前言
《今天文學雜誌資料檔案》是香港城市大學圖書館的重要特藏。收納了《今天文學雜誌》出版社逾30年來所收集之有關《今天文學雜誌》的手稿、初期文稿、插圖、文叢詩集、讀者書信、活動照片和錄影帶，以及80年代同期高校自辦出版的雜誌等等，資料彌足珍貴，是研究中國近代文學及詩歌，尤其是新詩發展的重要資料。
《今天文學雜誌》的地位，引述荷蘭萊頓 Leiden 大學 Maghiel van Crevel 所言：「《今天》已獲公認為中國文學史上的一個分水嶺，是中國內地文革後文學的起點。在前衛文學內，它是「朦朧詩」派的源頭 。」
於介紹北島主講美國史坦福大學人文藝術(1999年秋季)校長講座時，Ramon Myers如此述說「朦朧詩」：「在70年代的中國，有許多新興作家，為尋求嶄新的詩意，試行以密封的、半私人的語言來創作自由詩，其特色是意象、隱晦、夢魘，以及句法省略、晦澀。這語言風格，因其主語、時態、數量都難以捉摸，其轉折含糊不清，於是被稱為「朦朧詩」。」
美國詩人學會在其網頁上說：「從 1979 北京之春直到 1989 年的學生運動，新一代的詩人在中國蓬勃發展。受到西方當代詩人和現代主義意象技巧影響，朦朧派詩人挑戰毛澤東的社會現實主義藝術思想。由於他們的政治抗議和社會批判，主要是以晦澀、密封的意象和比喻去進行創作，因此被稱為朦朧派詩人。他們崇尚主觀體驗和個體主義，帶出了一個藝術表達的新時代。由北島，芒克創辦的《今天》文學期刊(1978–1980)，正是朦朧派詩人匯集創作的所在。...朦朧派詩人包括有（最著名者）北島、杨炼、舒婷、江河、顾城、多多、芒克、柏桦...」
除了世界著名詩人北島、芒克等，《今天文學雜誌》在初期也有畫家參與製作，包括艾未未和黃銳。北島自 1987 年以來，旅居世界各地。他的作品已被翻譯成30種語言，贏得無數國際獎項，並多次被提名為諾貝爾文學獎。
《今天文學雜誌》出版社及其主編北島先生，慷慨捐贈《今天》的早期檔案予香港城市大學圖書館，並囑妥為保存，本館實感任重道遠，亦感萬分榮幸，特此鳴謝。並藉此呼龥其他出版社及作家同心同力，支持文翰文物的保存，以方便其他學者研究，共同推動新創新作，以及發表和出版的自由。
《今天文學雜誌》的地位，引述荷蘭萊頓 Leiden 大學 Maghiel van Crevel 所言：「《今天》已獲公認為中國文學史上的一個分水嶺，是中國內地文革後文學的起點。在前衛文學內，它是「朦朧詩」派的源頭 。」
於介紹北島主講美國史坦福大學人文藝術(1999年秋季)校長講座時，Ramon Myers如此述說「朦朧詩」：「在70年代的中國，有許多新興作家，為尋求嶄新的詩意，試行以密封的、半私人的語言來創作自由詩，其特色是意象、隱晦、夢魘，以及句法省略、晦澀。這語言風格，因其主語、時態、數量都難以捉摸，其轉折含糊不清，於是被稱為「朦朧詩」。」
美國詩人學會在其網頁上說：「從 1979 北京之春直到 1989 年的學生運動，新一代的詩人在中國蓬勃發展。受到西方當代詩人和現代主義意象技巧影響，朦朧派詩人挑戰毛澤東的社會現實主義藝術思想。由於他們的政治抗議和社會批判，主要是以晦澀、密封的意象和比喻去進行創作，因此被稱為朦朧派詩人。他們崇尚主觀體驗和個體主義，帶出了一個藝術表達的新時代。由北島，芒克創辦的《今天》文學期刊(1978–1980)，正是朦朧派詩人匯集創作的所在。...朦朧派詩人包括有（最著名者）北島、杨炼、舒婷、江河、顾城、多多、芒克、柏桦...」
除了世界著名詩人北島、芒克等，《今天文學雜誌》在初期也有畫家參與製作，包括艾未未和黃銳。北島自 1987 年以來，旅居世界各地。他的作品已被翻譯成30種語言，贏得無數國際獎項，並多次被提名為諾貝爾文學獎。
《今天文學雜誌》出版社及其主編北島先生，慷慨捐贈《今天》的早期檔案予香港城市大學圖書館，並囑妥為保存，本館實感任重道遠，亦感萬分榮幸，特此鳴謝。並藉此呼龥其他出版社及作家同心同力，支持文翰文物的保存，以方便其他學者研究，共同推動新創新作，以及發表和出版的自由。
Preface
The Today Literary Magazine Archives, an important special collection at the City University of Hong Kong Library, is a collection of materials related to the past
30 years of the Today Literary Magazine. These materials include manuscripts,
proof-read copies, illustrations, letters from readers, photographs and videotapes of
activities, newspaper cuttings, books (collected essays and anthologies of poems)
and literary magazines self-published in the late 1970’s and early 80’s by literary
societies of institutions of higher learning in Mainland China. They are extremely
valuable and are an important source for research on modern Chinese literature and
poetry, especially on the changes and developments in modern poetry in Mainland
China.
The Today Literary Magazine, as Maghiel van Crevel of Leiden University puts it, “has gone down in history as a watershed in Chinese literary history and the starting point of post-Cultural Revolution mainland-Chinese literature. Within the avant-garde, it counts as the fountainhead of Obscure Poetry (朦朧詩),”a style of poetry now known as Misty Poetry.
Introducing Bei Dao as speaker for the (Fall 1999) Stanford University Presidential Lecture in the Humanities and Arts, Ramon Myers had this to say on Misty Poetry, “Searching for a fresh poetics, many of China’s new writers in the 70’s experimented with ‘free verse’ in a hermetic, semi-private language characterized by oblique, oneiric imagery and elliptical syntax. That linguistic style, in which subject, tense, and number are elusive and transitions are unclear, came to be called ‘menglong shi’ or ‘misty poetry’.
The American Academy of Poets states in its webpage: “From the Beijing Spring of 1979 until the student uprisings of 1989, a new generation of poets flourished in China. Influenced by contemporary Western poets and modernist imagist techniques, the Misty Poets challenged the Maoist artistic ideology of social realism. Their political protest and social commentary manifest itself largely through obscure and hermetic images and metaphors, a practice that resulted in the designation ‘Misty Poets’. Their celebration of subjective experience and individuality ushered in a new era of artistic expression. The literary journal Jintian (Today) [1978-1980], founded by Bei Dao and Mang Ke, was a nexus around which the Misty Poets congregated….. Some poets of the Misty School include: (most famously) Bei Dao, Yang Lian, Shu Ting, Jiang He, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, Mang Ke, Bo Hua…”
Other than world renowned poets like Bei Dao and Mang Ke, in the early days, painters such as Huang Rui and Ai Weiwei were also involved in the production of the Today Literary Magazine. Bei Dao has since 1987 lived in many countries around the world. His works have been translated into 30 languages. He has won numerous international awards and has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
This Archives is a generous donation by the publisher of the Today Literary Magazine and its chief editor Mr. Bei Dao who have entrusted to the City University of Hong Kong Library the safe custody of the materials for posterity. We in the Library are indeed greatly honoured and hereby put on record our deepest appreciation and gratitude to the donors. We further appeal to other publishers and writers to similarly support the preservation of literary materials, so as to facilitate research by other scholars and to jointly promote original writing and the freedoms of expression and publication.
The Today Literary Magazine, as Maghiel van Crevel of Leiden University puts it, “has gone down in history as a watershed in Chinese literary history and the starting point of post-Cultural Revolution mainland-Chinese literature. Within the avant-garde, it counts as the fountainhead of Obscure Poetry (朦朧詩),”a style of poetry now known as Misty Poetry.
Introducing Bei Dao as speaker for the (Fall 1999) Stanford University Presidential Lecture in the Humanities and Arts, Ramon Myers had this to say on Misty Poetry, “Searching for a fresh poetics, many of China’s new writers in the 70’s experimented with ‘free verse’ in a hermetic, semi-private language characterized by oblique, oneiric imagery and elliptical syntax. That linguistic style, in which subject, tense, and number are elusive and transitions are unclear, came to be called ‘menglong shi’ or ‘misty poetry’.
The American Academy of Poets states in its webpage: “From the Beijing Spring of 1979 until the student uprisings of 1989, a new generation of poets flourished in China. Influenced by contemporary Western poets and modernist imagist techniques, the Misty Poets challenged the Maoist artistic ideology of social realism. Their political protest and social commentary manifest itself largely through obscure and hermetic images and metaphors, a practice that resulted in the designation ‘Misty Poets’. Their celebration of subjective experience and individuality ushered in a new era of artistic expression. The literary journal Jintian (Today) [1978-1980], founded by Bei Dao and Mang Ke, was a nexus around which the Misty Poets congregated….. Some poets of the Misty School include: (most famously) Bei Dao, Yang Lian, Shu Ting, Jiang He, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, Mang Ke, Bo Hua…”
Other than world renowned poets like Bei Dao and Mang Ke, in the early days, painters such as Huang Rui and Ai Weiwei were also involved in the production of the Today Literary Magazine. Bei Dao has since 1987 lived in many countries around the world. His works have been translated into 30 languages. He has won numerous international awards and has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
This Archives is a generous donation by the publisher of the Today Literary Magazine and its chief editor Mr. Bei Dao who have entrusted to the City University of Hong Kong Library the safe custody of the materials for posterity. We in the Library are indeed greatly honoured and hereby put on record our deepest appreciation and gratitude to the donors. We further appeal to other publishers and writers to similarly support the preservation of literary materials, so as to facilitate research by other scholars and to jointly promote original writing and the freedoms of expression and publication.
