A widower's entertainment

Chapter 315 [Foreshadowing in The Reader] (Please subscribe)
"In the blink of an eye, all of this has become a thing of the past ten years. In the first few years after Yang Ju's death, those old questions kept tormenting me, such as whether I had rejected and betrayed her, whether I still owed her something, whether I was guilty—because I had loved her, whether I had to declare that I was breaking off my relationship with her or get rid of her."

"Sometimes I ask myself if I am responsible for her death. Sometimes I am very angry with her, angry at the harm she caused me, until that anger becomes weak and powerless, until those questions become unimportant. What I did and what I didn't do, what harm she caused me—these have become my life."

......"

When Ba Jin arrived in Shanghai, he was reading Lin Youcheng's "The Reader" in People's Literature. He was deeply moved by the ending of the story.

As Buffett pondered the story, he murmured, "This is true repentance."

Upon hearing Ba Jin's words, Li Huajun, the deputy editor-in-chief, nodded and said, "Yes, an unbelievable life of repentance. His novel is truly no less impressive than his previous work, 'Atonement'."

Ba Jin didn't say anything about what the deputy editor Li Huajun said. He was just thinking about the novel "The Reader" and said with emotion, "Kafka was right. A book must be an axe to break through the frozen ocean in our hearts."

Clearly, in Ba Jin's view, Lin Youcheng's "The Reader" is such an axe, and so is "Atonement".

As he pondered this, Ba Jin said, "I plan to write an article about his book, 'The Reader'."

Li Huajun was not surprised to hear Ba Jin's words. Ba Jin had previously written a review praising Lin Youcheng's work, and said with a look of agreement, "His novel is worth reading."

Ba Jin put down the magazine *People's Literature*, deeply moved. He felt a surge of thoughts about *The Reader* welling up within him, and began to write: "Great love stories in world classics are always inseparable from wonder, fantasy, possession, infidelity, endless failures, and an unstoppable yearning for eternity. *The Reader* begins with the fifteen-year-old protagonist touching his lover's body and ends decades later with his farewell to his suicidal lover. The novel ultimately ends with death."

"The female protagonist doesn't want to reintegrate into society, at which point the male protagonist, who has been estranged for many years, realizes he has an unbreakable connection with her. He remains silent during the trial, refusing to reveal the truth to secure Yang Ju's freedom. Lin Youcheng doesn't point out whether the male protagonist Jiang Xia's actions were right or wrong, nor does he address whether admitting to an irreparable lifelong lie constitutes respecting someone's right to control their destiny..."

Just as Ba Jin published an article in the Shanghai Literature Journal praising Lin Youcheng's novel "The Reader," this once again promoted Lin Youcheng's latest novel.

Similarly, just as Ba Jin discussed and evaluated not only the love story in the novel, but also dignity and human autonomy over destiny, as well as the judgment of the mediocre, illiterate, and ignorant in war. These in-depth discussions made the novel "The Reader" even more popular and sought after by the literary world.

The mainstream literary world has always placed more emphasis on the connotation of literary works, that is, their literary quality.

Literary critics believe that Lin Youcheng's abandonment of technique in his novel "The Reader" gives the work a more lasting meaning than political education. Although it seems to describe a story about love and sex, followed by the betrayal and death of love, it is far more than that.

Compared to literary critics' discussions about the literary merits, readers are more impressed by the story's brilliance and the clash of love, and the poets are no exception.

In a courtyard house in Xinghua Hutong, poet Cha Haisheng was still enthusiastically sharing his feelings about the novel "The Reader" with Lin Youcheng and others.

Lin Youcheng, Wang Xiaobo, Xie Shuhua, Cheng Hong, and Yu Hua were sitting in the courtyard. Fruits and tea were also placed on a small table under the pomegranate tree to serve them.

Cha Haisheng looked at Lin Youcheng with admiration and said, "Brother Lin, you really wrote a wonderful book called 'The Reader'."

"Your portrayal of the character Yang Ju is absolutely brilliant!"

Cha Haisheng's eyes were full of excitement, clearly showing that he really liked Lin Youcheng's novel and also liked the character Yang Ju. He said, "Yang Ju's choice to commit suicide in the end must have been because she was completely disappointed in her love for Jiang Xia."

When Lin Youcheng heard Cha Haisheng mention that Yang Ju ultimately chose to commit suicide, he raised an eyebrow and, seeing the excitement in Cha Haisheng's eyes, said, "Different people will have different opinions. Perhaps after she learned to read, she realized the torment she felt for killing those comrades and wanted to atone for her sins. Perhaps she was desperate because she never received a reply from Jiang Xia."

Cha Haisheng nodded and said, "I think it's because Jiang Xia hasn't replied yet."

Xie Shuhua thought the same way, and in the end, she lost hope in her love for Jiang Xia.

Wang Xiaobo, on the other side, nodded upon hearing Cha Haisheng's words and said, "That's a big reason. No matter what the reason, it's really unexpected that Yang Ju chose to commit suicide, especially since she was about to be released from prison."

"Yang Ju's choice to commit suicide was actually a sign that she had broken down."

According to Cha Hai-sheng, Yang Ju was driven to despair and suicide by Jiang Xia's ruthlessness. He said, "At first, Yang Ju was very happy and excited to receive Jiang Xia's tape. For a middle-aged woman who had spent several years in prison living a life of isolation without friends or relatives, Jiang Xia's tape was a ray of sunshine in Yang Ju's gray life. It brought the power of old love and made her start to study hard to learn to read. However, she never received a reply to the many letters she wrote to Jiang Xia. From then on, she began to give up on herself."

"Later, Jiang Xia visited her in prison. Yang Ju trembled and reached out to hold Jiang Xia's hand. After a while, Jiang Xia reached out his hand, but after a brief touch, he withdrew and refused to have any further contact with her. Jiang Xia even questioned her about her past work in the detention center after so many years of imprisonment. At this point, she was completely desperate. Her will to live had been worn away during her years in prison. The love from Jiang Xia that had once supported and encouraged her was just her own wishful thinking. Jiang Xia had arranged her life very well, but he had not arranged for her future. Their love was long gone. For an old woman, she had no reason to live. Even the last bit of warmth hidden in her heart was shattered by Jiang Xia's prison visit. She could only end her life peacefully after collapsing."

Hearing Cha Haisheng's words, Wang Xiaobo nodded and said, "That's right. When Yang Ju first received Jiang Xia's tape, she was surprised and flustered, then she was expectant and tender. This emotion reached its climax when Jiang Xia read Chekhov's 'The Woman with the Dog.' I think there is a deeper meaning behind your choice of 'The Woman with the Dog.'"

Lin Youcheng smiled, of course there was a reason.

In fact, the most unique part of the novel "The Reader" is that when Jiang Xia and Yang Ju are studying in bed, Jiang Xia always reads aloud to Yang Ju first. Naturally, the novel will also involve the texts that Jiang Xia read aloud.

The selection of textbooks naturally needs to be adapted, since the works mentioned in the original novel "The Reader" are quite different, mostly foreign works. However, during that special period, there were not many translations of Chinese literature, and more domestic literary works were available.

Therefore, Lin Youcheng naturally selectively wrote Zhou Shuren's "Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk", Shen Congwen's "Border Town", and Zhang Ailing's works, as well as other excellent foreign literary translations of that period, such as Guo Moruo's translation of "The Sorrows of Young Werther", Cao Ying's translation of Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece "War and Peace", and Zhang Ailing's translation of "A Tale of Two Cities"... Obviously, these are all well-known literary works, which Jiang Xia read aloud to Yang Ju when he was young.

Later, when Yang Ju was serving her sentence in prison, Jiang Xia sent her another audio tape of novels being read aloud. The first book on the tape was Chekhov's "The Woman with the Dog."

Everyone present knew that Chekhov's "The Woman with the Dog" tells the story of a brief relationship that eventually leads to the realization that the other person is one's true love. Obviously, Yang Ju would also put herself in the story and make connections from it, believing that Jiang Xia had the same significance. It can be said that this reading of the work was actually the most important turning point in Jiang Xia's relationship, when she finally defined her relationship with Jiang Xia as love.

Before this, even during Jiang Xia's teenage years, Yang Ju's behavior was more driven by desire. In that relationship, she was proactive, dominant, detached, and demanding, even driven by primal sexual impulses. Later, she would ask Jiang Xia to read a story before going to bed, which changed and elevated their relationship. They experienced the beauty of emotional interaction. However, later, Yang Ju realized the insurmountable barrier between herself and Jiang Xia, and her once open heart closed again. She gave Jiang Xia a bath one last time and then resolutely left.

Later, when Yang Ju first met the adult Jiang Xia during her trial, after her initial shock, she remained calm. Her judgment was simple and sincere; she was completely unaware of her own guilt. Indeed, she had committed a banality of evil due to her simplicity and lack of imagination. Faced with the choice between revealing herself as a criminal or an illiterate, she chose the former. She was upholding her dignity as a human being, her only remaining right; she only had herself in her eyes.

But the story "The Woman with the Dog" is different.

Xie Shuhua said, "It goes without saying that it touched her deeply, otherwise Yang Ju wouldn't have taken the most important step in her life after that, learning to read."

Cha Haisheng and Wang Xiaobo both nodded.

It was indeed because of the song "The Woman with the Dog" on the cassette tape that Yang Ju began to learn to read.

Cha Haisheng said with emotion, "Yes, Brother Lin's description of Yang Ju is absolutely amazing. Even in the process of learning to read, she did it secretly without relying on any outsiders. This is obviously due to her habitual pride. After learning simple characters, she wrote to Jiang Xia, and she used her most proficient and assertive method to flirt directly. It's just a pity that Jiang Xia never replied."

"Yes, it's a pity that Jiang Xia didn't reply at all."

Yu Hua glanced at Lin Youcheng and said, "Youcheng, I understand now. Whether it's 'Atonement' or 'The Reader,' they are both tragedies. Tragedies are more impactful."

"He's doing this on purpose to upset the readers."

Upon hearing this, Lin Youcheng glanced at Yu Hua, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I didn't."

Wang Xiaobo spoke up for Lin Youcheng, saying, "Youcheng, he doesn't always write tragedies. I thought the ending of his previous novel, 'Strange Tales of the Human World,' was quite good and very beautiful. But to be honest, I'm quite surprised by the explicit sexual descriptions in this novel. It's a huge breakthrough."

"That's not as explicit as your 'The Golden Age,' with its extensive descriptions."

In fact, Wang Xiaobo's descriptions of youthful naiveté in "The Golden Age" are quite rich and bold.

Wang Xiaobo smiled and said, "None of them are as bold as your novel 'The Reader.' I've heard that some writers think it's inappropriate to write about the sex scenes between fifteen-year-olds and thirty-six-year-olds in your novel."

Upon hearing Wang Xiaobo's words, Cha Haisheng immediately became dissatisfied and said, "Don't listen to those people's random judgments!"

Lin Youcheng naturally didn't care about the criticisms, since he had anticipated such comments before he even wrote the story.

Seeing that the topic had shifted to the criticisms and doubts, Cheng Hong couldn't help but think of changing the subject. She looked at Lin Youcheng and asked, "By the way, Youcheng, I'm particularly curious, who wrote the last novel, 'Love,' which Jiang Xia read aloud in the audio tape you wrote in 'The Reader'? I don't seem to remember it."

Cheng Hong's words naturally reminded everyone else of the book. Because it was only mentioned briefly, they also didn't know which novel it was or what story it was.

Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh when he heard Wang Xiaobo's words.

It seems that some people will still notice the very simple yet somewhat unfamiliar book title, "Love".

Wang Xiaobo thought for a moment and said, "Is it Zhang Ailing's essay 'Love'?"

When Xie Shuhua and the others heard Wang Xiaobo mention Eileen Chang's essay, they immediately realized that they were familiar with that essay, but they hadn't considered it an essay at all and thought it was a novel.

It's worth noting that Eileen Chang's essay "Love" is also a classic, telling the tragic story of a woman who longs for her love but is repeatedly sold off. This particular essay is remarkably short, only 344 words in total, yet it evokes a profound sense of sorrow and poignant emotion. The story is remarkably simple, and could be considered a love story, as the male and female protagonists do meet, but only receive a brief greeting from the man before they part ways without another word.

What's most special is that there's a classic line in the essay: "To meet the person you were meant to meet among millions of people, in the boundless wilderness of time spanning millions of years, neither a step too early nor a step too late, but just at the right moment, there's nothing else to say but to gently ask: 'Oh, you're here too?'"

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "It's not an essay, it's a novel."

"novel?"

Wang Xiaobo was puzzled. It wasn't that essay, but a novel. After thinking about it carefully, he asked, "Is it Angela Carter's novel 'Love'?"

It must be said that Wang Xiaobo is indeed a well-read person. He even knows Angela Carter's novel "Love," which is quite exciting and intense. It is a labyrinth full of betrayal, alienation, and loss, telling the story of a twisted love triangle between Annabelle, a woman suffering from mental illness, her husband Lee, and her brother-in-law Baz.

"No."

Lin Youcheng inwardly marveled at the breadth of Wang Xiaobo's reading, shook his head, and directly gave the answer, or rather, foreshadowed the clues in "The Reader"—

"This is a novel I might write in the future!"

(End of this chapter)