Watch "A university is not a building, but a master." Mei Yiqi, the old president of Tsinghua University, originally used this sentence to emphasize that the soul of a university lies in its teachers, but it was used to show that the influence of "masters" on people is also applicable. They often have a broad vision, broad mind and deep humanistic cultivation.
Therefore, Mr. Bund has opened the column of "Everybody's Study", where we will interview "everybody" who has great reputation and achievements in the literary field at home and abroad, such as novelists, poets, literary critics, etc., to share their personal reading history and reading and writing education views with us.
In the first issue of Everybody's Study, Mr. Bund visited Professor Chen Sihe, one of the most respected professors in China and the librarian of Fudan University Library. Chen Sihe stressed that reading should have different levels, from entertainment to learning to research. The key to the current reading education is to rush to skip the entertaining reading.
When it comes to the domestic humanities education, we can't escape from Fudan University. When it comes to the humanities education of Fudan University, we have to mention Professor Chen Sihe.
In 2001, Chen Sihe served as the head of the Chinese Department of Fudan University. The first fire of the "three fires of new officials" is the teaching reform of undergraduates. The series of Intensive Reading of the Original Chinese Language and Literature hosted by him emphasizes the basic courses of Chinese language and literature for students. He said that the reform of teaching was due to the fact that college students now read too little. Later, this reform idea became a model for the departments of Fudan University of Literature, History and Philosophy to learn from.
Professor Chen Sihe
Today, Chen Sihe mostly appears as the librarian of Fudan University Library. However, unlike other seniors who experienced the "Cultural Revolution", he obviously has a deeper thinking about the reading situation of the whole society.
He said that the reading environment has become better, and the challenges faced by young people are also greater. "In fact, we are not qualified to criticize the next generation."
In addition to his status as vice president, doctoral advisor and professor of the School of Humanities of Fudan University, Chen Sihe is also a literary historian and literary critic. This year, he won the 7th Lu Xun Literature Award for Criticism with Several Questions on the Study of the History of Chinese Literature in the 20th Century.
Chen Sihe frankly said that in order to do literary criticism, he had to read many books that he did not like. This is called research-based reading.
He always emphasized that reading is hierarchical, entertainment, learning and research. Different purposes lead to different reading attitudes and ways. "But the first step must be entertainment." In Chen Sihe's opinion, the key to the current reading education lies in his eagerness to push students to read for learning, which spoils students' reading interest.
Chen Sihe studied with Jia Zhifang (a famous writer and translator, who has successively served as the dean of the Chinese Department of Fudan University and the librarian of the library), engaged in Ba Jin research, and also discussed academic issues together at Ba Jin's home. Jia Zhifang and Ba Jin are two of the most important old people in his life.
Young Chen Sihe (far right) at Ba Jin's (far left) home They stand there and have an impact on him, from knowledge to cultivation, from the perspective of problem solving methods and looking at the world, which is the meaning of humanistic education.
With respect for the old professor, the Bund gentleman visited the Fudan University Liberal Arts Library in the early morning. Unexpectedly, Professor Chen Sihe has already started his busy work. Sitting on the sofa, with white hair and glasses on his face, he always has a warm smile. "You are the third group of people I met today."
As the name suggests, Chen Sihe's words are always gentle and quiet, without the fierceness of "saying nothing surprising and never ending". However, in his gentle narration, every word is perfect, and he has made some rather subtle points.
In fact, we are not qualified to criticize the next generation, because we do not read as many books as they do.
How to read? One is to share, the other is to have good guidance.
Reading has two functions, one is learning, the other is entertainment. The first step is always entertainment.
Being eager to push students to read for learning is the key to the current problem of reading education.
"I think reading has changed me" is a lie. The most important thing is to have a good teacher. Secondly, read a batch of good books. Third, we should have our best friends to promote mutual progress.
The following is the transcript of the conversation between Mr. Bund and Professor Chen Sihe.
B=Bund Jun C=Chen Sihe
We have no right to criticize the next generation
B: Do you think there are problems with students' reading? Did you encounter these problems when you were young?
C: I had more problems when I was young. We always criticize the current reading situation, not reading classics, not reading paper texts, etc. This criticism is based on today's very good reading environment. In fact, they all say, "You have such a good reading environment, but you don't read well."
Some people who criticize and criticize young people for not reading are actually beautifying themselves, because our generation reads far less books, has less vision and knowledge than today's young people.
If you are interested in doing this research, go to see our generation print out the reading list of the past youth. If you look at it together, the total number is about one or two hundred, which is what we are talking about today's enduring world classics, as well as some biographies of politicians. Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection and Anna Karenina, Alexandre Dumas Minor's La Traviata, Alexandre Dumas Major's The Count of Monte Cristo.
People who love reading will always find ways to read, but the problem is that we actually read very little. We only read a few books in total. Instead, we think that the young people have not read them now. I read 100 or 200 books, and I am great. But now, there are too many books. Maybe you have read 2000 books today, and people still think you haven't worked hard enough, because you obviously have 20000 books to read. That's the concept. So I think we are not qualified to criticize the next generation.
B: What was the atmosphere of reading when you were young?
C: In 1977, when I was admitted to the Chinese Department of Fudan University, the reference room of our Chinese Department had a set of "The Book of Gratitude and Vengeance of Monte Cristo". The teachers in the reference room wouldn't let us see it. They locked the book in the bookcase, and the key was kept by a specially assigned person. He would also say, "Why don't you read so many good books? Why do you read this?" The same is true.
Later, in the mid-1980s, Zhejiang Publishing House published an American popular novel Gone with the Wind, which actually existed before liberation. Zhejiang Publishing House built a building with the money from publishing this book. Think about the popularity at that time. But they were criticized at that time. How can they publish such vulgar books? What does Gone with the Wind talk about? Gone with the Wind.
So the status of reading is different from that of today. At that time, you could not read this or that, but we had to read it. The more you don't have it, the more you want to win it, and the more you cherish it when you win it. There are too many now. It's like eating. When there is nothing to eat, a sweet potato is delicious. Do you want to eat this now? Don't eat, there are better things. It probably means that.
B: Did you have some ways to read at that time?
C: We borrowed all the books at that time, so we read them very quickly. Young, passionate and active. In terms of methods, one is to share, the other is to have good guidance.
At that time, we didn't read alone. Whenever there were books, there must be many people moving around. If no one organized, we would form a reading group. It's either a group or a circle, just like the WeChat group in our mobile phones. We would have discussed with each other after reading, which gradually formed a good atmosphere of reading.
Reading must be shared. You can't enjoy yourself. Professional books are available (read by yourself). If they can be read by the general public, they need to be shared.
I moved from Yangpu District to Luwan District when I was 16 years old. I often stayed in Luwan District Library and got familiar with their administrators and the political propaganda team (now called the Publicity Department). At that time, I was 19 years old and still had no job. They saw me hanging around in the library all day and said they would let me help in the library. In this way, I participated in the work of their Luwan District Library Publicity Group.
At that time, I compiled a book review magazine called "Working in the Library" and got to know many people who love reading. Later, the library organized a reading group, which is a serious criticism group. It reviews books and has regular discussions.
Most of the members of the group are workers, so the knowledge reserve is not enough. The library began to invite teachers from Fudan University and East China Normal University (now the predecessor of East China Normal University and Shanghai Normal University) to give us guidance, which entered a more formal education system.
B: When did you start writing articles?
C: It was also in the Luwan District Library. In fact, it really affected my future. Although Luwan District Library is a district library, its infrastructure is very good and there are many books. I have read the original edition of the full set of New Youth, as well as many publications during the Republic of China. So I read a lot of books there.
The second one is that there are many old people in the library. Because they were persecuted in the "Cultural Revolution", they were sent to the library. They are all knowledgeable people. At that time, I was in my early 20s, working with an old man named Huang. He guided me to do a research on the poetry of Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. Later, I entered Fudan and wrote Liu Yuxi's poetry in the first semester of the literary history exam. Our teacher sent it to the Fudan Journal, which was the first time I published an article.
So it was very important to receive these edifications at that time. It's just a little accumulation. It's all a harvest.
Reading should have levels, entertainment, learning and research
B: Do you think reading is a happy thing?
C: I think there are two kinds of reading, one is learning, the other is entertainment.
At the beginning, we must read for entertainment. We like reading and share your feelings with others. This is totally entertainment. We can hold a free attitude towards this.
Another is to learn. Reading is not for pleasure, but for improvement. This kind of reading requires education, expert guidance and some reference books.
Another is to learn through entertainment. This part of reading is not necessarily happy, but will gradually separate from entertainment, which is called alienation in philosophical terms. Originally I read for happiness, but later I read for reading.
As I am now a critic, I have to read many ugly books. Or there is a popular theory outside. I can't help but understand it and have to read it. In fact, it is a very painful thing. But it still depends, because it is work.
So I think the first step of reading is always entertainment. Without entertainment, improvement is impossible. As for whether to take the second step or not, it depends on yourself.
B: From reading should naturally lead to writing, what about this step?
C: Writing is another alienation, which turns reading into a task and has a purpose. That is to say, if I want to write an article about XXX, I can't read only one book of him. I need to read all the books around him. For example, when I study Ba Jin, I have to read all the books related to Ba Jin's thoughts. I have to read all the books related to Russian populism, the French Revolution, etc., which belongs to research.
B: What stage should students be at when they read?
C: I didn't feel much about primary and secondary schools. I started the "Cultural Revolution" in the sixth grade of my primary school. I didn't study in middle school, and then I went straight to college. I don't know about the current primary and secondary schools. Middle schools violate the principle that "reading should start from happiness". Once they enter middle school, they will let readers (that is, children) enter a state of reading for learning too early.
I have always said that reading should be hierarchical. Reading in order to learn is to improve, to understand from scratch, and to be guided by teachers, which is beneficial. At the age of 15 or 16, people certainly need to improve. If they don't improve at this time, they will never be able to improve, but happiness will also be lost. There may be some people who are particularly fond of reading will get pleasure and joy in the reading task assigned by the teacher, but most will not.
Of course, I still think that whether the composition is good or not has something to do with reading more or less. This does not mean that if you read a lot of works of urban literature, and then just get the relevant content in the exam, you will be able to use it. That's not what I mean. Reading is an overall cultivation, and more importantly, it enriches your soul. Because our life is limited after all, reading can supplement the simple experience of children's growth with others' experience.
B: Do you have this experience yourself?
C: After I went to college, I went to Freud. I didn't do research purposefully, but I read a book about human desire written by Freud. What was the expression of human desire before I was two years old? How to express it before the age of three? What about 15? I think about myself seriously. When I thought about it, everything was in line with me, and he was reasonable. In fact, I would never have thought about these problems, but his statement made me realize some problems that I didn't pay attention to when I was young.
A book is actually a mirror. The mirror reflects the visible place, while reading reflects the invisible place. Many changes in human nature, complexity of human nature, and even the dark side will be understood through reading. Oh, so I'm the kind of person. If I think so, you will know what is good, what should not, and what needs restraint.
So you see, why are people who read too much easy to restrain and tolerate? People who read less are prone to hair trigger. His "hair trigger" is instinctive. He is controlled by human nature. When he is angry, his heart will burst out.
But once I had the experience of reading, when I was unhappy, I would interpret myself and understand why I was like this: I was jealous? Did this hurt me? Even if it is unconscious, it can be adjusted in its own ideological system, and cultivation will become better.
Chen Sihe is allocating Sui for Fudan graduates, photographed by Liu Ying, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency Limiting too much will ruin your interest in reading
B: Many children don't like reading now. What's your suggestion?
C: Look at his own interests.
One always has his own interests. In the past, when we couldn't learn English well, our English teacher would read us English popular novels, and we became interested. In this way, your English level will be improved when you read books you are interested in. But what if we read Shakespeare at the beginning? In fact, it will backfire.
So I said that we should not limit what we should read and what we should not read. If a person who is not interested in reading can find an instinct that appeals to him, let him read it. When he gradually matures, he will naturally abandon the previous ones and go to a higher level.
On the contrary, if you limit yourself to read this and that at the beginning, the child will certainly have resistance. The interest in reading cannot be corrupted. Many of us are not interested in reading now, which is also related to the current inappropriate education.
B: What's your opinion on e-reading?
C: I never oppose any reading carrier. Nowadays, many people place too much emphasis on paper reading. Although I am the library director and I am in charge of books, I think that the interest in reading should not be restricted by an external force. I should read as I feel comfortable.
We want to see that electronics are really convenient. In the past, we took a thick book on business trips. Now we take a thin reader with everything in it. Also, when I talked about a place in class, students could answer it immediately by checking on the Internet. I have been talking about this problem in our library all the time. Don't be "Old Lady Jiujin". It seems that "the world is not ancient". People who don't read paper books seem to have committed a big crime.
For example, in ancient times, in order to let others read the classics, they would be carved on stones, which were copied by scholars all over the world. There is still a stone tablet on Mount Tai today, which people copied on bamboo pieces from the stone tablet, and then there was paper.
When there was paper, everyone stopped copying books. If there was a decent scholar in that era, he must be the same as those who maintain paper reading and criticize electronic reading. He must start to talk about "people's hearts are not ancient". Our classics should be immortal. How can you defile them like this? Now no one studies this problem carefully, and a lot of history has not been left, but I think it must be so. But in fact, the paper must be better than the stone tablet, otherwise today's libraries are all graves, all stone tablets.
Now that we have a computer and a mobile phone, it must be more convenient than paper books. We readers sometimes like to set up many obstacles for our own reading, and then think we are great, but this is unreasonable.
B: Some people say that classics are either read in the original or not read. What do you think?
C: It depends on whether you want to be happy, study or research. These three are different. If you just want to read happily, you can do them all. In the past, there was no punctuation. Now, there is punctuation. Of course, punctuation is comfortable to read. If it is for learning, at least a complete version is required. If you are a research reader, you should not only find good versions, but also read all kinds of versions.
Fudan University Chinese Language and Literature Classic Intensive Reading Series
B: After you became the head of Fudan Chinese Department, you made the reform of the original intensive reading course. Why?
C: When I was giving lectures to students, I always talked about the relatively academic content. Later, I found that students could not understand it. There was less and less echo between them and my lectures. In fact, students did not read a few books before entering the university.
I am now a student of the Chinese Department. It is very difficult to listen to literary history and literature introduction without reading some classic books of the Chinese Department. In this case, I put forward that all the first grade classes should be let out to read the classics. The classics here refer to those books that cannot be circumvented by the Chinese Department. At that time, we selected 20 kinds of books.
Moreover, not all students have to read the 20 categories. For example, "The Analects of Confucius" and "Zhuangzi" can choose one from the other, and "Historical Records" and "Shishuoxinyu" can also choose one from the other. If you like, you can read both. One has credits and the other has no credits. You can read according to your own interests.
B: What is the significance of humanistic education in today's social context?
C: Humanistic education nourishes people throughout their lives. It melts into your cultivation, your behavior, and your way of dealing with things. I can see that I just think this person is excellent. As for why, people will ask, who has influenced you? In fact, the impact is invisible, completely natural.
Chen Sihe (left) and teacher Jia Zhifang (right) B: Does your teacher Jia Zhifang have the same influence on you?
C: Mr. Jia Zhifang's influence on me is not just reading. His standing there has an impact on me. Working with him, getting along with him, and watching him deal with things will affect me. The same is true of Mr. Ba Jin. The real impact is not a typical event, it is unclear. Who told you that "I think reading has changed me" is actually bluffing. The so-called influence is complete. It is not something that can be dug out one by one.
I used to do counseling in middle school. At that time, I said that the most important thing was to have a good teacher, a teacher who could serve as an example, and secondly, to read a batch of good books. Third, we should have a group of best friends to promote mutual progress. This is the healthiest middle school life.
(Statement: This article only represents the author's view, not Sina.com's position.)
