How to treat the creation of contemporary old-style poems

Since the beginning of the new century, people have paid more and more attention to the study of China's modern and contemporary old-style poems. In addition to academic debates, official or semi-official initiatives have undoubtedly attracted much attention: one is that the fifth Lu Xun Literature Award sponsored by the Chinese Writers Association opened the door to old-style poetry for the first time in 20 10, and the other is that the inaugural meeting of China Poetry Research Association was held in Beijing in 201987, which is the modern and contemporary old-style poetry of China after the establishment of the Chinese Poetry Society. The two literary events in these two years are meaningful, and their symbolic significance can not be ignored. If the acceptance of the old-style poems in the Lu Literature Prize means that the contemporary literary circles in China, headed by the Chinese Writers Association, recognize the historical position and realistic position of the old-style poems, then the establishment of the China Poetry Research Association marks that the China government has incorporated the study of the old-style poems into the overall cultural strategy of promoting the national spirit and traditional culture, because the China Poetry Research Association belongs to the the State Council Counselor's Office and central research institute of culture and history, and it will work with the Chinese Poetry Society to create and study the modern and contemporary old-style poems in China, Qi Fei.

Therefore, in the cultural and literary context of the new century, I think it is no longer necessary to argue about the so-called legitimacy of the old-style poetry and its research, because the old-style poetry will definitely not continue to be absent from the historical stage of modern and contemporary literature in China because of the will of a few people. Of course, we don't have to absolutely assert that "there will be no room for discussion between opponents" as Chen Duxiu did in his letter to Hu Shi, but "we really don't have extra time to discuss this unnecessarily" is a fact! Because real people of insight have begun to do solid and steady literature sorting and academic research on old-style poems, it is not difficult to see clues from the compilation of large-scale series such as Collected Works of 20th Century Poets, Collected Works of Contemporary Poets and Collected Works of 20th Century Poetry successively published by Huangshan Bookstore and Bashu Bookstore in recent years. Moreover, a group of scholars of different times, including the author, no matter whether they study classical literature or modern and contemporary literature as their main business, no matter what internal differences exist in their cultural and academic positions, they have all come together in their efforts to study old-style poetry. This means that in the new historical context, our research on old-style poetry has gone beyond the stage of contention and become a research with historical significance and academic character. So, how should we evaluate the creative achievements of China's modern and contemporary old-style poems? This question reminds me of the same problem that puzzles the new literary world, that is, how to evaluate the creative achievements of China's modern and contemporary literature? Many scholars still insist that the achievements of modern literature in the past 30 years are above those of contemporary literature in the past 60 years, but in the past 60 years, the achievements of the last 30 years are above those of the first 30 years, which can almost be said to have reached a * * * understanding. Of course, the voice of opposition is not without, but rather weak. Then, how to evaluate the historical achievements of China's modern and contemporary old-style poetry creation since the May 4th Movement, and whether it is appropriate to follow the century-old evaluation of the new literary world? Personally, I think it is necessary to borrow the evaluation angle from the new literary world, but the conclusion is not exactly the same. First of all, we must admit that the achievements of modern traditional poetry in the past 30 years are better than those of contemporary traditional poetry in the past 60 years. At that time, there were not only many famous new literature writers, but also many old-style poems among new writers. Instead of retiring from the history of modern literature, the old-style poetry has gradually resurfaced in the new literary world, just as countless new writers have heard a so-called "writing old poems by reinvigorating horses". It is not difficult to get a glimpse of the 800,000-word history of anti-Japanese war poetry edited and annotated by Chen Hanping.

However, what I mainly want to say here is the evaluation of contemporary old-style poetry creation. As we all know, the current popular history of contemporary literature in China is used to dividing the 60 years of contemporary literature into two 30 years, the first 30 years belongs to the revolutionary era and the second 30 years belongs to the reform era. The creation of old-style poems in the revolutionary era is not prosperous on the surface, but in fact it has made remarkable achievements, while the creation of old-style poems in the reform era is the opposite, but the vanity, lack and crisis in the heart cannot be concealed behind the superficial prosperity. This overall judgment seems to conflict with the historical judgment of the new literary world on contemporary literature in the past twenty years. Believe it or not, you might as well make a brief historical review. In the revolutionary era, red classic novels, represented by "three reds and one creation", became popular, while Guo Xiaochuan and He Jingzhi's political lyrics were the most popular in the new poetry world, while other contemporary mainstream new poets were mostly forgotten in the history of contemporary literature, which shows that history is indeed a cruel choice. A very important reason why most mainstream new poets and their poems in the revolutionary era were washed away by time is that later scholars could not dig out the discourse space with literary history and literary classics in these poets and their poems. Scholars can only explore the "missing persons in the history of literature" in the "underground writing" or "hidden writing" in the revolutionary era. They found their forefinger, "Three Musketeers of Baiyangdian Poetry Group" (Duoduo, Munk and Gengen) and Changyao, but even so, they still could not conceal the loneliness and gloom of the new poetry circle of that era. I think it's time for us to open our eyes to the history of literature at such an embarrassing academic moment. If we don't confine ourselves to new poetry, but bring the old-style poetry into the overall scope of investigation, we will find that the history of poetry in the revolutionary era is undoubtedly brilliant, and a large number of missing persons in the history of contemporary poetry will be rediscovered by us, which will be a major archaeological event in the history of contemporary literature in China, including the history of poetry, and its significance cannot be underestimated! As the saying goes, "the unfortunate poets of the country are lucky, and they have been endowed with vicissitudes." In the disastrous era of frequent political storms, especially in the "ten-year catastrophe", our old-style poems have produced poetic power that makes contemporary new poems ashamed. Geographically, there are Chen Yinque, Xian Yuqing, Zhu Yongzhai, Zhan Antai, Li Rulun and Zhang in Lingnan Poetry, Kou Mengbi, Yu Pingbo, Qian Zhongshu, Zhang Zhongxing, Guo Fenghui, Chen Zongshu, Deng Tuo, Li Rui, Gong, Huang Wanli, Jiang Ying and Wan Su in Beijing and Tianjin Poetry. Xia, Wu Yishan, Qu, Zong Yuanya, Zhou, Zhou Caiquan and Hong Chuanjing in Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi poetry circles, Shen Zufen, Liu Yongji, Zhu Xuexing in Huxiang poetry circles, Ceng Zhi, Hu Huipu, Wu Mi, Huang Zhiquan and Xu Bojian in Bashu poetry circles, etc. As for the creation of old-style poems by new poets at that time, such as Guo Moruo, Tian Han, Ye Shengtao, Lao She, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, Nie Gannu, Hu Feng, He Qifang and so on. The author made a concentrated exploration in On China's Contemporary Classical Poetry. Its significance in the history of literature and poetry is also undeniable, especially their transformation from the old to the new is worth cherishing!

I am not a person who cares about the past and cherishes the present, but in the context of modern reflection for many years, I really don't believe in the "evolution theory of historical literature" that has been popular since the May 4th Movement. The new is not necessarily better than the old, and history does not advance in a straight line. The literary achievements of an era mainly depend on the literary achievements of that era, and have nothing to do with inheritance, old and new, and style. We can't self-obscure the whole field of vision of literary history investigation because of the long-term stylistic discrimination against old-style poems, but we should face up to history and be straightforward about the works of those writers, old and new. This is the academic position that scholars urgently need to adhere to today. Therefore, when I look at the literary creation in the reform era with the same objective vision, I don't care whether the style is old or new. I must admit that the achievements of reforming the new literature in the past 30 years must be above the old literature, mainly because the novel creation in these 30 years has made great achievements, even in the 30 years of modern novels, its achievements cannot be underestimated. In fact, it can be compared with the 30 years of modern novels. The author has been engaged in the study of contemporary novels for many years, and it is not difficult to cite various reasons to prove this point, so I will simplify it here. The question now is, what will happen if we compare the old poems with the new ones after 30 years of reform? In this respect, I obviously can't agree with the views of a few researchers of old-style poetry. They totally denied the achievements of new poetry in the past 30 years in the new period, and even totally denied the achievements of China's new poetry since the May 4th Movement. They think that only the old-style poems are the authentic biographies of China's poems, and only the old-style poems can represent the achievements of China's modern and contemporary poems, which is undoubtedly an exaggeration. The so-called overcorrection is a mode of thinking that we cannot get rid of for a long time. During the May 4th Movement, Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi overthrew the old literature and established the new literature. That's it. Now Liu Mengfu and Xu Jinru are also denying new poetry and reviving old poetry. In fact, in the past century, the dispute between the old and the new in China's poetry circles has never been cut off. The binary opposition, overcorrection and life-and-death thinking and position firmly control the judgments and actions of China poets and scholars. Although I can understand the beautiful vision of Liu and Xu Fuxing's "national poetry", the rationality of literary history tells me that I can't believe it. In my opinion, in the thirty years of poetry, new poetry and old-style poetry are not equal, each has its own strengths, but also has its own disadvantages. However, its overall achievements are not very high compared with the old-style poems in the revolutionary 1930s or the novels in the reform 1930s. This is an embarrassing and even unacceptable fact for many writers and scholars of old-style poetry, but it is probably the case! In the past 30 years, there have been poems by Kitajima, Gu Cheng, Haizi, Shu Ting and Yongming Zhai in the new poetry circle. Although not as impressive as people in the novel circle, I think they are ok. Their existence can offset the unhappiness brought to readers by so-called "saliva poems", "pear poems" and "sheep poems". As for the old-style poetry circle, to be honest, there are not many famous poets in the past 30 years. Although many old poets were lucky enough to escape the disaster and live in the era of reform and opening up, at this time, his creation was already weak and more out of inertia. It is rare for his poems to stir up rivers and mountains and pass places in his so-called later years. Generally speaking, the peak of these poems was in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression or the revolutionary era, and only a few of them, such as Yang and Desolation, reached a new level. As for young and middle-aged poetry writers, although there are a large number, there are very few outstanding people like the older generation. I have seen He Yongyi's Lighting Collection in Lingnan. The author has inherited the tradition of Nie Gannu, Li Rulun and other contemporary old-style poets who are concerned about the country and the people and are not eclectic. It is a unique skill. However, many famous young and middle-aged poets were disappointed after buying their books for fame, which made me afraid and unwilling to be too optimistic.

In my limited reading field of vision, there are three main drawbacks or diseases in the old-style poetry in the past 30 years, which seriously restrict the development process of contemporary old-style poetry. First, the prevalence of "veteran cadres". This is already a cliche. Looking back, the predecessor of the "old cadre style" was the "new Tiger style" in the revolutionary era. After the founding of New China, a group of literary and art leaders or founding generals, represented by Guo Moruo, often sang poems and songs, showing the peaceful demeanor and prosperous scene of the revolutionary era. In art, this kind of poetic style pursues taking prose as poetry, fu as words, emphasizing layout and rendering, and its style is gorgeous and rich, but it is difficult to hide the thinness and paleness in its bones. After entering the new era, with the changes of the times, a large number of retired veteran comrades have become attached to traditional poetry and calligraphy in their later years, and the "new Thai style" has become the "old cadre style". Because the author's traditional culture and education and classical poetry literacy are not as good as their predecessors, the prevalence of "old cadre style" has brought great harm to the reputation of contemporary old-style poetry circles. The second is the proliferation of "new antiques". Looking through all kinds of old-style poetry magazines such as Chinese Poetry, and the endless collection of old-style poetry in the market, we can easily get the vulgar impression that "new antiques" are flooding. Many authors of old-style poems always make all kinds of "new ancient style" works on the basis of strictly observing the rules set by the ancients. They are totally obsessed with form in their writing, and can't reach the lofty realm of "getting carried away" and "getting carried away" as the ancients said. I don't object to modern people writing old poems and strictly observing ancient metrical rules, such as rhyme, but I object to sticking to conventions and haggling over so-called thorny issues, such as finding faults with the law in Mao Zedong's poems. If the poem is done to the point of hurting the meaning of the law, it will be the end of the poem. It is a difficult problem for contemporary writers and scholars of old-style poetry to be inspired by metrical problems and explore a new legal path that integrates ancient and modern. We don't want new antiques, because new antiques are actually fake antiques, which belong to cultural relics and imitations and can't have real vitality. Although the proliferation of new ancient styles is huge in quantity, it is not conducive to the revival of contemporary old-style poems in quality. Third, consumerization is serious. Especially since the 1990s, with the establishment of the market economy system, literature has become increasingly consumerized, and old-style poetry has not been spared. There are many kinds of poetry competitions driven by various commercial interests, and countless entries are full of tailor-made works, which have a strong commercial atmosphere, so it is difficult to find real poems and real people. At present, in this era of declining new poetry, old-style poetry sadly acts as a substitute and becomes a symbol of literary commercialization. This can't help but alert the conscientious writers of old-style poetry!