Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 177 Talking about Sex and Love

"Hello everyone, I am Zhang Chao. I have been engaged in literary creation for two and a half years. My hobbies are basketball and music..." After Zhang Chao finished his opening remarks, he felt his back tighten and continued quickly:
"This time, several students have chosen me and my work as the research subject for their graduation thesis and projects. I feel both honored and humbled. Frankly speaking, I am not afraid of critics' nitpicking..." The students in the audience burst into muffled laughter.

“But I am quite afraid of the sharp opinions of my classmates. Although being misunderstood is the fate of writers, I still want to avoid this situation as much as possible, so I agreed to communicate with Professor Kong Qingdong.”

"My completed and published works include three novels, "Youth Like You," "Dwelling Narrowness," and "The Vanishing Lover," two novellas, "Young Babylon" and "Your Name," a book of miscellaneous reviews, "Undercurrents," and several essays and literary reviews, but they are not the mainstream of my creations, so I won't list them one by one. Overall, I am still a novelist."

"As the saying goes, 'If you are quick, you don't need to wash the mud off the carrots.' I have written so much in two and a half years, so it is inevitable that there are some rough parts. I believe that when you read it carefully, you will more or less feel the huge pressure that time has exerted on me..."

At this moment, Zhang Chao was sitting in the large lecture hall of the Chinese Department of Yan University, talking to more than 200 students and a dozen teachers. There was a banner hanging above his head:
Young writer Zhang Chao's creative experience report exchange meeting

Kong Qingdong told him that this year, in addition to two undergraduate students in the Chinese Department who took his works as the research subject of their graduation thesis, there was also a contemporary literature research project and a communication student who also took him as a research subject.

Zhang Chao was overwhelmed after hearing this. He seemed to be reminded of what Xu Zidong of Lingnan University in Hong Kong said two years ago: "How many Chinese departments in the world have the opportunity to let students observe closely how a writer who may go down in literary history learns and grows?"

In the end, it still cannot escape the fate of being “studied”!

Since you can't resist, just enjoy it! So Zhang Chao agreed to hold a creative experience report exchange meeting with Kong Qingdong before graduation. However, only a few departments such as the Chinese Department and the School of Journalism and Communication of Yanda University can attend.

Zhang Chao gave his classmates a detailed introduction to the time background and psychology behind the creation of these novels, as well as the difficulties he encountered during the writing process and the compromises and adjustments he made.

This part of the introduction lasted about an hour, covering every detail.

The next part was free discussion, which was actually questions from students or teachers. Although they were all “fellow students”, many of the questions were very tricky.

For example, a senior female student majoring in Chinese asked, "I noticed that the length and explicitness of the sexual descriptions in your works are not as good as those of the serious literary writers who emerged in the 80s, such as Jia Pingwa and Mo Yan, nor as good as those of the popular literary writers who emerged in the 90s, such as Wei Hui. Is this the result of your deliberate avoidance, or do you think that sex is not a part of real life, or is it because you lack experience in this area?"

As soon as the question was asked, everyone was in a state of awe. No one expected this pretty girl to ask such a bold question.

Zhang Chao thought for a moment before answering: "In my early works, such as "Young Babylon" and "Youth Like You", I did have a deliberate avoidance mentality. But you have to understand that I was still a high school student at that time, living in my own home, and I was afraid of being beaten..."

The students all laughed. Zhang Chao paused before continuing, "But it was also during the creation of these two novels that I realized that although sex is an important part of real life, this importance does not need to be and cannot be transplanted into novels in equal amounts."

"I think there are two factors for the excessive sexual descriptions in literary works of the 80s and 90s. First, the social atmosphere and literary creation had been "desexualized" for a long time before that, which led to a widespread and long period of sexual repression among writers during adolescence and youth. Once they found a gap for release, they would rush out. Writers of the older generation did not have this situation." "Second, the two generations of writers at that time were eager to get rid of the shackles of the -year literature and relearn how to write novels. Whether returning to Chinese traditions or learning from the West, in the best reference works, sex is often an indispensable and easiest part of the character's motivation - there is no way, it's human nature. I won't give examples, I believe that everyone's reading volume can definitely cover it."

"The new generation of authors have generally gotten rid of sexual repression and have more reference works. So I don't write about sex in great detail. It's not just me, but a common choice for many writers of my age. It's undoubtedly a part of life, and there's no need to exaggerate or cover it up. It's just that my novels have other themes to present, so it has to take a back seat."

"As for whether the writer's personal sexual experience will affect the description of the work, although this involves privacy, I still want to say that you underestimate the imagination of our writers."

After Zhang Chao finished speaking, a burst of mischievous laughter rang out in the lecture hall. The senior girl who asked the question blushed slightly, like two peach blossoms blooming, but the smile on her lips showed that she was not dissatisfied with Zhang Chao's answer.

Zhang Chao concluded: "Compared with writing about sex, I am more concerned about whether my novels have written about love well."

At this time, another classmate asked: "Student Zhang Chao, you have been caught in the whirlpool of public opinion that was unfavorable to you many times, but in the end you used public opinion tools to reverse it. Some people say that you are a 'media genius' among writers. Why are you so good at using the media?"

Zhang Chao smiled and replied: "Maybe it's because I don't have 'media hallucination'."

"What is the 'media illusion'?"

“Many people regard expressing their opinions in the media as a result, as if a statement is seen and even agreed upon by many people, it becomes a conclusion. I only regard it as a beginning, the beginning of a media topic. Because this is no longer an era where everyone can only passively accept indoctrination.

For example, some time ago, some people thought that by portraying me in a negative light in the media, they had achieved their "goal". But I think it was just the beginning of the topic of "what kind of writer is Zhang Chao?"..."

"With the popularization of the Internet, a large part of the discourse power of 'public media' has begun to be transferred to 'self-media'. So I have given everyone the right to evaluate 'what kind of writer Zhang Chao is'..."

As the communication deepened, Zhang Chao showed his knowledge and eloquence in front of his classmates from Yanda for the first time in two years, and convinced many classmates who were originally dissatisfied with him.

As the clock quietly approached 12 o'clock, Kong Qingdong asked everyone with a smile on his face: "It's almost time. If you don't have any particularly important questions, I think today's exchange meeting will end..."

"I have another question!" A stiff, awkward voice came from a corner of the classroom, and then a plain-looking girl stood up, staring into Zhang Chao's eyes and asked:
"Zhang Chao-san, I would like to ask you, why did you plagiarize the works of our Japanese writers?"

(End of this chapter)