Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 272 Modern Chinese Literature and the Modernization of Chinese Literature

The professor who taught the class was named Iizuka Ei, a top Japanese sinologist and translator, and a professor at the Faculty of Literature at Chuo University. He was invited to give a lecture on "The Transformation of Modern Literature in Three East Asian Countries" at Xiamen University, and he has been in Ludao for several months.

Professor Iizuka was a strict teacher and would not tolerate any flaws in his class. This boy was late for class, sneaked in through the back door like a thief, and sat alone in the corner of the last row near the door of the lecture hall.

Not long into the class, the boy's head began to nod down like a chicken pecking at rice, and then he fell on the table; after a while, his shoulders began to rise and fall evenly, and he was obviously fast asleep.

If a student dared to do this at Central University, he would have reminded him long ago; he might even have expelled him from the class and told him to get enough sleep before coming back.

But this time he came to Xiamen University's Chinese Department as a visiting professor to teach the topic "Changes in Modern Literature of Three East Asian Countries". After all, it was not his home court, so he decided to endure it.

"It was during the Taisho era (1912 onwards) that Japanese literature completed its complete "modernization" from concepts to techniques, and was the first to integrate into the development of mainstream world literature. This integration is not only reflected in the absorption and practice of advanced literary trends in the world, but also in the fact that Japanese literature has contributed a new aesthetic paradigm and creative concept to world literature, which has been widely accepted."

That boy is still sleeping!
"Literature is one of the most core forms of expression in the field of literature and art. Its development has also driven the development of other types of literature and art. For example, music, comics, movies, and even photography are all driven by literature."

That kid is still sleeping!!

"The 'modernization' of Japanese literature was achieved along with the 'modernization' of the country. This modernization, first of all, was that industrial civilization destroyed the worldview and values ​​of the traditional agricultural society, causing more and more people to begin to doubt authority, religion, the world, and even themselves.

Intellectuals played an important role in this process. After the Meiji Restoration, intellectuals who received Western education began to explore and practice new literary forms and ideas, and used modern values ​​and knowledge backgrounds to observe, criticize and try to transform traditional Japanese society, thus promoting the modernization of Japanese literature.

That boy is still sleeping!!!
Professor Iizuka finally couldn't stand it anymore, and suddenly stopped the class he was teaching and asked, "The boy in the last row, please stand up and answer my question."

Following his reminder, the students in the class turned around and found a boy lying in the last row. As students of a top domestic university, and being taught by a top foreign professor, few people would go to the last row to slack off, so they were all very curious.

Professor Iizuka saw that his words did not wake him up, so he walked to the last row of the lecture hall and knocked on the table in front of the boy. The boy stood up immediately after hearing the sound and apologized embarrassedly, "Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night..."

Since it was in a corner of the tiered classroom, and Iizuka Eiji was standing in front of the boy, blocking the curious glances from other students, one could only see the boy's profile and the top of his head, and it could be seen that he was quite tall.

Only Lan Ting, who was sitting in the second row, showed a look of surprise after hearing the boy's voice.

Professor Iizuka felt that the boy in front of him looked familiar, but he didn't look like a student he had seen in class. He couldn't remember who he was, so he asked, "You are the first student to sleep in class in the three months since I came here... Logically, I should report your behavior to your teacher.

Well, you just need to answer this question: As the beginning of the "modernization" of Chinese literature, what important influence did the "May Fourth Movement" or "vernacular movement" have on the later period? Just one or two points will do. "

Professor Iizuka finally relented and decided to end this reminder with a general knowledge question, which would also serve as a link to what he was going to talk about next.

Unexpectedly, the boy thought for a moment, and as he turned around and prepared to walk down the stairs, he said something that made everyone unbelievable: "The beginning of the 'modernization' of Chinese literature was not the 'May Fourth Movement' or the 'New Culture Movement'. How do you want me to answer this?"

The classroom was in uproar. "Modern Chinese literature originated during the May Fourth Movement" and "The history of modern Chinese literature in a broad sense refers to the period from 1917 to 1997" were written into the introduction of the textbook "History of Modern Chinese Literature" and were the "stabilizing force" of the entire book.

Is this boy confused from sleep? Even Lan Ting looked puzzled.

Professor Iizuka turned around again, stood opposite the boy, and looked him up and down carefully, as if he wanted to see clearly whether he really didn't understand or was just trying to attract attention.

The professor's tolerance made him patiently ask another question: "Then tell me about it."

The boy said: "It is true that the beginning of "modern Chinese literature" was the May Fourth Movement and the vernacular movement. But "modern Chinese literature" is not the same as the "modernization" of Chinese literature. These are two different things."

There was another "buzzing" sound in the classroom, and Professor Iizuka had to remind everyone: "Everyone be quiet and wait for this student to finish speaking." Then he said to the boy in front of him: "You continue." At this time, Iizuka Ei had put aside his contempt and no longer regarded him as an ordinary Chinese major student.

The fact that he can say that "modern Chinese literature" does not mean that Chinese literature has entered "modernization" has proved that his understanding of literature has gone beyond the textbooks.

The boy said calmly: "The 'vernacular movement' mainly solved the problem of the expression of Chinese literature. It abandoned classical Chinese, which could neither adapt to the needs of industrialized production in modern society nor meet the spiritual consumption needs of the growing urban class, and turned to vernacular Chinese, which has a lower threshold, a higher ceiling, and a wider range of applications.

This is of course a huge progress, which laid the foundation for the development and reform of Chinese culture, politics, and even science. But this does not mean that Chinese literature during this period has "modernized" in the sense of world literary history.

It is more part of a social process, belonging to the category of history. It is not that Chinese literature itself touches on the core of what we call literary "modernity".

At this time, a student sitting in the front row blurted out: "You are playing word games!" At once many classmates agreed.

Professor Iizuka turned around and said angrily, "Everyone, please behave like gentlemen. -Okay, go on."

The boy was not interrupted and continued slowly: "From the Industrial Revolution and the bourgeois revolution, the feudal society in Europe was gradually destroyed. With Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" and Nietzsche's "God is Dead" and other scientific and philosophical breakthroughs, the mainstream values ​​of European Christianity were disintegrated.

On this basis, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, world literature entered the process of "modernity". The mainstream of world literature broke away from classic forms such as "historical narrative" and "family narrative" and began to focus on individual consciousness and life experience.

Nihilism, existentialism, modernism, surrealism, absurdism... one after another. Even literary theory has completely abandoned the classical analytical methods of the past, and has begun to deconstruct the form and connotation of literature from Freud's psychoanalysis, Jung's personality analysis, Saussure's structuralism...

Therefore, after the 20th century, it is increasingly difficult to see the traditional "big masterpieces" with grand structures, and more and more works begin to focus on individual destiny and life experience.

Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a tough guy monologue, the narrative core of Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" is the idiot Benjy, and Nabokov's "Lolita" is the inner mumbling of a middle-aged man throughout...not to mention "Remembrance of Things Past" and "Ulysses".

In this sense, even though some individual authors and works of Chinese literature from the 20s to the 20s, such as Lu Xun's "White Light" and "Sorrows of Death", Shi Zhecun's "The General's Head", and Wang Zengqi's "Revenge" written during his time at Southwest Associated University, have a certain degree of "modernity", their quantity and influence are too small.

These experimental works cannot be called mainstream even among the works of these writers themselves. Therefore, this stage can only be the "preparatory stage" of the "modernization" of Chinese literature, and cannot be considered the beginning of "modernization". Just like a play, writing the script and rehearsing are not the beginning, only when the curtain is opened in front of the audience.

The "modernization" of Chinese literature should be counted from the late 20s and early 70s, when young writers generally began to use "modern" concepts to examine life and create works. It has been less than 80 years since then.

So I can’t answer the question you asked.”

Other Chinese students in the classroom: “…”

Professor Iizuka Eiji: “…”

But he was still a great professor after all, and he quickly came to his senses and said, "Your point is very good, it was my question that was not expressed rigorously enough.

Classmate, what's your name? I don't think I've seen you in class before. "

At this moment, the boy suddenly realized and said, "Sorry, I went to the wrong classroom." Then, before Professor Iizuka could react, he opened the back door and slipped away.

Professor Iizuka was old, so for a while he could only wave his hand repeatedly, speaking Japanese in a hurry, trying to get the boy to stay, but he was nowhere to be seen.

The students were also confused. It felt like they were suddenly slapped twice in the face, and before they could see who it was, the person disappeared.

Professor Iizuka shook his head regretfully, walked back to the podium slowly, and asked, "Do you know the student just now?"

Most of the students in the classroom shook their heads blankly and said, "I don't know him." Then they started discussing:

"He's definitely not from our class." "He doesn't seem to be from the Chinese department either?"

"Is he a senior from the graduate school?"

"That might be the case. The voice sounds familiar."

“Maybe he was a teaching assistant.”

Only Lan Ting remained silent, leaning back in a trance, not knowing what she was thinking. Her best friend nudged her waist with her elbow and asked, "Why are you mute?"

Lan Ting shook her head and said, "I was thinking about what Zhang... that classmate said just now. It makes a lot of sense."

My best friend said with some longing: "You think it makes sense? I just don't see it clearly. I'll ask the senior in the department tonight."

Lan Ting wanted to say something, but Professor Iizuka spoke from the podium: "Dear students, you must learn the way of thinking of that student just now. There is an old Chinese saying that "if the name is not right, the words will not flow." When we do literary research, the most important thing is to "get the name right."

That student keenly discovered the subtle difference between the two concepts of "modern Chinese literature" and "modernization of Chinese literature", and started from this point to complete a wonderful discussion.

I will make an exception today and give you an assignment - organize what this student just said and write a short essay based on the content. We will discuss it together in class next week. "

Professor Iizuka continued to talk for a while, and then the bell rang. Iizuka bowed to the students, and the students bowed back, and the class was over.

Most of the students were still immersed in the speech of the classmate who accidentally walked into the wrong classroom. They walked out slowly while discussing. Only Lan Ting walked so fast that her bestie couldn't catch up with her. Only her words were left in the air:

"I have something to do today, so you can go to the cafeteria by yourself."

Lan Ting trotted all the way to the bottom of the teaching building, turned a corner, and saw that there were no familiar classmates. She took out her cell phone and was about to call that person, but she found a text message he had sent a long time ago: "I'm at Yuanqi Xiaohou, do you still want bubble tea with coconut flakes?"

Lan Ting took her finger off the dial and replied, "Okay, I'll go over now. Bubble milk and coconut flakes, please."

"Yuanqi Xiaohou" is a chain brand of milk tea, which has been very popular in the past two years. Other brands of the same period include "Sunny Bear" and "Happy Prince", which are the first generation of "young people's first bankruptcy" must-have entrepreneurial projects.

Lan Ting quickly arrived at Xiamen University's "Yuanqi Xiaohou" milk tea shop and found Zhang Chao sitting in the corner with his back to the door. She stepped forward and gently patted Zhang Chao's shoulder and said, "Hey, why did you come here without saying hello?"

Zhang Chao looked up and saw that it was Lan Ting. He quickly asked her to sit down and handed her the milk tea he had just ordered. Then he said, "I took a midnight flight last night and bought the ticket on the spur of the moment, so I didn't tell you.

There were so many things to do when I got back to Yanjing, I was so annoyed that I sneaked here early."

Lan Ting put the straw into the milk tea cup and took a sip before saying, "I was so nervous in class just now. When did you sit there?"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It's only been a short while since the class started. - What, are you afraid that I can't answer it?"

Lan Ting said: "How could you not be able to answer such a simple question? I just didn't expect you to answer like that. I was worried that you would be recognized by other students."

Zhang Chao said: "I just wanted to see what level this Japanese professor is at and what his opinions are. I just wanted to sneak into the village without shooting anyone. You know what, his level is not bad, and his opinions are fair."

Lan Ting asked, "He said Japanese literature surpassed Chinese literature. Aren't you angry?"

Zhang Chao said: "Why should we be angry? Japan's modern literature is indeed more developed than China's. Whether it is the number, type and level of writers and works, or the maturity of the entire literary market, there is a gap between China and Japan.

In this regard, I am not a nationalist, otherwise I would not even be able to look at it objectively and actively learn from it. "

Lan Ting breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's a good thing you hold this view."

Zhang Chao asked, "What's going on? During the Chinese New Year, you said your department wanted me to come and talk to students about the literature and creation of the post-80s generation. I received an invitation two days ago. You haven't elaborated on what impact the Japanese professors and students who came to exchange ideas have had on the students."

Lan Ting took another sip of milk tea, pondered for a while, and then said: "This is what happened. Last year, an 'International Symposium on Sino-Japanese Academic Exchange' was held in our school, and it was very grand.

The professor who asked you questions in class was called Iizuka Eiji. He gave a report on Sino-Japanese literary exchange at the seminar, which was very influential. So our school invited him and his graduate students to come and exchange ideas.

Professor Iizuka is a nice person. He has been engaged in Sinology research and translation of Chinese works for a long time. He is very knowledgeable and does not have any sense of superiority. Even if some of his words are uncomfortable to listen to, they are all within the scope of academics. "

Zhang Chao said, "Yes. He is a professor who does research in a more traditional way. I can sense that. So the problem lies with the students he brought with him for exchange?"

Lan Ting nodded and said, "Yes. This time they brought several works by the latest young generation of Japanese writers and translated them into Chinese themselves. Some students were so fascinated by them that they didn't care about anything else."

Zhang Chao asked, "What work?"

Lan Ting said: "I was particularly impressed by Nanae Aoyama's "Good Weather for One Person", which I heard just won the Akutagawa Prize in January this year. Her works are relatively "normal".

There is also a female writer named 'Kanehara Hitomi', whose work is called "Snake Tongue and Tongue Ring", which won the Akutagawa Prize as soon as it was published in 04. This work is somewhat shocking and even chilling. "

Zhang Chao said, "Oh!"

Lan Ting was surprised and asked, "You know them?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "I have been to Japan several times in the past two years and have learned a little about their literary ecology. These two are also born in the 80s, especially Kanehara Hitomi, who is the representative of Japanese "girls' literature". Oh, there is also a person named Wataya Lisa, who won the Akutagawa Prize with her.

At such a young age, they have won the Akutagawa Prize, the highest award for new pure literature writers in Japan. If their works are well translated, they are worth reading, and their literary value is not low. "

Because he signed Keigo Higashino by chance last year, Zhang Chao specifically learned about the group of young Japanese writers, so he still has an impression of these names.

Lan Ting said: "The works of these Japanese 'post-80s' writers really resonated with many students. In addition, several graduate students who came here for exchanges have been emphasizing how advanced the young generation of Japanese writers are in terms of concepts and techniques. So gradually, the mentality of many students has changed."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Don't you think highly of the works of our young Chinese writers?"

Lan Ting said: "Not really - at least everyone still admires your works. But it does create a sense of self-deprecation and inferiority. Some students even said, 'There is no hope for Chinese literature.'"

Zhang Chao: "..."

Lan Ting continued, "Including our literature club, Gulang Club, everyone used to be willing to write seriously, but now many people are obsessed with learning the techniques of those Japanese writers, and the works they write are getting weirder and weirder."

Zhang Chao was about to say something when he heard a voice next to him:
"If you fall behind, you must be eliminated; if you are advanced, you must learn from it. I don't think what people are writing now is 'weird', that is the pain before transformation. If we stick to traditional methods, then Chinese literature is destined to lag behind Japan for another 100 years!"

(End of this chapter)