Why were Shen Congwen and Wang Zengqi buried?

The ups and downs of Shen Congwen's reputation as a "literary master"

In the history of China literature in the 20th century, Shen Congwen's reputation was perhaps the most ups and downs. In 1930s and 1940s, he was the leader of the northern literary world. In the late 1940s, Shen Congwen withdrew from the literary world and was buried in the dust for a long time, mainly because Guo Moruo was criticized as a "pink writer". Since the 1980s, Shen Congwen's reputation has soared, and the praise of "master" is endless. People may know a little about Shen Congwen's reputation, but the details may not be known. The author sorts out some important details of the changes in Shen Congwen's evaluation in the past 70 years for readers.

First, quit the literary world.

Guo Moruo's article "Rejecting reactionary literature and art", which had a great influence on Shen Congwen's fate, was published in the first issue of the Anti-Japanese War Literature and Art Series published in Hong Kong 1948. The article accuses him of being a "peach writer" who specializes in decadent pornography, "with bad intentions, intended to confuse readers and soften people's fighting mood", and also says that Shen Congwen is "consciously active as a reactionary". In the same period, the Anti-Japanese War Literature Series also published Feng Naichao's A Brief Comment on Shen Congwen's Xiong Mansion. Shen Congwen's Xiong Mansion was published in Chinese Weekly. Shen Congwen and Xiong Xiling, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of China, are fellow villagers and distant relatives. Feng Naichao's article said that Shen Congwen praised Xiong Xiling's former residence and praised him for his "simple personality, broad compassion and foresight", which was a tribute to the landlord class and reflected the "tradition of diners and beggars in China literature". The two articles, especially Guo Moruo's, are like a bombshell to Shen Congwen's class description, which has dealt a heavy blow to Shen Congwen who is full of ambitions to brew a grand writing plan. At the beginning of 1949, the slogan "Down with the Crescent School, Modern Critics School, Shen Congwen of the Third Route" was hung on the campus of Peking University. At the critical period of the historical turning point, Shen Congwen failed to commit suicide and quit the literary world because of the awe-inspiring momentum of the article slogan and the fear of its background.

In fact, Guo Moruo's Feng Naichao crusade against Shen Congwen is only the pinnacle of left-wing criticism. Since then, similar criticisms against Shen Congwen have frequently appeared in newspapers. Critics use the theory of class struggle and typicality to understand his works, such as Han's Reproduction of Stories-Comment on Shen Congwen's Small Scene under the Moon (1934), He Yubo's Criticism of Shen Congwen's Works (1936) and (Your Life) (65438) in 1930s and 40s. After the founding of New China, new literature gradually developed into a huge discipline. In Yao Yao's Draft of China's New Literature History (1954), Ding Yi's A Brief History of China's New Literature (1955) and Liu Shousong's First Draft of China's New Literature History (1956), Shen Congwen accompanied them with negative images. Critics have developed the mainstream views of left-wing critics and systematized them. With the increasingly severe political situation, Shen Congwen, as a "backward" or even "reactionary" modern writer, finally disappeared from the "pure" literary history.

Second, get attention again.

Shen Congwen created a lot of works in his life. The Complete Works of Shen Congwen has just been published, with 32 volumes and more than 654.38+million words. It is a miracle that China produced such a writer in the 20th century. His lofty position cannot be obliterated by abuse, smearing and indifference.

The positive evaluation of Shen Congwen's literary status can be traced back to the 1930s, which appeared at the same time as the left-wing criticism. Although Lu Xun misunderstood Shen Congwen in his early days, he did not accept Shen Congwen's works when he compiled two novels, China New Literature Series. But according to Si Nuo's memory, Lu Xun mentioned Shen Congwen's name when talking with him and answering who is the best writer in China at present, which shows that Lu Xun's view of Shen Congwen changed later. Zhou Zuoren and Lao She, two other literary giants, mentioned Shen Congwen's autobiography when answering questions from periodicals in 1934. These positive comments and attitudes towards Shen Congwen contain some elements of academic evaluation and have important reference value. In addition, in On Shen Congwen (1934), Su classified and compared Shen Congwen's works, trying to establish his unique position in the literary world and sum up the cultural and ideological significance of his works. Liu Xiwei tried to extract the aesthetic features of Shen Congwen's creation in Border Town and Eight Horses (1935). His discovery and comments on poetry and beauty in Border Town and Eight Horses give people a refreshing feeling. But generally speaking, the positive comments before 1949 are scattered and emotional.

From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, at the beginning of bringing order out of chaos, Shen Congwen was re-valued after a long period of dust collection. The evaluation of Shen Congwen in this period is obviously controversial: new researchers, inspired by passion, demand a re-evaluation of Shen Congwen; Conservatives refused to accept such "heresy" as Shen Congwen from the perspective of maintaining tradition. The conflict between the two tendencies has led to many events, such as 1980, Ye Pin and Revolution by Ding Ling, 1983, and On the Historical Status of Comrade Shen Congwen's Literary Achievements Will Be Re-evaluated by Zhu Guangqian, which have all triggered discussions. As a result of the debate, the understanding of Shen Congwen gradually returned to the level of common sense and rationality. With the rise of Shen Congwen's reputation, he is famous for his prudence and has the nature of closed book, such as Tang? A Brief History of Modern Literature in China (1984) also absorbed Shen Congwen, giving him a place in the literary tradition of the May 4th Movement. Since then, Shen Congwen is no longer a forbidden area for research.

During the academic silence in the 1960s and 1970s in mainland China, Shen Congwen's research in Hongkong and overseas, nurtured by scholars such as Wang Runhua, Sima Changfeng and Xia Zhiqing, has been burning. In 1980s, a group of overseas scholars, such as, Jin and others, made a deeper, more creative and imaginative study of Shen Congwen. With the spread of their works in mainland China, their textual research and research on the regional culture and history in Shen Congwen's works, as well as their research on the connotation of characters and the modernity of stylistic forms, have greatly inspired mainland scholars. In addition, the research on Shen Congwen in Japan has also achieved fruitful results in the collection of background materials and textual research in kind. Since the mid-1980s, China's research on Shen Congwen has developed in depth and breadth, and made outstanding achievements. These studies mainly include the relationship between Shen Congwen and China traditional culture and western culture, as well as the complex relationship with Xiangxi regional culture; Shen Congwen's position in the May 4th New Literature Tradition, Beijing School Literature and Local Literature: a study of the modernity of Shen Congwen's thought, character and narrative method; a study of the fiction, self-sufficiency and purpose of the western Hunan world and the urban world in the text, as well as their interdependence; a study of novel style and language; a study of the gains and losses of Shen Congwen's later artistic experiments; and a study of creative psychology. The rich research results of scholars at home and abroad have made necessary academic preparations for Shen Congwen's position in the history of literature in the late 1990s.

Third, new seats.

Due to the wave of reassessment of modern writers in the late 1980s and the special historical moment at the end of the century, a unique academic phenomenon-writers ranking was born.

In the history of literature, Jin was the first person to give Shen Congwen a clear lofty position. He wrote in the introduction of Biography of Shen Congwen (current affairs press19965438+Chinese version on July 0): "In the west, most of Shen Congwen's most loyal readers are scholars. They all think that Shen is one of the few great writers in the history of modern literature in China. It is also said that if Lu Xun is a master, then Shen Congwen can be ranked behind. " Jin reflects the general view of western sinologists including himself. The words "less" and "big" in this passage, as well as their juxtaposition with Lu Xun, are highly praised.

From 65438 to 0994, Wang Yichuan's Library of 20th Century China Literature Masters (divided into four volumes of novels, poems, essays and plays) was published by Hainan Publishing House. This library is named as a "master of literature", and its novel volume contains the works of nine novelists, including Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Jin Yong and Lao She, but it excludes Mao Dun, causing strong repercussions. In the ranking of novelists in the library, Shen Congwen ranks second. The editor provided convincing reasons for Shen Congwen's status: "He recreated China's classical poems with the help of the border customs in western Hunan"; In addition, the title of "Master" frequently used by Shen Congwen in recent years also started from here.

From 65438 to 0995, Qian Liqun and Wu Xiaodong published a list of the top seven modern writers. They wrote in the article "Separation and Return"-the picture book "The History of China Literature" (20th century) (including Studies on Literary TheoryNo. 1995No. 1 issue): "Under Mr. Lu Xun's rule, we gave the following six writers a higher evaluation and a more important position in the history of literature, namely Lao She and Lao She. Shen Congwen ranks third among all modern writers.

1In June, 1999, Asia Weekly published "Top 20 China Novels 100", which ranked the novels written in Chinese all over the world in the 20th century and selected the first 100 works. Famous scholars and writers at home and abroad participated in the selection of this ranking, such as Yu, Wang Meng,,, and so on. In this ranking, Lu Xun's collection of novels "Scream" ranks first, and Shen Congwen's novel "Border Town" ranks second. But if a single novel counts, Border Town is the first.

These rankings, produced at the end of the 20th century, are aimed at writer Shen Congwen, novelist Shen Congwen and his individual novels. Although the range is different, it is between two and three. At the turn of the century, some writers were either forgotten by readers or abandoned by historians, but Shen Congwen was one of the most outstanding writers in the 1930s. Seeing this change, people can't help feeling sad.

As early as the mid-1930s, Shen Congwen confidently wrote: "... In all fairness, I am indeed better than some so-called writers now. My work will surpass everything. My work will last longer and further than these people. I can't refuse. " Sure enough, Shen Congwen's works have stood the test of times and time and become classics, and Shen Congwen's prediction has become a reality.

Selected manuscripts: Zhao Xiaolei Source: China Reading News Author: Liu Hongtao