What is the main idea of Zhu Ziqing's article about seriousness and integrity?
"seriousness" is the value standard established by the new literature camp, which is used to judge whether the interest, attitude and tendency of literary creation are appropriate, reasonable and healthy. During the May 4th Movement, critics of new literature began to use "seriousness" as the criterion for judging literary phenomena. They fought against the unhealthy trends they recognized from two fronts. First, it opposes the traditional "writing carries Tao" and thinks that "Tao" is serious, but it is the serious and rigid insistence of the old school and even pretends to be serious; The second is to oppose the tendency of "recreation" in old and new literature, because it is inhuman, negative, irresponsible and low-style. After serious work, "seriousness" has been accepted by mainstream writers and has become a weighty category. But this standard or scale is actually quite complicated, and it was not until the second half of the 1940s that it was perfectly explained. Zhu Ziqing realized the complexity of the problem and had some views on the literary situation during and after the Anti-Japanese War. He thinks more and more deeply and wants to observe this "serious" problem from multiple angles. So there was the publication of On Seriously.
The author correctly points out that since "seriousness" is a standard, it is not a fixed iron ruler, and its meaning is different in different times and among people with different ideological tendencies. In order to better understand and use it, we must grasp its evolution process from the clues of literary development. From this, Mr. Zhu patiently stated various views on "seriousness". They either form a theory or resort to practice. To sum up, there are ancient "seriousness" and modern "seriousness". In ancient times, "serious" was roughly equal to "elegance" or "elegance" to distinguish it from "vulgarity" and "evil". The orthodox ancient literati demanded that the composition should be elegant and upright, so as not to offend, care about, follow the customs and contradict the Tao.
Modern "seriousness" is more complicated and subtle. In fact, the key to the article on seriousness lies in discriminating "seriousness" in the modern sense. According to his insightful analysis, modern "seriousness" actually has two meanings and two usages. First, out of the concept of literary enlightenment, the work of instilling new ideas and new cultures into readers is recognized as a "serious" cause, as opposed to recreation; The second is to strive for literary independence. I believe that literature is literature, art, not skill. Therefore, any practice of carrying out the spirit of literary independence is "serious". The former can be said to be a new carrier, while the latter is more modern. Mr. Zhu expressed a tolerant understanding of these two ways, but he was more fond of and recognized the spirit of pursuing literary independence and literary consciousness in modern literature, because it faced life seriously and demanded self-expression and liberation.
The article "On Severity" focuses on the distinction and traceability, and clearly explains all aspects of the "severity" standard. As for what kind of "seriousness" is more reasonable and worthy of recognition, the author has hints, but he is unwilling to judge directly. In doing so, he avoided the conclusion of judging complex phenomena, which was easy to lead to arbitrariness and appeared peaceful and objective.