Literary Master 1983

Chapter 35: In the Capital, Their Eyes on Yu Qie (I)

Therefore, every Tuesday and Thursday, Yu Qie would share his creative ideas in the "New Realism" club.

More and more people came to listen.

In mid-November, Yu Che summarized his previous impromptu speech into a few sentences, which represent the program of neo-realism:
1. Starting from the current reality, calmly and objectively analyze the current social situation and shape the ordinary people living among us.

2. The author does not look down on the world as an enlightener, but rather from an equal perspective.

3. Reflect social reality through people’s real relationships.

Just these three items were published in the Yan University newspaper.

The school newspaper of Yanda University is a very influential newspaper. Just as the classmate from the student organization said, because Yanda University is the ideological base for college students across the country at that time, even the articles published by students can have an impact beyond the school.

The articles published on it are also easily reprinted by other publications.

Not only college students, but also young people, teachers, technical secondary school students and other intellectuals will pay attention to the news from Yanda.

The status of Yanda in the intellectual circles of universities at that time is probably hard for later generations to imagine.

Many people are beginning to understand cotangent.

In the Damucang dormitory at the east end of Erlong Road, in a building for staff and family members called the "Little Red Building", Wang Xiaobo took down a new issue of the Renmin University newspaper, which contained a piece of news from the neighboring Yanda University:
There is a novelist named Yu Qie, who wrote "A Moment of Romance". He summarized his writing philosophy as "neo-realism".

"Starting from reality..."

"Horizontal angle..."

“Use people to reflect society…”

Wow, they even set up a "New Realism" society. Are they trying to establish a new school of thought, or are they just bragging?

Great!

Wang Xiaobo gave a thumbs up, then dug out a few earthworms from his flower bed. He used a ladder to stuff the earthworms next to the swallow's nest, teasing the swallow family under his eaves like raising chickens:
"Giggle!"

"Giggle!"

The swallows stretched their heads out to eat the insects, chirping.

The Damucang dormitory where Wang Xiaobo lives has a history. It was the residence of Jirgalang, the iron-hat prince of Zheng, in the early Qing Dynasty. During the Republic of China, it was mortgaged to the Xishiku Catholic Church by the 1925th Prince Zheng. In , it was rented to a Chinese university as a campus. Later, it went through a series of changes of hands and became a dormitory building of the Ministry of Education.

Why did Wang Xiaobo move in?

Because his mother worked in the Ministry of Education and his father was a philosophy professor at Renmin University, he followed his parents' job transfers since he was a child and kept moving his residence. He was indeed like this nest of swallows and moved to the Okuragi Dormitory.

Otherwise, why would I love these swallows?

So this spring, after the swallows came to the Damucang dormitory to build nests and give birth to babies, Wang Xiaobo took care of the swallow family, so much so that even in autumn and winter, the swallows were reluctant to leave.

In addition to Wang Xiaobo, who was born in the 50s, there was also a post-50s person named Wang Guozhen living in the Okuragi dormitory. He was assigned to work at the Chinese Academy of Arts.

So, these two people often bought breakfast one after the other in the morning. The difference was that Wang Xiaobo was extremely sloppy, while Wang Guozhen was neatly dressed.

Cotangent?

Wang Xiaobo kept repeating this name in his mind, and it always seemed familiar to him. He searched for articles he had read recently and quickly found the novel A Moment of Romance. Oh, this person.

I heard that this issue of "Red Rock" is very popular because of this novel, which is really good.

There was another short story by Yu Qie, "College Entrance Examination 1977", in the magazine, but Wang Xiaobo was not interested at all because he thought that having hands was enough to get into college.

Wang Xiaobo is from Renmin University. Is there anyone who cannot get into Renmin University now?

Neither any techniques nor any special subject matter are needed... Wang Xiaobo likes this kind of novel, he hates everything that seems great on the surface.

"This Yu Qie is quite interesting. He is studying at Yan University and is still a student!"

"But I'm a lecturer at Renmin University, so it's not easy for me to talk to him directly. I'll just write a review of him and see if it can be published."

So Wang Xiaobo retreated back home and continued to write his novel "The Golden Age", a series of works that are difficult to evaluate, with a strong personal style, similar to a collection of essays that mix narration and discussion.

Wang Xiaobo wrote: "In the autumn and winter of 83, I came across a work called A Moment of Romance by an author named Yu Qie. I found that what he was best at was to write about a feeling that everyone has in a philosophical way..."

"Like an ant crawling from one end of the table to the other, he would write 3,000 words, complete with footnotes and the names of philosophers."

"I think it's a bit different. I think this is asking for trouble. Everyone thinks that A Moment of Romance has become an irreplaceable classic. Maybe Yu Qie often ponders over a sentence for a long time, and finally still chooses 'whatever'!"

"Besides, I simply think the name 'Yuqie' is very interesting."

------

At No. 26 Lama Temple Street, not far from Beijing’s Ditan Park, Shi Tiesheng, who just joined the Federation of Literary and Art Circles this year, also read the novel A Moment of Romance.

Not surprisingly, Shi Tiesheng shed tears for the love in the story.

Shi Tiesheng was confined to a wheelchair in the summer of 73. In 81, he suffered from kidney disease and returned home to recuperate. In order to earn money to survive, he began to write.

His writing career has been extremely successful. This year, Shi Tiesheng published his famous work "My Distant Qingping Bay". It was also in this year that he joined the Writers Association.

But there are hidden concerns in Shi Tiesheng's creations. He focuses too much on his own memories. He is "feeding on himself." His body has already shrunk and cannot make his spirit shrink any more.

The story in "A Moment of Romance" inspired Shi Tiesheng, who also wanted to write a novel reflecting the times in a similar way, starting with a small character and reflecting the entire society.

So he also had an inspiration. He did not believe that there was a specific person named "Huadi" in reality, but he believed that Yu Qie had met the prototype of "Huadi". After clever exaggeration, he wrote this novel.

The author should not write about himself, nor should he recall himself... This is a bit like eating oneself, drinking poison to quench thirst, and it is easy to get addicted. Once you have finished writing about your own affairs, there is nothing left to write.

There are many people and things around Shi Tiesheng that are worth writing about, but they were not worth writing about before - the stories of little people were not worth mentioning. Now he knows that he can dramatize these people appropriately and write them into novellas, just like "A Moment of Romance".

Shi Tiesheng set his sights on a pastor named Zhan and adapted his deeds into a novel called "Reportage on Pastor Zhan". Before he even started writing the novel, Shi Tiesheng couldn't help but mention Yu Qie in the postscript of the novel.

"I read a novel called A Moment of Romance, which gave me inspiration."

"I found that I could write about small characters who are not heroes, who don't have a happy ending, or who don't even have a clear story, but I could write about them and make people feel that this is what life is like: no end, no answers, but you always have to move forward."

"That morning in the fall and winter of 1983, I first learned about Yu Qie."

(End of this chapter)