The Whisper of the Attic People (Intellectual Memory from "Reading")

Author: Shen Changwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: The Words from the Attic is divided into two parts. The first part is Shen Changwen's self-narrative titled "Emerging from Incompetence." It is insightful, revealing a publishing attitude of an editor. Wang Meng, in the preface to this book, points out that Readers is what it is mainly because the editors emphasized the "Three Nos": Incompetence, Inaction, and Selflessness. I believe this is not only a publishing attitude but also a life philosophy and the spirit of Taoism. Shen Changwen's self-narrative actually embodies the "Three Nos" spirit in the publishing journey of Readers. Throughout the narrative, he discusses people and events, nearly mentioning everyone related to Readers. This includes the founding members of Readers, such as Chen Hanbo, Chen Yuan, Shi Mei, and Ding Cong, as well as the main contributors like Lu Shuxiang, Jin Kemu, Huang Chang, Zhang Zhongxing, Feng Yidai, Xin Fengnian, and Zhao Yifan. He also writes about several editors of the Readers editorial department, whom Shen respectfully calls "crazy men and women on the attic." What surprises one is that among the three female editors, one is a worker (a painter), another is a "worker-peasant-soldier university student," and the talented woman Zhao Liya (Yang Zhishui), who has long been renowned among a few outstanding readers, was actually a truck driver before joining the Readers editorial department. Shen Changwen only mentions himself in the last section of the "self-narrative," and even then, he describes himself as modest and "incompetent," which is also an of the "Selflessness" spirit.