The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In Shanghai in the 1930s, there was a kind of "pavilion culture", which was an important part of "Shanghai left-wing culture".

The pavilion, originally the name of the building, is located above the stove draped room and under the balcony, with an area of ​​at most six or seven square meters. It is small and dark, and is often used for storing sundries or for servants to live in.

A large number of impoverished literary and artistic youths could not afford to live in good houses after they came to Shanghai, so they could only rent the cheapest pavilions. In an environment of cold winter and hot summer, wind and rain, they wrote patriotic articles one after another and passed them on to future generations.

Lu Xun later published a collection of essays called "Qijieting".

"Ting" means a pavilion, and "Qijie" means a half-concession, and together they mean "a pavilion in a half-concession".

Therefore, some people think that those essays were written by Lu Xun when he lived in a pavilion in Shanghai, but this is not the case.

Lu Xun is a rich man, and he has Xu Guangping with him, how could he live in a pavilion. He named his anthology "Qi Jie Ting", just to recognize the "Ting Zi Jian Culture", and he classified himself as a "Ting Zi Jian Writer".

Lu Xun now lives at No. 23, Jingyunli, Zhabei, and there are many cultural celebrities in this area. For example, Lu Xun's younger brother Zhou Jianren, such as Ye Shengtao, Rou Shi and Mao Dun.

On this day, Lu Xun was revising the forthcoming "Mixia Translation Collection", and Andrei, a reporter from "Zi Lin Xi Bao" came to visit.

Xu Guangping, who had a big belly, brought him some tea. Andrei thanked him, and said to Lu Xun, "Mr. Zhou, I wish your future children healthy and lively."

"Thank you." Lu Xun was in a very happy mood.

After Xu Guangping became pregnant, Lu Xun's temper improved a lot, and even the tone of his articles became more tactful.

Andrei chatted with Lu Xun for a few words, and soon got to the point of the interview, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, have you seen the works of another Mr. Zhou? I mean Zhou Hexuan."

Lu Xun said in surprise: "I thought you were going to ask about the debate between Hu Shi and Chen Dezheng in this interview."

Andrea shrugged and said: "The debate between Mr. Hu and Mr. Chen involves some reasons that are inconvenient to explain. "Zi Lin Xi Bao" will not participate in it. My visit this time is specifically to talk about another Zhou Sir, you know, the work of that Mr. Zhou has recently caused a sensation in Europe."

"I have read all his works." Lu Xun replied.

Andrea asked, "What's your evaluation?"

Lu Xun smoked a cigarette, puffed out the smoke and smiled, "It depends on what work you're looking at."

Andrea said: "Can you explain in more detail?"

Lu Xun said: "I like his poems very much. Whether it is "A Generation", "Answer", "To the Oak Tree", and "Broken Chapters", they are all very beautiful and wonderful. Especially the first two poems are sharp and firm. His Problem novels are also well written. "The Goddess", "The Dog Official" and "The Dog Official's Biography" have a thorough observation of Chinese society. "The Rise of a Great Power" is a new type of historical work, and there are many things in it that are worth learning."

"You seem to have had a pen fight with him?" Andrei deliberately provoked.

"It's not called a pen war, it's just a difference of opinion," Lu Xun said, "I strongly disagree with his political ideas in the last chapter of the book "Guns and Cannons". He is too naive and thinks too much about those in power. Bright and unselfish. Leaving aside the last chapter, the rest of Guns is groundbreaking."

Andrei asked: "Since the publication of "Goddess", a school of magical realism has emerged in the Chinese literary world in the past two years. As the leader of rural novels, what do you think of magical realism works?"

Lu Xun shook the soot: "First of all, I am not the leader of any literary school. Secondly, I hate the so-called magic realism very much."

Andrea smiled and said, "Didn't you just say that you approve of "Goddess" very much?"

"I agree with the content of "Goddess"," Lu Xun explained, "but many subsequent magical realism works have more form than content. In order to be different, writers often deliberately disrupt the time and plot, and increase the number of readings for nothing. Difficulty, without any help in expressing the theme of the novel. This is absurd, it puts the cart before the horse, and turns reading novels into guessing puzzles. What is our vernacular movement for? It is to make the articles understandable. Today Magical realism literature is more difficult than classical Chinese novels, and I firmly oppose this form of writing."

Andrea asked again: "Recently, the European literary circle has predicted that "The Goddess" is likely to win this year's Nobel Prize for Literature. Do you think this work will win?"

"I don't make predictions, and I'm not interested in them," Lu Xun said.

"Why? The Nobel Prize for Literature is the highest honor in the world of literature." Andrea said.

Lu Xun put out his cigarette butt, smiled and said nothing.

In fact, as early as two years ago, when Sven Hedin, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, came to China for inspection, he planned to nominate Lu Xun as a candidate and asked Liu Bannong for Lu Xun's opinion.

Lu Xun directly rejected it by writing a letter, and the intercepted content is as follows: "...Liang Qichao is naturally not worthy of the Nobel bounty, and I am not worthy. To... Maybe what I am cheap is that I am Chinese, relying on the word "China... I think there is really no one in China who can win the Nobel Prize. It is best for Sweden to ignore us, no one will No. If, because of yellow-skinned people, they are given special preferential treatment and lenient treatment, it will only increase the vanity of the Chinese people, thinking that they can really stand shoulder to shoulder with great writers from other countries, and the result will be very bad.”

It can be seen that Lu Xun, like the Chinese people nowadays, somewhat looked down on himself. In other words, I always feel that I am not good enough, and I have to continue to work hard in order to be compared with others.

It can also be said that Lu Xun's mind was very clear, and he was not dazzled by the halo of the Nobel Prize. Because measured by the scale of world literature, China does not have enough writers to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Of course, Zhou Hexuan is an exception.

The magical realism style is so cool that it completely changes the way novels are written and read today. "The Goddess" is its pioneering work, and its content is also exceptionally good, so it is fully qualified to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In Lu Xun's view, it is a bad thing for China that Zhou Hexuan won the Nobel Prize.

It is conceivable that at that time, everyone will have their vanity inflated again, thinking that China has reached the forefront of the world, and the reality of the bad national conditions will be covered up by these illusory honors.

Andrei interviewed for nearly 20 minutes, and finally said: "Please give a comprehensive comment on Mr. Zhou Hexuan."

Lu Xun thought carefully and said: "In all fairness, in terms of thought and academics, Zhou Hexuan is the first person since the late Qing Dynasty. He surpassed Gu Hongming and Liang Qichao by a lot. He is also the best in the field of poetry and novels, especially novels. , there is no one like him in China today. As for his political views, it’s still the same sentence, I don’t agree with it.”