Returning to the position of a novelist, Nie Zhenning's new long novel "Scholar's Journey" was published
Published on: 2023-04-23 | Updated On: 2023-04-23On April 16th, the press conference for Nie Zhenning's novel "Scholar's Journey" was held at the Xidan Book Building in Beijing. Qiu Huadong, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers' Association, Pan Kaixiong, deputy director of the Novels Committee of the Chinese Writers' Association and literary critic, Bai Ye, researcher and literary critic of the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhang Li, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Literature of Beijing Normal University, researcher of the School of Literature of Beijing Normal University Doctoral supervisor Wu Xinxin attended the press conference and shared their reading experiences and opinions on "Scholar Journey". Huang Zhijian, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Chairman of China Publishing Group, and Zang Yongqing, Executive Director of People's Literature Publishing House, delivered speeches respectively.
Huang Zhijian said in his speech, "From editing to writing, it is a person's persistent passion for literature, a person's abundant life energy, and a belief and perseverance that constantly enlightens the public with words and stories. When such life experiences gather in the book" Scholar's Journey " In Chinese, readers can not only read life stories that are uncompromising, never giving up, and strive to move forward, but also feel the youthful atmosphere that comes upon them, a positive and uplifting spiritual quality
The book "Scholar's Journey" tells the story of Qin Ziyan, a young teacher who returned to his hometown in the middle of the last century to pursue high school education in order to love Shu Zhenhao. In the midst of the frenzy of the special era, this couple and a group of teachers graduated from first-class universities adhered to the concept of love and conducted a sensational teaching experiment. This fleeting period of time has achieved the shining moment of Yishan No.1 Middle School, which has long been engraved in the deep memories of students. Scholar's Journey "is a writing that illuminates reality with the spiritual light of human history. It is a Chinese "educational poem" that highlights the theme of "human" and the essence of education. It is warm, sincere, and deeply imbued with the spirit of enlightenment and idealism.
Nie Zhenning stated that "The Scholar's Journey" is a memory of his junior high school years and a hymn written to his teacher. What he wants to think about is what the inspiration that era gave us is still useful in contemporary times, what kind of call it brings us back, or just memories. He wants to write about people, good people, real people, and his true feelings. The writing style of the entire novel is idealistic, hoping to give contemporary readers more beautiful feelings and summon people to have more love, especially in education, with more devoted love.
Nie Zhenning was president of People's Literature Publishing House and president of China Publishing Group. He has made great achievements in the field of mass publishing. Zang Yongqing introduced that during Nie Zhenning's tenure as the president of the Humanities Society, his series of "Harry Potter," "New Curriculum Standard Extracurricular Literature Series for Middle School Students," and "Best Foreign Novel of the Year in the 21st Century," which he introduced, have become valuable assets and economic pillars of the Humanities Society. In recent years, Nie Zhenning has been continuously and tirelessly promoting "universal reading" and publishing books related to reading studies, Committed to improving the reading ability of the entire population.
Apart from being a publisher and reading expert, Nie Zhenning's little-known identity is as a novelist. Nie Zhenning debuted in the literary world in the 1980s and 1990s with a series of short and medium stories such as "The Hidden River" and "Changle", and won the first solemn literary award. He interrupted his novel writing for publication. This new book is not only his first novel to return to his position as a novelist, but also his new attempt at the genre of long stories.
Going deep into the educational scene, an educational book that helps students grow with rational love
The Scholar's Journey "is an educational hymn that brings readers back to a period of time 60 years ago, witnessing a group of young people's magnificent educational experiments and their unrequited youth dedicated to the cause of education. In this novel, Nie Zhenning portrays a group of vivid character images. In the novel, Qin Ziyan harbors ideals and aspirations and chooses to return to the remote and backward ethnic minority hometown to build it.
Wu Xinxin is the deputy director of the National Key Research Base for Chinese Textbooks in Primary and Secondary Schools (Vocational Schools). As an expert who has been deeply involved in the field of Chinese language education for many years, she mentioned that there are many details in "Scholar's Journey" that make her feel that "education occurs". Education emphasizes the overlap between education and life, and education truly plays a role in people. Nie Zhenning understands education, so he can write about the pattern of education and the sense of nobility in education. For example, Qin Ziyan returned from Beijing Normal University to Yishan No.1 Middle School and may even go to the Commune Middle School in the future. Although his social status may be lower, his spiritual realm is gradually improving. The contrast between high and low, between rise and fall, actually shows us the sublimity of educators. The education in the entire book is rational and restrained, and the teachers have a strong passion in their hearts, like a fire. However, when it comes to the scene of education and every teaching behavior, they mostly use 'I am this kind of person' to cultivate students and 'I am this kind of behavior' to guide students. The recurring portrayal of Makarenko's "Educational Poetry" in the novel is actually about a rational love. Helping these children become better selves and have a stable development direction in that era is the common pursuit of these teachers.
Bai Ye praised this work as a monument for scholars and a tribute to teachers. The book "Scholar's Journey" describes the dedication, investment, and dedication of a group of young teachers in the early stages of education development and construction after the founding of the People's Republic of China. While writing about the personal style and teaching skills of the teachers, they also wrote about their hometowns and alma maters. Such a group of teachers gathered at the school from all directions, and they were the intellectual elites of that era. Nie Zhenning wrote about the impact of the times on everyone, including the school, but more importantly, he wrote about the love of teachers for students. The teacher diligently resolved the personal problems that the times may bring and the impact it may have on the school through their own efforts and love, maintaining the normal state of school teaching, and writing a group portrait of the teacher.
Experience the beauty of a masterpiece, a novel that can arouse readers' desire to read classics
Scholar's Journey "is not only a book about education, but also a" book of reading ". This book is in line with Nie Zhenning's promotion of reading studies to the public and the improvement of "reading ability", practicing the simple and profound principle of "opening a book is beneficial". Education opens up the wisdom of the people, while reading is the means. The mountain of books has its way, the sea of learning is boundless, the cost is the lowest, and the most convenient way of learning is reading. Scholar's Journey "is an educational experiment conducted by teachers such as Qin Ziyan, Shu Zhenhao, and Jin Ziqing. One of the most important aspects is to read world-renowned works with students and guide them to learn how to interpret literature. Zang Yongqing said that this novel has strong functionality and is a novel that instinctively arouses readers' desire to read classics.
Pan Kaixiong pointed out that this work actually fictionalizes and visualizes Nie Zhenning's discourse on "reading studies" over the past decade. The novel is written in a series of lectures given by a high school library, with a schedule of 28 classes. In addition, the book also includes 11 lectures on what to read and how to read works through the teacher's mouth. This is a practical promotion of reading, allowing everyone to feel the reason why famous works become famous, the reason why they are useful, the beauty of famous works, and the reality of famous works.
Bai Ye believes that the section on reading is a highlight of "Scholar's Journey". The novel actually tells how these teachers interpret the work: starting from "my" own feelings, rather than being obedient to others or influenced by the ideology of the time, it actually tells a reading method. Therefore, this novel can not only be read as a literary work, but also as a great guiding method for students to learn Chinese and read classic literary works.
Life is like a ship, and a few books are like ballast stones, without fear of wind and waves. This is Nie Zhenning's reading advice to readers in an interview. Readers can see how a book affects a person's soul and becomes a heavy ballast on their life journey through the interpretation of Makarenko's "Educational Poems", Paul Kochagin's "How Steel is Tempered", and Voynich's "Gadfly" by teachers and students in the novel. This kind of reading nourishment can travel through time, penetrate the dust of history, illuminate the past and present, they and us.
Not only sharing hardships, but also being a book of emotions with love, righteousness, and soul stirring
Scholar's Journey "is also a novel about growth, where teachers and students learn from each other, think about each other, and read and act together. Success comes from thought. Long, teaching and learning are mutually beneficial. The novel not only showcases the emotional journey of Qin Ziyan and Shu Zhenhao's husband and wife exploring educational experiments, helping each other and overcoming difficulties in their work, but also showcases the exploration path of students such as Ning Zhenyang, who argue in confusion and move forward in doubt. The Book of Scholar's Journey is both bold and affectionate. As adults and teenagers, teachers and students, with a clear heart, cultivate their aspirations, and move quietly, they write a book of life that is promising, guarded, and established.
Qiu Huadong described 'Scholar's Journey' as a 'container of time', which takes us back to a specific era, a remote county town in Guangxi, where a group of middle school teachers had the ideal and youthful life state. The narrative time of the novel is from September 1963 to around the year of student graduation in 1964. During the narrative process, the protagonist's love and life around him in 1959 constantly flash back, as if opening a frozen treasure box in front of us. During this year's time in the box, the characters are vividly moving, there are times outside, and there are teaching stories and reading details in the school. This is a book that can evoke the life experiences of each of us.
Zhang Li praised "The Scholar's Journey" as a touching and emotional book with emotions and righteousness. During the reading process, the novel guides readers to think about what love is. The love of education, the true love of teachers for their students, is selfless and selfless. This work has always been thinking about "how to become an selfless person". The longer you become a teacher, the more you realize that this profession requires you to abandon your inner vanity and truly face the questions of "what I want to do" and "what kind of person I want to become". This work will have a touch on educators. From this perspective, this work's contemplation of love transcends the times. The second is the love between men and women. The novel depicts two young people who know each other and cherish each other, nestling together. This is the true love of mutual support and sharing difficulties. Love is not only selfish, but also altruistic; It's not just about taking, it's also about giving. In this work, you will feel that it is not a slogan, especially in such difficult times. It is this kind of love that allows two young people to snuggle and warm each other, ultimately illuminating each other's lives. This is a baptism of today's deeply materialistic view of love.
This deep and strong emotion is closely related to Nie Zhenning's creative state. He quotes Lu Xun as saying, "Creativity is always rooted in love." Love originates from Nie Zhenning's gratitude for his high school teachers and their profound influence on himself. He said, "He loves those respected and unforgettable old teachers. This is also the original intention of Nie Zhenning's writing of "Scholar's Journey". Scholar's Journey "is Nie Zhenning's first time writing about his life experience. Zang Yongqing believes that this is just the beginning, life is long, and the years worth writing are also long. He hopes that Nie Zhenning can maintain his creative passion and write more new works, giving readers the opportunity to read more about his life and also providing readers with more inspiration.