On the evening of April 16, the People's Literature Publishing House held the launch ceremony of Shi Yifeng's latest long story "Crossing the Ocean to Send You" online. Li Jingze, a famous critic, writer and vice chairman of the China Writers Association, Li Er, a famous writer and winner of the Mao Dun Literature Award, Shi Hang, a famous screenwriter and book critic, and Shi Yifeng, the author, held a dialogue on "New Stubborn Lord vs New World, Journey Through Customs Across Time and Space", which was hosted by Ji Yaya, a critic and deputy editor-in-chief of October Magazine.
The scene of the new book sharing meeting
Keen realism with new era experience
Shi Yifeng, a post-70s writer, won the Seventh Lu Xun Literature Award for his novel "There Is No Chen Jinfang in the World", and in recent years, "Eye of the Earth", "History of the Mind", "Born by Life" and so on have also won the attention of the literary community and the love of many readers. Lu Xun Literature Award speech evaluation: "Shi Yifeng has a keen realist character, accompanied by a romantic lyrical spirit and stubborn youth ideals. In the character and destiny of the typical significance, the specific form of social life is condensed, showing people's moral dilemma and spiritual perseverance. ”
In recent years, he has continuously consciously explored new themes, explored new themes, captured new experiences of the times, and stimulated the new vitality of realist literature. In the long-form new work "Across the Ocean to Send You", he first dropped his brushstrokes on the "aborigines" in beijing's hutongs - the protagonist Nadou has been dependent on his grandfather since he was a child and lives in a hutong bungalow. The sudden death of his grandfather made him feel sad in his heart, and at this time, he accidentally found a piece of "foreign body" that did not seem to belong to his grandfather in the ashes. What is it? Why is it here? He decided to find out. Who knows, this is just the beginning. As Master Li, the furnace worker, said, everything in this world is tied together! When the sound of Albanian trumpets came from the mobile phone video, when Fa Xiao came from the other side of the ocean with new clues, Na Bean decided to pack his bags and go to the American continent for grandpa himself...
Li Hongqiang, editor-in-chief of the People's Literature Publishing House
At the launch ceremony of the new book, Li Hongqiang, editor-in-chief of the People's Literature Publishing House, first delivered a speech, congratulating the author Shi Yifeng on the publication of his new work, and also expressing the importance and expectations of the People's Literature Publishing House for outstanding young writers. He mentioned that "Across the Ocean to Send You" is written with heavy weights, cheerful and easy to read, around an accident, vertically write the inner world and spiritual communication of three generations, horizontally write the personal insistence and home and country feelings of several young people in Beijing and overseas, both the humorous background of Beijing's novels, and the personality of a new generation of young people.
"Writing a contemporary novel about the relationship between grandchildren, this is the most moving one"
The two and a half small bungalows in the hutong and the starling yellow bird hanging at the door of the bungalow constitute the tone of "Crossing the Ocean to Send You", but Shi Yifeng's vision is far more than this. Through exploring the experiences of two generations of grandchildren, the novel reflects the historical changes of up to half a century, from the grandfather's defense of the country and the transformation of the factory, to the grandchildren's crossing the ocean and the interconnection of the world, a completely different but mutually supportive life, which has opened up the time and space scale of the novel, of which the Chinese style of blood is thicker than water and endless. The old saying is "children in the next generation", which is also a family relationship with Chinese characteristics. When the protagonist of the novel steps on the land on the other side of the ocean, the moment when he wants to "get a model" with his neck in his neck, he remembers the past that his grandfather once showed, and his pride seems to have traveled through time and space. The strong feeling of home and country has been passed down between the next generation.
Li Jingze, a famous critic, writer and vice chairman of the China Writers Association
At this launch ceremony, the guests fully expressed their affirmation and love for the emotions and character images of the grandchildren in the novel. Li Jingze said that chinese contemporary literature really writes about the relationship between grandchildren, in fact, very few, "across the ocean to send you" is the most moving one he has seen for a long time, Shi Yifeng wrote about the grandchildren as two complete lives, the communication of the worldview and values of both sides; the relationship between two men, one old and one young, sometimes even like brothers. Li Jingze especially praised the portrayal of grandpa's old branch in the novel, this character is "reasonable" and "wants a face", and the two things added together show the "style" of the character, which is also the traditional Chinese "style".
Writer Shi Yifeng
Shi Yifeng responded that Grandpa's Nianzhi was also his most satisfactory image in the novel, how to create characters like that Nianzhi and nadou's grandson, the previous writers did not help him cross the road, and needed to explore it himself.
"Writers who have a strong interest in the world can tell stories"
Shi Yifeng's novel's attention to storytelling and narrative style also triggered discussion among the guests. Shi Hang commented that "Crossing the Ocean to Send You" is a shrewd way to tell a thick story, and the characters in the novel sometimes do not want to admit their own thickness, sealing their hearts like wax pills, but the author breaks them one by one at key moments. Li Jingze believes that When Shi Yifeng expresses this kind of kindness, he has a "sense of shyness", and he wants to use literary expression to calm himself, which allows us to see his artistic talent as an excellent novelist.
Li Er, a famous writer and winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize
Li Er mentioned that Shi Yifeng's writing pays attention to storytelling, and in this world where the experience is scattered and full of "accidents", he can also tell a complete story, which shows that the writer must be sensitive to the changes in the world, have a strong interest in the world, and strongly feel that the world has a relationship with himself. In Shi Yifeng's interesting narrative, you can see the similar "Pi" to Wang Shuo, as well as the "Winding" similar to Liu Zhenyun, but he is also an "affirmative" writer, and there are affirmations and recognition of traditional and folk cultural values in his works.
When hutongs are embedded in the world, local becomes a trend
Whether in reality or literature, "Beijing" has always been the label of Shi Yifeng, his style is very "Beijing", the language is more "Beijing", there is a continuation of the traditional line represented by Mr. Lao She, and many people also regard him as the banner of "New Beijing Flavor Novel" after Wang Shuo.
The "newness" of Shi Yifeng's works lies in diversity. He once said: "For telling things, the interesting thing is often that extremely distant things have a relationship, and the wind and horses are in contact." "The new generation of Beijing youth in "Crossing the Ocean to Send You" is looking at and contacting the outside world in a different way than their predecessors: in mobile phone videos, on the other side of the strange ocean, among international students, heterogeneous cultures collide with each other, and there is no violation, but "mixing" a unique artistic effect. It can be said that the caged bird and the sea can be seen as a side of reality, and sometimes the most local and traditional elements will be transformed into trends and fashions, which is also the background of "national tide" becoming a popular cultural keyword in recent years.
Li Jingze said that compared with "Beijingness" and "locality", he is more willing to emphasize the "cosmopolitanness" of Shi Yifeng's novels, because cosmopolitanism has been deeply rooted in the fabric of our lives in this era, and he appreciates Shi Yifeng's vision, writing about Beijing is also writing about the world, which has naturally been related to the world.
Book critic Shi Hang
The guests also discussed the topic of "national tide" touched upon in the novel. Shi Hang said that we are always easy to take the culture that is clearly alive as a fossil to offer, and now the "national tide" is the original living culture in front of you to tell you that it is alive, it is a culture that is always growing, they are facing the young world, "Across the Ocean to Send You" has this temperament. Li Er regards the novel's "national tide fan" as a continuation, he believes that the core of the novel is "searching", that bean is looking for grandpa, this process is also looking for memories, looking for culture, and reconnecting with traditional values, which is the real "national tide".
Critic and deputy editor-in-chief of October magazine Yaya
It is reported that the film and television adaptation of "Across the Ocean to Send You" has been planned, as a practitioner of the film and television industry, Shi Hang said that he is very much looking forward to it, when the host asked about the cast that Shi Hang was looking forward to, he said that he actually valued the director more, because Shi Yifeng's novel is very rich, and it needs excellent directors to achieve an uncompromising presentation.