Writer 1979: Writing for the People

Time flew by and it was already the end of June!

That morning, Li Xin, a lecturer at Northwest University, went to Chang Guangyuan's dormitory to chat with him.

The latter graduated from Shaanxi Normal University and stayed on as a faculty member, where he has long been engaged in teaching and researching literary theory. He was just promoted to lecturer this year.

The reason why two lecturers from different schools became connected is because they are both young backbone members of the Shaanxi Province higher education commentary circle!

The two had participated together in a series of activities themed on ideological liberation, including the Shaanxi Province Short Story Writing Symposium in 1978, the Novel and Poetry Authors Symposium in 1979, and the Literary Criticism Symposium!

The two have always been on the same page when it comes to supporting "scar literature" and legitimizing its creation.

In this operation to "encircle and suppress" Xu Lu, these two also played a pioneering role. They have published many articles in magazines and newspapers during this period, which has led to an increase in their popularity in Shaanxi's literary and artistic circles recently.

"Chen Zhongshi's article 'Trust' is truly a timely rain!"

"Yes, it's precisely because of this article 'Trust' that this has generated such a huge buzz!"

"Speaking of which, didn't you write him a letter last time, asking him to write an article criticizing him? Why haven't you said anything yet!"

"I don't know, he hasn't replied to me! Maybe he's still working on it; after all, he's a writer, he hasn't done much writing reviews!"

The two chatted away in the room, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Compared to Wang Yu of "Yanhe," a senior critic with immense prestige and influence in Shaanxi Province, the two of them can only be considered minor figures at present!

So how can one quickly increase their fame?

There needs to be people like Xu Lu who step up and become their stepping stones!

That's why they've been relentlessly attacking Xu Lu lately, all in an effort to gain more attention!

And now they have achieved their goal!

The only thing that made them feel a little sorry for was that Xu Lu actually acted like a coward and never stood up to respond from beginning to end.

If the two sides engage in a back-and-forth exchange, the heat of this incident will certainly last even longer, and they will be able to "profit" even more from it.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. After all, when Yanhe published those two articles at the beginning of the month, Wang Yu personally criticized them.

During the second "siege," while big names like Wang Yu did not continue to participate, there were quite a few young critics like Chang Guangyuan who were eager to seize the opportunity to "rise to the top."

As the saying goes, "three men can make a tiger," and Xu Lu was a newcomer with no reputation. Under such circumstances, playing dead was of course the best choice!

"He's smart to know his place!"

  

This is what Chang Guangyuan and Li Xin are thinking at this moment.

"By the way, did you read this morning's issue of the Shaanxi Daily? I was in a rush and didn't check if anyone had published any new critical articles!"

Li Xin asked the question, and Chang Guangyuan answered as he stood up.

"I haven't seen it either!"

He quickly found the freshly printed Shaanxi Daily from the cabinet that morning.

Currently, the Shaanxi Daily is a four-page broadsheet, with the first page being the front page for major news, mainly publishing official events.

The second edition is on economics and general work, discussing industrial and agricultural production, grassroots development, and local work reporting.

The third edition, however, focuses on politics, culture, science, and education, which is the core area of ​​professional commentary for Li Xin and Chang Guangyuan at this moment!

The article Wang Yu wrote criticizing Xu Lu was published here.

Given the qualifications of Li Xin and Chang Guangyuan, it would be very difficult for their commentary articles to appear here.

This time, they benefited from Xu Lu's "tailwind," which is why their articles were able to be seen here some time ago!

The main purpose of this is to see if anyone is still criticizing Xu Lu. If so, we need to see from what angle they are approaching the issue and whether we can learn from and imitate them!

"Criticism" is also a skill!

When the two turned to the third edition, they immediately noticed Chen Zhongshi's name.

"Oh, looks like Chen Zhongshi is also getting ready to enter the fray..."

Li Xin was all smiles one second, but his expression changed drastically the next second after he saw the question.

"Rooted in the fertile soil of life, expressing true human emotions—a critique of Xu Lu's creative pursuits..."

This title... suggests that what this article is trying to express is completely different from what they expected!

After exchanging a glance, the two quickly began browsing.

In this article, Chen Zhongshi highly praised Xu Lu's creative concepts in "Receiving the Precepts" and "My Distant Qingping Bay," saying that his articles broadened the boundaries of literary creation!

We hope that everyone can view this change objectively, rather than simply criticizing and blaming it!

Li Xin and his companion weren't particularly concerned about the specifics of the article; what truly intrigued them was why Chen Zhongshi would publish it at this time, once they confirmed that the title was genuine and not sarcastic.

You should know that Xu Lu was almost pushed to the opposite side of the Shaanxi literary scene by them, while Chen Zhongshi had only managed to regain acceptance from the literary world with his work "Trust".

At this critical moment, he actually got involved in this mess himself?

Do the two of them know each other?

Even if they knew him, anyone with a modicum of sense wouldn't dare to stand up for him at this time!

Even the other party himself remained silent. If he stood up at this moment, wouldn't he just make himself the target of everyone's criticism?

Despite their lack of understanding, the two of them were secretly pleased at that moment.

As mentioned earlier, the two of them were hoping this farce could last longer, because the longer it went on, the more they could profit from it!

Such good opportunities to let them build their experience and increase their visibility don't come every time!

They were initially worried about how to continue if Xu Lu kept pretending to be dead and not responding. But now they can take advantage of Chen Zhongshi's response to continue making trouble!

Moreover, with Chen Zhongshi's involvement, the level of attention this has garnered will definitely be even higher.

Thinking of this, Chang Guangyuan couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

"It seems that Comrade Chen Zhongshi still hasn't learned from the lessons of the past few years!"

Li Xin, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement.

Since that's the case, then we can't blame them!

Chang Guangyuan immediately took out paper and pen, gave one to Li Xin, and then the two of them wrote furiously, determined to seize this wave of "hype" before others.

And soon it was July 1st!