The weak in life can also face the world bravely

Writing is the courage of self-affirmation

Before each book is published, the single-read editorial department will organize a book talk. The focus of the book talk should be the selling point and marketing strategy, but the editor will always “go off topic”, sharing his feelings and understanding of the text incessantly, and unconsciously returning to the original motivation of writing the book – first of all, we is a reader who loves the author and his/her writing.
The same is true for the lecture session of “I’m Afraid of Life”, which revolves around which passage in the book is most touched by each person. Therefore, when deciding how to introduce this book to readers, I want to say the most, and it is almost the only one. All that comes out is these personal but sincere expressions.
In this issue of “One Editor Asks Another Editor”, the editor Shanshan asked the three editors of “I’m Afraid of Life”, Dani, Zhao Fang, Xiaoyu, and designer Zheng Ke, and asked the editor to talk about his own editing of the book. Feelings, understanding of the content of the book, including what I have not yet had time to say at the lecture, I hope to open my arms to the greatest extent, and invite readers to understand and enter the new single-reading book 017 “I’m Afraid of Life” (5 volumes in total).

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Who is this Li Jing?

Shanshan: When did you meet Mr. Li Jing? What was your impression of her at the time?

Danni: The first time I noticed the name of the author, Li Jing, was around 2008 when I was co-editing the collection of “Reading Mu Xin” in the Utopia. In the middle there is an article “You are a budding philosopher”, the author signed Li Jing, editor of “Beijing Daily”. You must know that at that time, Mu Xin was not yet recognized by the mainstream literary circles, and many people held a skeptical attitude; it was five years before the publication of “Literary Memoirs” in 2013 and its popularity. As early as 2006, an editor of an official media, Writing such a weighty essay in 10,000 characters, he said: “So far, Mu Xin has only been a publishing phenomenon in the mainland, not a literary phenomenon. The mainland literary world is not ready to accept this eighty A new writer at the age of three.” Such determination and foresight can’t help but be astonishing. I guess this teacher Li Jing may be an old editor of a newspaper in his 50s or 60s. He has old qualifications and is not afraid of offending people.

Mu Xin

I noticed this name again when I read about Wang Xiaobo. In 1996, Li Jing, a young editor who had just arrived at “Beijing Literature”, asked Wang Xiaobo for a draft, and tried to publish “Hong Fu Ye Run” in the magazine. Li Jing was one of the first editors who tried to introduce Wang Xiaobo to the domestic literary circle.

Could it be a coincidence? Who is this Li Jing? What kind of person was an editor who discovered Wang Xiaobo as a genius early on, and who also keenly recognized Mu Xin as a writer?

With such a question, I opened the search engine, and since then, Li Jing entered my world. In my mind, she is first and foremost a brilliant editor, able to recognize the best writers at first sight, before anyone else sees them.

After reading more of Ms. Li Jing’s writing, I found out that she is a treasured writer, not only writing sharp and profound literary criticism, but also the script creator of “Comedy of Qin Kingdom” and “Mr. And after we met for the first time, we became friends. This friendship brings me great happiness.

Shan Reading’s cartoon image designed for Li Jing

“Looking at Teacher Li Jing’s manuscript is a nourishment for people.”

Shanshan: Publishing a collection for a writer is a very important thing, and it may also affect sales. Why did you choose to publish such a large five-volume set for Teacher Li Jing? And how did this book take shape step by step?

Danni: “I’m Afraid of Life” grew up slowly in two years. They were scattered in my five folders at first, and there were five sub-volume catalogs until I finished the trial book in September and showed it to Teacher Zhi’an. After discussing it with Teacher Li Jing again, a lot of changes were made. On the one hand, another round of discussions was conducted on the selection of the chapters; on the other hand, new adjustments were made to the internal style and ordering of each book. I am really grateful for Mr. Zhi’an’s valuable advice. He is really a writer-type editor. In the face of a manuscript of 700,000 to 800,000 words, the knowledge behind how to divide and sort it is very great. It really tests an editor’s “editing ability”. “. Special thanks to Mr. Zhi’an for his help, which made our editing work go a little further.

When making this collection, the initial worry and the worry at the moment are the same: that is, we are worried that everyone will regard this book as a “collection” that the author has concluded. We want to publish the five volumes together. The most important reason is that I want to show readers a complete and vivid picture of a person who is a creator, with a freer and richer literary reader, not only literary theories, essays, reviews, but also poems, novels, and plays. I invite readers to This is our original intention to approach this writer from a path that we are familiar with .

In addition, putting these five books together, there is another consideration, that is, I hope it can show a person’s true growth path – from a Chinese student in his student days to an internship in a newspaper as a cultural reporter, and then to Entered journals as editors and began to write literary criticism. Later, under the guidance of Mr. Wang Xiaobo, Lu Xun, etc., he began to create independently and wrote the script of “Mr. Big”… These five books are not A writer’s complete works, summaries, but about how a person embarked on a creative path, it is only the beginning. I think the peak of Teacher Li Jing’s creation has yet to come.

It’s amazing that this set of books, from planning to drafting, to checking the pricing and finally printing, I didn’t worry too much about the sales, but there is a very rare sense of steadiness. Mr. Li Jing’s book seems to have provided an anchor for my editing career. I compiled this set of books seriously, and it seems that I can come back to face every topic in my work more calmly. It has given me a valuable scale. It was from her that I learned for the first time what real cultural criticism is (frankly, most of today’s literary criticism just replaces straightforward and beautiful words with more theoretical expressions, and puts compliments in words of praise. It is more subtle and profound, and it is rare to see real “bad words”), even for the works of contemporary writers who have been judged and judged, Li Jing will definitely give her own analysis and understanding, and pointed out that Their limitations and possible room for development are arguably rare among today’s writers. This requires not only courage, but also a test of wisdom and vision. Editing this set of books has given us a little bit of “critique scale”, so that we can make a calm judgment on the topics we choose. I believe that “I’m Afraid of Life” must be a good book that will stand the test of time. It is my honor to be its editor.

Zhao Fang: I was frightened when I just got all the manuscripts of “I’m Afraid of Life”. The 5 manuscripts are really thick! The book “Must Offend the Audience” alone had more than 680 pages before it was edited. Later, after editing, some repetitive themes were removed, and some were included in “Catch the Wind” and “Wang Xiaobo’s Legacy”. The final draft is over 520 pages. From the first compilation to the next printing, Xiaoyu and I were almost overwhelmed by the manuscripts of this set of books. Every time Danni went to the casting and engraving to communicate with Mr. Jiasheng and the others about the manuscript, a schoolbag could not fit, and she had to carry a large bag in her hand. I didn’t know how many times I ran back and forth, so I made this set. The book is really “physical work”, and editing requires a little physical strength.

The most difficult part of editing a series of books is the unification of styles. This requires editors to keep in touch with each other at any time during their work, and to raise any questions immediately, but even so, there are still style issues that need to be resolved when the book is reviewed and finalized. In addition, for me, there is a more difficult place to check the information, because the articles in this set of books involve a large time span, and some works have more than one version, and it took a lot of effort to check the original text.

The paper draft that the editor took on the day of the next printing, this is only part of it.

What impressed me was that Danny said a sentence when she gave us the manuscript: “Looking at Mr. Li Jing’s manuscript is a nourishment for people.” This sentence is like a ceremony, which made me feel like editing this set Manuscript is a very solemn thing. I immersed myself in reading the manuscript, got into the words of Teacher Li Jing, listened to those sharp literary and artistic comments, and critically faced up to my fear experience spiritually. It was also during this process that I understood what Danny said at the beginning. ” nourishment of man”. Compiling this manuscript is indeed a process of spiritual education for me.

When I just listened to Dany talking about this book before reading the manuscript, I was a little worried that there might be a certain distance between it and today’s readers, and I was also a little worried about the sales. However, after I started to read the manuscript, I had no worries in this regard. On the one hand, many of the works mentioned in it are still reading and reading today . The book discusses such as the value of literary criticism, “academic criticism” and “media criticism”. On the other hand, even if the content of her comments is in the past, we are actually looking at her critical perspectives and opinions , such as her work in “The Drama I Watched in 2004” (Included in “Must Offend the Audience”) The article pointed out the dramatic phenomenon in 2004: the important thing to introduce a drama is to broaden your horizons, and the adaptation of a “famous novel” is a double-edged sword. When relocating foreign dramas, attention should be paid to the improvement of the spirit and the performance of the performance. , commercial dramas reflect market favoritism and dramatization, and so on. These insights and comments can still be thought-provoking for today’s domestic drama market.

“Facing the most essential and painful problems and conflicts of this era”

Shanshan: What impresses you in the book? In this set of books, what kind of Li Jing did you see?

Xiaoyu: Ms. Li Jing is a literary critic and playwright. This set of books reflects her professionalism in literary criticism and her passion for creation. What impresses me even more are some relatively personal records of Mr. Li Jing, such as the memories of living with her grandmother when she was a child, the little bit of getting along with Mr. Ren Hongyuan and Mr. Liu Xiqing during his studies at Beijing Normal University, and his thoughts on working and living in Beijing What I realize, etc., all have similarities and overlaps with my own life experiences, and it is a wonderful experience to read.

I was mainly in charge of the editing and proofreading of the three books “The Catch the Wind”, “To You” and “The Clothes of the Rong Yi”. “Catch the Wind” is a collection of literary criticisms. It is difficult to criticize the writers of my own time, and it is difficult to be outspoken. Teacher Li Jing’s rigorous and fair attitude has benefited me a lot. “To You” is a collection of private creations, which sincerely and bravely shows one’s own softness and even fragility, giving people a different kind of courage. At first glance, the title of “The Clothes of the Rong Yi” seems obscure, but it is very interesting to read. The background of this play is set in ancient times, but the reality is closely related to the current reality, which makes people laugh at the same time and hide it for a long time.

The background of the drama “The Clothes of Rong Yi” is set in the pre-Qin period, but Li Jing wrote about the Japanese Jiang Ge case, the discussion between Liu Cixin and Jiang Xiaoyuan, and so on. These are our current realities. It is the direct cause of the creation of this drama. The story in the play seems to be far away from us, but after reading it, you will understand that our situation is no different from that of the ancients. “The persistence of morality has resulted in a ‘reverse elimination of morality'” . This is a problem from ancient times to the present, which has been repeated time and time again from the pre-Qin period to our contemporary age. The dialogue and publicity of the drama emphasized by Teacher Li Jing, this drama really made me feel it.

TV series “Three Body”

Zhao Fang: I remember reading the manuscript of “The Clothes of the Rong Yi”. It was when the epidemic in Shanghai was severe. I read a lot of negative social news and felt more indifference and numbness to people. The story of “Yi Rang Yi” also triggered me to think about the current reality, and I thought about things I couldn’t understand:

How similar is the moral dilemma faced by Rong Yi on that stormy night thousands of years ago to the reality of today? Can readers realize this moral paradox after reading the script of “The Clothes of the Rong Yi”? How should we think about this paradox after realizing it? In “Creation Talk”, Li Jing re-examined her own text as a creator and critic, and gave her own answer to this moral paradox, that is, “We are all Shi Xin”, but he must not forget to let Rong Yi, who died in clothing, must be “slaves of sin and death” since they put on the cotton-padded clothes of moralists. When the author tells us so clearly at the end, “Don’t use such a three-dimensional conscience to condemn yourself to beautify the indomitable evil. Don’t let the evil spread all over the ground, and do not believe that there is an immortal light in the sky.” In my opinion, these two The word is not just a call and an appeal, it should become a law in each of us. …

Later, in “Must Offend the Audience”, I saw the comment she wrote for the play “Monument” staged in 2000. The hero in the play is Scott, a soldier who is facing trial. He killed countless people in the war. Innocent lives, and the only female character is Megha, the old woman who is judging him, whose daughter happens to die at his hands. But the soldier, despite admitting to all his murders, insisted that all he did was obey orders, and if “I don’t kill, people will kill me.” So in this article “When the “Minimum Cost” is Yourself”, Teacher Li Jing asked questions at every level, starting from “All Scotts are weak, not criminals, and can be forgiven. But those who died What about the souls shot by the Scotts?” To “How can sins be forgiven?”, she used words to restore the scene of the two actors fighting each other on the stage. The way the old woman tried him was to let the soldier He is always between the two choices of “die or live in guilt”, and every time he wants to survive, he will experience the suffering of those he mutilates – “this is the ‘minimum cost’ paid on himself the most important message from the body to the soul”. “When Scott relived in his own pain the suffering he inflicted on others, he finally understood: In fact, he could have made another choice, although that choice was to point the knife at himself.”

Some plays, if there is no video data, we may not have the opportunity to see them again today, but Teacher Li Jing uses words to make people feel that the distance between the reader and her is just like the distance between the audience and those plays. That article was very shocking to me, because she did not use any academic concepts to analyze the play in the full text. At the beginning, she pointed out the most core problems of the whole play without detouring. What is even more commendable is that she will analyze every choice of characters, and truly reflect on the moral issues behind it, which is actually the charm of drama – making people “face the most essential and painful problems of this era on the stage. and conflict”.

What is kindness? A person who does good deeds is kind, and not doing bad deeds is kind, but in this book, I also saw another kind of kindness that feels guilty for doing something wrong. In “Wang Xiaobo’s Legacy”, Mr. Li Jing admitted that his teacher’s inheritance – “the first literature teacher” was Wang Xiaobo. In the comments and memories of Wang Xiaobo’s articles, let us realize what kind of writing path Wang Xiaobo opened with humor and wisdom, and how this path has influenced writers including her. Perhaps only by first realizing Wang Xiaobo’s influence on her, can she understand that when she, as a magazine editor, once asked him to change “Red Whispering in the Night” from a long novel to a medium novel due to the limited space, but in the end it was still not published due to censorship. Anger and guilt. Later, she wrote an article called “Wang Xiaobo’s Rejection”, which recorded the whole process. This incident has also become a “direct and lasting driving force” for her to write the drama “Comedy of the Qin State” many years later.

Wang Xiaobo

Why did book design use woodcuts?

Shanshan: Why do you use woodcuts for design? This is based on your understanding of Teacher Li Jing and this set of books?

Zheng Ke: I was very excited when I got the manuscript. At that time, I completely hit the title of the book. In addition, Mr. Li Jing’s attitude towards literary criticism and the strength in his writing made me look forward to this cooperation. In terms of design, the first thought when I got this book was to highlight the title. The title is all the focal point, and there is no need for other additional decorations. It is to express the attitude simply and powerfully. The sharpness and strength revealed in the style of writing are the most direct associations of woodcut , carving knife and wood board, ink and paper. After several graphics transmissions, we got the current font. The overall packaging and the craftsmanship of each book (raised and printed in white) are simple and restrained. We hope to restore the simplest impression to readers. There are not too many preset reading experiences, and only words are the most important thing. , Design is a trivial thing to do.

“I am afraid of life” printed on paper

printed effect

“Honestly admit it’s ‘scared’,

will find the light of salvation.”

Shanshan: Why is the book titled “I’m Afraid of Life”? Do you resonate with this? What makes this book worth recommending to today’s readers?

Danny: Regarding the choice of the book title, I would like to first give Teacher Li Jing’s own explanation——

From the age of fourteen to twenty-six, my adolescence was a long period of depression. I didn’t add “symptom” after “depression” because I didn’t go to the psychiatrist for consultation, but the feeling that Gregory suddenly turned into a big beetle one morning, was expelled, and had no way to complain, was unforgettable. This is what drives me to write at the root of my writing: the desire to enter life in writing—the life that desires to embrace but has no access to. An inexplicable but horrific abyss opened between me and the world-other. This is my life. Kafka said: Every obstacle overcomes me. Totally agree. Actually, it’s kind of hell. But I made diametrically opposed choices to Kafka: he chose to gaze and go into the abyss, and I chose to look up to the light of the sky. Obviously, my choice is weaker – what can a person who is in the midst of life and is “fear of life” want to survive? Honestly admit this “fear” and you will find the light of salvation, and by that light you will find a bridge across the abyss.

This set of books showed me this possibility:

A person, even if she cannot overcome her inner cowardice and feels that she is always weak in front of life, she can still choose to face the world bravely and not give up the possibility of finding the truth and believe in the power of love.

Everyone’s ego may be small, but in front of us, there are always some “capitalized people” (for Teacher Li Jing, these people are Chekhov, Lu Xun, Mu Xin, Wang Xiaobo… ) , the literary works and artistic creations they left behind, those novels, poems and dramas, may become the lamp before our feet and the light on the road. Descriptive descriptions and imaginations will illuminate our dark hearts and form a kind of power. Literature can be a way for us to face life directly. We can also find the capital person ahead of us and try to write about our own lives.

Zhao Fang: After reading the manuscript, it is natural to know that this sentence is from Chekhov’s play “The Man Without a Father”. The protagonist Platonov said to his neighbors: “Hamlet is afraid of dreaming, and I am afraid of life.” Li Teacher Jing chose to use this sentence as the title of the book, which is a summary of the cowardice and fear she experienced in her growing up, but I always feel that for her or this book, this is only the first half of the sentence, maybe the one excerpted from our poster. The sentence will be more complete: “There is a person who has experienced poverty and timidity for a long time in his life, but in his intermittently struggling writing, he saw a glimmer of light and kept a little sincerity.”

When I saw the title of the book “I’m afraid of life”, I felt like I was caught on a soft underbelly. The first thing that came to my mind was not the difficulties and difficulties I had experienced in the past, but at that moment I let go of my courage and saw countless The self who has been wronged and feared will always be hidden in the last self that is not easily shown to others. Respect for fear is to respect yourself. In addition to gaining, these five words carry loss, and in addition to losing, there is also cherishing. I hope that after reading the words in the book, you can not only appreciate the author’s “sincerity”, but also grasp the “light” in your own life.

Xiaoyu: “I am afraid of life” may be a state of mind that each of us has experienced more or less, but writing these five words in black and white can still give us a strong shock, because it means Bravely reveal your weaknesses. Teacher Li Jing mentioned the word “weak master” in her book. She believes that for withdrawn and neurotic people, they live in their hearts and feel that the outside world cannot be grasped, so words have become their life-saving buoys. This statement resonates with me, that writing is really more of an inward force, even if it has the potential to bring out external accomplishments for the writer. I feel that to write “I am afraid of life” is to truly face my own fears, weaknesses and unbearableness, and on this basis, still bravely pick up the pen and write for myself.

“For a writer, writing is his/her action.” In this day and age, we often wonder, what is the use of literature? From Mr. Li Jing’s literary criticism, we can see the continuous passion for many years, those subtle and sharp comments on literary masters, loyal to themselves, and eager for dialogue. From her theatrical creations, we can see the unique and precious charm of theater art, allowing creators and viewers to coexist in the same time and space, forming a “community” that senses and changes each other. And all of this is the best proof of her “writing is action”.

The book, titled “I’m Afraid of Life,” is a powerful expression in itself. Teacher Li Jing mentioned in this set of books that writing is a kind of self-affirmation courage , which reminded me of the award speech given by teacher Bao Huiyi, who was a guest at the one-way street bookstore literature award in April this year. : “What is literature? Literature is actually each of us handling the truth in our own way. No matter what era we are in, we can at least take care of our own history and witness for the future with our own minds as a unit. “We may often feel that we are in endless uncertainty, but no matter what era, we can choose to write and protect our hearts.

“I’m Afraid of Life” (5 volumes)

self introduction