Is the writing of the 80s generation finally coming to an end? What kind of "dry aesthetics" does "Landscape of Waves" have

"In the history of literature, writing by the post-80s generation has become a phenomenon, but specific works are rarely discussed. After the publication of" The Landscape of Waves ", I feel that our generation may finally have" passed the exam ". This was the evaluation of Professor Jin Li from the Chinese Department of Fudan University at the" Scenery and Memory at the Turn of the Century "and" The Landscape of Waves "seminar organized by the Center for Contemporary Chinese Literature Creation and Research at Fudan University.".

The collection of novellas titled "Landscape of Waves" published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House includes three novellas written by Zhou Jianing since 2019, namely "Goodbye to the Eclipse", "Landscape of Waves", and "Tomorrow's Party". Starting from the themes of "Genius Girls", underground clothing, and radio culture, with a solid and restrained narrative, it outlines the inner thoughts of the young generation growing up in the context of globalization. In the past year of publication, "The Landscape of Waves" has been reprinted three times and has recently been selected for the "Migration Plan from Literature to Film and Television" in collaboration with the "New Era Literature Climbing Plan" of the Pingyao Film Festival and the China Writers Association.

Photo taken by Shi Chenlu at the seminar on "The Landscape of Waves"

In the view of Yue Wen, the deputy editor in chief of Literature and Art Daily, "The Landscape of Waves" is a work that is somewhat "picky" for readers. "It cannot be accessed at any time and requires an opportunity.". The plot of this work is not strong, but it is very gripping. Once you read it, the people and things around you seem to have exited. Yue Wen also found that Zhou Jianing intentionally or unintentionally uses "dryness" to name each moment in his novels, creating a unique "dryness aesthetics". "The characters in the novel have the courage to do nothing, the courage to achieve nothing, and a loose yet consistent sense of community. In a damp place like Shanghai, when Zhou Jianing named these times and scenes' dry ', it contained some kind of imagination about life and herself."

"My friends and I were once in a tropical storm in the 1990s. I rode my bike with my friends and rushed straight into the water, vigorously stepping on the pedals. Then, we arrived together in the dry next century." In 2020, when "The Landscape of Waves" was first published, Zhou Jianing used the word "dry" in his creative talk. Zhang Dinghao, deputy editor in chief of Shanghai Culture, said that youth novels are not a derogatory term. "The Landscape of Waves" is a youth that everyone has experienced, and it is a "good youth novel". He remembered Hemingway's short story "A Clean and Bright Place", and youth is like this "a clean and bright place.". In novels, the past that has been cleared and reflected upon is more touching than daily life. Zhou Jianing has always been committed to writing clean and bright places, and at the same time, the use of the first person in novels effectively breaks the boundary between fiction and non fiction.

Huang Ping, a professor at the Chinese Department of East China Normal University, believes that as a representative writer of youth literature, Zhou Jianing's novels have reached an increasingly balanced state, providing a new "sensory school" of the new century. "This feeling has historical and ideological significance, but ultimately it is literary in nature."

Zeng Pan, the deputy editor in chief of Southern Literature, said that only with wind can there be waves. Wind is the trend of the times and also a personal style, while waves are a process of shaping, shaping new structures and forms. He also reminded to be vigilant against excessive nostalgia.

Huang Dehai, deputy editor in chief of Sinan Literature Selection, frankly stated that the "turn of the century" in "The Landscape of Waves" is still somewhat thin. "In our personal experience, even during the most critical period of growth for Zhou Jianing's generation, besides those things that have had a close relationship with our lives, there are many things that have been filtered and ignored in our memories. What are they? Is it possible for them to enter future novels? When we constantly look back on this memory, what can we discover from it? This may be a problem that Zhou Jianing's novels will have to face in the future."

"Landscape is very important, but I still believe that a true author, a true member of this era, should enter the center of the storm, become the storm itself, and become the core of the landscape." Shanghai Culture editor Mu Ye quoted a poem from "Using a oar to stir the ocean", "The sea is incredibly vast. Shanghai is the sea, China is the sea, the Earth is the sea, and the universe is the ocean. How does a oar stir the sea? The author needs to insight into the ocean, world, and era that will be stirred by you, so as to give birth to more magnificent literature."

Zhou Jianing's own definition of "The Landscape of Waves" is an archaeology of the early 21st century. "Only when life experience reaches a cumulative level, can a person turn back and return to the archaeological level of a certain period of time. Zhou Jianing used to write about youth, but when you write about youth when you are young, it is very different from when you are no longer young. The reason is that there is a cumulative level. It is not only the archaeology of personal experience, but also connected to the times, society, and urban changes." Zhang Xinxin, a professor of the Chinese Department at Fudan University, mentioned that the participants of this seminar are mostly Zhou Jianing's contemporaries, and even younger generations of commentators, such as Wu Tianzhou, a postdoctoral fellow in the History Department of Fudan University, and a doctoral student in the Chinese Department of Fudan University. Li Qi, "There are similarities and differences in everyone's life experiences. The interweaving of similarities and differences may allow us to have a deeper and more profound understanding of the work 'Landscape of Waves'."