Former Residence
Fang Lingru's former residence, which was built in the 194s and belongs to a western-style garden villa, is located at No.3 Baile Bridge in Lingyin. Ba Jin, a leading literary figure, often talks with Fang Lingru in this quiet courtyard.
The former residence was built by the water, and people crossed the stream. There is a gurgling stream outside the courtyard, and there are lush flowers and trees in the courtyard. There is a tall ginkgo tree on the right and a stout phoenix tree on the left. In the middle of the small courtyard is a bungalow villa with brick and wood structure, with a construction area of about 2 square meters. Half of the round rooms protrude from the courtyard, with ventilation on three sides and good lighting. The villa faces south, facing the mountains and waters, with beautiful scenery.
In Qingdao
In the literature of Qing Dynasty, scholars in Tongcheng, Anhui Province formed the Tongcheng School, which mainly advocated ancient prose. Fang Lingru, a famous modern female writer, was born in Fang's scholarly family in Tongcheng, Anhui Province, and was also a family full of feudal ethics. At the age of 3, she was betrothed to someone according to her parents' orders and got married at the age of 16.
under the influence of the may 4th movement, Fang Lingru broke out of the prison and went to the United States to study and receive western education. After returning to China, she deeply loved new literature and wrote poems and essays. Most of her poems were published in Crescent magazine, and she was called the representative female poet of Crescent School. Her nephew, Fang Weide, is a talented new poet who became famous as a teenager. My nephew Zong Baihua is a philosopher and a writer. They were only eight years younger than Fang Lingru, so they had a great influence on Fang Lingru, had frequent contacts and discussed new poems. Fang Weide was also a crescent poet.
In p>193, when the National Qingdao University was founded, President Yang Zhensheng recruited teachers extensively. On the recommendation of Deng Zhongcun, Fang Lingru was hired as a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Literature, and she came to Qingdao for the first time. The school building of Qingdao University is the Bismarck Barracks built by the former Germans. The No.7 building was originally an officer's barracks, and the school was used as a dormitory for girls. There were single female faculty members living upstairs (Cai Yuanpei's family once lived during the preparation period). Also living here are the school library staff Li Yunhe (Jiang Qing) and Zhang Zhaohe (Shen Congwen's fiancee). Li Yunhe is also an auditor in the Department of Chinese Literature. He and Fang Lingru are colleagues, neighbors and teachers and students.
Wen Yiduo is the head of the Chinese Department, and Chen Mengjia is his teaching assistant. Liang Shiqiu wrote about Fang Lingru: "She is quite lonely, and she doesn't like to associate with people except a few friends she can talk to. She often wears a black cheongsam without makeup. When she lives alone, or walks alone outside, she always carries a hint of sadness. ..... I don't want to talk about family matters. When I talk about the Fang family in Tongcheng, her face turns red, and it is impossible to talk about it anymore. "
Wen Yiduo is the first of the "few friends who can talk with each other". After Wen Yiduo moved from Wendeng Road to Yindao Road (now Hongdao Road) in 1931, Fang Lingru often appeared in the middle of books. Liang Shiqiu, Wen Yiduo and Yang Zhensheng called themselves "Eight Immortals in Wine" and "Eight Immortals in Wine". Wen Yiduo invited Fang Lingru every time to "make up the number of eight immortals". In fact, Fang Lingru is not good at drinking, and others don't force her. It is to get rid of her loneliness.
Both Fang Weide and Chen Mengjia were students of Wen Yiduo. They came to Qingdao in 1931 and met with Fang Lingru, the "nine aunts", the teacher Wen Yiduo and Chen Mengjia, the schoolmate. Everyone was in high spirits. Those days were rare happy times for Fang Lingru. Fang Weide called Fang Lingru "Jiugu", so did Chen Mengjia, and colleagues of Qingdao University also called her "Jiugu". Ba Jin said in the article "Remembering Sister Fang Lingru": "Most acquaintances call her Jiugu. Jin Yi also called her that. " Ba Jin and others called her "Jiugu", and Liang Shiqiu said: "Everyone followed her and called her" Jiugu ",which is the official name, regardless of the number of generations."
Fang Lingru is in Qingdao. Besides teaching, he is engaged in writing, poetry and prose. Her collection of essays is entitled "Home". Behind the university building is Qingdao Mountain. In the past, there were gurgling springs (now the middle site of Haida University) and formed streams. Fang Lingru wrote in the poem Lingqi:
One night I rode in the dim starlight, and
I walked up the familiar mountain road alone.
The spring water is still hugging the mountain, and
The white dew has soaked my grass shoes.
Fang Lingru talked with Wen Yiduo and Chen Mengjia about setting up a journal where poems can be published besides New Moon. For this reason, Chen Mengjia went to Shanghai and talked to Xu Zhimo about his nine aunts' opinions. Xu Zhimo was very happy. He immediately organized and made contributions everywhere, and he took the lead in writing a song "Inspiration of Love", which wrote: "I am like a cloud, a pure white cloud, with no weight at all, and the sunshine hugs me."
The newly published magazine of Crescent Society is called Poetry Magazine, which published its inaugural issue in January 1931. It has a poem by Fang Lingru:
Love, just treat me as a stone,
Don't give it to me again,
The tenderness of lilies,
the heat of incense, and
the tears flowing along the long river.
Chen Mengjia commented: "This is the sound of a quiet river of life. She has such a serious look. This simple impression sketch is an unseen masterpiece." Fang Lingru's two years in Qingdao University established her position in the poetry circle.
Xu Zhimo was killed in a plane crash in Jinan. Fang Lingru was very sad. She wrote the article "Zhimo is everyone's friend": "What could be more tragic than this news? It's really like being in a lost dream. I don't believe Zhimo will suddenly lose it like this! Whether he melts in the sky or breaks on a rock, only he knows the scene. Alas! He went with all the pain of human beings! "
Over the past few years, she has corresponded with Xu Zhimo for many times, in which she exchanged views on China's new poems. These letters were collected and published, and their names were called Letters.
Fang Lingru's sense of loneliness also lies in the students of Chinese literature department in the university at that time, who were keen on exegesis, phonology, Chuci and Tang poetry. Cang Kejia was the only one who wrote new poems and was regarded as an "alternative".
In p>1932, the year after the September 18th Incident, the students of Qingdao University went on a school-wide strike for the third time within two years of its establishment. "Fang Lingru, like many intellectuals with a sense of national justice and patriotism, was worried and indignant about it, coupled with the rush for a living, and soon became depressed and became ill, suffering from hyperthyroidism. She had to leave Qingdao because she was very ill. " (Fang Lingru Biography by Deng Ming)
After liberation, Fang Lingru became the chairman of Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and was also the only female provincial-level chairman of the Federation. It is worth noting that Wang Yaping, Secretary General of the All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Shu Qun, Deputy Secretary General, Yu Heiding, Chairman of Henan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Liu Fangsong, Chairman of Anhui Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Lao She, Chairman of Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Wang Lin, Vice Chairman of Tianjin Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Xu Zhongyu, Chairman of Shanghai Writers Association, and Cai Tianxin, Chairman of Shenyang Federation of Literary and Art Circles all lived in Qingdao in the 193s. Lao She is a professor of Shandong University, and Wang Lin, Xu Zhongyu and Cai Tianxin are all students of Qingdao University.
Fang Lingru was "overthrown" during the Cultural Revolution, and then she was transferred to the May 7th Cadre School. In 1973, Xu Changtai, a party introducer from Fang Lingru, visited her. She quietly said to Xu Changtai, "I have taught many good people and bad guys all my life. Jiang Qing was a student when I was teaching at Qingdao University. ..... Maybe Jiang Qing did this to me because I had some scandals about her. My personal inhuman treatment is small, but it is a big deal for the party and the country to suffer. "
Excerpts from Letters
Chapter 5
The messengers of autumn have come these days. Whose tears are the drizzle like? Sunlight leaked from the clouds this morning, and the color was pale. The sound of waterwheels and piccolo in the street showed a depressed mood, and my heart was desolate. I sigh the passing of summer. Summer sometimes burns my heart and forgets the cold silence of life.
Man, I don't want a young man in high spirits to suffer from a little illness. I pity. If I can find a flower in this desert, I would like to dedicate it to this suffering person.
I neglected to write to you these days because I was greedy for reading Flauberts Madame Bovary. This is a famous book and an unfortunate story. What I admire is the author's art. He connects the plot of the book with a clever clue, like a string of pearls and beads with different colors, but it is orderly and colorful when mentioned. I closed the book at night when I couldn't keep my eyes open, and fell asleep with the sadness in the book. In the morning, I sat up and read in the light of fish white. Today, I finished reading. This kind of nervous heart, like Qiu Chan, disappeared in the green leaves with an end. But this relaxed mood makes me feel extremely tasteless.
I find that life cannot be leisurely, busy and complicated. A small garden, raising flowers and feeding birds, is not enough for people of our generation. There is no creation and joy, so the words "Creatioll and Recreation" are woven together with people's lives, and they all teach that life is flawed. I often suffer from this thought, and often come into conflict with the environment ... In the evening, I walked up to the high platform behind the garden alone, silently watching the crimson sunset glow, lying behind a clump of black trees, the level of the river was so quiet that there were no fine lines, and the leaves sighed softly in my ear. Under the stage, there came the voice of people. I didn't care what they said, but the voice was too heavy, like a person walking on a gravel road, without rhythm or change. I couldn't bear it and left.
oddly enough, I can stand extremely complicated and strong voices, but I can't stand the monotony. Once I was in a big city for the New Year, and I walked into the theater on New Year's Eve. People were so crowded that I couldn't breathe. They play trumpets, flutes and various musical instruments, regardless of age. They want to make the space full of noise, as if this noise can seize the time. I am sitting in a corner, and my psychology is completely different from theirs. I am more awake and lonely than usual. Listening to their voices is like being in another world. Those fat, black, long and short players are dancing, laughing and singing on the stage; But in my opinion, they are all puppets made of silk, and there is an invisible thread on their heads and limbs pulling them there ── pitifully and tamely passive! I believe that their hearts must be as cold as mine. Also, a few years ago, I fell ill and slept in the hospital. My room was on the sixth floor, and a new house was being built outside the window. The masons used machines to pick up soil, and the sharp sounds crowded into my heart. I cried at dawn every day, and I hated the annoying monotony.
I feel the same way about life.
speaking of life, it is an insoluble mystery! We love it, but we hate it. Why do we love it and why do we hate it? I remember Stevenson said: We go to the theatre to explain life in various meanings until we are bored; We can use all the terms of philosophy in the world to discuss it, but one fact is always true-that is, we don't love life, in this sense, we are too worried about the preservation of life-and then simply we don't love life, just exist.
Yes, we don't love the inherent life, but the fun of living. I think the fun of living is due to vitality. A philosopher explained life and said: Life is a permanent possibility of sensation. Naturally, we love life not for this superficial sense of pleasure, but for this vitality to drive us to create and bravely cross the difficult danger, it is life, and there is no interest! A dull life is like a pool of turbid water, stale and disgraceful.
On the evening of August 23rd
(from Letter, Cultural Life Society, 1945)