Chapter 13 1958 "Song of Youth"

Genre: Novel Author: Yang Mo First Publication: Writers Press Published: January 1958 In the "seventeen years" of novel creation, Yang Mo's novel "Song of Youth" has been intertwined with voices of praise and criticism since it was published. The work was revised again, and the work was changed into a movie of the same name.Afterwards, both the novel and the film were accompanied by controversy.This situation constituted a unique landscape in the Chinese literary world at that time. Yang Mo (1914-1995), formerly known as Yang Chengye, was born in Beijing in August 1914 from Xiangyin County, Hunan Province. In 1958, he published the novel "Song of Youth", in which Lin Daojing and other young intellectuals were portrayed vividly and vividly.Later, it was adapted into the movie "Song of Youth" by myself. After 1978, he published a collection of short stories "Red Red Shandan Flower", a novel "Dawn of the East", "Song of Fangfei", "Song of Yinghua", "Collected Essays of Yang Mo", "Confessions - My Diary", "Diary That Is Not a Diary" and other 11 works.Served as a member of the presidium of the Chinese Writers Association and chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Yang Mo started the brewing and writing of the novel "Song of Youth" in 1951 and completed it in 1957; the title of the book at that time was "Inexhaustible Wildfire", which was later renamed "Song of Youth". After finishing the first half in 1955, it was handed over to China Youth Publishing House. China Youth Publishing House put forward major revision opinions when reviewing the manuscript. The most important protagonist, central character and central clue of the novel, but lacks enough criticism and analysis of Lin Daojing. In April 1955, at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong proposed the "Double Hundred" policy of "letting a hundred flowers bloom in art, and a hundred schools of thought contend in academics", and the atmosphere for writing and publishing was relaxed.Yang Mo handed over the manuscript to Qin Zhaoyang for review.After reading it, Qin Zhaoyang thought the manuscript was very good, so he forwarded the manuscript to Writers Publishing House.The Writer's Press officially published it in January 1958.People's Literature Publishing House published the author's revised edition in 1960.

After smashing the "Gang of Four", "Song of Youth" was republished by People's Literature Publishing House in 1978.On the basis of the Japanese translation in 1960, Japan also retranslated and published it with reference to the new version of the original work.There are more and more articles introducing and commenting on Yang Mo and his "Song of Youth" in domestic newspapers and periodicals.Afterwards, the comeback of Zhang Zhongxing, who once lived with Yang Mo in love and was written by Yang Mo in the image of Yu Yongze, and Yang Mo's son Lao Gui (Ma Bo) faithfully disclosed Yang Mo's biographical work "Mother". The publication of "Yang Mo" has aroused certain repercussions inside and outside the literary world, and continued the topic of Yang Mo and "Song of Youth" in another way.

"Song of Youth" mainly describes the growth and struggle of young intellectuals represented by Lin Daojing in the revolutionary era: Lin Daojing was born in a big landlord family. Her biological mother came from a poor background and was taken over by her father Lin Botang to become his concubine and then forced to death.After Lin Daojing graduated from middle school, her family went bankrupt, her father ran away from home, and her stepmother Xu Fengying forced her to marry Director Hu.She ran away from her home in Beijing angrily, and came to Beidaihe to join relatives and seek employment. Unexpectedly, her cousin and his wife had resigned and left here.When he was in trouble, he was deceived by Yu Jingtang, the principal of Yangzhuang Primary School.In desperation, she chose the sea as her destination. The moment she jumped into the sea, Yu Yongze, a student of the Chinese Department of Peking University, rescued her.Yu Yongze's speech and behavior moved Lin Daojing, making Lin Daojing temporarily forget all the dangers and pains, and agreed with Yu Yongze's persuasion to stay in Yangzhuang as a primary school teacher, and gradually became interested in teaching life and children.In class, Lin Daojing told elementary school students about the "September 18th" and the crimes of Japan's invasion of China, as well as the Kuomintang's non-resistance policy, which aroused the children's patriotism, but was ridiculed by Yu Jingtang.Lin Daojing resigned from her job as a primary school teacher and resolutely stepped on the train to Peking.But in Beijing, there is no source of livelihood, and the search for a job has hit a wall everywhere.In desperation, Lin Daojing and Yu Yongze lived together.Yu Yongze's tenderness and consideration made Lin Daojing feel happy and satisfied.But she also gradually discovered Yu Yongze's selfishness and ruthlessness.Later, she got acquainted with a group of patriotic students such as Lu Jiachuan, Xu Ning and Zheng Jin.Lin Daojing began to read revolutionary books eagerly and actively participated in progressive activities. Despite Yu Yongze's strong opposition, Lin Daojing went to the streets with Peking University students to participate in the "March 18" parade.Later, Dai Yu rebelled against the party organization, and revolutionary students such as Xu Ning and Hou Rui were arrested.Lu Jiachuan came to Lin Daojing's residence to avoid the enemy's pursuit.When Lin Daojing delivered a letter for Lu Jiachuan, Yu Yongze met Lu Jiachuan at home, and he drove out Lu Jiachuan out of selfishness and jealousy, but Lu Jiachuan was arrested.Lin Daojing finally understands that "partners" who are not on the same political path cannot be together, and finally chooses to break up with Yu Yongze.

Progressive students and people such as Lu Jiachuan and Xu Ning continued to struggle in prison, and some revolutionaries were killed.Lin Daojing lost contact with all her progressive friends, but remembering what Lu Jiachuan had said to her, she cheered up again.She took out a package of promotional materials left by Lu Jiachuan, and used the night to post and distribute them in alleys and alleys.Later, he was arrested because of Dai Yu's betrayal.With the help and cover of Wang Xiaoyan's father and her friends, Lin Daojing escaped from Peiping and came to Ding County to become a primary school teacher.Here, she met Jiang Hua, an underground party member, and learned many revolutionary truths from him.Under Jiang Hua's leadership, Lin Daojing actively participated in farmers' actions to harvest wheat.Due to the exposure of revolutionary activities, Lin Daojing was arrested again after returning to Peiping.With the rescue of comrades, Lin Daojing was released on bail.Based on Lin Daojing's performance in prison, the organization approved her to join the Communist Party of China. She went to Peking University under the pseudonym Lu Fang to do student work and organize patriotic struggles.She mobilized students to participate in the "December 9th" movement and actively participated in larger-scale demonstrations to expand the achievements of "December 9th".Lin Daojing, Hou Rui and other party members and activists were responsible for the organization separately, and secretly mobilized a group of Peking University students to participate in the demonstration.In the parade, she first saw Li Huaiying, who was once apolitical, and Wang Xiaoyan's parents. Workers, hawkers, civil servants, rickshaw drivers, journalists, young housewives, and even retired soldiers all flocked to the parade. Come in the procession.Endless streams of people, dazzling banners, hoarse and tragic slogans are boiling on the streets and above the ancient old capital, and the vigorous pace continues to move forward.

The novel has considerable realistic elements, and even some autobiographical elements.One of the most striking is the image of Lin Daojing, a female intellectual.Through Lin Daojing's life choice and growth experience, the novel fully demonstrates her process of constantly overcoming her own weaknesses in the struggle and finally becoming a proletarian vanguard.Lin Daojing joined the revolution with petty bourgeois fanaticism and unrealistic fantasies.The description of her petty bourgeois feelings focuses on two aspects: one is the weakness and lingering of love; the other is the unrealistic fantasy, fanaticism and individualistic ideology of revolution.This description not only has a persuasive force to face the truth, but also points out that the petty bourgeois intellectuals at that time "only under the leadership of the party, linking their personal destiny with the destiny of the people, this is the real way out." "The reason.This is completely different from the image of intellectuals who are "democratic individualists" in modern literature, such as Zijun who "loves first" and Ni Huanzhi who "saves the country through education". This is where the special meaning and value of "Song of Youth" lie. .

After "Song of Youth" came out, it not only had an influence among readers, but also attracted attention in education, literature and art, youth and other departments. Various newspapers and periodicals published many articles of praise and comment. At the beginning of 1959, the two magazines "China Youth" and "Literary News" carried out discussions on the novel, and many schools, factories, and Communist Youth League organizations also sparked discussions, pushing the comments on "Song of Youth" to a climax.The novel was considered excellent by most, but disagreements quickly emerged, sparking controversy. In 1959, Guo Kai, a young critic, published in the second issue of "China Youth" and the fourth issue of "Literary News" entitled "A Brief Discussion on the Defects in the Description of Lin Daojing" and "On the Song of Youth". Talking about Several Principles in Literary and Artistic Creation and Criticism", Zhang Hong published "Is Lin Daojing a role model worth learning?" in the fourth issue of "China Youth". " article put forward critical and even negative views on the protagonist image and ideological content of the work, which aroused discussion and controversy in the literary and art circles. "China Youth" and "Literary News" successively published articles including: Mao Dun's "How to evaluate "Song of Youth"?" "("China Youth" No. 4, 1959), He Qifang's ""Song of Youth" is undeniable" ("China Youth" No. 5, 1959), Ma Tieding's "On "Song of Youth" and its debates "("Literary News" No. 9, 1959) and so on.

Those who hold a negative attitude towards the work mainly think that the author shows the protagonist's petty bourgeois sentiment by standing on the petty bourgeois standpoint.For example, Guo Kai pointed out, "The book is full of petty bourgeois sentiments. The author stands on the standpoint of the petty bourgeoisie and creates his works as the self-expression of the petty bourgeoisie...he does not seriously and practically describe knowledge. During the process of molecular transformation, the author gave her (Lin Daojing) the honorable title of a Communist Party member, seriously distorting the image of a Communist Party member” and so on.Those who hold this point of view also believe that the novel does not describe the workers and peasants well, nor does it describe the combination of intellectuals and workers and peasants well. Some people think that the description of Lin Daojing's love life in the work has a strong influence on young readers. negative social effects.

Those who have a positive attitude towards the work disagree with the above point of view. They believe that the author really exposed Lin Daojing as a petty bourgeois intellectual, but the purpose is for criticism, not a petty bourgeois intellectual self-expression.In Lin Daojing, on the one hand, the revolutionary factors are constantly increasing, and on the other hand, the negative factors are constantly decreasing; her thoughts and feelings have experienced and will continue to experience the transformation from one class to another.She has done everything stipulated in the party constitution, and has not distorted the image of the Communist Party members.According to the plot stipulated by its own characteristics, the work shows the combination with workers and peasants. It is unnecessary and impossible to complete additional tasks.As for the side effects of the description of Lin Daojing's love life, it is due to the different times and the misunderstanding of the readers, not the shortcomings of the work itself.Mao Dun's "How to evaluate "Song of Youth"?" "In the article, I made a more comprehensive and profound analysis of the ideological content and artistic features of this novel, and explained in detail how to use the correct way of thinking to evaluate this work.He pointed out: "Lin Daojing is a woman who is full of rebellious spirit and pursues the truth." "Song of Youth" is an excellent work with educational significance. Therefore, it is wrong to deny it completely and ideologically like Comrade Guo Kai did.”

At the beginning of 1960, "China Youth Daily" also conducted a discussion on "how to correctly understand Yu Yongze", and some people regarded Yu Yongze as the embodiment of "dream lover", "gentle husband", "democracy" and "humanity". and other points of view have been criticized.Tangerine's article "This Is a Struggle of Two Worldviews" (February 3, 1960) provides a concluding overview of this discussion. After this discussion, the author made some revisions to the novel, and it was republished by People's Literature Publishing House in 1960.The author also combined with discussions to constantly summarize the creation experience of "Song of Youth", and successively wrote "Why did I write "Song of Youth"?" ", "What power inspired me to write "Song of Youth"", "Talk about the characters and creations in "Song of Youth"" (1958), "Talk about the image of Lin Daojing" (1977) and so on.

During the "Cultural Revolution", both the novel and the film "Song of Youth" were severely criticized by some critics. Therefore, they were also struggled and their freedom was restricted.It was not until the "Gang of Four" was smashed that he was liberated together with other writers, and his works were published again in 1978. After the new era, some young readers raised some questions when reading "Song of Youth", and these questions were also fed back to the author. Yang Mo said in the "New Edition Postscript" of "Song of Youth" in 1992: "I know that it will not be smooth sailing in the future, and it will still be criticized." "An Australian student studying in China wrote to me last year and said that his teacher once criticized "Song of Youth" as not good enough. The chapters on rural struggle should be added (many people have this opinion), and I asked what my opinion is on this. Some young writers said that "Song of Youth" is a "work that expresses established concepts". Others Said, this novel is just a diagram of "love plus revolution". Their views are all reasonable. I also have my reasons. I respect the creative principles of realism, my life experience, my beliefs determine my Love and hatred also determine what I like to write and what I don't like to write. This cannot be changed. I don't want to be kitsch, and I don't want to invite some readers to favor me; Come to engage in my creation. I hope that my works can help readers—especially young readers understand the dangerous past of old China and look forward to the bright future of new China. This may be a cliché. But it is inevitable Talk about it often. Only the reader will forgive me." After Yang Mo passed away due to illness in Beijing on December 11, 1995, the aftermath of discussions about him and his works continued.First, Zhang Zhongxing, who had a relationship with Yang Mo in his early years and is considered to be the prototype of Yu Yongze, in his autobiography "Fleeing Shadows" (China Social Sciences Press, 1997), after talking about his early relationship, he especially talked about himself and Yang Mo. The relationship between Yu Yongze in the "Song of Youth" made this explanation: "In the 1950s, she wrote the novel "Song of Youth", subjective, what did she think, I don't know, objective, read (books and movies) ) people thought that the ugly Yu was referring to me. I didn’t care, because first, I always thought that I had many shortcomings all my life, and it was right to be cursed; second, she explained to me that novels are novels, not It should be seen as history. Hearing her explanation, I didn’t say anything, I just thought, if I write novels, I won’t do it.” After Yang Mo's death, Yang Mo's son, Lao Gui, published the book "Mother Yang Mo" (Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2005), in which he boldly wrote the real life of his mother Yang Mo, which not only highlighted Yang Mo's Dedicated to anti-Japanese and national salvation, writing "Song of Youth" and sobering and returning to the world and life in her later years, she writes about the hardships, twists and turns and inside stories behind her success, and also describes the non-sunshine side of Yang Mo's life journey, and even the distorted aspects of her personality. One side is also truthfully exposed, allowing people to see her distress and loneliness, worldliness and helplessness.It talked about the various troubles brought to Zhang Zhongxing after the publication of "Song of Youth", especially after it was adapted into a movie, and Zhang Zhongxing's calm handling of this matter. Yu Yongze in the book is much better. He has the integrity of a Chinese literati, and he never does things like informers or small reports; he never exposes others indiscriminately, and steps on others to climb up. Although Yang Mo portrays him in the book as his Yu Yongze, who was the prototype, fabricated some faults that he didn't have, dwarfed him, and made him wear the hat of a backward person. His evaluation of Yang Mo was always positive and positive, and he never complained. And his His wife couldn't bear it very much, and had a lot of opinions on Yang Mo. Someone asked him to write an article to defend himself. Zhang Zhongxing said that what he wrote was a novel, not a historical memoir. Why should he take it seriously? Just change Yu Yongze's name to Zhang Zhongxing , That’s also a novel, and I won’t come forward to explain it.” The author pointed out: “In terms of this point, it’s really more magnanimous and demeanor than some people nowadays who just take their names and file lawsuits with the author.” (Written by Bai Ye) Yang Mo: "Song of Fang Fei", Huacheng Publishing House, 1986 edition Yang Mo: "Song of Yinghua", Huacheng Publishing House, 1990 edition Guo Kai: "Several Issues of Principle in Literary and Artistic Creation and Criticism with respect to "Song of Youth", "Literary News", No. 4, 1959 Zhang Hong: Is Lin Daojing a role model worth learning? ", "China Youth", Issue 4, 1959 Mao Dun: How to evaluate "Song of Youth"? ", "China Youth", Issue 4, 1959 He Qifang: "The Song of Youth is Undeniable", "China Youth", Issue 5, 1959 Martin Martin: "On "Song of Youth" and its Debate", "Literary News" No. 9, 1959 Wang Yongsheng: "A Review of the Novel "Song of Youth", Shanghai Education Press, 1980 Edition Old ghost: "Mother Yang Mo", Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 2005 edition