Chapter 27 The Innovation of Literary Ideas

The "May 4th" Literary Revolution, whether people called it reformation or revolution, it was first of all a great change in the concept of literature in the true sense. Hu Shi put forward in his first official manifesto "Suggestions on Literary Reform": I only regard Shi Naian, Cao Xueqin, and Wu Jianren as authentic literature, so there is a theory that "do not avoid common words and sayings". ... Viewed from the perspective of contemporary historical evolution, it can be asserted that vernacular literature is the authentic version of Chinese literature and a must-use weapon for future literature.For this reason, I advocate that today's composition and poetry should use common language and words.

① He mentioned vernacular literature to the status of "authentic Chinese literature".This is a very bold idea in the history of Chinese literature and a direct challenge to traditional literary concepts. For a long time, in the eyes of orthodox literati, only poetry, ancient prose, and Fu can enter the hall of elegance of literature; As for vernacular literature, such as novels, operas, slang songs, etc., they always despise it, regard it as the path of "a gentleman should not do it", and condemn it outside the palace of literature.As a result, when the ancients compiled anthologies, most of them did not accept novels and operas; some people even created outstanding vernacular novels, but they dared not sign their real names.After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, new economic factors sprouted, and the initial democratic ideology among the citizens was reflected in the field of literature. Li Zhi, Yuan Hongdao, Jin Shengtan and others came out to promote vernacular novels, The status of operas, even putting them on the same level as the famous "Li Sao" and Du Fu's poems, shows a very valuable and progressive literary insight; ②But they failed to break through the barriers of traditional literary concepts after all.At the end of the Qing Dynasty, many people came out to publish vernacular newspapers, advocated vernacular writing, and promoted the "mandarin alphabet".At that time, Hu Shi also wrote many vernacular novels, biographies and various vernacular articles in "Competition Xun Bao".However, they only regard the vernacular as a tool to enlighten the people's wisdom, and do not recognize it as literature; they still write ancient prose, parallel prose and regulated poetry in classical Chinese, thinking that these are elegant literature.As Hu Shi pointed out:

Their greatest shortcoming is that they divide society into two parts: "them" on one side and "us" on the other.On the one hand, there are "they" who should use the vernacular, and on the other hand, "we" who should write ancient Chinese and ancient poetry.We might as well still eat meat, but their inferior society is not worthy of eating meat, so we have to throw a bone to them.This attitude is not acceptable. ③ Hu Shi in the May Fourth era was completely different.Contrary to the traditional concept of literature, he put forward the concept of "authentic vernacular literature" and "living literature".He affirmed that those masters who wrote vernacular novels in history, such as Shi Naian, Cao Xueqin, Wu Jianren, etc., "are all authentic literature"; he denounced those written by traditional literati as "parallel prose poems are true novels". ④ He also publicly pronounced the sentence, saying that the dead classical Chinese that has been completely divorced from the oral language of the people, monopolized by a small number of people, is a "dead language", and "living literature" cannot be produced with this dead language;

Only the vernacular, which is close to the spoken language of the people, is a living language and can produce first-rate "living literature".Therefore, "If China wants to have a living literature, it must use the vernacular, it must use the national language, and it must be a literature in the national language." ⑤ It was under this new concept of literature that Hu Shi regarded advocating vernacular Chinese as opposed to classical Chinese and advocating vernacular literature (or Mandarin literature) as a central content of the literary revolution and as a banner of his call for a literary revolution.

At first, they mostly started from the side of destruction, focusing on criticizing old literature.In addition to Hu Shi denouncing the old literature as "small way" and "dead literature", the most famous ones are Chen Duxiu and Qian Xuantong.Chen Duxiu publicly denounced a group of masters of ancient prose as "Eighteen Demons"; ⑥Qian Xuantong summarized the famous sentence "Tongcheng is absurd, choose to learn from evildoers", ⑦ criticizes the prose and parallel prose that imitate the ancients.These slogans were widely circulated at the time, and although they were a bit extreme, they dealt a heavy blow to old literature and retro-conservative forces.

By the spring of 1918, Hu Shi began to focus on the specific aspect of "construction" in his long essay "On the Literary Revolution of Construction".He said: I think those of us who advocate the literary revolution must of course start with destruction.But if we take a closer look, the current old-school literature is really not worth refuting. ...The reason why they can still exist in the country is precisely because there is no new literature that is really valuable, really alive, and can really be counted as literature to take their place.With this kind of "true literature" and "living literature", those "fake literature" and "dead literature" will naturally disappear.

Therefore, I hope that those of us who advocate the literary revolution should have a mentality of "substituting" for those corrupt literature, and everyone should work hard on the construction side to create for China within 30 to 50 years. Create a living literature of New China. ⑧ Hu Shi has realized that the new literature can only "replace" the old literature in its struggle, so he proposed two criteria for the construction of new literature: one is to replace "dead literature" with "living literature", that is, the aforementioned Advocate vernacular literature.In this paper, he even attributed the purpose of the literary revolution to "just to create a national language literature for China".This is a main content of his new literary concept.Another criterion is to replace "fake literature" with "true literature", that is, to advocate realistic literature.This is another important content of his new literary concept.

As early as in his article "Suggestions on Literary Improvement", Hu Shi advocated that literature should "realistically describe the conditions of today's society", believing that such literature can become "true literature".In this "On the Literary Revolution of Construction", he further advocated that literature should describe "today's poor society, such as male and female workers in factories, rickshaw pullers, inland farmers, large vendors and small shops everywhere, all painful situations", should "occupy a place in literature".He also emphasized that writers should "pay attention to on-the-spot observation and personal experience", and believed that "one cannot be a writer without on-the-spot observation; one cannot be a writer without personal experience." ⑨Hu Shi's view of democracy and life practice, which focuses on describing the lower class people, is a completely new concept of modern literature that cannot be dreamed of in traditional temple literature.

In June of this year, "New Youth" will publish "Ibsen Special Issue".Hu Shi loved Ibsen the most. He and Luo Jialun jointly translated the play "Nara" (A Doll's House, today's translation of "A Doll's House"), and wrote a major essay on "Ibsenism".The article begins with a clear meaning, saying that "Ibsen's literature and Ibsen's outlook on life are only realism".He introduced and advocated realism to Chinese readers by introducing Ibsen. He pointed out: The root of the serious illness in life is that one refuses to open one's eyes to see the true status quo of the world.Obviously it is a society of male thieves and female prostitutes, but we insist that it is a state of sages, virtuous and righteous; it is obviously a politics of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but we want to sing praises; it is obviously a serious disease that cannot be cured, but we say that there is no disease at all! But we don’t know: If If you want to be cured, you must first admit that you are sick; if you want to have good politics, you must first admit that the current politics is really bad; if you want to improve the society, you must first understand that today’s society is indeed a society of men and women! Ibsen’s strengths are only in He is willing to tell the truth only if he can write down the real situation of all kinds of corruption and filth in society for everyone to take a closer look.He doesn't like to talk about the bad of society, he just has to say it. ⑩

Hu Shi asked writers to open their eyes to see the world, to face up to the "true status quo" of social life, to "be willing to tell the truth", to truly express social life, and to emphasize a "truth". This is the most basic and important feature of realism .He introduced Ibsen's plays on various social issues one by one, thinking that this is "true literature".Only such genuine literature, like Ibsen's "writing out the real situation of family society", can "make people feel tempted after reading it, make people feel that our family society is so dark and corrupt, and make people read it." I feel that family society really has to be reformed and revolutionized.”Because of this, this kind of "true literature" looks negative and destructive on the surface, but it is actually healthy and positive.For example, when a doctor diagnoses a disease, he prescribes a pulse record and writes down the symptoms in detail. Is this negative and destructive?

In September of this year, "New Youth" discussed the issue of drama improvement again, and Hu Shi wrote the article "The Concept of Literary Evolution and Drama Improvement".Among them, they also focused on advocating the "tragedy concept" from the perspective of realism, criticizing the lying literature that whitewashed reality in old literature, and especially opposed the "reunion superstition" in old operas and novels.He pointed out: What Chinese literature lacks most is the concept of tragedy.Whether it's a novel or a play, it's always a happy reunion. ... This "superstition of reunion" is an ironclad proof of the weakness of Chinese thinking.The person who writes the book knows that most of the real things in the world are unsatisfactory. He knows that the things in the world are either upside down, or life and death. Clear, clear retribution.He closes his eyes and refuses to watch the tragedies and tragedies in the world, and refuses to honestly write about the upside-down and cruelty of Tiangong. He only wants to say a happy story on paper.This is the literature of lies. How similar is the "literature of lying" to the "literature of concealment and deceit" pointed out by Lu Xun, and the spirit is exactly the same, and how pertinent and profound is the exposure of the ills of old literature! Hu Shi believes that this kind of reunion and happy lying Literature, at most, can only make people feel a kind of satisfaction, but it can't make people deeply moved, and it can never arouse people's fundamental thinking and introspection.Only tragic works, like that, truly describe the tragedy of Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, "only then can people feel sad and sigh, make people realize the evil of family autocracy, and make people reflect on life problems and family social problems."It is in this sense that Hu Shi "honestly described a natural tendency of 'sitting and eating the mountain' and 'trees fall and hozens scatter'" and Gao E's sequel "to end a great tragedy and break the superstition of reunion in Chinese novels" , gave a high evaluation. During the "May 4th" Literary Revolution, the "living literature" advocated by Hu Shi - using vernacular as a tool, "true literature" - using realism as a creative method, coupled with the "human literature" advocated by Zhou Zuoren - The content is based on humanitarianism, and these three slogans basically summarize the new thoughts and concepts of "May Fourth" literature.Under the guidance and influence of the new trend of thought and new ideas represented by these three slogans, my country's new literature was conceived, produced, developed, and strengthened, thus creating a new era of literary modernization. ① "Hu Shi Wencun", Shanghai Yadong Library, August 9, 1926, Volume 1, pp. 22-23. ② Li Zhi (1527-1602), named Zhuowu, was born in Jinjiang, Quanzhou (now part of Fujian Province), and was a famous thinker and writer in the Ming Dynasty.He openly regarded himself as a "heretic" and boldly attacked traditional feudal dogma and hypocrisy. He was eventually persecuted and imprisoned to death by the ruler.In terms of literature, he advocates "childlike innocence", opposes plagiarism and imitation, and attaches great importance to the status of novels and dramas in literature. Yuan Hongdao (1568-1610), courtesy name Zhonglang, was born in Huguang Gongan (now in Hubei Province), a writer of Ming Dynasty.He, his elder brother Zongdao and his younger brother Zhongdao were both famous for their talents. They were called Gongan Sanyuan at that time, and Hongdao enjoyed the most fame.Throughout his life, he tried his best to arrange the retro imitation style of the seven masters, emphasizing the expression of "spirit".Influenced by Li Zhi, his thoughts valued the status of novels, operas and folk songs in literature. Book" side by side.In the poem "Listen to Zhu Sheng Talking about the Water Margin", it is also said: "After reading the Water Margin, the writing has changed dramatically. The Six Classics are not the ultimate text, and Ma Qian lost his organization and practice." Putting it above the "Six Classics" and official history. Jin Shengtan (1608-1661), famous person Rui, formerly surnamed Zhang, surnamed Cai, was born in Wu County (now Jiangsu Province), a literary critic in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, he was killed for the crying temple case.He once used "Li Sao", "Nanhua Jing" (), "Historical Records", Du Gongbu's poems, "Water Margin" as the six books of the world's talented scholars ("Xin Chou Jiwen"), and wrote about the fifth gifted book and the sixth The scholar's book has been criticized and deleted.His corrections were probably completed in the last years of Chongzhen. Just when Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's rebel army defeated the Ming Dynasty's official army, and the Ming Dynasty was precarious and about to overthrow. Being hunted is the end.The comments are quite artistically insightful, but they also show a stand against peasant uprisings. ③ "Chinese Literature in the Past Fifty Years", see "Hu Shi Wencun Two Collections", Shanghai Yadong Library, March 6, 1929, Volume 2, pp. 192-193. ④ Same note as ①, p. 21. ⑤Refer to "Zanghui Room Notes" Volume 13 "Comparison of the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Second and Third Vernacular Chinese" (postscripted on July 6, 1916), Shanghai Yadong Library, 1936 edition, pp. 939-944; and "Construction Literature "On Revolution" (2), "Hu Shi Wen Cun" Volume 1, pp. 73-77. ⑥The "eighteen demons" mentioned by Chen Duxiu, "that is, Gui (Youguang) Fang (Bao) Liu (Da) Yao (Nai) of the seven sons and eight literary schools before and after the Ming Dynasty" (see "On Literary Revolution" ). ⑦ Qian Xuantong wrote to Hu Shixin on July 2, 1917, published in Volume 3, No. 6 of "New Youth". ⑧ "The Literary Revolution of Construction", see "Hu Shi Wen Cun" Volume 1, pp. 71-72. ⑨ Same note ⑧, pp. 88-89. ⑩ "Hu Shi Wen Cun" Volume 4, pages 14-15. "Hu Shi Wen Cun" Volume 1, pp. 207-208. See Lu Xun's "On Opening the Eyes and Seeing".This article was written in July 1925, originally published in the 38th issue of "Yusi" weekly magazine, published on August 3 of the same year, and later included in the collection of essays.See "The Complete Works of Lu Xun", Beijing People's Literature Publishing House, 1981 edition, Volume 1, pages 237-242. See "Research on the Dream of Red Mansions", Volume 3 of "Hu Shi Wen Cun", pp. 231-245. Regarding Hu Shi's evaluation of the pair, he himself said some ins and outs in his later years, belittling or even negating the ideological and artistic value of Hu Shih (see "Four Letters on "Dream of Red Mansions", contained in Taipei "Works" Volume 2 Issue 2 , published on February 1, 1961); it is inevitable for others to have different opinions, but in the past few years, most of them tended to deny Hu Shi's views.This question cannot be explained in one or two sentences, and we will discuss it in the next chapter. "Human literature", Zhou Zuoren said in his article "Human Literature": "Using this humanitarianism as the basis, and recording and researching the problems of life, it is called human literature." (Contained in "New Youth", Volume 5, No. 6, published on December 15, 1918) Hu Shi had previously promoted humanitarianism and individual liberation, but the slogan "Human Literature" was proposed by Zhou Zuoren.