Lin Zixuan wrote letters to 20 famous domestic writers, and their attitudes were very interesting.

Cai Yuanbao strongly agreed, believing that participating in such international organizations would help enhance China's image in the international community and allow Chinese literature and world literature to exchange with each other.

During his tenure as president of Peking University, he constantly invited famous foreign scholars to give lectures at Peking University.

The purpose is to promote the exchange and development of Chinese and Western cultures.

PEN members do not have to be orthodox writers, but also include novelists, essayists, dramatists and poets, as well as literary critics, translators, journalists and editors.

Of course, if you have outstanding talent in this industry, you can join.

Cai Yuanyuan is engaged in academic research and has published many academic works, so he is naturally eligible to become a member.

The most important thing is that Cai Yuan's status in the Chinese cultural circle is too high, and it can be said that he is highly respected, even Hu Shi and Lu Xun are half a head shorter in front of him.

Lin Zixuan is also influential and is in the limelight in the domestic literary world, but he is still a small character.

When you see seniors like Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanyuan, you should also be respectful, this has nothing to do with your status, this is a Chinese tradition.

In academics, everyone can argue, for example, in Hongxue, Hu Shi and Lin Zixuan refuted Cai Yuan's compensation, which is normal.

But etiquette and respect cannot be wasted, which is the basic principle of life.

Cai Yuanbao is not only the president of Peking University, he is also the honorary president of many universities, and he is a well-deserved first person in the education industry.

If the China PEN Center is established, the position of the president must be Cai Yuan's compensation, only after Cai Yuan's compensation is humble. It was Hu Shi's turn to get Hu Shi and others, and then Lin Zixuan.

The attitude of the Zhou brothers is not the same.

Zhou Zuoren agreed. I thought that this would raise the standard of new Chinese literature.

Since May Fourth, New Literature has taken two paths.

One way is to imitate and borrow foreign literature. Zhou Zuoren's essays have the shadow of Japanese literature, and he gives full play to the aesthetic principles of "mourning" and "mystery" in Japanese literature.

Xu Zhimo's poetry is influenced by English Romantic poetry, and there are traces of imitation of Shelley and Keats.

Literature is to absorb the essence from the works of predecessors and form their own things, so there is nothing to borrow from the way of writing foreign literature.

The other way is to innovate on the basis of traditional Chinese culture.

The reason why Lu Xun's novels are valued is that he has embarked on a new literary path, showing the style of Chinese society in this era by depicting the countryside and peasants.

The same is true of Shen Congwen, who, unlike Lu Xun, has love and compassion for the peasants, rather than anger and criticism.

Lu Xun received a letter of appointment from Xiamen University at this time. Prepare to leave Beiping with Xu Guangping and go to Xiamen.

He politely declined Lin Zixuan's invitation, thinking that he was not talented enough, and he was afraid that he would not be able to do it.

This is his modesty, Lu Xun's novel collection "Hesitation" is about to be published, most of the novels have been published in newspapers, and in the Chinese literary circle, he is a super-first-class writer.

Maybe it's Lin Zixuan's unease, or maybe it's the vigilance of the Western organization of the International PEN Club.

Lu Xun refused to join the China PEN Center.

in Guangzhou. The founders of the Creation Society were also faced with a choice.

In March 1926, Guo Moruo and Yu Dafu went to Guangzhou together and entered the National Guangdong University to teach. Entering the Whampoa Military Academy to do propaganda work, Yu Dafu is still teaching at the university.

Yu Dafu had no problem and agreed to join. Guo Moruo was struggling.

He didn't expect Lin Zixuan to send him an invitation, and this matter is already well known in Chinese literary circles. Many people are scrambling to join, and the opportunity is rare.

International PEN is an international organization of writers. By joining them, you can increase your impact.

However, he had already embraced Marxism at this time, and was actively applying to join the organization, and was in the stage of being examined by the organization.

Finally, he consulted the organization, and after deliberation, the organization approved Guo Moruo's request to join the China PEN Center.

The organization believes that this will help to have its own voice in the Chinese PEN Center, which cannot be monopolized by bourgeois liberal writers, and must show its energy internationally.

In this way, the members of the Creation Society joined in.

In contrast to the Creation Society, the members of the Literary Research Society are more complex, and they are divided into small groups according to their political leanings, some of whom want to be free, and some of whom are interested in social activities.

Lin Zixuan invited Zheng Zhenduo and Shen Yanbing and others.

In Lin Zixuan's mind, the China PEN Center is not his own place and back garden, but an organization that can truly reflect the group of Chinese writers in this era, and can comprehensively show the face of Chinese literature.

Therefore, when he issued invitations, he only looked at his writing talent, not his political leanings.

Because of his criticism of the Soviet Union, he and many members of the Literary Research Society had quite fierce scolding battles.

Zheng Zhenduo was willing to join, but Shen Yanbing refused.

In Beiping, the Crescent Society and the Modern Critics strongly supported Lin Zixuan, and Xu Zhimo and Wen Yiduo were among them.

In terms of female writers, Lin Zixuan invited Bing Xin, who had just returned from the UK, and Chen Hengzhe, China's first female professor.

Among the writers of the new literature, Bing Xin became famous early, and began to publish articles in 1919.

But Chen Hengzhe is even more powerful.

In 1917, she wrote her first novel "One Day" in the vernacular in the United States, which reflected the life of a freshman in an American women's college and was published in the "American Student Quarterly".

Many critics believe that this is the first vernacular novel in China, predating Lu Xun's Diary of a Madman published in 1918.

Of course, her novels can't be compared to "Diary of a Madman" in meaning.

Therefore, the Chinese literary critics still regard Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman" as China's first vernacular novel.

Chen Hengzhe's talent is not only in fiction, but also in academics, she has written works such as "History of the Renaissance" and "History of the West".

In 1943, she met with what would become Premier Zhou.

Premier Zhou said very respectfully and enthusiastically: Mr. Chen, I am your student, I have listened to your lectures and read your books.

It can be seen that she has an influence in the Chinese academic community.

In the huge Chinese literary world, it is too easy to make up 20 famous writers, even if someone refuses, they can find replacements, and many people want to join.

Lin Zixuan explained that this is only the first batch.

When PEN China recognizes the center, more members will be recruited, and everyone will have the opportunity.

The next step is to compile the biographies and works of these 20 people, translate them into English and submit them to PEN International for review, which will then be voted on at the next PEN General Assembly.

Lin Zixuan didn't think it was a big problem.

PEN International should want to expand its influence in the world, otherwise it would not have invited him to join.

These trivial things do not need to be done by Lin Zixuan himself, his subordinates will prepare everything, and he has to consider whether to set up a literary award in China and conduct an annual selection of literary works.

It's like the Luxun Literature Award and the Contradiction Literature Award in later generations. (To be continued.) )