Chapter 139 one step forward two steps back

Although the "reactionary movement in the literary world" is a counterattack by the old forces, if the new literary world itself is consolidated and there are no cracks, it will be extremely difficult for the reactionary movement to spread. Unfortunately, in the past two or three years, the new literary world has made one step forward, but retreated two step. What is further?That is, everyone admits that vernacular can also be used as a tool to express opinions and express emotions; everyone also uses vernacular to write papers, novels, scripts, and poems. What is two steps back?That is, (1) when the power of the vernacular has not yet been fully consolidated, friends who are friends of the vernacular suddenly become humble. First of all, we need to have a foundation in classical Chinese——first, we need to master classical Chinese to lay a foundation; (2) when vernacular has not yet gained deep belief in the society and established an indomitable foundation, most of the friends who do vernacular suddenly follow the guidance of a few experts. Heels, burying their heads in the pile of old papers, doing their so-called "sorting out the country's history", the result is that there are not enough experts in the competition, and the country's history has not been able to get a clue because of the "sorting out" of the majority of people, but it has caused "chaotic rummaging" in society The epidemic of "ancient books" robs experts of what they do, and gives up what they can and must do in front of them.

Because the first step backed down by the friends of vernacular Chinese, it aroused the clamor of the old forces, "After all, classical Chinese is better!"; because the second step backed down by the friends of vernacular Chinese, it aroused the retro movement; Prevailing reactionary movement! I also know that the new literature movement is not a pure vernacular movement, but the first step of the new literature movement must be the vernacular movement; when the work of the vernacular movement has not been completed, it is when the vernacular has not seized the "power" of classical Chinese and has not yet established itself in society. When we have established a deep foundation in the Chinese language, we should focus on the vernacular movement without looking away. During this period, we must use our tools to try various tasks: we would rather be scolded by others as "perseverance and not change." ", we must believe that the vernacular is omnipotent, no matter what thoughts or emotions are expressed, the vernacular will never be exhausted, and we must never use classical Chinese to help.

I also know that "sorting out the old" is something that should be included in the New Literature Movement, but when vernacular has not yet become a kind of belief in the whole society, we must be very stubborn and swear not to read ancient books. We have to say arrogantly that ancient books It is useless to us, so we don't need to learn the tool for reading ancient books-classical Chinese. However, in the past three to five years, most of the new literature friends have forgotten their historical mission, and they want to take the cause of the next generation into their own hands to complete, and the result is a de facto "one step forward and two steps back", The situation that contributed to the counterattack of the old forces in the past year broke out into a reactionary movement.

Under the serious situation of this reactionary movement, the results of the new literature movement's hard work in the past three to five years are being shaken.The first task of the New Literature Movement—that is, the first success—was "what to say and what to write." Now the reactionaries are making elementary school students read classical Chinese and do it.The second success of the New Literature Movement is to elevate vernacular novels of lyrics, songs, ballads, and vernacular novels to authentic literature, and ask Shizi to find another backer to stand on his own. However, they put forward the old signboard that "there is no literature outside the Six Classics", and asked people to look for the authenticity of the articles in the scriptures.The third task of the New Literature Movement is to introduce Western literary thoughts and study Western literary works; but the reactionaries do not ask whether the bull’s head is right or wrong, and use the light of sorting out the history of the country to say that the literary thoughts of Westerners are inherent in ancient Chinese books. We only need to go to our own home to find it, and we should not ask our neighbors for it.

How far this reactionary movement will expand and how long its fate will depend entirely on how the new literary circles deal with this reactionary offensive. In recent years, the new literary circles have obviously had many factions for differences in literaryism. It is also the main reason for its own weakness; so I think that to deal with this reactionary offensive, first, the new literary world must form a united front to exterminate the reactionary forces, and second, the new literary world must not forget its historical mission ——The widespread publicity and foundation consolidation of the vernacular movement.