There are many intellectuals of all kinds in Ru Lin's foreign history, among which there is a group of selected literati, specifically, including Ji Weixiao, Wei Tishan, Sui Cen An, Shu Hufu, Kuang Chaoren, Xiao Jinxuan, and others represented by Ma Chun shang Ma Er. They are a bit of a learned, the level is above and below the talent, and they have not yet been lifted in the cultural people. Although he could not be lifted, he also relied on the imperial examination to eat. Compared with Mr. Zhou Jin, who was a teacher before he was lifted, he was relatively fixed in a certain academy, they were freelancers among intellectuals, wandering around major cities, forming a cultural market among bookstores, cultural funders and candidates to find food.
First, the purpose and content of the selected essay profession
The purpose of selecting the literati, when Gongsun Asked to be named as a second author after the completion of the selection of texts and books, Ma Chunshang said it very bluntly. There is no word for fame and fortune.
"It's just fame and fortune. The younger brother refused to be discredited himself, and thought that he was seeking profit. If you write your husband in the second place, those worldly people will wonder that the engraving comes from mr. Little Brother is not a profiteer? If the husband is written in the first place, isn't the little brother's false name for decades all false? There is also a negative article that is so calculated. The gentleman thought that this was also the same calculation. ”
This remark reveals the rules of the essay profession. As a book-seeker who pursued the theory of the article, Mr. Ma Chunshang was very practical and simply rejected Gongsun Sun. Second, I am afraid that the world will regard the Taishou family as the home of Tuli, and the signature first violates my right to sign, and it is easy to hurt my brand of selected articles. But it also tacitly believes that if someone pays money, the second author can be named in the industry rules. This is a bit of a rule that has been legalized today for correspondence authors of science and engineering papers.
Where the benefits of the book chooser come from, there are also discussions in the book, either relying on the "Wenhai Lou" and "Wenhan Lou" and other book buildings, or relying on the honorarium given by Zhuge Tianshen's patrons, and there are also engraved books like the book building gifted or underwritten (similar to today's publishing houses returning a lot of underwritten books to the author).
The work content of the selected literati, relying on the bookstore or cultural gold lord, selects the articles of the scientific examination papers in recent years, plus their own annotations, and edits them into books (equivalent to teaching materials and auxiliaries), helping readers who are interested in the profession to take the examination at all levels. The electors were so proud of the content of their work that Ma Chunshang even declared to Kuang Chaoren: "What is a book now?" It's a selection of our articles."
Of course, the work content of different selected literati is also slightly different, some books will choose the examination room articles, such as Wenhan Lou to Kuang Chaoren "moved a lot of examination paper articles upstairs", only requiring Kuang Chaoren to annotate; there are also like Ma Chunshang to select and annotate themselves, some like Wei Tishan, Sui Cen An not only have high requirements for selecting texts, but also comment on the annotations of other book choosers and even delete and modify.
In addition, for the sake of brand and market competition, book selectors also pay attention to the sales and reader reactions of the compiled books, so as to adjust the writing strategy and improve the quality of the selected books. When Ma Chun went to Hangzhou, he visited the bookstore anonymously and asked the clerk about the sales of his compilation of "Three Branches of Cheng Mo Holding Luck"; he was also very happy to see Kuang Chaoren reading his newly selected book.
Second, the selection criteria for selecting writers
Although different selectors have different selection criteria, in general, they are nothing more than scientific, political, pedagogical and commercial standards.
Regarding scientific standards, it is mainly said that the selection of articles should pay attention to norms and conform to certain laws or rules. Ma Chunshang believes that "the article is always based on the rational law, let him change the atmosphere, the rational law is always unchanged, so the current Chaohong and Yong are a change, cheng, Hong is a change, in detail, the rational law is always general." Wei Tishan also believed that "the article is a statement made on behalf of the sages, and there is a certain rule, which is not comparable to those miscellaneous works, and can be done randomly." It seems that the two book readers are pursuing the standardization of the article. However, unfortunately, the bookstore clerk believes that "ink scrolls can only be used for a while, and there are better than ancient books."
Regarding the political standard, it means to conform to the original meaning of the sages and to correctly interpret the texts such as the Four Books and Five Classics. Ma Chunshang believes that "the article should not be embellished with notes, especially not with words." The lack of breath with notes is not lost to less literary style, and the breath with words hinders the tone of the sages, so the words are especially taboo. Wei Tishan also said that the article was made on behalf of the sages.
For the teaching standard, Ma Chunshang seems to have the logic of special topic editing and research, believing that "it is beneficial to read this article and understand the truth of more than a dozen articles." "Through articles and annotations with a certain depth, we should help students learn from each other and play a role in the learning and transfer of selected articles and annotations."
For commercial standards, bookstores believe that "ink rolls can only be done for a while", so it must have the times and the timeliness of updating to have commercial value. Ma Chunshang does not seem to be too pursuing commercial returns, but pays more attention to quality, so it takes three months to compile a book, while Kuang Chaoren annotated three hundred articles in six days and compiled a book, believing that "the selection of books is always based on behavior, if not, the bookstore will lose the book, only the little brother's selection, foreign countries have it."
For these criteria, different selectors have different emphases. Whether it is due to the dispute between the selectors, or the lightness of the literati, or the competition of market interests, although there is no quarrel between them, there is a clash of views on different occasions. For example, in the eighteenth time, Kuang Chaoren discussed the criteria for his selection with Sui Cen An, Wei Tishan, and others, and asked them to comment on the quality of Ma Chun's selections. In the twentieth time, Kuang Chaoren also took the initiative to comment on the characteristics of Ma Chunshang's selection of articles and put forward his own selection criteria.
Third, the efficacy of the selected text is right and wrong
Is the selected essay useful in the end, and how useful is it? It should be analyzed from two levels.
First, there is indeed a demand, or candidates think that it is useful for the exam aid, otherwise it is difficult to form a market. At a minimum, sample papers and sample essays are provided for candidates. These teaching aids are really effective for the exam.
Recently, due to concerns about the "double reduction" and the publication of teaching materials and teaching aids, the market can "effectively" raise points to the supply of teaching aids, and some parents who have "insight" to urgently buy a batch of good style evaluation exercise books and other teaching aids are the same.
Second, from the overall point of view, the selection of articles is for intensifying the industry volume. In particular, if the selected essays only focus on the form of the article, it will accelerate the formation of the eight-strand literary system. Whether this will bring some negative effects on the essence of the article and the truly insightful policy is indeed worth exploring. What is more realistic is that the selection of essays and books has increased the economic burden of peasant children to take the exam, and the economic requirements behind the industry have hindered the way forward for peasant children to rely only on learning classics to become talents.
Selectors are similar to today's editors, in the field of education, equivalent to the group of editors and researchers of language textbooks, or the teaching and auxiliary writers of disciplines other than languages. Choosing a family, eating professional and technical rice, although it is a test to eat the examination, but that is also a helpless move of agricultural society. However, their sensitivity to participate in the cultural market and the technicality of adhering to professional standards are worthy of recognition and learning from our descendants, and they have also created some new careers for future generations. Not to mention that there are also selectors like Ma Chunshang, who can fight for righteousness and loose wealth at key moments, buy back the forbidden book "Gao Qingqiu Poetry Collection" for Gongsun Sun, save friends who are almost trapped in the prison of words, and adhere to the justice of Rulin, which can be called Rulin righteous and worthy of the admiration of future generations.