Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 337: Giving Japanese Literature a Mirror

Sun Liangyi was extremely confused at the moment, until Zhang Chao reminded him: "Teacher Sun..." he came to his senses.

Sun Liangyi forced a smile and said to Zhang Chao: "This news is really shocking."

Zhang Chao's eyes widened, a confused look appeared on his face, and he responded, "Isn't this...as it should be?"

Sun Liangyi was still in shock, and subconsciously answered the question with a question: "Is this what should be done?"

Zhang Chao was surprised and asked, "Do you think I am unworthy?"

Sun Liangyi realized that he had spoken out of turn, and quickly calmed down and explained: "Of course not, with your achievements in Japan, you are certainly qualified to take on this important responsibility.

I mean, as a member of the delegation visiting Japan, wouldn't you be able to better showcase the young generation of Chinese literature?"

This statement is a bit forced, but at least it's not that offensive, so it's acceptable.

Zhang Chao was a little disappointed. He originally thought that the Sun Liang he picked would be like the previous teacher Fang, or at least a person like Sun Yunxiao, but he didn't expect that he was a coward with no courage.

It’s typical that he strikes hard online but is timid in real life.

But there was no way. The "notoriety" that Zhang Chao had accumulated in the public opinion circle over the past few years was too frightening. This time the hook was too direct and the bait was too salty. Sun Liangyi had been fishing for a long time, but no big fish was caught. He had no choice but to go back to the old ways and start over.

Zhang Chao raised the stakes and continued to throw out "exclusive news": "In fact, this "Young Writers Delegation to Japan" was first proposed to me by Professor Iizuka of the Japan Yearbook Society..."

Then he briefly explained the whole story and the main points.

Not only Sun Liangyi, but even Xiao Liu, who was responsible for taking notes, felt sweat in the palms of his hands as he held the pen - is this something I can listen to for free?

Zhang Chao's words involved too many "inside stories" of the Writers Association, including Professor Iizuka's dissatisfaction with the traditional exchange visit model, the disagreement within the Chinese Writers Association on whether to organize a delegation, the game between multiple forces on the final list, and Zhang Chao's initiative to go to Japan to "prepare for the journey"...

After Zhang Chao finished speaking, he picked up the cup and took a sip of tea, then leaned back on the sofa and leisurely watched the two people who were writing furiously.

In fact, Sun Liangyi had finished writing long ago. He was now scribbling on the paper with his pen, thinking of a solution in his mind.

He originally wanted to gain some fame for himself through this incident, and at the same time spread the "superiority of Japanese literature" that he has always believed in, but this interview with Zhang Chao really pushed him into a corner.

Zhang Chao himself became the representative figure of "Contemporary Chinese Literature in Japan", which not only made the last two sarcastic paragraphs of his article a joke, but also made his title of "Literary Envoy to Japan" untenable.

After all, considering the sales of Zhang Chao's works in Japan and the various discussions it has sparked in recent years, it is hard to say that Zhang Chao went there to "seek the true scriptures". With such an iconic figure standing there, no matter how Sun Liang used his literary style, it would be difficult to belittle the status of the delegation.

It's no big deal to slap yourself in the face. After working in the media for a long time, everyone has the ability to swallow the spit in the face.

The key point is that Zhang Chao later deliberately revealed a lot of "black material" to him, blatantly inducing him to continue to comment on the matter negatively, which is a bit of a disregard for his intelligence.

After all, having been in the cultural and media circles for so long, he still understands the methods of public opinion hype.

When Zhang Chao spoke, every word he said was calm, impartial, and precise. It was hard to find any fault with it. It sounded like a necessary game process in organizing a large-scale event.

But if these things were written by someone with a clear stance like mine, I'm afraid they would be interpreted differently.

This... Zhang Chao has enemies to defeat, and if there are no enemies, he will create them and defeat them, right? He just wants to be a shrimp soldier and crab general who gets fame, and doesn't want to be a prince of the Dragon Palace who gets skinned and his tendons pulled out!
"Teacher Sun, have you finished taking notes?" Zhang Chao couldn't stand it anymore and reminded Sun Liangyi again. Xiao Liu next to him had finished writing for a long time, but Sun Liangyi was still writing on the notebook with a pen. If you didn't know, you would think he translated Zhang Chao's words into Japanese again.

Sun Liangyi closed his notebook awkwardly, turned his eyes, and asked, "Do you think this visit of young Chinese writers to Japan will bring any inspiration to the Japanese literary world?"

Zhang Chao: "..." Couldn't you resist a little longer? Are you surrendering now?
But since people have asked this question, Zhang Chao did not hesitate to express his attitude: "I think that Chinese young writers' visits to Japan are for communication on the one hand, but also for giving the Japanese literary world a mirror on the other hand."

Sun Liangyi was startled and asked in disbelief: "Mirror? What mirror?"

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "A mirror called 'modernity' can reflect both ourselves and the road ahead."

Sun Liangyi, who is also well-versed in literature, asked: "A mirror of 'modernity'? Does the work of young Japanese writers lack modernity? I'm afraid many people would disagree."

Zhang Chao said: "In fact, I have discussed this issue with different people in different places in recent times. Judging from the content of creation, there is certainly no lack of "modern elements" in Japanese literature, but even Japanese researchers themselves believe that the so-called "modernity" of modern Japanese literature starting from the Meiji Restoration is not the natural result of historical development, but a thinking model constructed in a specific period. "

Sun Liangyi was stunned. This was obviously beyond the preset scope of this interview, but at this time he had no choice but to listen.

Zhang Chao continued: "The 'modernity' of Japanese literature is highly compressed. Compared with the gradual process of hundreds of years in Europe, Japan completed the transformation from Chinese literary tradition to Western modern literature in just a few decades after the Meiji Restoration.

This compression has resulted in a situation where the country's literary tradition has been transformed into a tool to connect to "modernity", just as The Tale of Genji has been defined as the 'world's earliest novel'.

In fact, when it was first created, there was not even the literary concept of "novel", and Murasaki Shikibu did not create it with the attitude of writing a "novel". The meaning of "monogatari" may be closer to "legend" or "story".

When it was defined as the "world's earliest novel", many of the author's intentions and the aesthetics of the work itself were obliterated - it can never return to its pre-definition state. It can only be a subset of "novel" from the perspective of European literature.

Just like today, we roughly name "vernacular novels", "romances", "pinghua", "shuohua", "pseudo-vernacular novels", "various palace tunes"... as "ancient Chinese novels", which largely obliterates the unique aesthetic value.

In English literature, however, there are still complex categories such as "Novel", "Fiction", "Story", "Narrative", etc. Therefore, this modern thinking model itself is a kind of cultural colonization: it is both a clumsy imitation of Western modernity and a violent reshaping of local traditions. But even a literary giant like Natsume Soseki could not escape this dilemma, even though he was aware of it.

Chinese literature also has this kind of anxiety, so I say it is a mirror. This visit to Japan is actually more about finding the original sprout of "modernity" in the development of their own society through communication. It may not be on the pure literature shelves of bookstores, nor on the pens of elite writers, but in corners that we are not aware of. "

Sun Liangyi's writing became more and more solemn. If he and Zhang Chao had their own "own agenda" before, at this moment he was completely attracted by the ideas expressed by Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao’s ideas are so grand that it seems that these words should not come from the mouth of a young man in his 20s.

After a long while, he finally asked the last question of the day: "You also said that Japanese researchers have been aware of this problem for a long time, but they have not been able to get rid of this constraint until now.

Could it be that this is a kind of fate, that the weak in the past can never erase the traces left by the strong - just like the influence of Chinese culture on East Asia, the native writing systems of Japan and South Korea will always need Chinese characters as the basis for their composition. "

Zhang Chao looked at the greasy middle-aged man in front of him with some surprise, but he did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said, "How do you know if you don't try?"

Sun Liangyi's interview with Zhang Chao ended with both parties being dissatisfied.

Zhang Chao was dissatisfied because Sun Liangyi was too cowardly and did not play the role of a "villain". He only gave the event a dose of public opinion vaccination. It was mainly up to him to complete the value anchoring of the visit to Japan.

Sun Liangyi was also not satisfied. He originally just wanted to take advantage of the popularity and see if he could get some exclusive news from Zhang Chao. However, Zhang Chao put him in an awkward position with just a few words, leaving him in a dilemma.

Although Zhang Chao's final statement touched even this old hand, he was in a dilemma after returning home. Finally, with great difficulty, he wrote an article to save his reputation - "Icebreakers and Bridge Builders: The Pioneering Significance of the Chinese Young Writers' Delegation to Japan"

At the beginning of the article, he used a poetic touch to describe his own transformation:

When I wrote the article "The Writers Association may send a "Literary Envoy" to Japan" two weeks ago, I never expected that this cultural observation, which began with prejudice, would eventually become an opportunity for self-enlightenment. On the afternoon when I met Zhang Chao in the reception room of Luyuan, this "controversial writer" who was repeatedly smeared by the public opinion field, used a 20-minute candid dialogue to drop a depth bomb in the author's inherent cognition.

I thought I would witness the resentment of the frustrated, but I unexpectedly encountered the calmness of a cultural envoy. When Zhang Chao said lightly, "It (the "modernity" of East Asian literature) may not be on the pure literature shelves of bookstores, nor on the pens of elite writers, but in the corners we are not aware of", the cicadas outside the window became deafening.

However, Zhang Chao did not pay attention to what Sun Liangyi wrote. His attention was completely attracted by an article of "non-fiction writing" in his mailbox.

"Peacocks on the Assembly Line: Field Notes on China's Shamatte"

Author: Lan Ting
[In May 2007, on the third morning of my night at the Internet cafe, I was finally noticed by them. The QQ icon on the lower right corner of the screen was still jumping - "葬爱家族の冷少" sent a string of symbols: "栤葑尐爷ヽo承鍩卟綄". I rubbed my sore eyes and compared the passwords recorded in my notebook one by one before I guessed his general meaning: the triangle symbol represents sadness, the snowflakes represent loneliness, and the arrow points to youth with nowhere to go.]

【This QQ group named "Blood Sacrifice" is the secret garden of the Shamatte teenagers. They rewrite Gu Cheng's poem in Martian language: "The night gave me black eyes, but I still want to find the light." The administrator "Ghost Fire Boy" told me that the sentence "Don't be sad, it's not worth it" in the group announcement is not a pretentious deepness, but the real signature of a 16-year-old female worker on the assembly line of a Dongguan electronics factory. 】

[When I asked to meet them, the group suddenly fell silent. Fifteen minutes later, a girl named "Can Chi Die" sent me a private message: "Sister, can you take us to Gulangyu to see the sea?"]

In Xiamen's Malong Industrial Zone, a barbershop that charges 5 yuan per session is the most popular barbershop in the world. The proprietress, Hong Jie, wearing 10-centimeter high heels, pulled a yellow wig off the top of the counter: "This is the same style as Daomingsi in Meteor Garden!"

Her treasures lay in the glass cabinet: tubes of low-quality hair dyes labeled "Korean Wave Color" and "Tokyo Hot", paint-chip iron boxes filled with earrings and lip rings, and a torn copy of "Contemporary Music" hidden in the deepest part.

[Aqiang, 18, is a frequent visitor here. Every Saturday after finishing his night shift, he would sit on the peeling swivel chair and let Sister Hong use hairspray to shape his bangs into steel needles piercing the sky.

"The factory uniform is gray, the assembly line is gray, but the hair must be blood red." He adjusted his earrings in front of the mirror, the stainless steel rings glowing coldly under the fluorescent light, "Just like my game character in Audition, if I can't be the protagonist in real life, can't I be a villain on the street?"]

[Walking through an alley full of sewer clearing ads, my classmates and I arrived at Aqiang’s “palace”—an eight-square-meter cubicle with posters all over the walls: Nicholas Tse’s wild hairstyle standing side by side with Uzumaki Naruto from “Naruto”, and a wilted rose in a plastic bottle on the windowsill, which was the prize he won at the factory social gathering last week.]

[He dragged out a cookie box from under the bed, which contained more precious treasures: a rivet bracelet with the word "non-mainstream" printed on it, a skull necklace with diamonds falling out, and an exercise book full of song lyrics.

There is an unsealed pack of Band-Aids on the windowsill—last week, his ears got inflamed after getting pierced, but he was reluctant to spend five dollars on alcohol cotton pads to disinfect them, so he only spent two dollars on four Band-Aids, and now he has one left. 】

[At 4 a.m. in the electronics factory, the fluorescent lights cast a pale shadow on Aqiang's face. He put a sticky note on his workstation, writing in Martian language: "If the eyes around me are all laughing at me, I will review the faith that you don't understand." (If the eyes around me are all laughing at me, I will review the faith that you don't understand)]

[When I finally arrived at Gulangyu with five Shamatte boys, the sea breeze was swaying Aqiang's newly made red Mohawk. He stood on the reef, his jeans had long been cut into a cape, swaying with a rustling sound. "This is the Aegean Sea! But there is no love here!" He shouted at the sunset, his earrings were plated with gold by the sunset. ]

【Xiao Mei squatted on the beach, wrote "吥崾紾喜" with a branch and quickly smoothed it out. When the tide came in, she suddenly asked me: "Sister Lan, when the students of Xiamen University saw us, did they look like aliens?" Without waiting for my answer, she laughed to herself: "But aliens are cool too!"】

【Three months later, Aqiang sent me a photo. He was standing in front of a newly opened barber shop, his hair was cut into a flat top like a rainbow, and his ear holes were covered with Band-Aids. "Sister, I'm an apprentice now. I'm going to make the coolest hairstyles for the Shamatte brothers." On the back of the photo was written a normal Chinese character: "It turns out that my feet don't hurt anymore when I don't wear riveted boots."】

At the end of the article, Lan Ting wrote:

[They are not cultural thugs, but cacti growing in barren soil - using thorns to protect the last bit of water, and seeing flowering as a tragic uprising. When we laugh at those exaggerated hairstyles, perhaps we should hear countless Ah Qiangs under the wigs saying: "Please look at me, even just for one look."]

Zhang Chao read the entire article carefully, and the last sentence made him applaud.

Writing "Shamatte" was just a casual idea of ​​his, but he didn't expect that Lan Ting actually turned it into reality and completed it so well.

Zhang Chao opened his mailbox, forwarded the article to Ma Boyong, and wrote:

"Youth Non-Fiction" can now prepare for its launch!

(End of this chapter)