On the morning of August 19, Huacheng Publishing House and Huacheng Magazine held a "Review and Prospect" - "Huacheng" Editor and Author Earnest Discussion Meeting, Han Shaogong attended, he and "Huacheng" have a deep relationship, the latest novel "Revision Process" was first published in the 6th issue of "Huacheng" magazine in 2018, and won the 7th "Huacheng Literature Award" Novel Award.
"Revision Process" tells the story of the "77th grade" of the first batch of college students who resumed college entrance examination admission at the foot of the Donglu Mountain, with a strong imprint of the times, facing a completely different social, political and economic environment before and after the reform and opening up, and creating their own different lives.
In the face of a span of more than 40 years, the feedback from the younger generation of readers is "quite positive", and Han Shaogong gave such an answer. "I thought every generation had its own destiny, and there was no model to replicate and copy. But understanding the experiences and lessons of previous generations can be more for them. ”
How to view the literary atmosphere of the younger generation and how to cultivate young authors will be divided into many opinions. Han Shaogong mentioned that China now has a 96% literacy rate, and the market for writing products is very large, so it is necessary to look at the diverse needs of readers with a more inclusive mentality, give full understanding, and give experimental space.
In the past, we may have learned about the world through literature, but in the face of developed information means and huge amounts of information, literature no longer carries the function of understanding the world. "(The reader) goes into literature, what he needs, what he needs to be different from other news, this is what we need to understand, this is the question that needs to be considered." Han Shaogong believes that literature needs to have a new era of tasks.
At the scene, Shu Wenzhi, vice chairman of the Writers Association of Yueyang City, Hunan Province, also attended the earnest discussion meeting, and during this trip, they will discuss hosting a chinese and foreign poets, writers, and young writers in Miluo this year, and also organizing a series of cultural activities such as the Miluojiang International Poetry art week in China. With Chairman Han living for a long time, Miluo also wants to make this place a spiritual home.
Nineteen years ago, Han Shaogong resigned as chairman of the Hainan Writers Association and president of Tianya magazine and went to live in Miluo with his wife. Most of the time, they live in Miluo. When Han Shaogong was a Zhiqing, he spent ten years in Miluo, Hunan. "It's a memory of youth, for me there's nature, old friends, farmers, these are all life."
/Dialogue/
During the Nanguo Book Festival, Han Shaogong responded to questions from reporters in Nandu on topics such as personal relationships with "Flower City", new books and local stories.
Nandu: The Revision Process was first released in the 6th issue of Flower City Magazine in 2018, what kind of fate do you have with Flower City?
Han Shaogong: In the early 1980s, Huacheng magazine held a pen conference and invited some writers to visit Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and other places. Here came Wang Meng, Yang Mo, Ye Weilin, Mo Yingfeng, etc., I was about thirty years old, and I was born young, and I was also among them. That was the first time I saw the vigorous development of the special economic zone, to see the market economy, such as the exchange price of foreign exchange changes every day, such as private businessmen carrying woven bags to pour goods everywhere, such as officials can not speak official language, the opening is pragmatic data.
Nandu: In your opinion, what kind of Cantonese literary spirit does "Flower City" carry? What is your feeling for Guangdong and Guangzhou? What memorable things happened here?
Han Shaogong: The biggest feature of "Flower City" is to uphold the spirit of reform and opening up, have the courage to explore, and always become a test field and breakthrough point for literature. The fact that many innovative and even controversial works can be published in this journal is proof of this. What I am most grateful to the magazine is that in the 1990s my Maqiao Dictionary was accused of "plagiarizing" and "copying" a foreign Hazar Dictionary. At that time, many people did not read books, followed by righteous indignation, and caused a storm of public opinion. At my request, "Flower City" temporarily adjusted the layout and published the "Khazar Dictionary" in its entirety, so that readers have a chance to compare and argue. It is said that the smearers were in a hurry and called to pester and stop them. It can be seen that it is a key part of clarifying the facts to protect the writer.
Nandu: The Nanguo Book Festival began in 1993, how do you think of the important role of the Book Festival in the cultural development of Guangdong? Any suggestions?
Han Shaogong: At present, similar reading activities are being done everywhere, there are not enough guests, new books cannot catch up, and some old-faced people and books are turning around. In this case, my advice is not to seek more, to seek refinement, to seek characteristics, mainly for teenagers. Perhaps in the future, there will be some special topics, reading classics, reading pastimes, reading popular science, reading children's books... The exhibition area and events were reduced to pieces and placed in universities and secondary schools. Pick some qualified schools, let them take turns as the undertaker, open their minds, informal, and make their own characteristics and pertinence.
Every generation has its own destiny
Nandu: How has "The Revision Process" been resented among the younger generation of readers since its launch? How does the Level 77 story continue to impact younger generations of readers?
Han Shaogong: The general response to the book among young readers is quite positive. "Is this the experience of the youth of the previous generation? Can a novel still be written like this? They have asked me quite a few questions and have an interest in discussing them. I thought that each generation had its own destiny, and there was no model to replicate and copy. But understanding the experiences and lessons of previous generations can be more for them.
Nandu: According to your observation, what are the characteristics of the post-90s and post-00s?
Han Shaogong: The era of marketization will inevitably promote individualism. But individualism can also harm individuals, including lack of goodwill, lack of cooperation, and increase the cost of success, security, and happiness... Ever seen the story of the African Wildebeest Migration? Organized, disciplined, and mutually helpful wildebeest groups always have a much lower casualty rate than scattered and lonely people. The human story should certainly be a little more advanced than that.
In fact, love, unity, responsibility, and world care are also efficient and meaningful, and they are all "interests". Some young people may have to make up for this lesson. "Modification Process" is just a few "77-level" stories that use experience to make up lessons for themselves, for reference only.
Nandu: You have lived in the countryside for nearly twenty years, and you have helped the villagers do a lot of things, what is the thing that makes you feel the most accomplished?
Han Shaogong: It was a poor mountain township. I helped the three surrounding villages to build roads and bridges, basically realizing the group of roads and hardening the road surface. There was an old captain who was happy, as I wrote in "Mountains and Rivers and North", asked me to pick the best graveyard and bury it in them after death. This kind of welfare treatment is not available to every foreign guest, right? As for what feelings will be written into literature in the future, to be honest, I don't know, I can only think of where to count in the future.
Nandu: Some of your rural vernacular works have been translated and distributed overseas, how do you think you should continue to tell Chinese vernacular stories in the future?
Han Shaogong: Before industrialization, there was no power supply, water supply, gas supply, telephone, bus, etc., the town was dirty and chaotic, and the superiority was not obvious, so the rich people liked to live in the countryside, which became a major premise of the "squire" system. When the countryside has also entered the modern era and enjoyed the dividends of industrialization, there has been "reverse urbanization" in developed countries, and the rich have run to the suburbs and the countryside, leaving the urban areas at night to blue-collar and black-collar workers.
China has compressed the history of the development of the West for hundreds of years, but it has its own unique national conditions, and the interaction between urban and rural areas is also a big drama, a story of the intersection of generations of sorrow and joy, and it is indeed a rich mine of literature. I said that if you write this story well, you must pick up the sky and the ground down, in order to write Chinese characteristics and Chinese style bones. To "receive the heavens" is to have a broad vision of history and have sufficient knowledge and cultivation. "Grounding" means starting from the bottom and the people, not following the trend, not tending to the times, and every sentence is a sense of truth.
Producer: Nandu Editorial Command Center
Coordinator: Nandu Character News Studio
Wrote about Nandu reporter Zhang Yixin's intern Yang Xinzhu
Photo: Nandu reporter Ma Qiang