Panelists:
Mao Shi'an is a literary critic.
Wang Xueying is a senior editor.
In the 80s of the 20th century, the spring tide of Chinese contemporary literature and art was surging, beating the embankment of history, and a group of young critics who were beginning to rise gathered with "Shanghai Literature" as the main position, and Mao Shi'an was an important member of it. From the new era, the new century to the new era, he has participated in and witnessed the magnificent development of Chinese contemporary literature and art. He has expanded the category of art criticism from literary criticism, art criticism, film and television and theater criticism, and dance and other art criticism, and started a long journey of continuous exploration and improvement of literary and art criticism for 50 years. Through the dialogue between the guests, readers can understand how the critic Mao Shi'an has experienced himself and formed a cross-border and professional literary and artistic criticism, his unforgettable experience in his rich commentary writing, his Shanghai complex and his feelings for his family and country, and how he devoted himself to writing a touching commentary.
He is the "presenter" of Shanghai culture, he has gone from Shanghai to the whole country, and in the face of the mighty tide of Chinese contemporary literature and art, he has witnessed, participated, pondered, and practiced, and has become a critic who has penetrated into the forefront of Chinese contemporary literature and art.
Innovative but not extreme, steady but not conservative.
Wang Xueying: As a critic who has been deeply involved in the scene of Chinese literature and art for 50 years, you have the experience of participating in administrative leadership, planning and organizing major cultural activities, and have the practice of various types of literary and artistic criticismIsn't it a rich experience of challenge and discovery, grinding and joy, both sweet and bitter?
Mao Shi'an: I have loved art since I was a child, and I love all the good things in life. In the 60s and 70s of the last century, I copied a large number of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poetry and literary works, and also drew colorful illustrations for these manuscripts. When I was in college, I had the privilege of studying ancient Chinese literature with my mentor, Mr. Xu Zhongyu. The unique agility and literary brilliance of ancient literary theory have given me inexhaustible cultural nourishment for a lifetime, and have greatly broadened my writing horizons. Mr. Xu has also become my spiritual mentor for life, and I have paid him New Year's greetings every year for more than 30 years. I am a Chinese who lives in the moment and thinks about problems and writes something, and my writing basically revolves around my work. I worked at the Institute of Literature of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Writers' Association, mainly writing literary criticism, and later transferred to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture, focusing on literary criticism, especially drama criticism. My literary criticism involves almost all literary styles.
A lot of people are amazed at my multiple cross-disciplinary review writings. I don't like people hanging themselves from a tree, but more importantly, everything has particularities and universalities. At the metaphysical level, there is particularity, and at the metaphysical level, things show the universality of interrelatedness, that is, "particularity" and "commonality". Art, in fact, is a synthesis of "technology, art, and Tao". At the level of "technique", they are independent and individual, and the independent "technique" is integrated by the artist's aura, creativity, and imagination to form "art". Once you enter the level of "Tao", it is possible to integrate and broaden your horizons in commentary writing. In 1986, I won the Shanghai Literary and Art Award, "Chinese and Western Expression Aesthetics and Painting under the Influence", and "The Philosophy of Life and the Realm of Art", which I wrote earlier, both have my own vision and momentum that I am quite satisfied with. Because of my wide field of vision, I have more relative freedom in writing and more space to complete various manuscripts.
Wang Xueying: The Climber collects comments on Shanghai's cultural development, and comments on Shanghai's literary and artistic works that have won the National Five One Project Award, the National Stage Art Excellence Project, the Wenhua Award, the Chinese Theatre Award, and the Mao Dun Literature Award with a broad vision and a steady tone. Some writers commented on your comments, and the style of writing was passionate and elegant, but it was tactful and delicate;Innovative but not extreme, steady but not conservative, good-looking but not floating. How do you develop your own style and characteristics of literary criticism?
Mao Shi'an: The article is sweet and hard, and the gains and losses are known. Sometimes it is written smoothly, sometimes it is hearty, sometimes it is difficult and helpless, sometimes it is like a primary school student who can't start writing essays, and even when it is painful to have a difficult birth. I have never talked about writing articles, one is that there are more people writing articles in the world, and I am not a top master, so I have no experience to talk about. The second is to talk about writing, which is difficult to say that it is helpful to others. There is a cloud in the "Diamond Sutra": There is no definite law. The Chinese speak of "method", which is obviously different from Westerners, paying attention to ethereal and elasticity;When the West talks about logical reasoning and inductive deduction, it shows rigidity. Wang Ruoxu, a writer of the Jin Dynasty, said, "Or ask if the article is considerate?"Said: None. And I asked if there was no body?Said: Yes. But what happened?Said: There is no fixed body, but there must be a general one. In my opinion, the so-called "nothing" is like Yue Fei's "clever use and one heart" in the war;And "have" refers to the words and sentences taught in primary and secondary schools, that is, the choice of words and sentences, and the layout of the article. But to really write well, this knowledge alone is not enough. Therefore, writing, like art, is always the average when it is spoken, and what is difficult to express is special. Lao Tzu said, the Tao is the way, the very way. Kant said that purposelessness is the same thing.
I don't know how to write poetry, but I love poetry. When I was young, I used to hand-copy the poems of Byron, Heine, Tagore, Tang and Song, and I liked the unique temperament of poetry very much, and the warm and sad atmosphere of the heart. Personally, I especially like to walk at night, take the wilderness road that is deserted and uninhabited, and gradually develop the poetic style and poetic temperament of the language of commentary. When we were young, the critic Wang Xiaoming once called me an "American critic". In this regard, under the influence of Mr. Qian Gurong, I tried my best to have some brilliant passages and chapters in the process of flowing discourse.
In terms of values and approach, I was deeply influenced by my mentor, Mr. Xu Zhongyu. First, there is a strong sense of family and country. Whenever I see a good work appear, I am ecstatic like a child. I am willing to dedicate my life to the literature and art that I love. I am also full of a sense of adversity, and I am willing to applaud every little progress in literature and art, and at the same time, I also face up to the problems and shortcomings that exist in our literature and art. The second is the golden mean, I generally tend to be mediocre and peaceful, and rarely take the extreme and absolute path. At the beginning of the new century, when I read the Berlin Dialogues, he said that there is no universal standard for a certain ultimate solution to the problems of life. His pluralistic stance imbued him with resilience and wisdom in his perception of many issues. In half a century of critical writing, I have gradually formed the basic characteristics of being innovative but not extreme, steady but not conservative, rational but not cold, emotional but not impulsive, facing reality but not avoiding the sublime, combining perceptual experience and rational thinking, treating criticism as a creation, and making words full of beauty.
Wang Xueying: "Four Questions and Reflections on Cultural Development and Literary and Artistic Creation is a sequel to What is missing from our drama", first drafted on August 30, 2008 and revised on September 7, 2010. "In September 2017, in order to write the lyrics of the symphonic chorus "Set Sail", I wrote a draft of nearly 10,000 words from Shanghai, Beijing, Dunhuang, Lanzhou and then Shanghai. "The former article is a long writing time, and the latter lyrics are writing across a large space, and I was deeply impressed when I read "The Climber". Please share your review writing experience, unforgettable.
Mao Shi'an: Literary and art criticism is a poor spiritual cause, and it is the watchman of the spirit on the land of art. Sometimes writing a review is no less than fighting a war and requires courage, wisdom and will. In the 80s of the last century, I wrote a very cutting-edge review of Cheng Naishan**, which was published in Shanghai Literature, and his works were widely favored by readers. Many of my reviews are done on the middle of a stressful business trip. When writing "The Power of "Shimmer"", the high-speed train passed through the Hexi Corridor under the Qilian Mountain, and the director Xu Jun's WeChat and ** were intermittent. When I was living in Ruijin Hospital, I completed a review of the paintings of my old friend, the famous Chinese painter Chen Jialing. On October 30, 2012, I underwent heart surgery, and two hours before I went to the operating table, I telegraphed the manuscript I had just written to the office of the Publicity Department of the Shanghai International Arts Festival. After the wound healed a bit, I would take a short rest and proofread the printout of the telex and return it to them. One day in March of this year, I made an appointment with a dental doctor. On that day, I had 6 broken teeth extracted in the hospital, 8 implant bases, and finally temporary teeth. The surgery lasted from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. When I got home, I endured the pain of the wound and continued to write.
In three or four days, I finally completed a 4,000-word review of the TV series "Dawn of the East" and sent it to the editor of "Bright **". I often think of Mr. Lu Xun's words, time, like water in a sponge, as long as you are willing to squeeze, there is always something. The text is honest, and only with the investment of life can the article have the appeal of touching people's hearts.
I am willing to hold out for readers, a pure heart.
Wang Xueying: "After the train of my life passed through the earth, the scenery of life left in my memory, the times and the breath of Shanghai that I heard in my ears, are a love song I dedicated to Shanghai." Your affectionate self-description in the preface of "Autumn Weather is the Loveliest" reminds me of the interweaving of times, cities and life, the cultivation of your humanistic feelings, and the motivation and stance of the creation of prose and literary criticism, are they closely connected with the Shanghai complex and the feelings of home and country?What do you mean by "the stars are in their writings, and the children are in their people"?
Mao Shi'an: I am a native of Shanghai, and I have a warm affection for the city. Having traveled to many parts of the world, I have always believed that it is a truly great city that can be compared to some of the most famous international metropolises in the world. She is magnificent, broad, and has a heroic spirit that is quietly hidden and hidden. Indeed, I have a "Shanghai complex" that is so strong that I can't dissolve it with the feelings of my family and country. Readers of "Autumn Weather is the Loveliest" will learn about Shanghai and Shanghainese people, and they will also love Shanghai and Shanghainese. I don't dare to reach it, but I am willing to accept it. I have no other ability to be willing to hold out a pure heart for readers. The writing of prose enriches my emotional world and makes my comments more literary. Falling flowers are not ruthless things, I hope that my words are like bullets shooting out of the chamber of a gun, shining with the fire of passion, reaching the heart, moving myself and others.
Wang Xueying: It is very important for artists and critics to face and understand their own times, and how to present their own understanding of the times in their own creative and critical practice. Do you agree with that?Please talk about the personal growth of critics, the relationship between the pattern and the times, and the relationship between literary criticism and the times.
Mao Shi'an: I am the lucky one of these times, and it is a great turning point in the history of China's reform and opening up, which allowed me to pass the college entrance examination, enter the campus, receive higher education, and get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become an intellectual. I distinctly remember the first day I sat in the big classroom and listened to the lecture, and I kept wondering, I wasn't dreaming, was it?The Chinese dream of a generation started in the 80s of the last century. As a friend said, this forms our "conscious mind". Fifteen years ago, the playwright Luo Huaizhen said to me, "I have the avant-garde thoughts and vast sighs of youth, the vertical and horizontal sorrows and beautiful sorrows of middle age, and the sorrowful thoughts and romantic imagination of the prime of life and even after the prime of life." He spoke as beautifully as his lines. Indeed, critics are inseparable from the times, and our lives are closely related to the times. Mr. Lu Xun once said that leaving the times is like pulling out your hair and leaving the earth. The tidal waves of literature and art have provided me with inexhaustible material and inspiration for criticism. Literature, art and criticism should present the trajectory of the development of the times, leaving behind reflections that transcend the times and point to the future. Critics should experience the human connotation of the work, the emotional and spiritual world of the characters. Criticism should reveal the depth of humanity in the work. When I write reviews, the first thing I do is to read the work honestly. I write drama reviews, not only to watch the play live, but also to watch ** afterwards and read the script. Day and night, when I have time, I want to think about it, and I want to use the pen in one go. The so-called "transcendence" is the analysis and understanding of human nature, the aesthetic perception of art forms, and the ultimate direction is truth, goodness and beauty.
In the 80s, my comments focused on injecting independent thoughts into words, and the intensity of thinking penetrated and unified the commentary. In the 90s, I founded the Cultural Research Department of the Institute of Literature of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Since entering the new century and the new era, my heart has become more calm, and in the face of dynamic and ever-changing literary and artistic phenomena and literary and artistic works, I have tried my best to call for a more harmonious cultural environment for literary and artistic troupes and artists. For the better development of contemporary literature and art, I devoted myself to analyzing literary and artistic phenomena and the gains and losses of literary and artistic creation, and wrote "What is missing in our drama" and sister article "Four Questions and Thoughts on Cultural Development and Literary and Artistic Creation", two articles talk about theory, have views and positions, and have won the first prize of the 5th China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the 4th China Theatre Award for Theoretical Criticism, which have had a great impact on the national literary and artistic circles.
Wang Xueying: In the afterword of "The Climber", I read a detail, when I was holding a seminar on the 46th floor of the Shanghai Poster Building, looking out of the bright floor-to-ceiling windows of Shanghai's "city**", you sighed in your heart, "For decades, my life has been accompanied by this city and its culture." "Wen Wei Po has also become a daily string song in your life of accompanying Shanghai culture with literary and artistic commentary.
Mao Shi'an: Wen Wei Po is a major humanities newspaper with a wide coverage in China, and it is also a newspaper with a backbone, and it is a very honorable thing to become the author of Wen Wei Po. In 1983, Wen Wei Po published a nearly 3,000-word art review I wrote for the Hubei painter Zhou Shaohua's group painting "The Source of the Great River". In the 80s, Wen Wei Po published a review I wrote about Shi Tiesheng's short story "Grandma's Star". The following year, he won the National Short Story Award. In recent years, many of my important articles have been published in Wen Wei Po. Collected in "Autumn Weather is the Loveliest", two long essays on Sinan Road in Shanghai and Hudak, as well as a long essay on the centenary of the birth of tutor Xu Zhongyu, were published in Wen Wei Po on the whole page. The typesetting editor told me that many young reporters were moved to tears when they read the article "The Heartbeat of a Good Man" by Zhao Changtian. Over the past 40 years, Wen Wei Po and I have formed an indissoluble bond of pen and ink and are forever friends.
Wang Xueying: Looking back on the 50 years of literary and art criticism practice, what do you stick to and what has not changed?What is the integration and innovation of keeping pace with the times?
Mao Shi'an: The ancients said that rhetoric is sincere. A good article should not only have the "repair" of formal beauty, but also have the "sincerity" of emotion. "Sincerity" is fundamental, rhetoric, not for fancy, but for "sincerity" to be touching. As a critic, I demand myself to approach writing with reverence, honesty with my heart, passion with life, and sincerity with the world. I will definitely say the wrong thing, but I will never tell a lie or lie. The chapter is alive, and you can touch the writer's body temperature and mood when writing. Most of the critics of our generation are congenitally deficient, and they did not have the cultivation of old learning when they were young, and they lacked the cultivation of Western learning later. I groped for dance and ink, and it was the times that created us. Literature and art create love for literature, but we can't be worried about the new poetry. I have watched dramas, paintings and movies all year round, and I feel that sincerity is valuable, and only when the creator is truly attentive and emotional, can the work move the audience and readers.
I call for sincerity!Looking back on my half-century career as a critic, what has not changed is my basic cultural stance, the spirituality and aesthetics of art, and my calmness and sobriety towards excessive marketization, industrialization, and modernizationWhat has changed is the object of criticism and the discourse of commentary, and the new literary and artistic theories and research methods that I continue to learn Xi accept and digest, as well as the contemporary application of ancient literary theories, so that I can keep pace with the times and use fresh commentary discourse.
Wang Xueying: Some of your articles are very fast, on the one hand, because urgent articles with strong news need to be published quickly, and some of your articles are very slow, such as the article of more than 3,000 words "Shouting Powerful Thoughts with Life" has been written intermittently for nearly three years. Tell us about how fast and slow you are in your writing.
Mao Shi'an: Fast and slow is a relative proposition. When I was younger, I was really fast. Sometimes I can write a thousand words a day. Drafters often sit in the office waiting for the manuscript, write it on the spot, and pick it up on the spot, but I think it takes much longer than it takes to write. "Shouting out powerful thoughts with life" mainly wants his words to be worthy of the artist Pu Cunxin, whom I admire from the bottom of my heart, and those Tibetan children from the snowy plateau. There is also a review of the painter Tian Liming's "Seeing Through the Mist", which I also wrote for a long time, and it took two years to complete. The main thing is to explain his original point of view "the growth of art" thoroughly, and the style of writing should match his painting style. There is also "Cherry Blossom Appreciation" written in 2018, and I still want to write a text with a bit of a desolate sense of life.
Author: Mao Shi'an, Wang Xueying.
Text: Mao Shi'an, Wang Xueying: Publishing House Editor: Xuan Jing Responsible Editor: Xing Xiaofang.
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