"The new writers after the Cultural Revolution are the delayed generation. Most of them have not received systematic higher education, and their knowledge structure is flawed, which will inevitably affect their creative stamina. In response to this problem, I put forward the slogan of' writers and scholars'. " Wang Meng recalled to the Southern Weekend reporter.
Wuhan University writer class enrollment does not require a high school or college degree. The exam is divided into two parts: one is the score of the works created, and the other is the score of the course exam. "Literary works account for 70% and cultural achievements account for 30%. According to the total score, it is best to admit. " The writer class students are included in the enrollment plan and management of transfer students. Upon graduation, if you pass the examination, you will be awarded the undergraduate diploma and bachelor's degree certificate and participate in the national work assignment. From 1985 to 1989, Wuhan University enrolled four writer classes with a total of 100 students. Chi Li and Fang Fang, Wuhan writers who were later famous in the literary world, were both born in the writers' class of Wuhan University.
During the period of 1986, Peking University, Northwest University, Nanjing University and other schools successively started undergraduate writer classes in cooperation with the Chinese Writers Association. Later, the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University went a step further, and co-organized a writer graduate class with Lu Xun College of Literature, and awarded master's degrees in literature and art to Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun and Chi Zijian.
From 1990 to 1994, the Chinese Department of Fudan University held four writers' classes. Many trainees have become professional writers, the most famous of which are Hong Ying who wrote The Hungry Daughter and Fan who wrote Looking for a Gun and The Barber.
The vigorous writer class stopped at1990-the State Education Commission issued a notice to stop the writer class and not issue a diploma.
Since the 1930s, the influence of American literature in the world has increased rapidly for many reasons. One of the important reasons is that the popularization of creative writing teaching has created a large number of potential writers, many of whom have the ability of literary writing.
"Creative writing" in English is creative writing, which is what we usually call literary creation. At present, many universities in Britain and America have set up this degree program. Generally, only graduate students are enrolled, with a three-year academic system, which can be divided into specific directions such as poetry, novels and scripts. After three years of study, students submit an independent literary work before graduation, which can be a novel, a collection of short stories, a group of poems, a play and so on. According to your own learning direction, explain your creative ideas before the work. After the defense, MFAin creative writing can win the prize.
In the United States, creative writing degree programs have developed rapidly in recent years, with a large number of students. American Writers and Creative Writing Project Association was founded in 1967. By 20 10, the association has 500 university members and 34,000 writers, teachers and students. Most of the 2,400 literature departments in American universities offer creative writing courses, and 852 creative writing programs can be awarded to bachelors, masters and doctors.
Almost all contemporary American writers have obtained degrees in creative writing, and those engaged in literary creation belong to class background. Most famous writers also teach creative writing in universities. Facts have proved that a set of teaching methods in American writing class has been effective for many years, and students who climb in writing class have made great achievements in the subsequent writing process. The writers' class not only trained many novelists and poets for the United States, but also benefited many American writers such as Ha Jin (Boston University 1990, 1992) and Bai Xianyong (University of Iowa).
Writing class helps people who are interested in becoming writers to solve basic technical problems and functional obstacles, and teaches students how to describe a scene honestly, how to design a dialogue, how to realize a leap in time and space, and even how to get stuck in writing, how to skillfully change the theme, how to make the behavior of characters have convincing motives, and so on.
Harkin mentioned the ideas and management methods he learned in class when he recalled writing class: "Every sentence and paragraph is very important. Americans talk about skills, small topics, meticulous and exquisite, … management, management, and structure are all management. ..... These two years have helped me a lot and shortened my apprenticeship. " When talking about his achievements in the writing class at the University of Iowa, Bai Xianyong also said, "I learned a lot in the writers' studio in Iowa, and I realized the importance of narrative perspective in novels. "
In addition to the brilliant achievements in writing, writing classes also provide many writers with opportunities to give lectures and find jobs. Kosuke Kitajima, a famous poet of misty poetry, once taught at Davis University in California. In an interview, Harkin talked about his lonely life before taking a writing class. Boston writing class was a major turning point in his life, which made Ha Jin make a breakthrough in novel creation, and made him easily hired by Emory University to teach poetry before graduation, and then he entered Boston University to teach novels, thus solving the problem of eating in the United States.
In China, when it comes to writers and works, you can often hear such sayings as "talent", "inspiration", "between the lines" and "only words can understand". Writing seems to be regarded as a mysterious thing that is difficult to say, grasp and grasp.
The existence of American writing class proves that American writing is "mysterious" and seems to be different from us. They believe that writing can be taught and learned, and as long as you master some effective skills, you can write good works. Can this be regarded as the embodiment of American scientific and empirical spirit?
In the American writers' class, creative ability is particularly valued in the admission conditions. The home page of Boston's application for admission says, "We want applicants to have some basic writing skills: excellent expression skills, humorous skills and natural writing talent." The admission requirements of other universities are basically the same as those of Boston except that the number of submitted works is slightly different. In contrast, the existing writer classes in China seem to be less "professional" in the method of selecting students. Take the famous young writers' class of Nanjing University in China as an example. Although applicants are also required to submit personal works, this is not the most important factor. The main admission method is the entrance examination.
In addition, the curriculum of writers' classes is more inclined to research-oriented majors, such as the writers' class of Beijing Normal University: "We have to take all courses for graduate students in academic direction, except for two more courses and six more credits." Guo Qian introduced that there are two more courses, one is the theory of literary creation, and well-known writers take turns to "present themselves"; The other is literary writing exercises, which are taught by school teachers.
Thirdly, there is a big gap between Chinese and American writing classes in tuition fees and scholarship systems. The tuition fee for NTU Young Writers' Class is RMB10.2 million per academic year, which is the same as the general undergraduate teaching plan, and no other scholarship system is specified. Writing classes in the United States provide generous scholarships for outstanding students, such as the Helen Award, Leslie Epstein Award and Martin Luther Gold Award in Boston, which are enough to meet the living expenses of students.
Besides scholarships, you can also apply for the position of teaching researcher. The task of teaching assistants is generally to cooperate with teachers to introduce each course. These financial aid measures have effectively alleviated the financial pressure of students, enabling them to put aside their worries and concentrate more on their studies. In addition to the effect of "logistics support", this is an effective incentive for students, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
The most important thing is, under China's education system, which focuses on performance appraisal, can writers' classes such as Beijing Normal University and Fudan University break through the pressure of performance appraisal and let the students of writers' classes create freely without worrying about employment, publishing papers and scholarships? Instead of letting "cultivating writers" become an enrollment gimmick under various excuses?