Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 227 226 "Contemporary Avant-garde Literary Thoughts and Future Prospects"

"Okay then, I'll also go to the Western University Library to look for it."

The two chatted for a while, and after seeing that the time was relatively late, Fang Minghua sent the girl home.

As soon as he went to work the next morning, Fang Minghua dialed the number of Li Li's dormitory building.

Each building in the graduate student building of Yanda is equipped with a telephone installed in the duty room at the entrance on the first floor. A setup similar to a small speaker is installed in each dormitory. One end is connected to the duty room and the other end is connected to each dormitory. If there is anyone's phone number, the aunt in the duty room will shout loudly into the small speaker the phone number of xxx dormitory xxx. It doesn't take long. You will see a girl running down in a hurry, some of whom are still disheveled.

It's important to answer the phone. They are all women anyway, so you don't need to pay too much attention to your image.

These were what the girl said while chatting with Li Li, so when a woman across from him said harshly to him to wait, he was not in a hurry and waited patiently.

After a while, a girl's breathless voice came from the phone: "I'm Li Li, who am I?"

"Li Li, I'm Fang Minghua." Fang Minghua got straight to the point and explained the matter briefly: "Can you buy me some books on literary theory? It's best if they are recently translated in China, relatively new ones."

"Okay, no problem, cousin-in-law." The girl agreed.

"Cousin-in-law?!"

"Yeah, aren't you and my cousin getting married soon? I figured it out, sooner or later I'm going to call you that, so let's start from now on."

"This is up to you."

"Okay, I'll go to our school library right away. There are more books there than in Xinhua Bookstore, especially foreign works. Wait."

Li Li acted quickly. Only a week later, she sent back a large package. Fang Minghao moved it to his office and opened it to see a lot of books:

The British scholar Trey Eagleton wrote "Twentieth Century Western Literary Theory", Jefferson's "Overview and Comparison of Modern Western Literary Theory", and "Modernity in Liquidity". There are more than a dozen books, and they are also There is a book called "Eden's Gate"!

Fang Minghua had read this book before traveling through time. The author was Morris Dickstein. It was originally published in the United States in 1977, with the subtitle "American Culture in the Sixties."

This book is very interesting. From Marcuse’s theory to literary creations such as Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg, to rock music, to the student counter-culture movement, to the anti-war of the entire society, it is roughly The content of this book summarizes an era that is very chaotic, but full of vitality, and where new things are constantly growing in all aspects of society.

Isn’t it a bit similar in China in the 1980s, including in the literary world?

Of course it's not a simple analogy.

I've been a little busy lately.

Fang Minghua looked at the pile of books and thought to himself.

While reading and thinking about the decline of avant-garde novels based on what he knew about domestic literary trends before traveling, Fang Minghua began to write.

The content is mainly divided into four parts:

The definition of avant-garde literature, the development history of avant-garde literature abroad, the advantages and limitations of avant-garde literature, and the future development direction of avant-garde literature.

Now, apart from going to work to deal with some work, Fang Minghua spends most of his time, including evenings and weekends, immersed in writing.

It seemed like I was back to the state I was in when I was writing "Enter Guandong" the winter before last.

Fortunately, there are computers now, so it is easy to modify.

Fang Minghua was writing furiously here, and the lectures for the advanced class in the School of Liberal Arts were also in full swing.

Chen Zhongshi first came to the podium. The content of his lecture was "Truth and Fiction". He emphasized the importance of life experience and the need to practice kung fu hard. He talked about the past when he and another person went to Xijing to attend a literature lecture and stayed in a dark shop halfway the night before. " Sleeping on a bare mat, bed lice crawled out in rows in the middle of the night, like tanks. I have never seen so many bed lice.”

Of course, Jia Pingwa was no exception. As the dean of the School of Liberal Arts, she gave a lecture in person, titled "Some Practical Issues in Prose Creation." Take his own essay "Ugly Stone" as an example. This essay was later selected into the high school "Chinese" textbook.

"The most ugly thing is the most beautiful thing" is very controversial. Jia Pingwa specifically explained in this lecture that this statement comes from Liu Xizai's "Art Concepts" in the late Qing Dynasty. "A girl's eyes are very beautiful, but if they are cut off and placed on the table, they will not be beautiful. Isn't this the truth?"

Zhou Keqin from other provinces was also invited. The author who won the first Mao Dun Literature Award for "Xu Mao and His Daughters" made a special report. He said that he had stayed in the countryside for 20 years. It also emphasizes the feeling of life and does not advocate the one-sided pursuit of skills.

Lu Yao, who was immersed in writing in Tongchuan, also rushed back and gave a lecture on "Novel Creation Questions and Answers". He answered a total of 38 questions. He emphasized the true feelings of writing and his own personal experience. He talked about his past poverty experience. One detail was the torn cotton pants he wore when he was in primary school. He had to be the first to enter the classroom and the last to leave the classroom every time. After class, the students were "crowding together" outside, but he didn't dare to do so.

Fang Minghua is still writing crazily—no, revising.

Literary theory is not a novel. It does not require much passion or poetic language. It pays more attention to clear arguments, sufficient evidence and self-consistent logic.

Repeated revisions were necessary, but fortunately there was a computer, which made it easier to revise articles. So he simply took a few days off and did the final sprint at home.

The time to schedule your own lectures is quickly approaching!

It was already the end of April, and the weather was gradually getting hotter. Fang Minghua locked himself in the bedroom and gave his mother an order: Except for asking him to eat, he was not allowed to disturb him at any other time.

This morning, Fang Minghua modified the last punctuation mark.

After staying up all night last night, this article titled "Contemporary Avant-garde Literary Thoughts and Future Prospects" was finally completed.

A total of more than 10 words.

Fang Minghua looked at the neat imitation Song fonts on the computer and felt a sense of accomplishment.

He stretched himself long and opened the curtains.

Hehe. The sun is shining outside today, and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant.

But now he just wants to have a good sleep,

I took off my shoes and was just on the bed with Yitang when I suddenly heard my mother’s voice coming from outside: “Xiaohua, Jia Pingwa is here to see you.”

Brother Jia is here?

Fang Minghua quickly got up and saw the door being pushed open and Jia Pingwa walking in with a briefcase under her arm and a cigarette in her mouth.

"Oh my god, Minghua, what are you doing?"

Jia Pingwa couldn't help but screamed when she saw Fang Minghua like this.

His hair was as fluffy as a chicken coop and his beard was unkempt.

"You must not imitate Lu Yao, he will cause serious physical problems if he writes like that!"

"It's just that during this period of time, there's nothing I can do about it. It's the mission you assigned." Fang Minghua joked.

"Hey, don't rely on me, it's Chairman Du." Jia Pingwa replied: "I'm here to see how you write today? It will be your turn to lecture next Monday."

"It's basically done, take a look." Fang Minghua turned on the computer and called up the document.

"Contemporary Avant-Garde Literary Thoughts and Future Prospects"

Jia Pingwa sat on a chair, put out her cigarette, and looked seriously.

(End of this chapter)