The Paper's reporter Gao Dan intern Wang Hengjin
For many people, the spring of 2020 may be the most difficult spring in life. Last April, tens of thousands of people gathered around an audio course called "Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience" to warm up around the "bonfire of literature."
The content of this audio program is also integrated into the book "Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience". Recently, the sharing meeting of novelist Miao Wei's new book "Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience" was held in Beijing. At the event site, Miao Wei, Yang Fangzhou, deputy editor-in-chief of the reading library, and Wei Bingxin, editor-in-chief of Phoenix.com, held a dialogue around the literary reading experience, exploring how to open up multiple aspects of life and embrace a broader world through literary reading.
"Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience" sharing session
Can we finish a book in 15 minutes?
At the scene, the event began with the host Wei Bingxin's "Can we finish a book in 15 minutes", which triggered readers to think about the major impacts that today's fast food culture and information fragmentation have brought to reading.
Miao Wei said that if it is strictly written, it is definitely not possible, "But you have to listen and translate." I think listening to an audio program is equivalent to flipping through a book for you, and sometimes you will turn it yourself when you stand in the bookstore, and turning it over for a while is actually like reading a book. In the past, readers would especially look down on audio or book breaking. When I was younger, I would read books for about three or four hours a day, and I especially wanted to read all the books that interested me. I may now have seven or eight hours a day to read a book, and then I will find it impossible to finish the book that interests you. ”
"So, I'm particularly dependent on listening. When you listen, you will hear a lot of content that has nothing to do with your major, but you are very interested. I was particularly impressed by a book about containers, about how containers were invented, and what impact it had on the global economy. This kind of book I spent 20 minutes to listen to him introduce this matter is enough, of course, after listening to it, I will forget, will not remember, but at least there is an index in the brain, know like a book written in the container, quickly understand, and then listen to it, or look for it. When you listen, whether you're on the road or nothing happens, listening to these things is a particularly good addition when you're exercising. Miao Wei said.
Yang Fangzhou believes that why contemporary people have this demand to read a book quickly, in fact, they are afraid of what they have left behind, or so many good things, afraid of not being able to finish reading. Reading becomes a matter of great urgency. "There are also some that teach people how to read quickly. But those I think are often you have to have information, or you have to listen to a story. The first is to grasp the information, which can be read quickly and skimmed, for example, if we want to write something, or to understand what background, we need to grasp the main points in a relatively short period of time. There are also stories, such as books as thick as Jin Yong, which you will read quickly. ”
"Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience" book shadow
"I want to dig into that touch, that uncomfortable feeling, I always feel that this thing is more important"
In the book "Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience", Miao Wei shared his experience of reading dozens of foreign literary classics over the years, and also told his thoughts on essential issues such as love, loneliness, and death, as well as his understanding of basic objects such as self, others, and the world.
Miao Wei once mentioned that "The Watcher in the Wheat Field" is his "book of life" and will be recommended by everyone, but now he says that he has not read it for a long time, and he is no longer so angry, and now he will read which book he writes. The first thing that inspired him to write Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience was The New York Brothers, "The two people in New York Brothers gradually isolated themselves from this society, slowly closed themselves in a room, and then starved to death. ”
"When I watched that thing, I was closed in the house, isolated from the world, slowly out of touch with people, and then I started to write the first one. After I finished writing, I sent it to the public account, and then I wanted to see what other people's reactions had. As a result, a reader in Guangzhou left me a message saying that he also liked the novel "New York Brothers" very much, and when I ran to Central Park to play, I stood on the ice surface of the park. Then there was a man inside the brother who was blind. The reader said, I slowly closed my eyes to simulate which building I couldn't see first, and then how darkness came to me. Sometimes the enthusiasm for writing is not to say that there are many people watching, or that many people say whatever they say, but that there is a person who sees more deeply than you, or that the touch on his heart will be more profound, which will inspire me to read books more seriously. Miao Wei said.
"Brothers New York isn't a particularly popular novel either, but I didn't expect another reader to take the book to Central Park and think about the characters in the story according to the plot of the story. So I don't know which book will have that much impact on people. I want to dig into that kind of touch, like this girl after watching "New York Bros." or the uncomfortable feeling that "Waiting for Godot" gave you. I always feel that this thing is better than what text analyzes which sentence, what literary theory, I think it is more important than these. Miao Wei also said.
Literature is a healing of the mind
Miao Wei said that he did not want to tell everyone a story in "Thirty Lectures on Literary Experience", to tell what this novel was written, and this thing could not arouse the desire to convey information.
He gave an example: "I read a novel called Madame Bovary a long time ago, and everyone should know the image of Madame Bovary, which was a story from 1850s. I finished reading the book and threw it there, and many years later, I read another book about "Fashion Dress", which is about the development of the fashion industry. Then you will find that Madame Bovary went to buy clothes when she was old, and she owed a lot of money, and she went to buy clothes with a white strip, which turned out to be related to the development of the fashion industry at that time. Then, that novel will also write a novel that Bovary particularly likes to read, called "Paul and Vigne", which is an 18th-century French romance novel that I didn't particularly care about when I read it.
Later, I read another book, called "The Cultural History of Vegetarianism", which is about two people, a man and a woman living on the island of Mauritius, and then eating fruit and living in harmony with nature, which is linked to the vegetarianism in France, that is, vegetarian food represents a purer, more beautiful, more romantic life. Madame Bovary's reading of this romance novel had something to do with the fashion of the year. In fact, I don't quite believe that young people can read it so well. Miao Wei said.
Miao Wei thought that the message he wanted to convey was like this, "I tell Emma why she cheated, married a doctor, and recounted the things in fact, some people will tell it very well, and I sometimes repeat it, but there must be something else attached to this story." This is one of the biggest motivators that this book particularly motivates me to write and express, that is, I want to summarize the connections between the books I have read before. ”
What is literature for? In Miao Wei's view, to some extent, literature is really useless, "it will make a person more vulnerable, it will also make him a little unrealistic, or it will make him feel out of place, which is not good for you to succeed in this world." 」 I was writing the second season recently, watching the story of "Waiting for Godot" and reading a lot of literary theory. For example, some theories will say what Godot symbolizes, and analyze Godot's meaning from a biblical perspective, and many such things. In fact, such things will not help you, but will only help you complete the thesis of master's degree in English and master's degree in english at university. The most valuable sentence was written by a professor Chinese, who said that the best thing about this play is that it makes you uncomfortable. Your master's thesis can't be written about how uncomfortable it is, it can't be limited to the uncomfortable thing, there will certainly be a lot of academic language. However, in fact, this play is just to make you uncomfortable. There are so many uncomfortable things in literature. Conversely, to say that literature is not good, to say that it is useless, must stand on the creation of another civilization that is particularly remarkable. If you just watch entertainment programs and variety shows every day, and then say that literature is worthless, then I think it is not in line, it is definitely much more advanced than those things. It is also an entertainment, but there is still a difference between culture and culture. This is a fun, which fun is good. But what use do you say it is, I don't know. Miao Wei said.
Yang Fangzhou believes that literature is a kind of spiritual healing. "There are often people who are uncomfortable, but they don't know why they are uncomfortable, but literature shows you all the discomforts that have existed, all the discomforts that human beings may have encountered." 」
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang