Chapter 13 It's not about elegance and vulgarity
Zheng Yimei talked about the anecdote, saying that Jiang Yinqiu loved books all his life, and was destined to grow up in Jiangsu Provincial Suzhou Library. The library is located in Keyuan opposite Canglang Pavilion. In the book city, when you are free, you can chant Xiaoao, which is very freehand.All rare books in the library are not allowed to be loaned out, but bureaucrats and gentry often use their power to point them out, disregarding the library's regulations, and never return them once they are borrowed.Jiang Yinqiu then came up with a clever plan to find out all the rare books and hire a group of poor people to copy them in the library, counting the value of words, and when bureaucrats and gentry came to force borrowing, they used copies to deal with it. Since then, many rare books have been preserved.The life of poor people is so difficult. Copying rare books can not only read good books, but also earn money. It is not so pleasant to combine addiction with career!Zheng Yimei said that Jiang Yinqiu "did a great deed".
Hobbies and occupations are mostly incompatible, and it is especially rare for people who do not like literature and art by nature to find a beautiful place.Today's busybodies in China and abroad even fall into two categories: serious writers and professional copywriters; the former focus on content and readers' comments, while the latter only know production and product markets.From then on, the theory of high eyebrows and low eyebrows, the distinction between academics and leisure, has finally formed into a school, and each is played by the demons, and they can't explain themselves!
Making money to eat is not a bad thing.Serious writers write for highly educated readers, hoping to make new contributions to the history of human thought; professional writers disdain the long-term value of culture, and do not deliberately create new ideas. They explain current events and events for the general public and reflect contemporary culture.There is a market for the products of professional writers, which is the result of promoting culture and cultivating the reading atmosphere, and filling the loopholes that serious writers ignore.Moreover, there are quite a few prolific writers like Anthony Burgess who are both vulgar and elegant, with both fame and fortune, both at home and abroad.This realm is the highest.
It is of course great that professional writers do not have to worry about food and clothing; serious writers should also find a regular job to solve their livelihood, and it is not too late to go "serious" as an amateur.Angus Wilson worked in the library of the British Museum and took four weeks of annual leave to finish his first novel.Margaret Draber wrote screenplays and book reviews as her main job and novels as a side job.Painters can do the same.Roger Fry founded "Ogilvy & Mather Workshop" at the beginning of this century to promote decorative arts and encourage young painters not to rely solely on selling paintings for a living, but also to run an interior design business, manufacturing tables, chairs, bookshelves, teapots, dishes, vases, and wallpaper Wait for artistically valuable handicrafts to earn money.
Jiang Yinqiu's underprivileged men can still chant Xiaoao after they finish copying the book every day.