The knowledge of classical literature was first published in 1986, which is about 200 issues in 30 years. It has gone through ordinary and extraordinary years. To say ordinary means that the author writes it word for word, edits it and publishes it in a publishing house. Those are unknown things, and they are nothing more common; Say it's extraordinary. For more than 30 years, no matter what conditions, no matter what difficulties you encounter, no matter the turnover of personnel and the vicissitudes of the world, it's extraordinary that the publishing house can consistently do this thing for 200 times. Therefore, we must praise the publishing house, the knowledge of classical literature and the editors who have worked hard for more than 30 years! For more than 30 years, 200 issues have been like a day, sticking to the direction and sticking to the profession. After years of mediocrity, I have highlighted my firm belief and spirit, and made an extraordinary career in mediocrity, which deserves great praise. As a founder, one of the founders, I accompanied 12 years of the whole initial classical literature knowledge, and I know the joys and sorrows. Therefore, when President Xiaoqing asked me to write an article for the 200th issue of Knowledge of Classical Literature, Wang Anshi's poem suddenly popped up in my mind: It seems the most extraordinary, but it is actually easy and difficult to achieve.
Frankly speaking, Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House (now Phoenix Publishing House) did not have the conditions to start such a publication at that time. Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House was founded independently on the basis of the literature and history editing room of Jiangsu People's Publishing House 1984. He is a recruit in the field of ancient book publishing, and he can be said to be unknown in academia, especially in the field of ancient book publishing. In fact, in addition to Zhonghua Bookstore and Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, local ancient books publishing houses were also newly established, all of which were new tricks, but several of them had done well, such as Bashu Bookstore, Yuelu Bookstore and Qilu Bookstore. At the beginning of the establishment of Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House, academic resources and author resources were scarce, and so were their own editing resources. I was assigned to the publishing house on 1985+ 10 after graduating from graduate school. The number on my work permit is No.5, which means I am the fifth editor of Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House. All the staff of the publishing house at that time, including members of the leading group, editorial department, office, printing room, financial room, etc. There are about 20 people. I remember I was a 2 1 employee of the publishing house. People need a dozen or twenty people for a magazine, but you only have so many people for a publishing house. It is said that there are more than a dozen editors of literature and history knowledge. Let's talk about the literary editing room. At that time, Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House was called the first editing room. There are only four people, including the director. The director of the room is a student of ancient Chinese characters, and three of them are novices who have just studied and assigned. Not only is the editing power far from enough, but also the financial resources are seriously insufficient. At the beginning of the publishing house, money was needed everywhere; Running a magazine needs more money; Moreover, the publication of ancient books itself is a loss-making business, and running a magazine of classical literature may never make money. However, several graduate students majoring in classical literature are very enthusiastic about running a magazine, constantly offering suggestions and encouraging leaders to run a professional magazine. I have to say that we have met leaders with courage, foresight and determination, and they all support such an idea very much. First of all, I would like to mention Comrade Gao, the first president of the Ancient Books Society. At that time, he was over 60 years old, shouldering the heavy responsibility of establishing a publishing house, and was particularly enterprising, especially supporting the establishment of such publications. He not only took the lead in supporting this idea, but also actively opened up territory for creative work and solved many big problems in the early stage of publishing, and the publishing house was even more green. I also have to mention Comrade Di Jiang 'an, then director of Jiangsu Press and Publication Bureau and president of Jiangsu Publishing Corporation (equivalent to the chairman of today's publishing group). He is very supportive of the establishment of classical literature knowledge by the Ancient Books Society. He listened to the report in person during his busy schedule, read each issue at the beginning of publication and constantly put forward suggestions for improvement. What's important is that Director Jiang finally made a decision, which effectively solved the problems of serial number, compilation and funds, and made our front-line editors particularly eager to work. There was also Comrade Xue Zhengxing, deputy editor-in-chief at that time. He is an expert in ancient philology of different majors, but he also supports the establishment of classical literature knowledge. Later, when he became president, he spared no effort to support classical literature knowledge. It can be said that it is these good opportunities and environments that put Knowledge of Classical Literature into that great era, which conforms to the spring of the academic cause of reform and opening up, the hunger for knowledge of the vast number of students during the "book shortage" period, and the urgent need for professional workers to display their achievements, popularize knowledge and exchange experiences.
The biggest problem at the beginning of publication is the author resources, that is, the source of the manuscript. Such a professional and popular reading must be written by a large number of experts and scholars for a long time and regularly, especially big experts. Moreover, once a periodical is published, it must be rotated day and night, and the publication date must be determined every month. Must be supported by rich and regular manuscript sources. Delaying the date, "opening the skylight" is a big accident. At that time, Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House was established only one or two years ago, and we were just beginners, so the difficulty can be imagined. But we found a good way, that is, to borrow the external brain and hire an external editor. We have successfully invited experts from the Ancient Literature Research Office of the Institute of Literature of China Academy of Social Sciences, mainly Mr. Liu Shide, and nine expert groups including Shi Changyu, Yin, Tao and Wei to form an editorial team. Mr. Liu Shide and President Gao formed a double editor, and other experts served as invited editors (later changed to editorial board). The editorial board first decides the purpose, guiding ideology and editorial policy of the journal, and meets regularly or irregularly to discuss and decide the column setting, submission ideas and key articles of the journal; Members of the editorial board are responsible for columns, and each person is responsible for soliciting contributions and reviewing manuscripts for one or two columns, which are summarized into the hands of the responsible editor of the editorial department of the publishing house, and the responsible editor finally synthesizes the first manuscript. This method has well solved the problems of manuscript source, manuscript source grade and manuscript source quality in the early stage of magazine publication.
Practice has proved that this is a cohesive and professional editorial board. They stand tall, see far and are familiar with the academic market. They are experts and scholars themselves, and they can be said to be seamlessly connected with the academic community. They keep abreast of academic trends, contact authors and arrange manuscripts, which is more appealing and influential than those young people who have just entered the industry, and the contribution collection effect is very good. This is another dynamic, flexible and efficient editorial team. Everyone has a clear responsibility and division of labor according to the established purpose and thinking of running a magazine and the requirements of the column. Soon, a large number of experts and scholars United and organized, actively making suggestions and writing articles for the magazine. The scientific research tasks of these invited editors are also very heavy. It is an extra task to assemble manuscripts and compile periodicals, but they are as serious and responsible as housekeeping, and every manuscript is organized in place on time. Sometimes the planned manuscript can't arrive on time and the publication time can't be delayed. They often do it themselves and work hard day and night to ensure that periodicals can be published on time. This is also a big family full of friendship, cooperation and happiness. Difficulties and problems will inevitably be encountered in soliciting contributions and editing work, especially in the connection of editing work between Beijing and Nanjing. At that time, telephones were not popular, and there were only two or three telephones in a publishing house. At that time, there were no advanced communication tools such as fax and email, so it was very inconvenient to communicate through letters and emails. Needless to say, the biggest problem is that it can't keep up with the pace of magazine editing and publishing. Especially with the increasing influence of publications, the business volume has doubled, and a large number of manuscripts and letters have poured in from all over the country, making communication between editorial departments more difficult. But no matter what kind of problems we encounter, we can negotiate amicably and solve them happily. I was deeply impressed by their wisdom, friendliness and understanding. Years of cooperation have also enabled us to form a profound friendship and become good friends. When Mr. Liu Shide is old, he always smiles like an elder and treats me kindly like a younger generation. Others help me, care about me and love me like big brothers and big sisters. At that time, I went to Beijing on business and often went to their home for dinner. I have been to almost all their homes. I remember eating KFC for the first time in my life, which was invited by Sister Wei. At a KFC store in Qianmen, I felt very open at that time. Brother Tao likes classical literature very much and has been writing articles about classical literature for many years. He should be the expert who writes the most articles. Later, because of the six-year cooperation in literary inheritance, we had more contacts, and I will never forget his bright eyes. Brother Yin is from Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. I have been to his small room in the yard behind Chaonei Street more than once. After working in the literature department, I often go to his place to eat noodles. Being able to integrate into such a big family is really lucky for a young man like me who just entered the business.
We take it as our aim and main task to popularize and systematically introduce the basic knowledge of China's classical literature, cultivate readers' interest in learning classical literature and improve readers' appreciation of classical literature. According to this orientation, the column settings are completely arranged. In the first issue, some distinctive and popular columns were published, such as Me and Classical Literature, The Scholars, The Way of Studying, How to Read, A Random Talk on the History of Literature, Appreciation of Famous Books, etc. These columns and articles had a great influence at that time. For example, the column "I and Classical Literature" is to invite celebrities who have made great achievements in various fields to talk about the influence of classical literature on their success. Looking back three years ago, Ding Ling, Liu, Liu, Ma, Xin, Xu Yulan, Zi Huajun, David Jiang and Yuan Kuocheng all published articles about China's classical literature. These successful writers and artists talked about the importance of learning classical literature according to their own personal experiences, which narrowed the distance between classical literature and ordinary readers and attracted and stimulated readers' interest in learning classical literature. Another example is "the way of reading", which is to invite outstanding people in classical literature to talk about the way of reading. In the first three years of publication, we invited, Cheng, Nie Shiqiao, Cao Daoheng, Jin Kaicheng, Min Ze, He Manzi and Luo Zongqiang to guide young readers. There is also the column "How to Read", which has published articles by famous experts and scholars such as Qian Zhonglian, Qian Nanyang, Hu, Zhou, Jin Kaicheng, Cao Daoheng and Deng, talking about how to study classical literature in their own professional fields. These articles not only played a positive role at that time, but also are very precious materials today. As a result, the influence of classical literature knowledge in academia, reading circle and even society has expanded rapidly, and it has quickly gained a firm foothold and established a good image.
From the point of view of publishing, it is a far-sighted thing to set up knowledge of classical literature. Because of the establishment of classical literature knowledge, Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House has risen rapidly in publishing, reading and academic circles, and its influence is expanding day by day. Because we have a good cooperation with Gu Shi of the Institute of Literature of China Academy of Social Sciences, we have cooperation with Literary Heritage. As a result, Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House quickly integrated into academic circles and established extensive and close ties with experts and scholars. Many experts and scholars have changed from authors of classical literature knowledge to publishers, and some have become lifelong authors, insisting on writing for classical literature knowledge for more than 30 years. With this solid foundation, we have the conditions to win some high-end publishing resources and have the advantage to plan a number of high-quality topics. I have said on many occasions that without Mr. Liu Shide and a group of experts and scholars from the Department of Ancient Literature of China Academy of Social Sciences, there would be no successful establishment of classical literature knowledge, and without a good foundation of classical literature knowledge, there would be no fate of cooperation between Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House and literary heritage, and there would be no high-quality projects published by Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House later.
As far as editing is concerned, I would like to say that editing publications is a job that needs training very much. In the 1980s, editors of publishing houses published 600,000 words a year, and the assessment of editors was also based on this. What's that concept? Published 600,000 words in the first year, usually one or three articles. After the first two or three attempts, they entered the typesetting process. At that time, it was all lead rows, and it was up to the compositor to arrange them word by word, and then transfer to school123; It is easy for a colonel to modify a certificate, but it is very troublesome to modify it when leaving the factory. It takes a lot of time for workers to pick out the typos word by word and fill in the corrected words word by word. In this way, three schools will be gone in half a year. After the nuclear red goes to press, we have to queue up in the publishing house first, and we often encounter various factors that can't be printed in time; If you really go to the printing factory to print, you have to arrange the construction period, and you have to lie down for a few months in the busy season. Therefore, under normal circumstances, it is common for a manuscript to go in the hands of a responsible editor for two or three years from editing to publishing. If you are a new editor, it means that you have been busy for two or three years and can't see the results of your work. Editing a publication is different, and the editing process of a publication is very fast. The publication time of each issue is fixed, because the publication time of each issue is fixed. It must be published, sent to the post office and mailed to the whole country, and readers will be waiting when it arrives. If you miss that time, the post office can refuse it or impose a fine, which is an accident. Therefore, the time for the first, second and third review and the first, second and third proofreading of publications is accurate to a certain day, and no day can be delayed. The rhythm is very fast. This puts very high demands on editing work. Knowledge of Classical Literature was first published in 1986. It was a trial publication of that year, with 9 issues, each with 65,438+10,000 words, that is, 900,000 words. The second year is set as bimonthly, with 6.5438+0.2 million words per issue and 720,000 words per year. In other words, 700,000-800,000 words were published each year, and the overall rhythm was two or three times faster than that of books. At that time, the publishing house could only regard me as the responsible editor of Knowledge of Classical Literature, that is to say, I was the responsible editor of the workload of 15 for two years167 million words. I joined the club from 1985 to 1, and after short-term professional training, I caught up with the publication of classical literature knowledge. This fast pace and high efficiency is very stressful for a young editor, but it is very tiring. It can be said that my basic editing skills were the foundation laid at that time. Later, I held management positions in a publishing house and a group. When I have the opportunity, I will tell young people that editing a periodical for one year is equivalent to editing a book for three years, which is very training. Of course, it's not just the pace and workload that make people exercise. Editors of periodicals must also be good at dealing with authors, readers, publishers and even printing workers (when we are nervous, our editors have to go down to the typesetting workshop of the factory to change samples with the workers, that is, change types as needed), and so on, which is a good experience for editors. Therefore, my editing career began with the knowledge of classical literature, and I grew up with the growth of classical literature knowledge, which trained me and cultivated me. 12 years, from ordinary editor to deputy editor-in-chief, from assistant editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief to editor-in-chief of publishing house, I have been carrying the knowledge of classical literature. Even if I later went to the group to do management work, my major was deserted, but "Knowledge of Classical Literature" is one of the publications I must turn over every issue. I am particularly pleased to see the normal publication of the first issue of the magazine and smell the familiar ink. Seeing the familiar author's name on it is like seeing an old friend.
I sincerely hope that Knowledge of Classical Literature will be published in another 30 years and 200 issues.
(The author is the former general manager of Jiangsu Phoenix Publishing Media Co., Ltd.)