Chapter 35 Speech at Lu Xun Academy of Arts

(April 28, 1938) You want me to say a few words.But I'm not familiar with art issues, so I can only offer some superficial opinions for your reference. 1. What views should we hold on art? On this issue, there was a big debate in China in the past.You may know that Mr. Xu Zhimo once said this sentence: "Poetry should be like a silver needle resounding in the deep valley" [1], I don't know how the silver needle resounds in the deep valley.But I know he's an art supremacist.At that time, there were many people who advocated like him, and he was a representative in this regard.On the other hand is the Marxist art theorist represented by Mr. Lu Xun.Their debate on art theory has a long history, and it is impossible to go into details now.Art supremacism is a kind of artistic idealism, which is wrong.But now the art world also needs a united front in order to jointly resist Japan. As Mr. Lu Xun said, no matter whether he is a realistic school or a romantic school, a communist school or other schools, everyone should unite to fight against Japan.Of course, for us, political independence in art is still necessary, and political stance in art cannot be given up. Our art academy must have its own political stance.We are Marxists in art theory, not art supremacists.We advocate artistic realism, but this is not the kind of "realist" who blindly imitates nature and keeps a journal, because art cannot be just a simple reproduction of nature.As for romanticism in art, it is not entirely without reason.It has various situations, positive, revolutionary romanticism, and negative, retro romanticism.Some people always despise Romanticism just as the name suggests, thinking that Romanticism is something that belonged to older brothers and sisters.Little do they know that the main spirit of positive romanticism is to be dissatisfied with the status quo and look forward to the future with a kind of revolutionary enthusiasm. This trend of thought has played a progressive role in history.If a work of art simply describes the current situation without pursuing the ideal of the future, it cannot inspire people to move forward.Seeing the shortcomings in the present situation, and at the same time seeing the bright and hopeful future, this is the spirit of revolution, and Marxists must have this spirit.

There used to be a so-called "third type of person"[2] in Chinese literature and art circles, and we do not exclude them today.Today the first is the anti-Japanese national united front of all patriots, and the second is our own political stance in art.Every faction in art has its own class position, and we stand on the side of the toiling masses of the proletariat, but under the principle of the united front, we do not use Marxism to exclude others.Excluding others is closed-doorism, not a united front.But in the united front, we must not lose our position. This is the direction of Mr. Lu Xun.You Lu Xun Academy of Arts should follow the direction of Mr. Lu Xun.

2. Works of art must have content, and must meet the requirements of the times and the public.Works are like meals, they must be both nutritious and delicious.The Chinese are the best at cooking. When cooking, they mix various ingredients properly, add oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and various condiments. After skillful cooking, they produce a delicious taste and maintain the nutritional content.It takes a long-term practice process for a master chef to cook well, and it doesn't take a day to learn how to cook well.They cook with the same materials as others, but they can make good taste. This requires research on the deployment of various materials and the mastery of time and heat.Art supremacists only pay attention to whether it tastes good or not, regardless of whether it is nutritious or not, the content of their works of art is often empty or harmful.Works of art must pay attention to nutrition, that is to say, they must have good content, and must meet the requirements of the times and the public.For example, now that Beijing opera is sung, things like "A Dream in the Garden" are no longer seen in the opera newspapers, because such plays cannot sell seats today.When performing old plays, we should also pay attention to increasing the number of repertoires showing resistance against the enemy or national heroes. This is the requirement of today's era.Works of art must also have moving images and plots, and must be close to real life, otherwise people will not like to watch them.It is not popular to rigidly install some abstract concepts in works of art.

3. Lu Xun Academy of Art should cultivate a group of art workers with lofty ideals, rich life experience, and good art skills.You should not be artists who can only simply describe social life, but should have lofty ideals to fight for the new China.That is to say, we should not only fight against Japan, but also work hard for the establishment of a new democratic republic during the war of resistance, not only for a democratic republic, but also for the ideal of realizing socialism and even communism.Without such a great ideal, one cannot become a great artist.But only ideals are not enough, and rich life experience and good artistic skills are also required.There are naturally objective social reasons why China has not produced great works in recent years, but from the perspective of writers, it is also because too few can fully meet these three conditions.Many of our writers have lofty ideals, but they do not have rich life experience, and many of them still lack good artistic skills.Without any one of these three conditions, one cannot become a great artist.

Mr. Lu Xun said in the postscript of "Destruction" that Fadeyev, the author of "Destruction", was experienced in guerrilla warfare, and he was very good at describing the art of horse training.The author of "Destruction" has noticed such subtle movements as putting on the saddle, and Mr. Lu Xun has also noticed it.This tells us that great writers don't sit in a room and write according to their imagination, and what they write like that won't work.This book, now many people despise it and are unwilling to mention it, is actually a very good novel, especially it has extremely rich social historical materials.For example, it describes that Liu Xianglian "took the horse to recognize the stirrup" after beating Xue Pan hard. Without practical experience, the word "recognize the stirrup" cannot be written.It is not difficult to know what is going on, but every little thing has rich content, which can only be known from actual life experience.You are young artists, and the vast world now belongs to you, and it is the field of your activities.In order for your works of art to have substantial content, you must go to real life to absorb nourishment.You can't study here for the rest of your life, and soon you will go to various places and go to the actual struggle. Just like what you sang in "The Song of the Guerrillas", "We are all flying troops, even if the mountains are high and the water is deep."You not only have to sing it with your mouth, but you have to actually do it.Without rich practical life experience, it is impossible to produce works of art with substantial content.To create great works, one must first enrich one's own experience from actual struggles.It is true that an artist must have great ideals, but small things like getting on a saddle must also be studied practically.A researcher in the past said that he actually inspected the Grand View Garden.Now your "Grand View Garden" is the whole of China, and all of you young artists are Jia Baoyu or Lin Daiyu in the Grand View Garden. You should actually live and observe in this Grand View Garden.In your works, the "outline" is all of China, and the "minor outline" is Mount Wutai[3].To investigate China, it is not enough to use the method of journalists alone, because their work has the characteristics of "passers-by".As the saying goes: "It's better to stay on a horse to see flowers than to stay on a horse to see flowers, and it's better to get off a horse to see flowers." I hope you all get off your horse to see flowers.

Going among the masses not only enriches one's life experience, but also improves one's artistic skills.On summer evenings, farmers sit in the shade, sit on benches, hold big plantain fans, and tell stories. They also understand Mr. Hu Shizhi’s Eight Noisms[4]. They don’t use any allusions, but the content of the stories they tell is so Rich and beautiful.These peasants were not only good essayists, but often poets.There are many good poems in folk songs.When we used to work in schools, we used to ask our students to collect songs from various places during the holidays, and there are many good things in them.There is a great incongruity here, that is, people with rich life experience and beautiful words cannot write with a pen. On the contrary, many people who can write just sit in the pavilions of the city, lack rich life experience, and are not familiar with the masses. vivid language.We all know Gorky [5], his life experience is extremely rich, he is familiar with the life and language of the Russian lower class, and also familiar with the actual situation of other classes in Russia, so he can write so many great works.

As for artistic skills, this is what every artist must learn.Because without good technique, rich content cannot be expressed powerfully.Artistic skill is multifaceted and not limited to language.However, for artists, the ability to master language is very important.I think Mr. Lu Xun has studied mass language.You must work hard to learn and master the art skills. To be a great artist, one must have the three conditions mentioned above, none of which can be dispensed with.At present, the writings of some people on our front lack rich and substantial content, are not in line with objective reality, and their artistic skills are relatively rough.We must work hard to overcome this shortcoming.

Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Xu Zhimo (1896-1931), a native of Haining, Zhejiang, is one of the representatives of the Crescent School.The source of his words was not found. [2] In July 1932, Su Wen (that is, Du Heng) published an article "On the Literary Debate between "Wen Xin" and Hu Qiuyuan" in the "Modern" magazine. Literature and art were criticized by Lu Xun and Qu Qiubai. [3] Wutai Mountain refers to the Wutai Mountain area, which was the Jinchaji Anti-Japanese Base at that time.

[4] Hu Shizhi, that is, Hu Shi (1891-1962), a native of Jixi, Anhui.In 1917 and 1918, he successively published "Suggestions on Literary Improvement" and "On the Literary Revolution of Construction", summarizing his views on literary improvement into "Eight Don'ts": 1. Don't make "words" nothing" text.2. Do not write words that "moan without illness".Three, do not use allusions.Four, don't use stereotypes.5. Don't pay attention to antithesis:——Writing must abolish parallelism, and poetry must abolish rhyme.6. Do not write ungrammatical words.Seven, do not imitate the ancients.Eight, do not avoid common sayings and words.

[5] Gorky (1868-1936), a famous Soviet writer and political activist.His main works include the poem "Song of the Eagle" and novels.