1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 309: Do we have to tear the devils apart with our bare hands?

On May 5, Jiang Xian came to the editorial office of People's Literature at No. 15 Shatan North Street.

Of course, he came to attend the seminar on "Red Sorghum", which was held in a conference room here.

"Jiang Xian, here."

Cui Daoyi called him and after a few pleasantries, he reminded: "The scale of our seminar is not very large, but the specifications are relatively high."

"Who's coming?"

"There are several senior editors and editorial committee members in our editorial department, such as editorial committee member Xu Huaizhong, who writes military literature and can give you some suggestions on the war part of your work.

In addition, the editor-in-chief will also come to help you.

In addition to our People's Literature, some editorial departments also came, such as Comrade Yan Wenjing and old lady Wei Junyi from Renwen Press. As for the Chinese Writers Association, several leaders came, Comrade Feng Mu and Comrade Sha Ting were both there. We also invited some famous writers, Comrade Wang Meng and Comrade Zhang Jie from the Beijing Writers Association, Li Tuo and Yan Gang from the critics, and professors from the Chinese Departments of Yenching University and Normal University.

Cui Daoyi counted the guests at the seminar to Jiang Xian on his fingers.

When Jiang Xian heard this, he thought the standard was indeed high enough.

Apart from Jiang Xian, there are probably few other authors in China who can gather such a luxurious lineup of guests for seminars on their works.

Of course, this is also inseparable from the strong foundation of the royal publication "People's Literature".

If it were any other magazine, it would probably be difficult to have such energy.

"Little brother."

As they were chatting, Zhang Jie came over with a smile and greeted Jiang Xian.

Zhang Jie is considered to be the less experienced guest in this lineup.

After all, she started writing relatively late. Jiang Xian still remembers that a few years ago, when he was revising manuscripts in the guesthouse of "Beijing Literature and Art", Zhang Jie lived next door to him, and the two often visited each other to talk about writing, literature, and works.

Now Jiang Xian has emerged in the literary world, and Zhang Jie is no less talented than him. He still produces many excellent works, one good manuscript after another. Last year's "Heavy Wings" in particular caused a huge sensation in the literary world. Many people believe that this is a masterpiece of no less quality than "The Garland under the Mountain".

If you think about it carefully, someone like Teacher Zhang Jie is a real big shot. She can catch up with Jiang Xian's speed just by relying on her own talent.

"I was frightened by you."

Zhang Jie said, "Your Red Sorghum is definitely the best war-themed novel I have read this year."

"Teacher Zhang, you're too kind." Jiang Xian said modestly.

"I just tell the truth."

Zhang Jie was outspoken and said with a smile:
“Your article ‘The Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain’ has already posed a difficult challenge to colleagues who write military-themed works. Many military literature writers I’m familiar with are gearing up to challenge the peak of ‘The Wreath’.

I didn’t expect that before they succeeded in their challenge, you would climb this peak again.”

Zhang Jie's words were not a joke. There are very few war-themed novels in China. There are famous works such as "War and Peace" and "How the Steel Was Tempered" abroad, but it is difficult to find such popular war-themed novels in China.

Jiang Xian recalled that in contemporary literature, well-written war works like "The Garland under the Mountain" and "Red Sorghum" are very rare. Apart from these two, it is difficult to think of the names of other novels.

Some people may mention "Drawing Sword".

The work "Drawing Sword" is a typical example of a TV series that is more exciting than the novel.

"The Sound of Wind"?
"The Sound of Wind" belongs to the category of spy warfare, which is quite different from traditional war themes.

The symposium was hosted by Mrs. Wei Junyi from Renwenshe.

Jiang Xian first talked about the content of the novel for more than 20 minutes, explaining the content of the novel and his motivation for writing it.

"At many meetings, many people lamented that the Soviet Union produced a large number of good war novels in its short war to protect its country, while our decades of war did not produce many good novels.

These sighs stirred me into a bunch of 'angry grapes', rubbing my hands and feet, eager to try, but afraid of causing a big mess and smashing the clay bowl I eat from. Later, I thought, at worst I can just mend pots and pans, what's there to be afraid of? So I wrote it. "

Many guests nodded in approval.

It is indeed as Jiang Xian said, whether it is "The Garland" or "Red Sorghum", the content has the risk of causing trouble. Apart from him, I am afraid no other writer dares to write it.

After Jiang Xian finished speaking, he handed the topic over to someone else.

The atmosphere of the seminar was generally quite relaxed. Wang Meng, holding a copy of the manuscript of Red Sorghum, said with emotion:

“I definitely can’t write in this heroic-bastard tone.

Jiang Xian's "Red Sorghum" is not only a breakthrough in theme, but also in structure and language. It is written in a very jumpy way, with one sentence at the beginning and another at the end. "

Wang Meng has always been humorous in his speech. His joke of "one sentence on the head and one sentence on the butt" made the whole room laugh.

"It is indeed as Comrade Wang Meng said."

Wu Zuxiang of the Beijing Writers Association continued in a serious tone: "When I read some passages in this novel, I felt that the grammar was a bit excessive. How can you use verbs as nouns and nouns as verbs, and put some inexplicable words together?"

Wu Zuxiang's representative works include "One Thousand Eight Hundred Dan" and "Duckbill Flood".

He was the director of the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University and later a professor of the Chinese Department of Yanjing University.

Therefore, the grammatical errors in the novel could not be hidden from his eyes at all.

By the way, this person is very famous and has extensive knowledge of the famous novel "Dream of Red Mansions". He serves as the president of the "Dream of Red Mansions" Research Association.

Wu Zuxiang leaned slightly to one side, ready to have a long conversation, and said:
"If this Red Sorghum was given to a Chinese teacher to read, I believe he would definitely put red crosses all over it, saying that this sentence or that sentence is not written smoothly and needs to be corrected, or point out some problems such as inappropriate wording and logical errors.

But I think that perhaps it is precisely because of this writing style that the strong emotions of Comrade Jiang Xian, the author of "Red Sorghum", were released.

It is precisely this writing style's destruction of the language that infects readers of this novel.

This may be an artistic innovation, what do you think? "

"Gaoliang Gaomi is brilliant."

Li Tuo continued Wu Zuxiang's words and mentioned this sentence from "Red Sorghum".

"Comrade Jiang Xian previously wrote a novel called Rocking to Grandma's Bridge, in which I have seen the rigorous style of writing and the gorgeous use of words, and his language art.

I believe that these grammatical errors are by no means a bottleneck in Jiang Xian’s grammar, but rather his extremely advanced innovation in writing.”

Li Tuo looked directly into Jiang Xian's eyes and saw that he smiled helplessly. He immediately became more confident in his guess.

He gave an example:

“Writing cannot be boxed in. If the writing style is boxed in, then the style will become an iron cage, with a bunch of stupid birds called ‘writers’ or ‘poets’ caged in it.

In such a cage, if any of these stupid birds fly fancy or accidentally bump into the cage, they will probably be laughed at and scolded by the other stupid birds. "

"Hahahaha." Li Tuo's humorous expression made everyone burst into laughter.

The seminar was held in such a humorous atmosphere.

Suddenly, Mr. Sha Ting, holding the manuscript of Red Sorghum in his hand, said in a thick Sichuan accent:
“Are there some problems with the descriptions in this novel?”

Mr. Sha Ting’s voice wasn’t very loud, but everyone listened attentively.

"Take these few sentences, for example.

"The Japanese on the horses sat upright, with their backs straight and their heads slightly tilted back. Their faces were all whitened by the sunlight, and it was hard to tell their noses or eyes apart."

"More than twenty Japanese horses carrying Japanese soldiers were arranged in two columns, flooding over like water, but the Japanese cavalry was in neat formation, with the horses sticking their heads out and taking small steps, chasing one after another."

"The Japanese soldiers raised their dazzling, narrow swords in unison, howling and rushing over like a whirlwind."

Sha Ting read a few sentences and said, "I always feel that there is something wrong with this kind of description. Is it because these little Japanese are too majestic?

How could these Japanese attack be like a whirlwind? And they all raised their swords in unison, giving off a well-trained vibe. "

The more Sha Ting spoke, the more tense the atmosphere in the conference room became. Many people agreed with what Mr. Sha Ting said and nodded in agreement.

After all, Jiang Xian's writing style is really contrary to the times.

In the past, in realistic writing, characters generally had only two faces, one was the bad guy and the other was the good guy.

The bad guys must be obviously bad and look mean, dirty and filthy.

A good person must also be obviously good, and look tall, mighty, and upright.

Therefore, there is a saying called "three highlights", which means to highlight the positive characters among all characters, to highlight the heroic characters among the positive characters, and to highlight the most important central characters among the heroic characters.

During this period, literary and artistic creation must strictly adhere to the principle of “three highlights”.

Whether in movies, plays, or even comic books, good guys must have rosy faces, be tall and mighty.

Although the buzz has ended now, the impact it has had on literary and artistic creation is still like a mountain.

For example, the appearance of a Japanese devil in "Red Sorghum".

"Their faces are like sorghum flour cakes just taken off the edge of the pot, burnt yellow, dark red, beautiful, warm, pretty and kind."

"He has a gaunt face, a straight, sharp nose, and bright black eyes. He looks like an articulate, well-informed scholar."

This seems quite outrageous.

"I will explain Comrade Sha Ting's doubts in two points."

Jiang Xian said, "First, I wrote that the Japanese troops were in neat formation and their attack was like a whirlwind. Would this description make the Japanese troops look majestic? I think so."

The conference room suddenly fell silent, and many people looked at Jiang Xian in disbelief.

Sha Ting pointed out these problems in the novel, and Jiang Xian could completely say that he was negligent for a moment and did not think it through carefully.

But if you actively admit that you want to write this way, that would be a problem.

There are big problems.

Jiang Xian continued to speak:
“Although I didn’t experience that war, I still don’t think the Japanese devils’ combat quality was very poor.

I think they are a very strong and fierce opponent, a difficult and tricky opponent to deal with.

Could it be that the devils we wrote about are all a bunch of fools and idiots who can only say Baka and Hua Girl?
When we writers write about the War of Resistance, do we have to write that the enemy’s guns can’t hit them at all, but our bullets can still hit them on the forehead even if they make a detour?

The enemy's knives were just decorations, but our soldiers could rush forward and tear the Japanese into two pieces with their bare hands.

You should write that the enemy army has no fighting power, but our warriors can bravely deal with them all with just a few throwing knives or something like that."

A group of people in the conference room listened to Jiang Xian's description, and the things he described couldn't help but emerge in their minds.

Like he can survive after being hit by hundreds of bullets.

Kick a car away.

One punch shattered a wall.

You can shoot down a plane by throwing a stone with your bare hands.

A few people, armed with a few captured Mauser pistols, won the victory of the 14-year war of resistance.

"I think if it is written like this, it would be a great insult to those ancestors who shed blood and sacrificed their lives."

Jiang Xian said, "It is with this thought in mind that I feel that it is not scary to describe the enemy as powerful.

Because even in the face of such a powerful enemy, our Chinese nation won the war.

I want to write it this way so that readers and even future generations will understand how powerful the enemy we are facing is, how hard-won this victory is, and how precious their peace is. "

After hearing Jiang Xian's words, many people nodded, including Sha Ting.

Jiang Xian was young and had not experienced that, but he was someone who had truly lived through that era, and he clearly understood the brutality and terror of the enemy.

Putting aside the "three highlights" principle proposed during the Buzz Buzz Buzz period, there is nothing wrong with what Jiang Xian said.

If we don't write it this way, would we describe the Japanese as hunchbacked, crooked, and dejected?
Is it really like Jiang Xian said, that we have to let our soldiers tear the Japanese apart with their bare hands?

"Take the phrase 'whirlwind attack' for example. I specifically wrote that they rushed over 'howling'. The word 'howling' is obviously derogatory.

From this, I will talk about the second point. Why did I write "Their faces were like sorghum flour cakes just taken from the edge of the pot, burnt yellow, dark red, beautiful, warm, pretty and kind?" I would like to ask everyone to think about the background of this description.

The perspective of this sentence is that of a little girl who is about to starve to death, a little girl who is ignorant and naive.

Immediately after this, a passage describing the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders was written.

Considering the context, this article describes the Japanese as having a human face but a beastly heart, worse than animals.

But if you read it just by picking out sentences, ambiguity will naturally arise.

Besides, I have described the ugliness of the devils many times in this novel, such as
'His sharp mouth, the tuft of black hair on his mouth, his furtive expression'

'They all had these cunning, stupid weasel smiles on their faces.'

It can be seen that I did not simply write them as great in the novel. I only wrote them as cruel and treacherous, and wrote them based on facts.

Therefore, my novel Red Sorghum does not contain the problems that Comrade Sha Ting is worried about.”

(End of this chapter)