Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 345 Storm! (asking for monthly ticket)
If CCTV's interview with Zhang Chao was just a "storm in a teapot", then Ma Yueran's response opened the lid of the teapot and released the storm to the whole world.

From any perspective, the Nobel Prize in Literature is still the most watched literary award in the world. Despite being criticized in various ways, Sartre even refused to accept the award and emphasized in his refusal statement:
"The Nobel Prize itself is not a literary award of the Western bloc, but it has become such a literary award. Some things are probably not something that the members of the Swedish Academy can decide. So as it stands now, the Nobel Prize objectively appears as an honor given to Western writers and Eastern rebels."

But as the only international literary award that has been awarded continuously for more than a hundred years, it has accumulated a rich reputation and is also tied up with huge interests. It is the most important literary indicator, without a doubt.

There are only 18 lifetime judges of the Nobel Prize in Literature. From this perspective, Ma Yueran, as one of the lifetime judges, is almost one of the most powerful figures in the literary world. His invitation and Zhang Chao's rejection are enough to make most people in the industry look sideways.

Especially those countries where Zhang Chao once left his footprints.

With the publication of the special article in the Wall Street Journal, the always active American literary world began to become restless, and even attracted the attention of Harold Bloom.

This scholar, who has taught at Yale University for 50 years and is known as "the most gifted, original and provocative literary critic in the Western tradition", maintained his consistent academic stance. When interviewed by a CNN reporter, he strongly criticized Zhang Chao from the mainstream position of Western-centrism:

“The arrogance of this young Chinese man reminded me of the patricide complex I described in The Anxiety of Influence. He mistakenly equated the literary evaluation system with cultural colonization, but ignored a basic fact: the literary world created by Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe is the common spiritual heritage of all mankind.

Zhang Chao's statement is actually a refusal to participate in the great dialogue of world literature. Ma Yueran should not pay for the cultural inferiority complex of young writers, just as Pound did not need to apologize for translating Li Bai's "Changganxing" - his concession is disappointing. "

Harold Bloom has always been disdainful of multiculturalism. Although he has begun to be rejected by mainstream American academia in the 21st century, his ideas still have many supporters.

Then Cliff Gardner, a columnist for The Clarion, pointed out based on Bloom's argument:

The farce between Zhang Chao and Ma Yueran perfectly illustrates why every outstanding university must set up an "Oriental Studies Research Center." We can certainly understand that Zhang Chao did not reject Ma Yueran himself, but refused to be stuffed into the image framework of a "Chinese literary author" constructed by the West.

But sadly, his rebellion remains trapped in the binary opposition framework set by the West, which all "Orientalism" studies predicted decades ago - even if it was not interpreted entirely from a literary dimension.

If he really wants to break the spell of cultural colonization, he cannot escape it by refusing, and blindly resisting will only make the spell more deeply rooted. He should, as Frantz Fanon said, find the dialectical space between appropriation and subversion.

The “Westernization of literature” certainly made him, a Chinese youth who grew up in an affluent era, feel unhappy, but he did not seem to realize that “non-Westernization” or “de-Westernization” itself is the product of “Westernization”, and the two are a process of mutual construction. Zhang Chao’s resistance is just one of the products of this process.

While Zhang Chao uses fierce language to break down the authority of Western epistemology, he may soon fall into the trap of the romantic myth of "returning to the pre-colonial era" - which leads to an interesting topic: Is China's classical civilization really so perfect? ​​Then how did it collapse under internal and external attacks?

Therefore, truly perceptive readers must see through this conspiracy between colonial culture and traditional authority, and always be vigilant against traditional authority and old-style authority in the name of nationalism, indigenism, and decolonization in the post-colonial era.

Clive Gardner's column escalated the storm into an international debate.

The reasons are quite complicated to analyze - since the 17th century, Western civilization, centered on Europe, has redefined almost all standards in the world, including economy, culture, politics, and military... and in the 100 years since the United States took over from Britain as the center, it has used modern media to push these standards into every corner of the world.

Any ethnic group that is independent of the center and wants to explain its own civilization must ultimately seek theoretical support or even basic data from the system constructed by Western civilization.

This system that constructs the existing world order is so large that, as Gardner said, even other civilizations' exploration of independence, whether it is resisting colonialism or reviving classics, is within the system's academic predictions and institutional designs and is part of the system.

This is the frustration of many explorers - after going around in circles, they still have to solve the modernization problems of their own country or nation within the cognitive framework preset by Western civilization.

This kind of cultural monopoly is not new and has always recurred in human history.

Just like when most countries in East Asia and South Asia want to tell the ancient history of their own country, they will almost always find to their embarrassment that the pitiful remains of civilization within their own borders are far less rich and convincing than the relevant historical materials preserved by China.

The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, was written entirely in Chinese characters. It was not until 1993 that the Korean National History Compilation Committee completed its Korean translation.

However, before the 20th century, this kind of cultural monopoly was usually achieved in a region by a powerful national entity, while in the 20th century, it was a cultural alliance with a common identity label of "colonizers" that spread globally and reached a degree beyond any individual's imagination.

From the macro perspective of human civilization, these are just waves, big or small, in the long river of history; but for people living in the era, they are all huge waves.

However, unlike the Chinese, most countries in the world and their people do not care about this. Both "cultural independence" and "cultural dignity" are unfamiliar terms to them.

No matter how heartbroken and how much the cultural elites in their country cry out for help, ordinary people don't care how many cultural products of their own there are on the bookshelves or on television.

Since Americans can feed their stomachs and brains with Coke, French fries, Disney, and Hollywood, why should they resist this trend?

Therefore, Zhang Chao, and the Chinese people who are inspired by his interviews, are actually more like the alternatives who are swimming against the current.

Even scholars and writers who recognized Zhang Chao pointed this out with sympathy:

Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz told the BBC reporter who interviewed him: "The anxiety of this Chinese colleague reminded me of the struggle between tradition and modernity when the Cairo Trilogy was published.

But just as I was recognized by the Nobel Prize for writing in Arabic, true cultural confidence lies in the power of creation itself. Zhang Chao's resistance is worthy of respect, but we should be wary of these strong self-consciousness turning into new shackles.

True literary freedom should reveal universal dilemmas in supra-regional allegories. Perhaps Chinese writers should learn how to maintain creative freedom in multiple identities. "

The storm eventually swept up the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk.

Pamuk had recently fallen in love with Kiran Desai, and they often appeared together at various events. Zhang Chao's conversation with Kiran Desai on the California Zephyr train a few months ago gave him a special connection with the newly minted Nobel Prize winner.

Faced with the persistent questioning from reporters from all over the world, Pamuk finally gave a complete response to the incident between Zhang Chao and Ma Yueran during a literary lecture.

As a great writer born in a "Westernized" Turkish family, Pamuk has opened up a path to literary modernity for the entire country with his profound thinking and superb skills. But for him, some answers are self-evident:

"The dispute between Zhang Chao and Ma Yueran is nothing more than the eternal children's game in the literary world - some people smash toys to attract attention, while others pretend to be tolerant but actually enjoy the superiority of being a giver.

This young Chinese man obviously confused the boundaries between "resistance" and "performance", thinking that he could become a new prophet by destroying the old paradigm, but he did not realize that every work he wrote was inseparable from the enlightenment of Western literature.

Ma Yueran's modesty is regrettable. He could have said to Zhang Chao, "Young man, literature is not an art of anger." But this old gentleman, who is well versed in sinology, seems to have forgotten that a true writer never needs to prove anything by refusing.

Sartre refused to accept the award because he was already Sartre, while Zhang Chao's refusal was more like an early exit statement by a non-nominee. So I think Cliff Gardner's comment that Zhang Chao's resistance is still trapped in the Western framework is too lenient.

In fact, this young man's performance perfectly illustrates the ultimate victory of Orientalism - the more he refuses to become a display object, the more he will become a typical example of "post-colonial anxiety" in Western academic circles.

Just think about it, many years later, when scholars look back on this farce, they will laugh as if they were interpreting an ancient Persian court conspiracy - look, that young Chinese man thought he could dethrone the Nobel Prize in Literature by refusing a cup of tea; and that Swedish academician actually wanted to use humility to cover up the twilight of cultural power.

Those great works that transcend time, region and culture will be like the dome of Hagia Sophia, silently looking down upon all these fleeting dusts. "Pamuk's criticism was obviously beyond everyone's expectations, and immediately caused a huge discussion at the scene. Pamuk obviously enjoyed this moment very much, looking at the audience whispering with a little bit of mischief and complacency.

Backstage after the event, Kiran Desai said to Pamuk: "Why did you say that? This has made the situation more complicated, dear. You shouldn't have been involved in this."

Pamuk just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and said to Kieran Deschanel: "I don't like this young man - maybe because he is too arrogant towards you; maybe because he is too ostentatious - don't always praise young people."

Kiran Desai shook her head helplessly. Although her boyfriend was a literary master, he was always a little childish and arrogant. She could guess the real reason why Pamuk was dissatisfied with Zhang Chao:

After winning the award in 2006, he has been standing in the spotlight of the world literary stage, enjoying the loudest cheers and the most enthusiastic praise. However, the appearance of Zhang Chao has more or less taken away some of the halo that he believes should belong to him.

This kind of "stingy" behavior may be called "childish" in ordinary people, but in the master, it can only be called "innocence" - besides, he is a Nobel Prize winner and naturally has some kind of immunity.

This storm was pushed to its peak by Pamuk’s influence, and The New Yorker magazine published an article titled “The Dialectic of Cultural Consciousness and Literary Universality”.

[Zhang Chao's refusal has a natural moral appeal - just like Sartre returning the Nobel Prize medal in 1964 - this kind of gesture can always evoke people's imagination of rebellion against the system.

But Pamuk points out the essential difference: "Sartre's refusal was a critique of Cold War ideology, while Zhang Chao's refusal was more like an early exit statement by a non-finalist."

The most paradoxical thing about Zhang Chao’s remarks is that his logic of resistance contradicts Said’s theory. This young Chinese writer quoted Said’s words to criticize the Western gaze, but he did not realize that his anxiety stemmed from the dogmatic understanding of the concepts of “Orientalism” or “Orientalism”.

He equates maintaining the independence of cultural entities with a vaccine to prevent "infection" from Western culture. Isn't this just like medieval doctors using bloodletting to fight the Black Death?

The real cultural consciousness should be like that of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami: he frankly admitted that he was nourished by both Fitzgerald and Dostoyevsky, but he created a unique "melancholy Japan" with his works. 】

……

"Ha, you see, Zhang Chao miscalculated this time!" Morgan said to Lin Chusheng in front of him while sitting in the cafe. He compiled a thin book of clippings about the recent international controversy about Zhang Chao and handed it to Lin Chusheng.

Lin Chusheng flipped through it quickly and said to Morgan, "Is this just controversial? I think there are still many people who agree with Zhang Chao's point of view, especially those writers from third world countries and American critics who advocate diversity."

Morgan said: "Look at what Pamuk said. And the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker... these newspapers have always praised Zhang Chao in the past, but this time their attitudes are very conservative, and even critical.

Do you know what this means? "

Lin Chusheng thought for a moment, then answered, "Does this mean that the international public opinion has begun to be wary of Zhang Chao's behavior of using literature to stir up national sentiment and demonstrate his ambition for cultural expansion?"

Morgan praised: "Bingo! Your reaction is really quick! You are worthy of being a media person with an international perspective!"

Lin Chusheng smiled proudly and asked again: "So what should we do this time?"

Morgan asked, "When will this old man Ma Yueran visit China?"

Lin Chusheng thought for a moment and replied, "About September 9th, not even a few days away."

Morgan nodded and said, "That's great. Recently, you organized a group of people to tentatively criticize Zhang Chao's views, especially the narrow, selfish, and closed cultural concepts he displayed.

If this kind of concept becomes mainstream, what will become of young Chinese people? How can they accept the baptism of civilization from advanced countries around the world? The openness and tolerance of the United States, the craftsmanship of Japan, the rigor of Germany, and the gentlemanly manners of the United Kingdom..."

Lin Chusheng agreed with this and sighed, "Yes. After Zhang Chao became famous in the past few years, young people obviously don't listen to us anymore. For example, it's very difficult to ask the recent graduates who came to our newspaper to write according to our wishes...

If this continues, how can we promote the cognitive progress of the Chinese people? "

The two chatted for a while, and Morgan was about to get up and leave. At this time, Lin Chusheng hurriedly said: "Mr. Morgan, what about the cost this time..."

Morgan said awkwardly: "Lin, you also know that NED is now very strict in reviewing funds. We haven't made any achievements this time..."

Lin Chusheng was anxious and said quickly: "You said that last time when you talked about 'racial discrimination'. I have already paid more than 10,000 yuan. This time, the commissioned article is definitely not something that can be paid with the newspaper's fee...

You know, Zhang Chao is being praised in China. The government has stepped in and asked everyone to blow up the bunker. They should at least give some incentives, right? "

Morgan interrupted Lin Chusheng before he finished speaking, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Lin, believe me, we will not treat you unfairly. I have been working on the funding report, and I believe there will be results soon.

But if we don’t seize the opportunity of Ma Yueran’s visit to China this time, it will be too late for Zhang Chao to go to Japan!
Lin, there is an old Chinese saying, 'Opportunities once lost, never come back'!"

After saying that, without waiting for Lin Chusheng to reply, he hugged him tightly, choking the words Lin Chusheng was about to say back into his throat.

Morgan heaved a sigh of relief only after Lin Chusheng's figure completely disappeared from the entrance of the coffee shop. At this time, his phone vibrated. It was an email:
"The plan has been approved."

Morgan's mouth curled up, and then he replied to an email:
"This time we are dealing with Zhang Chao. The Chinese have proposed that the price of "special commissioned articles" should be raised to at least 1 US dollars per article... The last price of 3000 US dollars per article was too little..."

……

So just before Ma Yueran was about to arrive in China, a series of articles criticizing Zhang Chao were published in many local newspapers and websites.

"The Dangerous Signs of New Cultural Conservatism: Rewatching CCTV's Face-to-Face Interview with Zhang Chao"

The Loss of Literary Ontology: The Theoretical Crisis Behind the Zhang Chao Incident

"Cultural speculation in the traffic era, deconstructing the marketing chain of the Zhang Chao incident"

"Beware of the Populist Turn of Cultural Consciousness: Comments on the Zhang Chao Incident"

……

But behind the countless noisy voices, readers in China and the United States are most concerned about one thing:

When will Zhang Chao’s new novel go on sale?
(End of this chapter)