In 1934, Zhu Ziqing edited his fourth anthology, You and Me.
In 2023, Zhang Dinghao, a researcher at the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, a famous literary critic and poet, will re-compile Zhu Ziqing's anthology "You and My Literature" to meet readers.
In Zhang Dinghao's view, "You and Me" can be regarded as a watershed in Zhu Ziqing's life, and the most cherished achievement of his life was completed at this stage. The reason why this anthology is called "You and My Literature" is because Zhu Ziqing "emphasizes the relationship between literature and ordinary readers, does not make abstract discussions, but only starts from a word, a sentence, a poem and even some specific issues, but finally makes us understand that the so-called literature is not actually an external decoration, it is between you and me." The literary language must be read.
You and My Literature includes some of Zhu Ziqing's essays on poetic criticism, language writing, and literary appreciation. Through these articles, readers can fully see Zhu Ziqing's understanding of literature.
For example, in the article "On the Path of Poetics", Zhu Ziqing attaches great importance to the importance of recitation in the process of learning poetry. This is the beginning of the interest of poetry, and it is also the first step of poetics. But occasional casual chanting is useless;Enough for recreation, not enough for use or learning. Then it takes a lot of hard work, which is memorization. It is impossible to learn Xi literature without being too lazy to memorize it, especially poetry. A high school Chinese student, instead of swallowing dates or reading ten poetry collections, should carefully recite 300 poems. These three hundred poems, though few, are your own;Although there are many of those ten poetry collections, I will return them to others after reading them. I'm not saying they shouldn't read ten poetry collections, I'm saying that if they can't read them carefully, reading them is not the same as not reading them!Zhu Ziqing wrote.
This method of memorizing poems and reciting poems is still highly valued today. Especially in school education, special attention is paid to the effect of children's memorization in poetry Xi. In fact, in the face of poetics, many people think that it should not only be memorized, but also very important to understand, in this regard, Zhu Ziqing of course also thought of it, he believes that to understand the expression of poetry, understand the poem's canonical facts, literary meaning, and practice, the effect of memorization can be revealed. "Poetry is a special language, and it has a special expression method due to the limitation of the number of sounds (the basic number of sounds of four, five, seven poems). It must express a meaning or a layer or layers of meaning in a prescribed number of words;It is sometimes close and sometimes distant from the language of nature's prose, but it is by no means the same. It takes the work of art. ”
It is worth noting that, unlike many children's poetry training today, Zhu Ziqing suggested that students learn poetry and read more annotations and commentaries to improve their understanding and appreciation of poetry. In this part of poetic criticism, Zhu Ziqing not only explained how to learn poetry, but also commented on Tao Yuanming's poetry and "Nineteen Ancient Poems".
In the article "On the Way Out of Chinese Poetry", Zhu Ziqing ** the future of Chinese poetry, and he advocated the large-scale and systematic translation of foreign poetry. He wrote: "This is a great way to revolutionize our poetry;Directly with the help of foreign texts, there must be only a very small number of people, and it must be gentle, like a sheep's intestine path, which still requires people with geniuses;It is necessary to have people who are proficient in Chinese and foreign languages, and who are willing to dedicate most or even all of their lives to this great cause. Zhu Ziqing raised the question in the context of the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century in which he lived, and he may not have imagined that in the nineties of the twentieth century, a few decades later, China would set off a wave of new poetry, or perhaps he would not have thought that after that hundred years, people would enthusiastically embrace ancient poetry again, but he must have expected that the vitality of poetry would continue.
Most of these essays were written in the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century, when vernacular writing was prevalent, but Zhu Ziqing still emphasized the importance of ancient poetry and classical Chinese in these essays. In the article "On Selected Books and Monographs of Chinese Literature", Zhu Ziqing explained: "I think the purpose of middle school students reading Chinese is nothing more than to acquire common knowledge of literature, cultivate the ability to appreciate literature, and practice the skills of Xi expression. This is true no matter how you read the vernacular. I advocate that everyone writes in the vernacular, but the literary language must be read;Vocabulary and idioms, styles and techniques, and the vernacular all have places to draw on the literary language. "Reject mental exhaustion.
These articles compiled by You and My Literature have a strong sense of the times. For today's readers, this is a channel to further understand Zhu Ziqing, and it is also a literary window to understand the era in which Zhu Ziqing lived, what were the hot topics in literature of that era, what were the literary people concerned about, and what kind of state was literature in?
For example, the Xi name "you" and "I" also had waves at the beginning of Zhu Ziqing's era. "Nowadays, people who have received a new type of education, whether they meet friends or acquaintances, often like you and me. This is not an old Xi habit, but the influence of foreign Chinese and translations. This is not very popular, and the general society is not willing to adopt this method - the so-called rough people have always been you and me, but it is a different matter. The principal of a secondary school told him that an old student went to see him, a 'you' on the left and a 'you' on the right, as if he was pointing a finger at his nose.
Son, I really can't stand it. ”
Zhu Ziqing wrote a special article on the titles of "you" and "I", and readers can see these two.
What sounds ordinary and ordinary these days is really called.
What twists and turns have been experienced in accepting and being used. Cinnabar.
Ziqing explained in the article that people are not called "you", but are commonly referred to as "sir";People don't call each other "I" much, and just calling "me" is a bit of a contempt for people's arrogance. "If you don't call 'you' casually, the word 'I' can be used as numbly;But pay attention to the tone and posture, and don't show the god of patting your chest and pointing to the tip of your nose. If you are more cautious, you can say 'we' and 'me' in the north, and 'we' in the south. Nowadays, whether in the north or the south, "I" and "you" are already common titles, and "we" and "I" are used less.
In "You and My Literature", Zhu Ziqing's articles on writing are also compiled. In the article "Questions and Answers on Writing", he answers his writing in detail. In the article, Zhu Ziqing admitted frankly that he wrote an average of 2,000 words a day for two hours each time. "I love writing time, I love the evening, and when things are done in the evening, I can be more focused on writing. I smoke more than usual during writing time. In his early years, he did not learn to smoke, and every time he stopped thinking about it, he dipped the tip of his pen in the paper. A friend looked at the nib marks and was anxious for me. Zhu Ziqing wrote. He said that he had a drafting Xi in his early writing, such as "The History of Laughter" and "Qinhuai River in the Shadow of Oars", which were drafted section by section, "Later, I felt that drafting was too labor-intensive and pretentious, so I wrote it directly." Because you have to think about the words at all times, you write very slowly. Since it is considered at any time, there are few changes after the completion of the article. ”
Even Zhu Ziqing, there are times when the submission is unsuccessful, and whenever this time, there is only the word "hard work" in his heart. In response to his perception of criticism from others, Zhu Ziqing wrote: "The sporadic criticism of friends is beneficial to me. Criticism from others says very little about me. Some generalized judgments, though true, do not improve me, because my faculties can only be so so. In today's popular parlance, Zhu Ziqing rejects mental internal friction.
A watershed moment in a lifetime of creation.
The basis of the compilation of "You and My Literature" is Zhu Ziqing's fourth collection of essays, "You and Me". Zhang Dinghao, editor of "You and My Literature", introduced that before this anthology, Zhu Ziqing had established his reputation as a new writer through three books, namely the poetry collection "Traces", the prose collection "Back", and the travelogue "European Travel Miscellaneous". These three books have their own strengths, for example, the long poem "Destruction" included in "Traces" was praised as the "Lisao" in the new literature, and the eponymous chapter in "Back" was selected into the middle school Chinese textbook in the early 30s of the 20th century.
It can be said that these three books have opened up quite far-reaching space in many fields of new literature, and no matter which direction they go from, the future is limitless. However, in the following episode of "You and Me", the author revealed a surprising confusion. Zhang Dinghao wrote in the "Preface" of "You and My Literature".
In "You and Me", Zhu Ziqing's favorite article is "On Nothing to Say", written in 1931. At the beginning of the essay he wrote: "Ten years ago I wrote poetry;Later, he stopped writing poetry and prose;Enter.
Years later, prose is no longer capitalized - now, more 'scattered' than prose, there is nothing to say!Many people suffer from having nothing to say, and many others suffer from having nowhere to say;Their suffering is still in the words, but my unspoken suffering is outside the words. I feel like a dead leaf, a piece of rotten paper, in this big era. ”
Zhu Ziqing further explained that when people reach middle age, although they have lost the heat of their youth, they can see their own way clearly. He carried the burden of experience and embarked on this endless but real road step by step. He looked back at the young man's emotional gadgets and felt a sense of lightness. He was willing to analyze the experiences on his back, not just those of his youth;He didn't want to ponder it from afar, but rather peel it back and look at it carefully. He also knew that after peeling off, he would lose the power to jump, but he didn't care about that, he knew that he had what he needed to be calm. At this time, if he speaks by chance, it will never be infectious or impressionistic, but he will tell you how to walk his way, or else, what is being peeled off. But middle-aged people are very timid;He listened to other people's words more and more, he didn't say what he said, and he didn't say what he said well. So in the end there is often nothing to say – especially an ordinary person like me. But silence is embarrassing for ordinary people, and I say that I am bitter and out of words, so as to do this. ”
Zhu Ziqing, who wrote "On Nothing to Say", was 34 years old, and he bid farewell to the impulse of adolescent creation, and was a little "overwhelmed" in front of the new creative stage. Zhang Dinghao introduced that poetic criticism, language writing, and literary appreciation can be regarded as the three directions of Zhu Ziqing's efforts in the second half of his life, and Zhu Ziqing, as a new writer, has "nothing to say", and then replaced by Zhu Ziqing, as a researcher and popularizer of Chinese literature, and the most cherished achievements in his life were completed at this stage.
We have regarded this collection ("You and Me") as a watershed in his life's creation, precisely because this little book, called "You and Me", both in terms of actual content and metaphor, bears witness to such a journey from 'me' to 'you'. Therefore, we named this anthology "You and My Literature", and tried to present such a more real and valuable Zhu Ziqing, who emphasized the relationship between literature and ordinary readers, and did not talk about it abstractly, but only started from a word, a sentence, a poem and even some specific issues, but finally made us understand that the so-called literature is not actually an external decoration, it is between you and me. Zhang Dinghao explained.