Bottom writing refers to the period of contemporary literature.
Since 1990s, the "bottom" has been the research object of great concern to contemporary humanities scholars in China. As early as 1994, Zhu Guanglei's book "A New Combination of Great Differentiation-An Analysis of Social Stratum in Contemporary China" used a large number of objective data to analyze the characteristics and trends of social stratification in China, paying special attention to the living conditions of the bottom groups (including unemployed people, agricultural workers, employees of township enterprises, blue-collar workers, etc.). ). Subsequently, around the issues of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers" and urban class differentiation, a large number of influential articles were published with magazines such as Reading and Tianya as the core media, and various monographs came into being. [1] These writings not only effectively sort out the evolution of China's bottom society since 1990s, but also discuss the living environment of the bottom groups in various directions, and deeply study the increasingly obvious social structure of the polarization between the rich and the poor.
Literature also reacted quickly to this. As early as 1996, literary critic Cai Xiang published the article "The Bottom" in the fifth issue of Zhongshan. In this article, the author deeply recalls his life at the bottom of Shanghai and his trip to the countryside, and further points out that although "the bottom is still struggling in poverty, equality and fairness are still an unfulfilled promise", "poverty has not led to moral decay, on the contrary, my bottom firmly adheres to its moral creed, and they express great hatred and contempt for corruption and theft", and "almost all moral requirements will eventually be implemented at the bottom." [2] At the same time, the author also truly lamented the changes in the bottom society since the 1990s, especially the bottom reality where simplicity and kindness gradually disappeared. It not only shows the fission of China's bottom society, but also analyzes the realistic roots of its interests and desires.
From 65438 to 0998, the seventh issue of Shanghai Literature published Yan Huajun's novel Magnolia in Spring. The title of this issue of Editor's Note is "Listen to the voice of the bottom", which clearly States: "We really should listen to the voice of the bottom people. We must face up to the interests of the people at the bottom and respect their feelings. " "At any time, we should not ignore the interests of the people at the bottom. If the wealth of a few people is based on the plunder of the bottom, then it is crime, corruption, inequality and injustice. If we think that social progress must be at the expense of the interests of the bottom people, then this is not only a confused concept, but also morally shameful. " At the same time, they also noticed that "there is a kind of voice that should gradually become stronger, and that is the voice at the bottom." We must adhere to the position of equality and justice, and we must punish evil and promote good. Listen carefully to the voices from the bottom at all times, and know what the bottom is thinking and what kind of living conditions the people at the bottom are in. Caring for the bottom is neither' charity' nor' compassion'. Any condescending pity is an insult to the people at the bottom. We adhere to a position of equality and justice, and the issues of equality and justice have attracted more and more attention in today's society. It involves not only the interests and emotions at the bottom, but also the healthy texture of our whole society. An unjust society is bound to be full of filth and evil, and the ultimate destruction is bound to be the society itself. Fortunately, our society is moving forward on the road of equality and justice. At this time, the voice at the bottom has become a powerful force for maintaining equality and justice. " This "Editor's Note" is not so much a positive recommendation of Yan Huajun's novels as a high-profile advocacy of "bottom writing", and its intention is obviously to take this opportunity to strongly emphasize that writers must pay attention to the changes in the bottom survival and the shake of some universal values.
200 1 Li Shidong publishes a collection of novels, Life Show. In the preface, Li Shidong also highly affirmed the significance of "bottom writing": "Writers unconsciously push themselves to a specific perspective, a very life-oriented perspective: they sincerely care about the real life of ordinary people, especially the real life of the bottom people. We see that the writer's perspective is sinking. Writing from the inside of life is becoming a writer's conscious creative behavior. " "When it comes to rascal, people will naturally associate it with suffering, misfortune and indisputable. Bottom is bottom. People may also sigh with relief how they got out of the bottom of their lives. However, if you realize that we are all in life, then you will not care so much about the surface and bottom of life. Actually, this is your life, your life. There are pains and difficulties, misfortunes and indisputable times in your life. And all this will not disappear because you are not at the so-called' bottom'; Similarly, your happiness, your happiness and your satisfaction also permeate the bottom of life, just like your life. " [3]
At this point, "bottom writing" gradually surfaced and quickly became a hot phenomenon in contemporary literature. In 2003, critics and writers such as Zhang Ren, Su Tong and Li Boyong paid attention to this writing phenomenon with positive words, either through dialogue or by publishing monographs. However, as a literary trend of thought, "bottom writing" has gradually become an important literary research object, which began in 2004. In 2004, with Liu Xu's "Can the bottom get rid of the fate of being expressed", Cai Xiang and Liu Xu's "The bottom problem and the mission of intellectuals" and Gao Qiang's "How do we express the bottom? Cai Xiang's Problems at the Bottom and the Mission of Intellectuals, Luo Gang's Master-slave Structure and the Voice at the Bottom —— From paulo freire to Lu Xun, Moro's I am a Farmer's Son, Advocating for the Bottom Vision and Social Progress, Hometown, the Bottom, Intellectuals and Others, and Li's Recently, these articles are based on the basic situation and contradictions of China's social development, or focus on "working literature" This paper makes a fruitful reflection on the survival dilemma, spiritual needs and aesthetic demands of the bottom groups that have appeared since the 1990s, and emphasizes the importance of "bottom writing" from the humanistic feelings of intellectuals.
In 2005, the study of "bottom writing" was further expanded, and Ding Fan's "Dreams and Reality of Urban Strangers —— About the Transformation of Local Description in the Conflict of Civilizations" and Nan Fan's "How does literature express the bottom experience?" Zhang Qinghua's Living Bottom Writing and the Writing Ethics of Our Times, Jiang Shuzhuo's Realistic Care, Bottom Consciousness and New Humanistic Spirit —— About the Phenomenon of Working Literature, Ding Zhicai's My humble opinion on the Misunderstanding of Current Literature Bottom Writing and other important articles. These articles are closely related to the creative practice at that time, and make an in-depth study of "bottom writing" from different angles, and at the same time put forward some reflective thinking. Taking Ding Fan and Jiang Shuzhuo as examples, this paper narrates the spiritual dilemmas encountered by farmers in the process of urbanization and the humanistic position that writers should hold. Nan Fan, on the other hand, analyzed the complexity and richness of the bottom experience from the perspective of the writer as a spokesperson, and also pointed out the importance of the expression. Zhang Qinghua put it more clearly: "Writing in the bottom survival", and I realized that this is a solemn and terrible proposition with a strong tendency of the times and "writing ethics". [4] Ding Zhicai thinks that some rascal's works at present regard "suffering" as a window to peep at the "bottom" desire, and even artificially distort these sufferings, thus hollowing out the tragic value of suffering itself, and the works only retain the author's peeping eyes and cold words. They write about women at the bottom, "most of them are engaged in escort or disguised as chickens to highlight the plight of women at the bottom", and pile up sensory stimulation with too many words. The "bottom" seems numb, dirty, dark, obscene and humiliating, but it has no good and bright side. This kind of work is called "writing at the bottom", which is actually an extreme distortion and indifference to the miserable life at the bottom and an insult to the humanity at the bottom. [5] Therefore, in order to make "bottom literature" gain more room for development and create works with aesthetic value, writers must clearly see this writing misunderstanding.
In 2006-2007, important literary periodicals such as People's Literature, Selected Novels and Beijing Literature began to actively advocate works with the aesthetic tendency of "bottom writing", which objectively further catalyzed the development of the ideological trend of "bottom writing". At the same time, the study of "bottom writing" has also seen the collision and contention of many concepts. These conflicts and arguments mainly focus on three aspects: First, how to define the concept of "bottom writing". Which groups can be regarded as the bottom? Who is the subject of "bottom writing"? Is it "written by the bottom people" or "written by the bottom people"? Wang Xiaohua, Hong Liang, Hong Zhigang, Teng Cuiqin and others all questioned the scientificity and rationality of this concept. Second, is there an imbalance between moral value and artistic value in "bottom writing"? Many scholars believe that the moral value in "bottom writing" is obviously higher than the artistic value because of the intervention of the creative subject "middle class interests", such as Nan Fan's "Breakthrough-Expression of Bottom Experience", Li Yuntuan's "Moral Misunderstanding of Bottom Narration" and Liu's "Myth of Pure Literature and Trap of Bottom Writing" all involve this issue. However, many scholars put forward different opinions from the analysis of specific works, such as Wang Guangming's "Bottom Experience and Poetic Imagination", Meng Fanhua's "Bottom Experience and Literary Narration" and Wu Sijing's "Facing the Bottom: A Trend of Poetry in the Early Century". And confirmed his judgment through specific texts. Third, is there a spiritual connection between "bottom writing" and China's realistic literary tradition? Li, Bai Liang and others emphasized that "bottom writing" maintained a close spiritual isomorphism with China modern literary tradition from the perspective of "left-wing literary tradition". From the point of view of "new national character", some people suggest that this literary trend of thought is the aesthetic expression of urban-rural conflict in the new historical context. "The new national character is generated in the cultural context of contradiction, collision, compromise and mutual adjustment between planned economy and market economy". [6] The expression of this living state implies a modern aesthetic taste. Around these disputes, over the past two years, more than 40 influential papers have appeared, covering almost all kinds of media such as magazines, newspapers and the Internet.
In 2008, the research on this creative trend of thought is still in the ascendant. On the one hand, scholars make empirical analysis closely related to the actual creation, such as Liu's research on "working poems" and Shao's comments on Jia Pingwa's "Happy", all of which further explain the relevant thinking of "bottom writing" through actual creation; On the other hand, the research on modernity, "new left" tendency and ideological tendency contained in "bottom writing" has also been further deepened and expanded. In particular, he's exposition of "new left-wing literature" and "bottom writing"; Liu's analysis of the spiritual dilemma of the subject of "bottom-level writing" and his thinking on the way beyond it: Jiang Lasheng's criticism of "migrant workers, cities and villages are mostly simplified imaginative expressions" in "bottom-level writing" and the analysis that "the condescending literary perspective makes it difficult for migrant workers to really enter the rascal, so they lack aesthetic philosophy and artistic criticism" all reflect the researchers' in-depth thinking on this trend. In addition, exploration and contention also published a group of articles on "Bottom Writing: Unfinished Discussions" in the fifth issue. Scholars such as He, He, Chen Fumin hold their own opinions and deeply analyze various important literary propositions contained in this trend of thought.
It is worth noting that in 2008, some important articles summarizing and reflecting on the research of "bottom writing" appeared one after another. For example, Li's review and summary of the research on "bottom writing" in 2007, several questions about "bottom writing", the writing and discussion of bottom literature in the new century, and the road to the bottom. To analyze and reflect on the research on "bottom writing" since the new century, although each has its own emphasis, different views and some sharp words. However, they all reflect the spiritual attitude of contemporary literary researchers to think rationally and systematically about this trend of thought, and also show that the literary discussion on "bottom writing" is deepening and has become an important frontier issue in the study of contemporary literature in China.