, first, because direct materials are extremely difficult to see, and second, indirect materials need to be explained, which is not easy to convince in fact. Because all the facts that are explained must have the interpreter's own understanding and judgment in it, and opinion is the norm of academic research.
Regarding the relationship between Qian Zhongshu and Guo Moruo, I have my own understanding.
After 1949, Qian Zhongshu and Guo Moruo served in the same unit, Guo Moruo was the president of the Academy of Sciences, Qian Zhongshu was a researcher at the Institute of Literature of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences under the Academy of Sciences, with Guo Moruo's social prestige at that time, Qian Zhongshu paid attention to Guo Moruo's words and deeds, which should be logically no problem, but we rarely find Qian Zhongshu's direct evaluation of him.
In 1979, Qian Zhongshu visited the United States and met Xia Zhiqing. Xia Zhiqing has a detail in the "Documentary of the Book of Qian Zhong", Xia Zhiqing wonders, Guo Moruo, "Why did you write a book that disparages Du Yang Li?" Qian Zhongshu replied: "Mao Zedong read Tang poems, and he loved the 'Three Li' the most--Li Bai, Li He, and Li Shangyin," but he did not like the 'People's Poet' Du Fu, and Guo Moruo wrote this book according to the holy will." Later, although some people pointed out that Guo Moruo's writing of "Li Bai and Du Fu" was his early academic interest and not necessarily a favor for others, even if this judgment was established, it could not change Qian Zhongshu's evaluation of Guo Moruo, and Qian Zhongshu's attitude may not have been produced after 1949.
Let's look at a detailed description in the seventh chapter of "The Siege": "Moreover, although Wang Chuhou is an official, he is only a literati in his bones, and the literati like someone to die the most, and they can have a title to make a mourning article." Coffin shops and funeral parlors only do the business of the new dead, and the literati will give birth to the old dead for a year, a few years, decades, or even hundreds of years. 'Anniversary of the Passing Away' and 'Three Hundred Years of Sacrifice' are the same good titles. ”
This text is the most see Qian Zhongshu satirical style, if other texts are still general narrative, we are unlikely to index out the specific meaning, but this "three hundred years of sacrifice", obviously refers to Guo Moruo's famous text "Jiashen Three Hundred Years Of Sacrifice", because "three hundred years" is not agreed upon, Qian Zhongshu does not use "two hundred years", "four hundred years", "five hundred years", especially uses "three hundred years", must have a slight meaning, at least we can understand it this way, that is, the psychology of Qian Zhongshu, this understanding can also be established academically. Because coincidence is also a reflection of the memory when writing.
Written in 1946, and the Three Hundred Years of Jiashen Festival, written in 1944, was serialized for four days in Chongqing's Xinhua Daily, and was soon highly valued by Mao Zedong, it was listed as one of the rectification documents, and was widely distributed in Yan'an and the communist-controlled areas at the time. The narrative of "Siege of the City", all the specific events, the title of the book and the fashion of the time, all have a real meaning, and this irony can also be understood as Qian Zhongshu's attitude towards a famous article, which may contain his evaluation of the personality and scholarship of the author of the article.
Chen Yinke
When we talk about the relationship between Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke, we must first start with Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke's father, Chen Sanyuan.
Qian Zhongshu's favorite in his life is Chinese old style poetry, and his cultivation in this regard has reached a fairly high level, especially his familiarity and opinions on Song poetry, which can be said to represent the highest level of research in this regard. Chen Sanyuan was the most famous poet of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and a representative figure of the "Tongguang Body" poetry school. The name of his collection of poems is "Scattered Plains Collection of Fine Poetry".
Because the "Tongguang Body" poetry school is mainly Zong Song poetry, Qian Zhongshu will naturally pay great attention to the creation of this poetry school.
There is a plot in "The Siege of the City", in Su Wenyi's home, the poet Dong Xiechuan and Fang Hongwei and Miss Su talk about modern poets. Fang Hong gradually said that Dong Xiechuan's Chinese language teacher could not be called loudly, unlike russell and Chen Sanyuan, like a high-grade Havana cigar, which could be hung on the side of the mouth. This is the first time that Chen Yinke's father is mentioned in "The Siege":
Miss Su said: "I am also an ordinary international student, I don't know who is the best in modern old poetry." Mr. Dong will tell us something. ”
"Of course, Chen Sanyuan is the first." In the past five or six hundred years, he is the highest. I often say that the great poets after the Tang Dynasty can be summarized by geographical names, called 'Linggu Shanyuan'. Sanling: Du Shaoling, Wang Guangling - do you know this person? --Mei Wanling; Ergu: Li Changgu, Huang Valley; Four Mountains: Li Yishan, Wang Banshan, Chen Houshan, Yuan Yishan; but only Yiyuan, Chen Sanyuan. As he spoke, he cocked his left thumb. Hong gradually asked timidly, "Can't you add the word 'Po'?" ”
"Su Dongpo, he's almost there."
This plot of Qian Zhongshu's book in "The Siege" is helpful for us to understand his relationship with Chen Yinke, or to understand the relationship between the Qian and Chen families. As for whether the meaning of this plot is positive affirmation or slightly sarcastic, it can be seen in different ways. Qian Jibo's "History of Modern Chinese Literature" talks about the "Song poems", the first is Chen Sanyuan, who has a very high evaluation of him, and at the same time believes that his three sons can write poetry, but among the sons, they only talk about the poems of Chen Hengke and Chen Fangke, and do not talk about Chen Yinke's poems, but from his judgment, it can be known that he still knows Chen Yinke. Qian Zhongshu is extremely familiar with his father's book, and many views are the same, which can be understood as Qian Zhongshu's earlier understanding and evaluation of Chen Yinke.
Qian Zhongshu was a graduate of Tsinghua University, and before he entered the school, Chen Yinke was one of the four famous tutors of Tsinghua Guoguo College, but they did not seem to have contact at Tsinghua University, and by the Southwest United University after 1938, Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke were also teaching together for a while. However, there is no historical record of their exchanges.
We have not yet seen the direct interaction between Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke. Over the years, the exchange of Qian Zhongshu has been very meticulously examined, but I have not yet seen direct historical materials in this regard. Therefore, it can be roughly judged that Qian Zhongshu has not met Chen Yinke. According to Hou Minze's recollection, after Chen Yinke completed the "Yuanbai Poetry Notes Testimony", he once sent a copy of Qian Zhongshu. It can be seen that he approves of Qian Zhongshu. When Jiang Tianshu compiled the Chronicle of Mr. Chen Yinke in the late 1970s, he asked Qian Zhongshu to carefully proofread the original manuscript.
When Qian Zhongshu was at the Southwest United University, he had conflicts with some colleagues, among whom Wu Mi and Feng Youlan helped him. On the issue of Qian Zhongshu's whereabouts, Wu Mi had talked with Chen Yinke, and Chen Yinke meant that this matter could not be forced.
Now it is generally believed that Qian Zhongshu's evaluation of Chen Yinke is not high, mainly based on such a historical data:
In 1978, Qian Zhongshu criticized Chen Yinke at an academic conference in Italy. The title of this article is "Classical Literature Studies in Modern China." The passage from Qian Zhongshu goes like this:
Before liberation, when discussing Bai Juyi's "Long Hate Song", a university scholar spent erudition and care to answer the question of "whether Yang Guifei was a virgin when she entered the palace"—a question more meaningless than "what porridge keats drank" and "Pushkin smoked or not". It is difficult to imagine today that the answers to such questions would again be considered serious literary studies.
Chen Yinke spoke at the Southwest United Congress about "whether Yang Yuhuan was a virgin before entering the palace", and this issue was also discussed in detail in the first chapter of the Yuanbai Poetry Testimony, "Long Hate Song". Mou Runsun once pointed out that this problem was not raised by Chen Yinke first, but an old issue discussed by the Qing people. It is related to whether Yang Yuhuan first married Li Longji's son Li Mao, and then how Li Longji got her. This question, which is completely inconsistent with Chinese ethics and morality, actually involves the bloodline and customs of the Li Tang royal family, as well as the distinction between Huayi in the social customs of the Tang Dynasty. That is to say, in the "Zhuzi Language Class", "Tang Yuan flowed to Yidi, so the disrespect of the boudoir was not different." In the memoir article "The Chen Yinke I Know" written after Chen Yinke's death, Yu Yingshi also believed that Chen Yinke's examination was reasonable and could not be considered trivial, unimportant, and worthless.
Qian Zhongshu's criticism of Chen Yinke here actually involves an important methodological issue in Chinese literary criticism and historical research, that is, people often refer to "using poetry to prove history" and "poetry history to corroborate each other".
I personally understand that Qian Zhongshu does not completely negate this method, but disapproves of Chen Yinke's use of this method more to understand poetry, especially the practice of using poetry to sit on history.
As for the rumors circulating that Qian Zhongshu despised Chen Yinke, it was only a rumor.
Tang Yan mentioned Yang Chen's views in his "Book of a Generation of Talents Qian Zhong": "The Book of Chung does not approve of some of Chen Yinke's research, but he is very interested in Chen's old poems, and has spent a lot of time and spirit to fill in the missing words on Chen's manuscripts. After Jiang Tianshu's stroke died, his mental strength was probably wasted. Can you say that Qian has a 'micro-word' for Chen and looks down on Chen? I can't agree. ”
Finally, among China's modern intellectuals, Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke are very individualistic people and very sensitive to the times in which they live. After 1949, among the scholars of their contemporaries, very few did not agree with the times, and very few did not say a word in the previous political movements, but Qian Zhongshu and Chen Yinke were in agreement on this point, and they maintained the quality of independent intellectuals relatively well. At least we haven't seen articles they've written critical of others yet. After 1949, it was not easy to do this, and maintaining inner independence and integrity of personality was what these two intellectuals had in common, and it was not important what they thought of each other.
Qian Zhongshu is twenty years younger than Chen Yinke, and he is no longer a generation. Qian Zhongshu's major is literature, while Chen Yinke's major is history. It is only at the intersection of literature that they raise questions of academic comparison.
(Excerpt from "The Weapon of Thought: Historical Issues in Contemporary Chinese Studies", published by Nova Press)