Chapter 102 Liu Shaotang becomes a "typical" young writer's "degenerate"

At the beginning of this chapter, it was mentioned that Liu Shaotang in 1957 was a representative figure of "the typical anti-Party young writer who grew up after the founding of the Republic". In the early 1950s, Liu Shaotang became famous throughout the country as a "child prodigy writer".Like Wang Meng, Liu Shaotang was a precocious literary genius: Liu Shaotang was born in Rulin Village, Tong County, Hebei Province in 1936. At the age of thirteen, Liu Shaotang entered the "Confucian Academy" and published his first work in the "Beijing Youth Daily".

A miracle happened in 1953—in the Chinese textbook of this seventeen-year-old high school student, the text was actually his work!Because after his short story "Green Branches and Green Leaves" was published in "China Youth Daily" in 1952, it was soon included in high school Chinese textbooks. In this year, Liu Shaotang joined the Communist Party of China. It was also in this year that Liu Shaotang published his first collection of novels... Destruction follows reputation.In 1957, the 21-year-old Liu Shaotang sank in the "big wind and waves"! According to the author's "scanning" of newspapers and periodicals in 1957, there were as many as four articles criticizing Liu Shaotang written by the respected literary master Mr. Mao Dun!

These four are: "The Educational Significance of Liu Shaotang's Experience to Us", "China Youth", No. 9, 1957; "On Writing the Truth and Independent Thinking", "China Youth Daily", August 16, 1957; How to Avoid Formulation and Conceptualization? ", the ninth issue of "Literary Learning"; "We Should Treat Liu Shaotang as a Mirror", People's Daily, October 17, 1957. "Xu Mian Young Writers" written by another literary master, Mr. Lao She, did not criticize Liu Shaotang by name. The most shocking thing is that Zhou Yang criticized Liu Shaotang in the "Hongwen" "A Great Debate in the Literary Circle", second only to Ding Ling!

Liu Shaotang once recalled the origin of Zhou Yang's initial comment on him, "I don't know the heights of the sky and the earth is thick": "I don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth", Zhou Yang said to me in the 1950s. At that time, when I was in the Central Committee of the League, I was always outspoken; when I was in the literary and art circles, I didn't know what to say.Zhou Yang is the supreme leader in charge of literary and artistic work on behalf of the party, and he is very awe-inspiring in the literary and artistic circles.My presumptuousness left a bad impression on him.

When I was eighteen, before a symposium, Zhou Yang beckoned me to come over and asked me where I was from.I answered Tong County.He asked me if I had read Li Zhuowu's works. Li Zhuowu, a great scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, lived in Tongzhou in his later years, was slandered and arrested, committed suicide in prison, and was buried outside Beiguan, Tongzhou.I know about Li Zhuowu, but I haven't read his works. "Know what you know, and don't know what you don't know, that's knowing." Then he told the truth. "You from Tong County, why haven't you even read Li Zhuowu's works?" Zhou Yang suddenly changed his face and shouted sternly.

Zhou Yang is a descendant of Zhou Yu, and also a handsome man.Getting angry is just like the jade face of his ancestors, giving off power and domineering. In fact, not only Zhou Yang said that Liu Shaotang "does not know the heights of the sky and the earth is thick", Mao Dun also said the same: In the article "The Educational Significance of Liu Shaotang's Experience to Us", I said: "Liu Shaotang's anti-Party experience is basically similar to Ding Ling, Chen Qixia and Feng Xuefeng, the main members of Ding and Chen's anti-Party clique." It is serious bourgeois individualism (proud and complacent, independent of the party, feel that the party restricts their development, feels that the party interferes with their freedom, which of course develops into anti-party) and bourgeois idealist literary and artistic thought.This article was written a little earlier, and now that I have read more materials exposing Liu Shaotang, I think Liu Shaotang has another characteristic, which is: ignorance (life experience, literary knowledge, and general cultural knowledge are very poor) and arrogance. "I don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth", this sentence is suitable for him. ①

Mao Dun called Liu Shaotang "degenerate".Mao Dun wrote: On the one hand, Liu Shaotang is very ignorant, and on the other hand, he is very arrogant.This kind of dishonesty and unsteady style of work is not what a young author should have.A young man who commits such a disease must destroy himself!Holding such a criticism meeting is to point out the root cause of his illness and save him. The process of Liu Shaotang's degeneration made us notice some problems in cultivating young writers. ② Surprisingly, in 1979, when Mr. Mao Dun published a collection of essays, he also included two articles critical of Liu Shaotang.Not long after the collection was published, Liu Shaotang was able to "correct".Mr. Mao Dun asked someone to apologize to Liu Shaotang.Later, when that collection was reprinted, Mao Dun removed the two articles critical of Liu Shaotang.

Liu Shaotang's "I don't know the heights of the sky and the depths of the earth" lies in the fact that he dared to propose a "revision" of Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" when he made a big statement! Cong Weixi was also a young writer at the time, and was later labeled as a "rightist".This is how he recalled: Shaotang is good at drinking, and after a few cups of hot wine, the expression of the proud son of heaven stands out: "What else is there? We are all young writers trained by the Communist Party, and we can still have two hearts for the Party? Say what you have to say." , write as needed. For example, amendments should be made to Chairman Mao's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art." ①

In fact, Liu Shaotang’s so-called “revision” of Mao Zedong’s “Speech at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art” is nothing more than that Mao Zedong’s literary and artistic thoughts should develop with the development of the times. certain specific practices), and should not be carried out conservatively, one-sidedly, or mechanically. Liu Shaotang wrote his opinion into an article commemorating the 15th anniversary of the "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art". This time, Liu Shaotang got into a catastrophe.Because he really "doesn't know the heights of the sky and the earth"!Mao Zedong's "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" is regarded as China's literature and art policy, how can it be "revised"? !

Even Guo Moruo was angry with Liu Shaotang. In November 1957, when Guo Moruo criticized Liu Shaotang at the Beijing Capital Theater, he loudly reprimanded Liu Shaotang: "Liu Shaotang is extremely arrogant. He said and wrote what Feng Xuefeng dared not say or write!" Guo Moruo also quoted folk proverbs to criticize Liu Shaotang: "A prodigy at ten years old, a genius at twenty, a mediocre man at thirty, and an old man at forty." Liu Shaotang, a young twenty-one-year-old writer, was criticized by Zhou Yang, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, and Lao She, four "heavyweight" literary coaches, and was almost "flattened"!

The little Liu Shaotang was vilified at will.All kinds of false words flew towards him.The most sensational thing in it is that the so-called Liu Shaotang "will fight for 30,000 yuan."This rumor, like the "one book doctrine" about Ding Ling, spread throughout the country. Thirty-two years later, the person involved clarified the truth from Weixi's memories: I was stupid and cowardly, and although I tried to play my part better, I was always unsuccessful.I still have a bad root in my way of thinking, and I think too much about the other party when I encounter problems.That day, at the meeting, my problem was exposed again.After some literary friends made criticisms, I wandered away from political topics and exposed Shaotang's life.I stammered and said: "In his novel "Sunset Clouds in the Field", he wrote about the corruption of party cadres. I asked him if there was such a thing? He said that there was a big girl drowning by the canal. Baby is the reality of life.” I said again: “Among the young writers in Beijing, only Liu and I live on manuscript fees without salary. Once in a chat, both he and I deeply felt that we had to think about writing while writing. My mind is very uneasy about my job. Liu said that if he can have 30,000 yuan in savings as a backing, and the interest is enough to eat and dress, he will be able to feel at ease and have the conditions to go deep into life for a long time. Otherwise, there will always be worries in his heart, which will affect his writing. I also said: "Once, Liu suffered from enteritis, and considering that it might be caused by the unclean food in the village, he brought some steamed buns to the countryside." The host of the meeting immediately pointed out that I only said sesame seeds, not Talk about watermelon; only talk about life, not politics.I had a bad attitude and shielded Liu Shaotang, a rightist.However, within a few days, these "sesame seeds" were magnified into "watermelons" in newspapers.The reporter who reported on this meeting, with the title "From Child Prodigy Writer to Rightist", cleverly cut out what he needed, and made Shaotang's statement that he could live and write with peace of mind with a deposit of 30,000 yuan a sensational change. It became "Liu Shaotang threatened to fight for 30,000 yuan".He suffered from enteritis and brought steamed buns to the countryside. He wrote "I often carry a basket of steamed buns when I go to the countryside", and said, "He and Cong Weixi and others have fallen so much that they love to talk about 'the big girl gave birth to an illegitimate child by the river' and so on." .This article later became a living teaching material for the education of young people, and it was circulated everywhere, but they did not realize that it was the bad practice of low-level journalists who took it out of context.So far, this reporter is still alive, I really don't know if he feels guilty about Shaotang. ① This trick of magnifying "sesame" into "watermelon" hurt Liu Shaotang.Thousands of readers believed it to be true, and even Mr. Mao Dun criticized Liu Shaotang twice by citing the "typical case" of Liu Shaotang "carrying a basket of steamed buns" to the countryside. On October 17, 1957, "People's Daily" published a commentator article "Lessons Learned from Liu Shaotang's Fall", which also said: "He bought a house in Beijing and lived there as a 'professional writer'. He occasionally went to the countryside and had to bring his own food because he couldn't eat the food in the countryside." The so-called "struggle for 30,000 yuan" actually has something to do with "he bought a house in Beijing".It is true that Liu Shaotang bought a small courtyard near Zhongnanhai, Beijing.It was the spring of 1956. Liu Shaotang's wife gave birth to a child, and he decided to buy a house in Beijing.In 1957, he bought a courtyard house in Beijing, which naturally caused a little "sensation" in the literary and art circles.In this way, as soon as the rumor that "we will fight for 30,000 yuan" came out, many people believed it to be true... However, Liu Shaotang listed his manuscript fees in detail at that time, and buying a house is really nothing.This is because before the "Anti-Rightist Movement", writers' remuneration standards were much higher than they are now compared with the prices at that time. At that time, the remuneration for novel manuscripts was 20 yuan, 18 yuan, and 15 yuan per thousand words.When publishing a book, according to the Soviet method, 30,000 copies are a quota, and the manuscript fee will be doubled every time the quota is increased.At that time, there were not many kinds of books, so the circulation of each book was quite large. Liu Shaotang said that his novella "Summer" has 110,000 words, 18 yuan per thousand words, printed 100,000 copies, four quotas, which is equivalent to 72 yuan per 1,000 words, and earned 8,000 yuan—— Even in terms of the absolute value of the manuscript fee, it is much higher than the current standard of the manuscript fee. Liu Shaotang's "The Story of the Melon Shed" was printed with 170,000 copies, six quotas, and the manuscript fee standard was as high as 108 yuan per thousand characters! Houses were not expensive at that time.The house Liu Shaotang bought consisted of five rooms, a kitchen, a toilet, and a storage room, and there were five jujube trees and five pagoda trees, and it was only 2,000 yuan!In other words, Liu Shaotang's 110,000-character novella "Summer" can buy four courtyard houses of this size!The author's fee for a novella with the same number of words today is probably not enough to buy a square meter of commercial housing! At a young age, Liu Shaotang conspicuously bought such a courtyard house. Reporters came in and out for interviews, and there were rumors that Liu Shaotang bought a house, and the rumor of "struggling for 30,000 yuan" spread like wildfire. Just one month after Liu Shaotang bought the house, he was classified as a "rightist".Liu Shaotang couldn't help but blame the bad "feng shui" of the house.According to cloud, three rooms in the south, two rooms in the east wing, and one room in the west wing. From being classified as a "rightist" in 1957 to "correcting" in 1979, Liu Shaotang has been in the dust for 22 years.In this old house, Liu Shaotang lived for thirty-three years. He couldn't help laughing at himself, and responded to Guo Moruo's words: What happened to me for most of my life was really captured by Guo Laoyan. From the age of twenty-one to the age of forty-three "reformed", I returned to the countryside to work in agriculture, my physical strength and skills were not as good as an old lady with small feet, and I was really a mediocre person.After "correcting" at the age of forty-three, he worked hard for nine years. At the age of fifty-two, he suffered a stroke and fell ill, but he did not die of illness. Lian Po is old, can he still eat?I am a child prodigy and old man, and I can't "rice".Because I am a diabetic, and I have a stroke caused by diabetes; I must strictly control my diet, and I am only allowed to eat one or two rice noodles per meal. ① In 1957, except for Liushahe and Liu Shaotang, a large number of young and promising writers were mistakenly classified as "rightists", wasting their precious youth.It contains: Wang Meng, because Mao Zedong once said good things about Wang Meng's novel "New Young People in the Organization Department" in his speech "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" (later "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" was officially published Deleted at the time), so his "rightist" issue has been lingering for a long time.On the internal list, Wang Meng was marked "right" and overthrown again.So I noticed that in the People's Daily published a report criticizing Feng Xuefeng on August 27, 1957, there was actually Wang Meng in the list of "criticizing" speeches.When criticizing Liu Shaotang, Wang Meng also made a "criticism" speech.This shows that he was still a "positive role" at that time.However, after all, doomed, Wang Meng still draws "right", and he is "exiled" in Xinjiang. After the "correction", excellent works were released one after another, winning awards one after another.He served as the Minister of Culture and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Bai Hua, he and Ye Nan are twin brothers, both writers.Bai Hua's original name was Chen Youhua, and Ye Nan's original name was Chen Zuohua.The author once jokingly told Bai Hua that your name is "Youhua", and you are probably destined to become a "rightist".Bai Hua is a precocious and talented writer.He is only ten years older than me, but when I was in middle school, I watched his movie "The Ringing Caravan" written by him, which left a deep impression on me.After Bai Hua's "correction", novels, poems, movies, and essays have been combined, and she has made great achievements.The Chinese film "Bitter Love" once shocked the world; Lu Wenfu, who organized the "Seeker" literary monthly magazine in Jiangsu, proposed "boldly intervening in life and seriously discussing life". The novels "Deep Alley" and "Ode to the Plain" were labeled "poisonous weeds", and he was classified as "right". .He called the "anti-rightist movement" a "disaster for intellectuals". After "correction", he produced excellent works in a row and became the coach of Jiangsu literary circle; Gao Xiaosheng was also convicted of the "seeker". After "correction", he is well-known in the Chinese literary world for being good at writing rural subjects. From Weixi, after scratching "right", he was even imprisoned. After the "correction", he wrote many masterpieces reflecting the painful life in the labor camp, such as "Red Magnolia under the Great Wall", "The Tenth Bullet Hole", "A Rose for the Doctor", etc., which were highly praised by readers; Zhang Xianliang, because of the "right" in the long poem "Great Wind Song". "Decentralized" to Ningxia Nanliang Farm as an agricultural worker. After "correction", he wrote "The Wrangler", , , and other influential works; In addition, the poet Shao Yanxiang, the writers Deng Youmei, Li Guowen, Zong Pu, A Zhang, Geng Longxiang... were all damaged by frost and snow in 1957 when the flowers of literature were just blooming. I remember that when I was in middle school, I stood in Xinhua Bookstore and read Deng Youmei's novel "On the Cliff". The "blue monkey" gave me an unforgettable impression.Later, I was surprised to learn from the newspaper that "On the Cliff" was a "big poisonous weed". I really don't know how this novel can be "poisonous"?When I stepped into the literary world and met him in Beijing, I realized that he was only nine years older than me—in 1957, he was only twenty-six years old, and he was labeled "You"!