I am glad to have this opportunity to discuss with you the influence of popular literature and literary masterpieces on us in the next few days.
What is literature? The definition of Modern Chinese Dictionary is "the art of using language and characters as tools to intuitively reflect the objective reality". Its content can cover the country, society, humanities, politics, ideology and many other aspects, including drama, poetry, novels, essays and so on. Literature is the mirror of the times, reflecting the life of the times and recording the core dynamics of the times.
What is popular literature? Popular literature is a literature that coexists and prospers with the common people, is loved by the broad masses of the people, and has strong vitality and influence among the people. Since ancient times, popular literature has been regarded by many orthodox scholars as unpretentious "Xialiba people" and discriminated by so-called orthodox scholars and elite culture. But the undeniable fact is that "Xialiba people" have more vitality and influence than "Yangchun Baixue". Because it comes from the "grassroots class", it has the support and support of the largest proportion of people in society. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, which have now become literary masterpieces, were all "Xialiba people" at the beginning of their publication, that is, popular literature.
What is a literary masterpiece? "masterpiece" has two meanings: 1. The author is a celebrity. The works written by ordinary people cannot be called masterpieces; 2. The works have been tested for a long time, generations or even dozens of generations. A literary work that lasts for a long time and still exudes unique charm after many years can be called a masterpiece. These two meanings complement each other and are indispensable.
Popular literature is around us, closest to our lives, best able to cater to the tastes of the public, best able to reflect the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, best able to show people's aesthetics, and best able to reflect a nation's humanistic spirit. Although all popular literature may not become famous works, most famous works are popular literature at the beginning of their birth. In this sense, masterpieces are the spires of the pyramid of popular literature, which make readers fear more than kindness.
After all, people with higher education are a minority, and those who can read literary classics are also a minority. Literary masterpieces have their specific reading groups and expert groups, while popular literature does not. It applies to all classes. Some people have never even read a literary masterpiece in their whole lives, but they may have read many works of popular literature.
We often see people making a cup of tea, holding a book and reading leisurely in their spare time. What book are you reading? Martial arts, romance, detective, science fiction and even comics. This is what most people read in real life.
There is another interesting phenomenon. The influence of literary masterpieces often comes not from the works themselves, but from the popular interpretation of famous works by other art forms. For example, it is the popular art forms such as storytelling, folk art and drama that make classic literary masterpieces such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Dream of Red Mansions and The Journey to the West enter thousands of households and get close to ordinary people. Most storytelling, folk art and drama are also part of popular literature.
Popularization is the vitality of literature and the inevitable direction of literature development. Popular literature is more influential than literary masterpieces, which is not only the necessity of their different positioning, but also an indisputable fact proved by history and reality.
Popular literature, of course!
The whole literary category is like a pyramid. Popular literature is the heavy cornerstone below, occupying the main body and supporting the pyramid, while masterpieces are the spires of the pyramid. Without the accumulation of countless popular literature, where can there be literary masterpieces? The influence of popular literature can be said to be "sneaking into the night with the wind, moistening things silently." From quantitative change to qualitative change, this is the general law of the development of objective things. Don't even famous writers and great writers "write like a god" after "reading thousands of books"?
For us ordinary readers, it is the main body of this pyramid, not the spire. After all, the spire is too high for ordinary people to reach. Many people read famous books, but how many can really read them? Bring me a complete book of Shakespeare. Can you understand its essence? Can you see how much this affects you?
To sum up, there is popular literature first, and then there are literary masterpieces. Popular literature is a vast universe, and masterpieces are stars in the universe. The influence of popular literature on us is universal and extensive, while the influence of famous books on us is limited and improved. So we think that the influence of popular literature is greater than that of literary masterpieces!
Hello, debaters!
I want to talk about the view that popular literature is more influential than literary masterpieces.
1. Popular literature is popular literature, and popularization is the only way for the development of literature.
Popular literature comes from the lives of ordinary people, expresses their joys and sorrows, and has the widest mass base. Take Liu Heng's rap Zhang Damin's happy life as an example. The works show the real living state of the grassroots through common people, common things and common sayings, and are deeply loved by readers from all walks of life. It is an excellent popular literary work with great vitality and influence. Ordinary people can understand it, like to watch it, and there is a * * * sound. This is a good literary work with great influence. Popular literature has natural advantages in this respect.
Pushkin said: "Proverbs used to have to be separated from written language, but later they became close, which gave us great power to express our thoughts." Language and writing are the performance tools of literature, and its popularization indicates that literature will take a road of continuous popularization. Popularity is the life of literature. Popular literature is the foundation of literature! Its influence must be greater than that of famous works.
Second, most famous books were popular literature at the beginning of their birth. Popular literature has the advantages of various forms and a large number.
The most important literary form today is the novel. This novel was deeply branded as "popular" at the beginning of its publication. "Yi Wen Zhi" "Novelists speak in the marketplace." Lu Xun's A Brief History of Chinese Novels "As for Song Zhiping's words, The Romance of Yuan and Ming Dynasties has been popular among the people since its publication, and its books are very dense, but there is no record in the history books. "When the novel developed from ancient myths and wonderful books to take shape, it was despised by orthodoxy. Most literary masterpieces are popular literature when they are born.
When it comes to masterpieces, most of us think of novels, poems, and some political articles, and there are only a handful of them. Popular literature involves almost all literary styles, such as novels, poems, dramas, folk art, fairy tales and fables, ballads, folk proverbs and so on. It has an absolute advantage in quantity, and its influence is of course greater than that of masterpieces.
Third, the discussion of the other side's point of view.
1. I still have some objections to the statement that "all literary masterpieces are the essence of culture". Having a "name" is not necessarily "essence". Mein Kampf is famous enough, but it is a tool of Nazi spiritual rule and a complete cultural rubbish!
2. I'm glad that the other party mentioned the "wind" part in the Book of Songs. Isn't folk song the representative of popular literature?
3. "As we all know, popular literature is difficult to be elegant." Is the influence of literary works defined by refined and popular standards?
4. The Analects of Confucius mentioned by the other party is a work that Confucius disciples recorded the words and deeds of the former teacher. Although saints have confessions of "keeping promises and liking the past", they also have the teaching that "a threesome must have a teacher". A saint is a fickle teacher and is not ashamed to ask questions. My eyes are always down when I study. Popular literature also has a great influence on "saints"!
5. "Because of its' vulgar' characteristics, popular literature is mostly weak in vitality, and some have a short dissemination time, such as Qiu Chan." Many literary masterpieces have also been lost! Take the Warring States Policy as an example. There were 33 articles when it was written, but 1 1 was lost in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was supplemented by Ceng Gong. And this book is mostly forged by later generations! Some famous books are known only by their "names", but not by their books. Who has seen the Three Graves and Five Classics?
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1 For modern popular literature, it is fundamental for us to grasp it from the historical evolution of literature. Some scholars in the west said: "The significance of the late Qing Dynasty to the modernization of novels should not be sought in the process of westernization. On the contrary, this period should be regarded as the heyday of long-term complex interaction between classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese. " This is especially true of modern popular literature. Because the pioneers of new literature are under the banner of anti-tradition, "from the perspective of western literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." Writers of popular literature, under the influence of traditional novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties, wrote a series of romance, martial arts and gang novels. They don't talk about slogans or doctrines. Only in the process of learning and using for reference, I have imperceptibly recognized the popular literature tradition of the Chinese nation, …
Popular literature refers to literary works that are both folk literature and realistic creation in history, and have high commercial value, with the main purpose of satisfying the entertainment of ordinary readers. Also known as popular literature and popular literature. Compared with serious literature and elegant literature.
China's modern and contemporary popular literature refers to the works created or recreated by literati in the form of inheriting the tradition of China's ancient novels, with the industrial and commercial economic development of metropolis in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China as the background and the traditional psychological mechanism as the core in content; ..... formed a group of readers, mainly the general public, who regarded them as spiritual consumer goods, which would inevitably reflect their society. A core meaning of this view is that popular literature has indeed gradually found its own historical position in the relationship with the "market". Without the rise of this literary and cultural market in the "modern city" and the emergence of readers dominated by "citizens", modern "popular" literature would be impossible. Obviously, if we start from this concept, then Zhao Shuli should certainly not enter the scope of our investigation of "popular literature"-because his novels have nothing to do with "citizens" and "modern cities".
Just as there are different opinions about Zhao Shuli's works in history, the definition of the concept of "popular literature" seems to be full of inherent contradictions. Because first of all, if "popular literature" is closely related to the market, if everyone agrees, it can include the economic market and the ideological market, then when we talk about the market, we should pay attention to the diversity of the market. There is a market among citizens in modern cities, but isn't there a market in China's broader rural society? I think of course there is. The existence of Zhao Shuli itself strongly proves the existence of this rural cultural market. Secondly, if "popular literature" is a continuation of some China tradition, or inherits some traditional cultural interests, then I think Zhao Shuli is more traditional, more local and more interesting in China than Cheng Xiaoqing and others-he was originally writing under the guidance of the theory of "fresh and lively Chinese style, Chinese style loved by China people" in Mao Zedong. So I understand why Mr. Fan used the concept of "popular literature" in the words with the word "citizen" quoted above. Tolerate some confusion between the concepts of "popular literature" and "citizen literature" and put the interest and standard of "citizen literature" in the investigation and description of "popular literature", which is an obstacle for us to enter the historical context and understand the relationship between popular works and the times today. Comparatively speaking, "citizen literature" or "citizen literature" clearly shows the connection between literature and a specific social stratum in a specific era.
However, it is from this contradictory concept that China's "popular literature" has gained great legitimacy and certainty today. From the legends of the Tang Dynasty, the stories of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Hui's novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, to the condemnation and darkness in the late Qing Dynasty, to Zhang Henshui, Cheng Xiaoqing, Li Shoumin and so on, and then to Jin Yong, Gu Long and Qiong Yao. If you count this "internet age", there may be an author like Annie Baby. "Popular literature" has become a great tradition, forming its own classicality, its own transition and its own modernization process. In the process of the modernization of popular literature, Zhao Shuli, including the later Yao Dan school yam, including the later Huang Ziping's "revolutionary historical novel", I think it should also include writers who are very popular today, such as Zhang Ping. Of course, there are some differences, not to mention things during the Cultural Revolution. Regarding the "eight model operas", Mr. Fan Boqun's view is: "It has finally reached the extreme by administrative means, and it can be said that it has reached the" great popularity "of the whole people, but the creation of these works does not conform to the inherent law of creation, nor can it be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people."
2 What is popular? When talking about "popular novels in Beijing", Lu Xun said: "Most of its materials are modern, or other kinds of novels are used. The main thing is to entertain the heart, and the chores are to punish and persuade. "
Before the Han Dynasty, nobles enjoyed at least nominal privileges, but they also enjoyed political and economic privileges. However, since the Han Dynasty, especially in the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, and at the latest in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the nobles were gradually marginalized. Even though he is still a noble by blood, he no longer enjoys political privileges. There is "everyone is equal before the monarch" (although not absolutely equal, but the social status is not fixed). Although the emperor prefers relatives, the throne is passed on to his son and grandson. Finally, there is the imperial examination, a way to change the fate of civilians and rebellion, and a way to realize the ambition of "the emperor will take turns to sit in my house next year". Unlike Japan, no matter how the dynasty changes, His Majesty the Emperor is eternal!
But it is an absolutely surprising exception in literature and art. For a long time, there has been a gap between popular literature and elegant literature, and between serious works and entertainment works. This is because the feudal aristocratic system is not strict, and the Indian caste system is still strict! Contrary to the theory of small bloodline in political and social consciousness.
Here, I want to tell a funny story: when Deng Youmei visited France, someone asked him, "Who is your favorite French writer in China?" ? "Deng Youmei then replied," Balzac! " Because he felt that as long as this "great man" praised by Engels was carried out, it would be extremely awesome. As a result, when people answer "Balzac is our popular novelist." He blushed at once because he thought people might look down on him. Later, I learned that others did not look down on him. In fact, when others list the works that most people like as "popular novels", my face immediately lights up. Visible, the difference between popular and elegant, in the eyes of some China scholars is how concerned.
The ancients, you read and talked about the four books and five classics, the political theory of Tang poetry was elegant, and the novels of Song Ci and Yuan Qu were vulgar. The imperial examination policy is the orthodox way, and the entertainment works are only pawns who are proficient in writing, so you can't enter!
In this way, until the May 4th Movement, it was a revolutionary baptism like a storm. Break these prejudices. Since then, many vulgar things, including novels such as A Dream of Red Mansions, have finally been canonized and refined. Popular literature and pure literature are no longer the criteria for judging articles.
However, the millipede is dead but not stiff. Just like thousands of years of feudal customs can not be swept away in decades. These prejudices in literature cannot be wiped out once and for all. Although some ancient operas, novels and other popular literature have been rehabilitated, we have to face up to the fact that modern and contemporary popular literature is not as good as pure literature. Therefore, some left-wing circles in the new literature denounce the martial arts novels as fantasy literature that promotes negative and decadent ideas, and accuse the romance novels of being a butterfly school of lovers who are not motivated and fall in love. ...
After the founding of New China, although literary and artistic undertakings have been improved and vigorously developed, popular literature is said to have been brought into the planned production track, and many red classics of revolutionary literature are actually popular novels. However, the hatred of martial arts romance novels was inexplicable and was banned by the order of the Ministry of Culture. For a long time after the war, Chinese mainland's martial arts literature has been extinct or even extinct. Fortunately, Hong Kong and Taiwan provinces are not under the jurisdiction of this ultra-left literary policy. Fortunately, some people in Chinese mainland who have profound traditional culture and love martial arts moved to and Taiwan, so that martial arts, the literature with the most China national characteristics, can preserve the fire and flourish with the potential of starting a prairie fire.
After the Cultural Revolution, the policy was loosened and the cultural market was opened, and the martial arts literature in Hong Kong and Taiwan was naturally lifted. So Jin Yong and others took advantage of the east wind of film and television, and took advantage of the contradiction between the poverty of entertainment literature and the strong demand of the public during the Cultural Revolution to quickly occupy the market and the hearts of readers. The widespread love of a large number of readers and the attention of experts and scholars. Therefore, under the influence of their own students, modern literature researchers headed by Yan Jiayan, Chen Pingyuan and Qian Liqun, a professor in Peking University, also joined the group of martial arts fans, gave them high praise and even devoted time to research. Even called it a literary revolution, saying that it reached the height of pure literature.
However, the concept that popular martial arts are both vulgar and bad books has been deeply rooted. While Jin Yong's fever is constantly sublimating, the fever of pouring gold is also heating up. The selection of Yan Lieshan in 1994, Wang Shuo in 1999, and Tian Bu in 2005 as the fuse triggered a series of debates on the value status of Jin Yong and martial arts novels, but so far there is no result. Of course, there is a lot of support among the general readers, but there are also many opponents among the academic school and most writers who pretend to be lofty, and even a trend of "encirclement and suppression" (hole) has been formed.
This is a puzzling, puzzling and normal thing. If you don't understand, take the selected textbook "Eight Dragons" as an example. If nothing else, let's take the content of "killing people" and "bloody and tragic" in the martial arts novels that everyone criticized. At least, it is much cleaner than "Lutizhi Chongchong Town Kansai". The latter not only shed blood, but also died, while the former neither shed much blood nor died. Whether Qiao Feng won or not. Why, when I was selected, the process was particularly cautious and I held several seminars; The result is a scuffle among online fans, which is controversial. In fact, it is not surprising that in the battle of Jin Yong's martial arts, the opponents' prejudice and prejudice are very strong.
Of course, it is not surprising among academic schools such as experts and scholars. Strangely, some readers, especially the martial arts readers, hold the view that fashion is vulgar. Of course, everyone watches martial arts with entertainment. But after being entertained, it stands to reason that they should be more involved and have a good attitude to understand the work itself.
After a clear understanding of the advantages of Wushu, of course, we can also recognize its shortcomings and criticize it. Even the view that martial arts is inferior to other pure literature is normal, but it should also be based on academic principles and literary laws! However, to my disappointment, the reason why the so-called martial arts realm is not high turns out to be "just popular literature." What disappoints me even more is that the basic principle of this theory still has a big market.
In this regard, I would like to ask those who hold this argument: I wonder if you don't know that The True Story of Ah Q, which gave birth to the most popular image in China in the 20th century, was actually written by Mr. Lu Xun in response to a relaxed column? This column is actually very popular! I wonder if you don't know that French works such as Hugo, Balzac and Dumas, and British works such as Dickens and Conan Doyle are actually popular literature? Have you forgotten that China's four classical novels, Song Ci, Yuanqu Peking Opera and other things listed as "national quintessence" were actually very popular when they were just born?
Looking back, did the works published in some so-called serious and orthodox literary periodicals in modern times, such as October and Harvest, really surpass those published in Story Club and Legends of Ancient and Modern Times? Those magazines have been running for so many years, but after being eliminated, there are still few fine products left. Sometimes, I read a reportage about the birth of the Potsdam Proclamation in Harvest. In fact, such reportage is very common in magazines such as Legends of Ancient and Modern Times.
There is still no complete definition of popular literature and classic literature. I agree with Zheng Zhenduo's view of popular literature: the so-called popular literature is a kind of popular literature, an unpretentious palace, which is not valued by scholars, loved by the people, and becomes popular literature. Folkmar believes that classic literature is a kind of selected literary works, which has literary spiritual wealth for us to choose, and it also provides a frame of reference for literary criticism.
The works created by the author must be accepted by readers to realize their value, and readers play a very important role in the process of transforming popular literature into classic literature. First of all, readers read popular literature selectively, and they either recreate their favorite works from readers to authors; It is recommended to like-minded people or people around them whose reading behavior will also affect them, thus forming a reading trend for some popular works, which is conducive to the classicalization of these works. Secondly, writers and publishers will also create or publish according to the needs of readers, which is conducive to the formation of some mainstream literature, which may be regarded as a classic in the future.
In fact, popular literature and literary masterpieces play their respective roles in each period. Popular literature is the root of literary masterpieces, and literary masterpieces are the sublimation of popular literature. Add a time category before the influence, such as modern.
According to modern times, I think popular literature is more influential than literary masterpieces, and it must be the foundation. Literary masterpieces developed from it, and people are more willing to accept and absorb popular literature because it is easy to understand, and literary masterpieces need people to have a certain ideological background to analyze the truth or philosophy expounded in the masterpieces.
6. Popular literature is the foundation and soil of famous works. The Song Ci we read today is a masterpiece, but it was popular literature in the Tang Dynasty. Today, we read A Dream of Red Mansions, which is a masterpiece, but in the Qing Dynasty, novels were popular literature, which was not popular. So the so-called masterpieces are actually popular literature washed by time. Because famous works are developed from popular literature, popular literature has a greater influence.