Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 283: The beginning of "One Hundred Years of Solitude", is it really good?
Zhang Chao said: "One person may not be enough, but maybe many people will be enough."

"Hmm? A lot of people?"

Zhang Chao asked: "Why did Mr. Lu Xun, Qu Qiubai and others propose to abolish Chinese characters and use the Latin alphabet?"

"Maybe, maybe it's because Chinese characters are difficult to learn?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Chinese characters are difficult to learn, culture is difficult to popularize, and the people are difficult to enlighten. In addition, the advanced technology, ideas, culture, and system at that time were all in Europe, so they hurriedly shouted "If Chinese characters do not disappear, China will perish", and also put forward a famous topic -

'Should we sacrifice for Chinese characters, or should we let Chinese characters sacrifice for us?'"

Lu Xun's views in this regard have never been taken seriously by later researchers, so few people know about it. Even students in the Chinese Department focus on reading Lu Xun's famous works. It is shocking that there are still people who have not heard of his views in this regard.

Zhang Chao continued: "Today we think it is radical, but they thought it was too slow and too late. So how did Chinese characters not become Latinized and adapt to modernization?"

"Teach...universal education?"

Zhang Chao agreed, "Yes. It depends on more and more people getting rid of illiteracy and using Chinese characters to communicate and create. As the scale of users expands and the cultural level improves, the inconveniences of Chinese characters that Lu Xun's generation thought were inconvenient have gradually been solved one by one.

They even discovered the advantages of Chinese characters over alphabetic characters in conveying information. For example, Chinese characters have a higher information density per unit area of ​​written text; Chinese characters are more efficient in forming words when faced with new things.

But if society does not develop to this point, these are just empty talk.”

"So, what do you mean?"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "We have the longest history of civilization, the most vast land, and the largest population. As long as there are enough people writing, even if there are no outstanding writers, we can still find a way forward."

"That is, 'There was no road on the ground, but when more people walked on it, it became a road'?"

Zhang Chao said: "Yes, if more people write, many of today's confusions will no longer be confusions. All our problems now are that there are too few people writing. - Okay, everyone hurry up and clean up, it's almost 10 o'clock!"

After saying that, he stood up and went to the front desk to pay the bill. The total amount was 709 yuan. The boss rounded off the price, so Zhang Chao only paid 700 yuan.

This topic at midnight snack is actually quite heavy to talk about. Although there is no best in literature, it is always sad to know that one's own literature is worse than others.

However, Zhang Chao transformed this emotion into rational thinking and goal-setting about the mission of literature, which has already planted a seed in everyone's hearts.

When Zhang Chao paid the bill and came out, everyone had already stood up and said goodbye to him one by one, and then took taxis back to school in groups of two or three.

Only Zhang Chao asked about the approximate direction of the Jinhai Coast community and was told that it was only a 10-minute walk. So he set out in the slightly chilly wind, feeling excited.

Today's intensive discussion with Xiamen University students was not only an opportunity to express my own insights and "prophecies" on literature through the special characteristics of a reborn person, but also a reflection on my future literary path.

The next afternoon, Zhang Chao came to the Chinese Department office as agreed previously, ready to give a creative writing guidance class to the members of Xiamen University's Gulang Literary Society.

If everyone had any doubts about Zhang Chao's "professionalism" before, after last night's lecture and the discussion over midnight snack, such doubts have been completely dispelled.

As soon as he arrived at the office, Zhang Chao saw Wang Zhenxu waiting for him with a recorder and a notebook.

When he saw Zhang Chao, Wang Zhenxu immediately stood up and said respectfully, "Good afternoon!" He also bowed slightly. Although it was not as deep as to Professor Iizuka, his attitude was definitely correct.

People who use arrogance to disguise their inner inferiority are actually very good at figuring out the value of "dignity". Once they figure it out, they no longer have any psychological burden.

What's more, he also saw the two novels "Young Babylon" and "Glory of Detective" that Zhang Chao sent to Professor Iizuka last night.

If after reading Young Babylon he felt that this Chinese writer, who was a few years younger than him, had only "some talent", then after reading Glory of the Criminal Police, he was completely shocked by the narrative maze created by Zhang Chao and his in-depth exploration of "memory" and "forgetfulness", "identity" and "destiny".

Compared with European, American and Japanese writers who often rely on religion or philosophy when creating such "ideological" works, Zhang Chao's novel has strong characteristics of sociological discussion and psychological/psychoanalysis.

Every "I" in the novel - the "I" of the narrator, the "I" of Captain Cheng created by the narrator, and the "I" of the real Captain Cheng - confirm and subvert each other in the process of narrating the story again and again.

The boundary between "reality" and "fiction" is completely erased in this novel.

It’s not that Wang Zhenxu had never read Chinese avant-garde literature. On the contrary, because of his mentor, Professor Iizuka Ei, he was very familiar with the avant-garde literary works of the 80s.

But even so, he did not see the expressive characteristics and literary ambitions displayed in this novel in any writer such as Yu Hua, Su Tong, Ge Fei, Mo Yan, etc.

Zhang Chao seems to be using "Glory of Criminal Police" to announce his arrival to the world literary community!

He was very puzzled as to why this work did not receive enough attention in China, and why the literary criticism circle's research on "Glory of the Policeman" was "lackluster".

In fact, this was purely a coincidence - "The Glory of a Criminal Policeman" was Zhang Chao's graduation work written for Yanzhou Normal University, published by Yanzhou Normal University's publishing house. It was just one of the books in the "Writers' Class Graduation Report" series, so it did not receive special treatment in publicity and marketing like his previous works.

In addition, since it is a pure literary work, the reading threshold is relatively high, and its sales volume is far less than Zhang Chao’s other works, so it has little impact on the readers.

Secondly, this work was published after the "Zhang Bai dispute", when Zhang Chao almost completely broke with the domestic literary criticism circle, and the criticism circle gave his new work a "cold treatment". It was natural that Wang Zhenxu could not find any valuable research articles.

Therefore, his respect for Zhang Chao today was, on the one hand, "forced" by his mentor, Professor Iizuka, and on the other hand, he was actually already impressed by Zhang Chao in his heart. So he didn't feel particularly uncomfortable.

The other teachers in the office who were waiting for class were a little surprised to see that after Zhang Chao sat down, Wang Zhenxu still stood respectfully.

Zhang Chao didn't hesitate to ask Wang Zhenxu to sit down. This was actually for his own good, so that Iizuka Rong wouldn't think Wang Zhenxu was rude. He asked directly, "Have you finished reading the novel? Do you have any questions?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhenxu immediately said, "Yes!" and then spread out the notebook in front of Zhang Chao, on which were written several questions in not very neat Chinese. Zhang Chao took a closer look and found that they were mainly questions about the scenery, customs, and special terms in the novel in China in the 90s.

Wang Zhenxu was born in the early 80s and went to Japan with his father before graduating from elementary school. He just missed the "long season" of the 90s and could not understand the rapidly changing society that the protagonist "Captain Cheng" faced.

Therefore, it is difficult to get into the character's heart and understand his loss, confusion, helplessness, anger, grievance, entanglement...

It seems that Wang Zhenxu is serious about it!
Zhang Chao also put aside his prejudice and began to explain patiently. It is a terrible thing for a translator to translate a work in a "dreamy" state, and sometimes even turn translation into a kind of "re-creation".

Of course, this kind of "re-creation" sometimes produces some "beauty of misunderstanding", such as translating the famous line "winter is coming" from "A Song of Ice and Fire" into "Winter is coming", which adds drama, but the effect is first-class.

But in most cases, it will make people laugh and cry. For example, the original Japanese version of Haruki Murakami's novel is widely loved by young Japanese readers for its simplicity, clarity and colloquialism that goes against "Japanese tradition";

The classic domestic translations, however, completely obliterate Murakami's style, using a kind of awkward old vernacular as a translation medium, such as "really unpleasant" and "had fun for a whole day".

Even when translating "Norwegian Wood", "Kobayashi Midori" (Green) was directly changed to "Midoriko", which is a truly unpleasant behavior.

One of the main reasons for this, of course, is the lack of sufficient communication between the translator and the author.

Wang Zhenxu is aware of the limitations of his own understanding of the times and "bravely" puts them forward, which shows his desire to translate this work well.

But Zhang Chao didn't expect that Wang Zhenxu's seriousness also had a little trick up his sleeve.

Since the literary criticism community in China has not yet recognized the great value of "Crime Police Glory" in terms of form and content, I will be the first to point it out...

The two discussed for half an hour, and then the bell rang.

After a while, Lan Ting appeared at the door of the office. When she saw Zhang Chao, her face flushed for a moment, then she walked in as calmly as possible and said, "Zhang Chao...teacher...everyone is almost here."

Zhang Chao stood up and said, "I'm not worthy of this. You should just call me Zhang Chao."

Lan Ting finally relaxed and smiled, saying, "That won't do. If Professor Lin hears me, he'll criticize me for being rude."

Zhang Chao also smiled and said, "Okay, okay, let's go." Lan Ting looked at Wang Zhenxu behind him and said hesitantly, "Then he..."

Zhang Chao waved his hand and said, "He's taking notes for me, so just ignore him."

Lan Ting opened her eyes wide in surprise, but didn't say anything more. She led the two of them to the classroom reserved by Gulang Society.

When Zhang Chao arrived, the classroom was already full. There were not enough chairs, so many people simply sat on the tables, and the aisles were also full of people standing.

A standard classroom that normally can only seat 50 to 60 people was now packed with hundreds of people.

As soon as he reached the door, Zhang Chao asked in surprise: "You have so many people in the literature department?"

Lan Ting said, "Indeed, they are all from our literature club. We didn't let outsiders in this time. But many graduates and graduate students are here today."

Zhang Chao: "..."

As Zhang Chao entered the classroom, cheers and applause broke out, not only because of his fame, but also because of his lecture yesterday and the discussion he had with teachers and students during supper.

Many people have faintly smelled a scent from Zhang Chao, a scent called "ambition".

In such a vast country as China, there are countless writers who can write, but there are only a few who can be said to have "literary ambitions".

Most people, let alone "gain both fame and fortune", would start repeating themselves endlessly. It is very rare to find someone like Zhang Chao, who has such a high output and tries to break through in almost every work.

And judging from yesterday’s conversation, his ideas about literature are far more than what we see now.

It is the dream of all literature lovers at Xiamen University to witness such a young writer up close and personal and follow his footsteps.

After Lan Ting's brief introduction, Zhang Chao walked to the podium and stood still. He looked at the faces below the stage that were as young as his own but full of desire for knowledge. He was slightly distracted, but soon calmed down and reviewed the content he had prepared in his mind.

He opened today's "creative guidance" with a question: "Is there any student who can recite the beginning of One Hundred Years of Solitude, the world-famous passage?"

This was so easy that a classmate immediately recited it aloud: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Yes, that's the sentence. So what's so good about this opening that it has become the most famous novel opening in the world? Can anyone explain it to me?"

This is also a question that is almost common sense in literature. Anyone who has paid a little attention to the research related to One Hundred Years of Solitude would know this. Many people raised their hands, and Zhang Chao gestured to a thin girl in the front row who was wearing big glasses to answer.

The girl said: “The good thing about this sentence is that it uses three tenses at the same time—the future tense, many years later, when he faces the firing squad; the present tense, Colonel Aureliano Buendía; and the past tense, that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

This sentence refers to the future, present and past at the same time. Time is no longer a linear extension, but is mixed together by the author. The original simple narrative is mixed with infinite questions and metaphors, allowing people to travel through different time and space, giving readers a strong desire to read. "

After the girl finished speaking, the classmates all expressed their approval and praise, and some even applauded. After all, although it was a common sense question, it was not easy to express it as clearly as this girl.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Well said." The girl blushed at the compliment and waved her hands to indicate that she didn't.

But Zhang Chao's next question stunned all the students, including her: "If everyone agrees with this view, then I want to ask you a question - did you feel this "mixed tenses" when you first read "One Hundred Years of Solitude", or did you "know" it after reading the relevant reviews?

One is "feeling", and the other is "knowing". Which one do you belong to?"

The scene fell into deathly silence.

Zhang Chao seemed to have anticipated this situation and did not rush to continue talking, but waited quietly.

After more than a minute, no student answered.

Zhang Chao then sighed and said, "I believe everyone has the answer in their hearts, right? In fact, I am just like you. When I first read the opening of this work, which has been praised by literary critics to the skies, I didn't have any special feelings and just passed it by.

On the contrary, the 'magical' plots such as magnets and convex lenses in the back attracted me more."

Everyone in the classroom thought that Zhang Chao was going to criticize everyone for their lack of sensitivity to words, but they didn't expect that he was as "slow" as everyone else. They immediately breathed a sigh of relief and began to agree, "yes."

Zhang Chao went on to say: “This kind of ‘mixture of tenses’ was the evaluation given by foreign literary critics several decades ago when One Hundred Years of Solitude was first published. It was then introduced to China and gradually became an irrefutable conclusion.

The widespread spread of this "conclusion" has resulted in our specific "feelings" about the text being replaced by "knowing". In literary creation, "how I think I want to write" ranks higher than "how I know I want to write".

That is what Li Bai said, "The earth gives me the power to write articles," or what Western writers said, "God holds my hand and writes."

So is it because we generally fail to appreciate the beauty and charm of this "mixed tenses" when we read for the first time that our nerves are slower than those of foreign readers or critics?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.

Zhang Chao gave a direct answer: "Of course not. Because Chinese is a 'weak tense' language, without the 'strong tense' changes like English and Spanish.

When translated into Chinese, its impact is naturally weakened. How weak is it? We don’t even realize that ancient Chinese poets have used this technique.

Li Shangyin's "When will we cut the candle in the west window together and talk about the night rain in Bashan?" But when we analyze the beauty of this poem, the focus is not the tense.

Therefore, it is normal that the beginning of One Hundred Years of Solitude cannot shock or even touch you and me. It is not because Marquez is not good enough, but because there is a gap in language and thought. "

Zhang Chao paused again, and after most people showed a look of sudden enlightenment, he said the topic of today: "So, today we are going to discuss this proposition - are all the trends of world literature suitable for Chinese literature to study?

Or to put it another way, how should we learn from world literature? If so, what should we learn? "

After hearing Zhang Chao's words, others did not have any special feelings, but Lan Ting and Wang Zhenxu were filled with emotions.

Lan Ting was happy. She had invited Zhang Chao to Xiamen University because she wanted to change the writing style of the literature club. She had originally planned to use Zhang Chao's influence to persuade students who had plunged into Japanese "private novels" and "alternative youth literature" to change their minds.

I didn't expect Zhang Chao to discuss this issue with the students from such a broad perspective. Compared with Marquez and One Hundred Years of Solitude, Kanehara Hitomi is just a firefly.

She believed that after Zhang Chao finished today's creative guidance class, those members would change their minds on their own without her having to "persuade" them.

Wang Zhenxu's feelings were much more complicated. Introducing what he considered to be "advanced" Japanese literary works to lead the creative trend was also his proud work. In particular, his choice of "Snake Split" by Kanehara Hitomi made many girls in the literature club fascinated.

Everything was perfect except that Lan Ting failed to be "converted".

But the appearance of Zhang Chao completely shattered his fantasy. Not only did China have writers who were younger than him, Kanehara Hitomi, and Aoyama Nanae, but this writer's writing skills and literary ambitions were even more powerful than one could imagine.

Although Kanehara Hitomi and Aoyama Nanae are excellent, they are only "good" in the sense of young writers. Even though they are mature beyond their age, they are still a long way from their senior writers.

Zhang Chao’s excellence is infinitely close to “good” without age restrictions. Even if his creative ability does not improve in the future, as long as he is a few years older and people’s inherent prejudices are eliminated, he can be compared with the first-class senior writers in China and even East Asia.

But is it possible that Zhang Chao will stop here?

Wang Zhenxu certainly didn't believe it. Especially after watching "Crime Police Glory" and hearing Zhang Chao's views on how to learn the world's literary trends, he knew that his current position was just a starting point for this young man.

Zhang Chao's calm observation of literature and his passionate devotion to creation were destined to take him to a position that he himself could never reach.

Thinking of this, Wang Zhenxu's last bit of unhappiness about "treating Zhang Chao with respect as a teacher" also disappeared - this was not a competitor at all, but a thigh to be clung to!

(End of this chapter)