Source: China Paper Download Center [08-09-26 14:33:00] Author: Yu Qin Editor: Studa_hasgo 122.
Abstract: In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the literary thought of "people's literature" began to run through the whole literary and art circles. People's Literature, as a brand-new carrier of people's literature, became a national authoritative literary periodical at the early stage of the reconstruction of new China's literary system. At this stage, the concept, policy and creative style of People's Literature fully showed its distinctive features, and at the same time influenced the policies and directions of other literary journals. The concept of new China literature system appeared in People's Literature. As the most influential literary periodical at that time, People's Literature opened a more comprehensive and clear channel to outline the communication history of contemporary literature by investigating the characteristics of this period.
Keywords: "people's literature"; People's literature; Literary system; Literary periodicals
The founding of People's Literature urgently needs to create its own literary position and eliminate the influence of People's Literature, which has ruled the literary and art circles since the May 4th Movement. Modern concepts such as individuality, aesthetics and enlightenment advocated by People's Literature have been tampered with and abandoned by People's Literature, which takes workers, peasants and soldiers as the main body and firmly controls the right to speak. "A political group representing the interests of a certain class will always do ideological work in order to consolidate the new regime after seizing power." [1] (p 125)194910,12 founded People's Literature led by the Chinese Writers Association and Literary Newspaper led by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles respectively. Mao Zedong wrote the inscription "I hope more good works will be born" for the founding of People's Literature. The Federation of Literary and Art Circles and its affiliated associations are the only literary and art institutions since the 1950s. Other literary societies and organizations can no longer exist. Among all the associations, the Chinese Writers Association is the most important. It can be seen that the field of literature and art has always been closely concerned and highly valued by the party and state leaders. Compared with before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ecological environment of literature has changed greatly, the literary camp under the leadership of the new regime has taken shape initially, and the order of "people's literature" has taken shape initially.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were only a few influential publications in the publishing industry of new China literary periodicals, such as People's Literature, Popular Chorus and Folk Stories. In 1949, there were only 18 literary and artistic publications with similar styles, rough printing, simple binding and similar themes. The appearance of periodicals is an important symbol of the change of literary production environment. Mao Zedong's inscription for People's Literature is not only an encouragement and expectation for People's Literature, but also a confirmation of its leading position in literary journals, as well as a stipulation of its running direction. People's Literature is a monthly magazine which mainly publishes short stories (essays, short stories, poems, newsletters and movie scripts), and also publishes theoretical comments. "In the era of planned economy, literary periodicals are the most important carriers and media for literary creation, criticism and theoretical research, and they are also a barometer of the changing political situation of the times. While disseminating literary and artistic works, publications also shoulder the functions of guiding direction, publicizing and explaining the party's literary principles and policies, and discussing major theoretical issues. [2] (P 185) is closely combined with political power, which is not only the historical honor of people's literature, but also the origin of its controversy. Since its publication, its influence on contemporary literary production in various historical periods has not been ignored by literary historians.
"The newly established humanities, academic and literary periodicals of that era, without exception, should write the most popular political language in their publications to express their recognition of the mainstream ideology". [2] (P 186) Without exception, Mao Dun, editor-in-chief of People's Literature, clearly announced his own literary task and work center in his inaugural speech: "As the official publication of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the editorial policy of this magazine should of course follow the tasks of our group as stipulated in the articles of association of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. This topic is as follows: 1. Actively participate in the people's liberation struggle and the construction of a new democratic country, reflect the growth of new China through various literary forms, express and praise the people's great achievements in the revolutionary struggle and production and construction, and create people's literature with ideological content and artistic value that the people like to see, so as to play its great role in educating the people. Second, eliminate the reactionary literature that serves imperialism, feudal class and bureaucratic bourgeoisie and its influence in new literature, transform the old literature that people like to see and hear, make it serve the new democratic country, critically accept the literary heritage of China and the world, especially inherit and carry forward the fine literary tradition of the people of China. Third, actively help and guide mass literature activities in various regions of the country, so that new literature can be developed more extensively and deeply in factories, villages and troops, and new literary forces can be cultivated among the masses. Fourthly, carry out the literature movement of ethnic minorities in China, combine the content of new democracy with the literary forms of ethnic minorities, and exchange experiences among ethnic groups, thus promoting the development of new China in many ways. Fifth, strengthen the research of revolutionary theory, organize the research and discussion of literary problems, and build scientific literary theory and literary criticism. 6. Strengthen literary exchanges between people in China and other countries in the world, carry forward the spirit of revolutionary patriotism and internationalism, and participate in the world people's movement led by the Soviet Union for lasting peace and people's democracy. " [3] The publication of People's Literature restricts and requires its own editing work from six aspects, which is not only a major editing policy that People's Literature must implement in the future, but also the primary purpose and mission of all literary publications at that time.
After 1949, Fan's publications were banned, and only the state had copyright. People's Literature at this time undoubtedly represents the mainstream and even authority of contemporary literature in China. Its authority can be reflected in the list of previous editorial boards:
From 1949 to 1952, the editor-in-chief is Mao Dun and the deputy editor-in-chief is Ai Qing.
1952 is edited by Ding Ling, and members of the editorial board are Ai Qing, He Qifang, Zhou Libo and Zhao Shuli.
1953 No.7 ——1955 No.0/2, with Shao Quanlin as editor-in-chief and Yan Wenjing as deputy editor-in-chief. The editorial board consists of He Qifang, Sha Ting, Shao Quanlin, Yuan Shuipai, Ge Luo and Yan Wenjing.
195565438+February-1957165438+1October, Yan Wenjing as editor-in-chief, Qin Zhaoyang and Glow as deputy editors, He Qifang, Glow, Zhang Tianyi, Qin Zhaoyang, Wu Zuxiang and Yan Wenjing as editors;
1957 to 65438+February, the editor-in-chief was changed to Zhang Tianyi, and the deputy editor-in-chief was Chen and Ge Luo. The editorial board was composed of Yuan Shuipai, Zhao Shuli, Ge Luo and Zhang Tianyi.
All previous editors are well-known figures inside and outside the literary and art circles, which on the one hand shows the importance of their positions, and on the other hand reflects the sensitivity of this "position" (as can be seen from the political positions of these figures). In addition, we can see that People's Literature, as an authoritative national literary periodical, its critical choice of editors is closely related to its performance in previous political movements since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The list of editors changes frequently, but these changes also bring about corresponding changes in the face of running a magazine. Although the mainstream direction of "people's literature" is unshakable, exciting innovations can still be made in a slightly relaxed political environment, such as the challenge of the "era of letting a hundred flowers blossom" to the mainstream authoritative discourse. The establishment of literary periodicals is an important means for the creation and development of new China literature, which is quite different from the literature before liberation. Literary magazines in the 1920s compared academic schools with academic schools, but in the 1930s and 1940s, they turned to commercial operation. In this era, the distribution of newspapers and periodicals is always closely linked with economic interests. In order to make the publication survive and obtain greater economic benefits, the editors of the publication will pay more attention to literary readers, try their best to improve the quality of the publication and promote the formation of the literary market. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the newspaper industry was marked with a distinct political brand and was brought into the framework of "integration". The politicization of periodicals has greatly changed the composition of publishers, creators and reading groups. The distribution of literary publications no longer considers the market demand, and its funds are all paid by the party's literary and art institutions. The support, supervision and management of the party cannot be separated from the collection and distribution of publications. In other words, whether it is profitable or not, whether it is liked by readers or not, we only need to play a good role: a political and literary commentator. The implementation of the planned economy weakened the commercial color of literary publications that used to run in the direction of market profit, but later it was painted with new color. The weakening of commercial color and the strengthening of political discourse constitute the dilemma of contemporary newspaper system.
The literary system of People's Literature cancels the peer and capital publishing allowed by modern literature, leaving only the only way out for literary periodicals-party publishing. It is nothing new for political parties to run magazines. As early as the Kuomintang rule, there were Forward Weekly and Forward Monthly. So there was Beidou, Germination, Pioneer and Outpost under the leadership of the Left League. At that time, neither party in China denied the background of the political party. According to this idea, in the 1940s, the party and government organs in the border region consciously regarded the publication including literary periodicals as one of the central tasks of propaganda work from the central government to local governments. [4] This idea of running a magazine continued until the establishment of People's Literature, and the publication and distribution of People's Literature basically revolved around the literary principles and policies of the CPC Central Committee. Compared with before liberation, the living environment of literary magazines and publishing houses has changed greatly. In the late 1940s, the original literary magazines stopped publishing one after another, such as the famous literary magazines (Zhu Guangqian), Renaissance (Zheng Zhenduo, Li Jianwu), Wenxun, Weeds and Literary Chunqiu. Even the literary publications in the liberated areas are generally the same. Individual magazines, such as novels hosted by Mao Dun, lasted until the beginning of 1952, with possible exceptions. Literary magazines developed in China in modern times have independent nature, genre and fan color, and have lost the possibility of existence. Literary newspapers and periodicals define the nature of their "organ" newspapers and periodicals. "Many publications were naturally founded after 1949, but the nature of publications has changed a lot. This is an important symbolic phenomenon. To say that it is important is to basically end the organization of literary schools and literary societies centered on magazines and newspaper supplements since the late Qing Dynasty. Literary societies and literary schools in the modern sense have basically come to an end with the change of the nature of periodicals. During this period, some people tried to establish a genre or fan-colored publication, most of which ended in tragedy. For example, in the early 1950s, Hu Feng's idea, Ding Ling's plan to start a fan magazine in 1957, the abortion of young writer Lu's creation of Explorer magazine in Jiangsu, and the failure of the exploration of Sichuan's Star Magazine, etc. The "central" magazines such as Literary Newspaper and People's Literature and the "local" literary publications in various provinces and cities strictly implement unified norms and maintain the basic consistency of voices, thus effectively ensuring the implementation of literary "integration".
After 1949, the meaning order of literature was defined in the category of political ideology, which required to explain the "newness" of the new China. A brand-new China was born, with red flags fluttering and lofty sentiments. Poetry and novels have changed from reflecting past sufferings and struggles to expressing construction and praising a new life. A heroic epic of socialism with lofty and sacred tone sings the main theme of people's carnival. In People's Literature, novels, revolutionary history and rural life account for a large proportion. The secular scenes of daily life are rejected because of their triviality and mediocrity. Even Lao She finally gave up writing The Red Flag Spectrum, a novel reflecting the life of the flag bearer. Fisher Colleuc said: "No social system allows full artistic freedom. Every social system requires writers to strictly abide by certain boundaries. " The social system mainly restricts freedom in the following ways: expecting, hoping and welcoming one creation, and rejecting and despising another. In this way, every social system-often unconscious and unplanned-uses books and newspapers to check and decisively interfere with writers' work. [6] (P38) Whose works are published in various periodicals of the Party's literary publications, what are the themes of the works, and what are the layout positions, all of which have become extremely subtle and sensitive issues. Before 1956, most of the works of people's literature were biographies of workers and peasants, writing about the booming industrial construction and heroes in the workers and peasants class, and almost no works describing the complex inner world of intellectuals and people were seen. The whole literary world is full of epoch-making rhetoric and group images of iron will. Some scholars have said that "the change of readers' composition will inevitably require corresponding changes in literary works from ideological content to aesthetic taste." After 1949, Chinese mainland's literary objects were clearly defined as working people such as workers, peasants and soldiers. At the beginning of the establishment of the new regime, they were eager to know how the regime won and how they adapted to the cause led by the new regime. This determines that the educational role contained in literary works at this stage is particularly strong. " 〔7〕(P6)
People's Literature, as an authoritative literary publication of the country, must closely follow the political situation and political movements in various periods, closely cooperate with policies and "catch up with the task" in terms of soliciting contributions, soliciting contributions and arranging publications. "Working closely with the central task is a small box. When a specific policy comes and a specific task comes, it requires close cooperation between literary and art publications, otherwise it will be divorced from reality and will be criticized by superiors. " [8] Policy is the concrete expression of the party's literary and artistic thought, the party's purpose and the people's interests. Therefore, it is a natural and reasonable requirement that literature and art serve politics and that people cooperate with and serve policies. "A writer who serves the people should always regard his writing as a kind of publicity and education work. This kind of task is completely deserved. " Shao Quanlin: The Combination of Literary Creation and Policy Task, Literature and Art Newspaper, Volume 3 (1). "Our revolutionary literary and art workers, at any time, can't be divorced from political movements, can't help describing political movements, and can't help but cooperate with political tasks. We want to produce immortal works of art from this kind of works that cooperate with political tasks, and we will certainly produce immortal works of art ",Silver: On" Catch the Task ",No.5, Volume 4 of Literary and Art Newspaper, and countless theoretical criticisms have demonstrated the rationality and importance of cooperating with politics and" Catch the Task "from different angles. When the Korean War broke out, the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea was launched nationwide, and a large number of works reflecting the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea appeared in people's literature, including There is such a man on the Korean battlefield (Li Ying, 8 1952), Report on the Korean battlefield (Ba Jin, 8 1952) and Living in. 1955 in order to cooperate with the climax of industrial construction under the leadership of the party, People's Literature published an essay notice on "On the Industrial Front" in March issue 1955, insisting that there are articles reflecting the industrial construction front in each issue. This essay-writing activity lasted for two years, and the literary activities were standardized and orderly, meeting the needs of policies and national conditions, and publishing followed closely the party's literary policy. With the escalation of the critical movement against Hu Feng Group, People's Literature still attaches great importance to its own theoretical authority, although its content does not focus on theoretical achievements. In criticizing Hu Feng, People's Literature followed the footsteps of the CPC Central Committee and successively published several critical articles with strong gunpowder flavor: "How did Mr. Hu Feng and his clique struggle? "(Wang Zhiliang, February 1955)," Please take off your coat! (Li Ding, February, 1955), commenting on Hu Feng's "A Basic Question about Realism" (Wang Su, March, 1955), how Hu Feng distorted Mr. Lu Xun in accepting the national heritage (Pei Xiang, April, 1955), but the fact is that. It is difficult to produce literary masterpieces that are in line with both "catching up with the task" and "artistry". These measures have failed. As a vital literary publication, it should have its own characteristics, but it is more restricted by the political environment. The power from a higher level forced People's Literature to become a pure literary publication. Although People's Literature has a very prominent literary position: "At home and abroad, this magazine is regarded as a literary publication representing New China." People's Literature (Volume 2) No.3, 1950. However, all kinds of literary publications in society are oriented to people's literature, which undoubtedly makes the management of publications more cautious.
People's Literature has had an important column-"Letters from Readers" since its publication. Although "letters from readers" are common in newspapers and periodicals, they are more important in people's literature. On June 1950, the first edition of People's Literature published a collective review of the editorial department: improving our work-a review of the editing work of the first volume of this journal. This review was conducted in response to the central government's decision to carry out criticism and self-criticism in newspapers and periodicals, combined with readers' criticism. Although People's Literature has only been published for six issues, the editors dare not neglect it at all. From these six questions, they found many problems themselves, such as the lack of organizing theoretical criticism in a planned way, although this is not the central task of People's Literature. Then it criticizes the disadvantages of narrow distribution of novel themes (more workers, fewer farmers and soldiers). During this period, the utility of the novels of workers and peasants published in People's Literature in political propaganda was strengthened to the extreme and became a tool to follow politics. "Entering the contemporary era, the ideological environment requires writers to further abandon the illusion of intellectual spiritual independence, and the critical movement against intellectuals has almost never stopped. The voices of criticism in literary and art circles and theoretical circles are endless. It is impossible for a writer to engage in spiritual production with a relaxed mind. In a sense, the mentality determines the style of the work and the artistic height that can be achieved. " [9] (P3 1) This creative environment forces writers to produce similar and identical "concept works" and "task works".
Judging from the works published in People's Literature at this stage, many creations reveal that intellectuals have gradually given up the power of independent thinking and acquiesced that literature has become a vassal of politics. However, the thinking of intellectuals is indispensable for the development of modern civilization. At this time, in the mainstream of "people's literature", it is common to replace anatomical criticism with positive praise, and well-meaning words cover up the contradictions and conflicts in the torrent. But it should be noted that if this can solve all the problems, it would be a big mistake. Since then, a series of contradictions and conflicts have gradually surfaced and intensified, which will make the "people's literature" that New China has been trying to construct in an embarrassing predicament for a long time.
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