420 chapter twelve
Di, Shen Qi, Xi Du and Chen Jun. In “Who Is It Has Harmed Po-
etry of the Nineties” (䇕Ӹᆇњ 90 ᑈҷⱘ䆫℠, #38), critic Shen Qi
foregrounds the clamor following the publication, some months ear-
lier, of Yang Ke’s yearbook and Shen’s own “Square Accounts after
the Autumn Harvest—1998: Memorandum on the Chinese Poetry
Scene” (辛ৢᇓ䋺—1998: Ё䆫യᖬᔩ, #10), first published in
the February issue of Publication Panorama (ߎ⠜ᑓ㾦). Shen’s ostenta-
tious surprise at the full-scale conflict that has emerged is unconvinc-
ing. His “Square Accounts”—the expression usually means ‘wait until
a political movement is over to get even with someone’—is an aggres-
sive attack on Intellectual Writing, naming Xi Chuan, Wang Jiaxin
and Zhang Shuguang as its foremost perpetrators. This is how Shen
describes Intellectual Writing (p23):
The malpractice of highfalutin, lyrical poetry in a translationist lan-
guage, full of perplexing images, metaphors copied from elsewhere, ossi-
fied ideas as well as a fabricated spirit and unclear character.He says that Intellectual Writing makes him, a professional poetry
reader, “giddy in the head.” In “Who Is It,” Shen doesn’t pull his
punches either, depicting the Popular poets as victims of harm done
to poetry by the Intellectuals. Chen Jun’s “What Poetry Does Not
Relate to” (䆫℠ϡϢҔМⳌ݇, #37) is a sarcastic rejoinder to Xie
You shun’s articles, alluding to Xie’s “What Does Poetry Relate to?”
(#15), and berating him for his ignorance. Zang Di’s contribution
to Literary Theory (#40) was soon reprinted in Beijing Literature and is
included in the discussion of that journal’s special feature below. Xi
Du’s “Is Poetry Common Knowledge?” (䆫℠ᰃᐌ䆚৫?, #39) is an
excerpt from his much longer article “Thoughts on Various Issues”
(ᇍϾ䯂乬ⱘᗱ㗗, #24) in Poetry Exploration, also reviewed below.
In sum, Literary Theory canvassed the opinions of three Intellectuals and
one Popular author. To explain this imbalance, editor Liu Xiangdong
later said that he was forced to find a replacement for one of the four
originally commissioned pieces at the eleventh hour.^11
In mid-July, Jing Yi published a critical article in the widely read
Beijing Daily (࣫Ҁ᮹) entitled “The ’99 Poetry Scene: The Battle of
the School of ‘Popular Writing’ and the School of ‘Intellectual Writ-
ing’” (99䆫യ: “⇥䯈ݭ” ⌒Ϣ “ݭᄤߚⶹ䆚” ⌒Пѝ, #42).
(^11) Personal communication, November 2002.