On June 2, the famous writer Ma Yuan (right) and Zhong Lixin, president of Shanghai Education Newspaper (left), presented awards to Zhu Dake (center), the winner of the 7th Tiger Literature Award. Courtesy of respondents
"Myth has a special beauty. Mythological works themselves are very good subjects for nurturing children's imagination. Recently, Zhu Dake, a literary critic and mythological expert who has just won the seventh "Tiger Literature Award", told the surging news (www.thepaper.cn).
At 2:00 p.m. on June 2, the "Seventh Tiger Literature Award Ceremony and Sharing Meeting of Zhu Dake's Mythological Works" sponsored by Shanghai Education Newspaper and Periodicals Was held in Shanghai.
The Tiger Literature Award is a "One-Man Literature Award" initiated by Ye Kai, a well-known writer, editor and language educator. For more than seven years, he insisted on giving awards to outstanding writers who were "forgotten" as a personal "gleaner", hoping to change the monotony of the literary world.
Zhu Dake, a professor at the Cultural Criticism Research Center of Tongji University, won the prize for his collection of magical novels "Ancient Events" and his novel "Changshengyi", which was previously awarded "one yuan", but this time it was replaced by a prize of "a cloth tiger".
When awarding the award, Ye Kai, a well-known language educator, pointed out: "Literature cannot be separated from happiness and creativity, so I pay attention to works with uniqueness, fun and creativity, especially Chinese culture has been calling for creativity in basic education in recent years. ”
Famous writers Ma Yuan, cultural scholar Yu Shicun, literary critic Yang Yang, professor of the Department of Chinese of Fudan University Wang Hongtu, suspense novelists Cai Jun and Li Ximin, publisher Cao Yuanyong, feminist critic Zhang Nian, literary and art critics Zhu Qi and Liu Xunda and other well-known personalities attended the ceremony and made speeches.
Calling for uniqueness, fun and creativity in basic education
As a well-known literary critic, Zhu Dake has always attracted much attention in the contemporary literary world. He spent more than 20 years studying the origin of ancient Chinese culture and mythology, forming a thick academic monograph "Ancient Gods in China". From the level of world outlook and methodology, the book carefully and meticulously sorts out the ancient Chinese myths and makes a refreshing analysis.
In 2018, Zhu Dake "transformed" again. His collection of magical novels,"Ancient Chronicles", and his novel "Changshengyi" (Changshengyi) have been published one after another. Among them, "Ancient Events" includes three parts: "Character Creation", "Divine Mirror" and "Qilin", which are based on Cangjie Character Creation, Ancient Mirror Legend and the story of Zheng He's voyage to the West. He weaves the historical and mythological Yoshimitsu Katayu into the Chinese clothes of the text, and creates a mythical world of strange and magical brilliance.
Different from other fantasy novels, Zhu Dake introduced a large amount of historical and archaeological knowledge, supplementing the rationality of the basis of this type of legend and story, so that the fluency of reading is based on the smooth construction of knowledge. Recently, he told the surging news that at the beginning, people around him knew that he was very incomprehensible when he made myths, but after writing it out, he found that it was also a new literary experience, which could fill the gap of the current lack of literature.
In the award speech, Ye Kai pointed out that Zhu Da can form a unique and new style of work in the contemporary literary world with his unique imagination and solid data research. "Literature cannot be separated from happiness and creativity, so I focus on works that are unique, interesting, and creative, especially Chinese culture has been calling for creativity in basic education in recent years, and I think this award may have a certain significance." 」
At the sharing meeting, Wang Hongtu, a writer, critic and professor of the Department of Chinese of Fudan University, also mentioned that many students on campus now have high test scores but because of the lack of exploration and creative spirit in the process of growing up, they have entered the sea of questions too early, which is somewhat "standardized".
"In recent years, we have paid special attention to recommending excellent literary works to primary and secondary school students and guiding them to read classics. Strengthening the humanistic connotation and humanistic guidance of education is a very good entry point for the entire social development and talent training, and I hope that writers and scholars can devote more time and energy to the school, which is an important path and way to solve the problem of education from the spiritual dimension. Zhong Lixin, president of Shanghai Education Newspaper and Periodicals, said.
Good mythological readings should be pleasing to the eye
In addition to academic monographs and fantasy novels, at the end of 2018, Zhu Dake also carefully selected a unified manuscript for children and edited a children's book called "Collection of Chinese Mythological Stories".
Pangu opened the heavens and the earth, Nuwa created people, Luoshui goddess, stolen soil, Dayu zhishui, Changzu breeding silkworms, Fu Xi Chuang Bagua... After referring to and comparing a variety of ancient documents and related research results, he selected 50 classic mythological stories to organize the original scattered Chinese mythological stories through the "divine personality" and lead young readers to touch the origin and context of the Chinese spirit.
"Mythological works themselves are very good subjects for cultivating children's imagination," Zhu Dake told the surging news, "myths have a special beauty."
However, due to the unprecedented abundance of reading materials, modern children in the field of mythology are often exposed to Greek mythology, Norse mythology, Egyptian mythology, and even Mayan mythology. "It's also because we did this late." Zhu Dake said.
He believes that mythology is a kind of cultural nostalgia, the foundation of national discourse, and the beliefs, ethics, cosmic patterns, imagination and narrative methods contained in it are the core of the national cultural spirit. The magnificent fantasies of ancient Chinese mythology, the rich cultural nourishment from the ancestors, and the innocence, romance and beauty in the national spirit can all affect the spiritual weather of young people and increase their cultural self-confidence.
Because his parents were middle school teachers, Zhu Dake in his childhood loved fairy tales and mythological stories. At the age of eight or nine, he began to read the literary version of Journey to the West. It was the first standard mythology he had read. He said that mythological reading was the most enjoyable spiritual journey in his early years and one of the sources of imagination.
In his view, the interpretation of mythology must first be beautiful and pleasing to the eye. For children, good mythological books should be properly handled, however, the quality of children's books related to Chinese mythology on the market is still uneven.
"Ancient myths need to be sorted out and interpreted by professionals." He said, "The current situation is muddy, as a parent, it is difficult to have a professional eye to choose." Some myths are rewritten and the language is rough; some know it but do not know why it is, creating fallacies; some lack the ability to distinguish and interpret, and cannot extract useful values, but instead distort them and lead to the bad side. This is a big problem that we need to face and deal with in the future in mythology education. ”
The mythological elements in online games have their psychological significance
Myths are products of childhood in human society. Ancient mythology has a history of thousands of years, but it is still the main theme and element of genre literature, film and television, anime and games, attracting a large number of young people.
At the sharing meeting, suspense novelist Cai Jun also said that nowadays, mythological resources are widely used in genre literature, online literature and many popular cultures, such as many fantasy, xiuxian, xiuzhen themes in online literature, and Western mythological resources in movies such as the American Marvel Universe, which have affected every ordinary public, including a large number of teenagers.
Taking film and television dramas as an example, the popular "Lord of the Rings", "Avatar", "The Legend of Narnia", "Crazy Animal City", "Fengshen Yanyi", "Journey to the West", "Legend of the Demon Cat" and so on are full of mythological shadows. Online games are no exception, "Glory of Kings" brings together different "gods" in China and the West, such as Nuwa, Descendants, Athena, And King Arthur.
In this regard, Zhu Dake believes that myths have very important psychological significance for contemporary people. "The central secret of mythology is healing. No matter how harsh this reality we face in our daily lives, myth is an eternal spiritual remedy that heals our anxieties, sorrows, and fears, inspires our souls, and helps us through life's difficulties. ”
From the current popular domestic fantasy, crossing, and xiuxian novels, Zhu Dake saw the imagination from the younger generation, but on the other hand, he said that myths are rooted in history, "perhaps the neglect of historical support and mythological archetypes in these novels will also help them to exert their imagination, but as they grow older, while retaining their imagination, they may also respect history more."
Zhu Dake said that Chinese mythology, whether ancient or medieval, has very good themes that can create the core elements of the cultural industry. He revealed that he is currently working on authorizing literary works to be filmed in film and television, trying to reactivate the unique charm of Chinese mythology.