Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 364 Establish a sect!
"I read your article about Mr. Lu Xun, "Lu Xun for Losers."

"I wrote that when I took the college entrance examination a few years ago. It's not mature enough..."

"It is precisely because of his immaturity that he is sincere enough. I thought Mr. Li had been forgotten by the Chinese literary world, but I didn't expect that a young man would make everyone remember him again."

"In fact, the gentleman has never been forgotten. We are just sometimes ashamed to remember him again."

"Haha, what you said is more pointed than 'forget'... But I'm sure you would be very pleased if you saw that there is a Zhang Chaosang in China today."

……

This was the first day of the "Chinese Young Writers Delegation"'s visit to Japan. When checking in at the hotel in Tokyo, a TV screen showing Zhang Chao and Oe Kenzaburo chatting and laughing was playing in the lobby.

Almost everyone moved under the TV and stopped to watch.

Whether it is Zhang Chao or Oe Kenzaburo, they are enough reasons to attract them.

Zhang Chao spoke Chinese, so I could naturally understand him; although I couldn't understand Dajiang's Japanese, there were friends who had learned Japanese who translated for me.

Even though I had heard in China that Zhang Chao had caused quite a stir in Japan, only when I came to Japan could I specifically feel how big this "quite a stir" was.

After leaving the airport and sitting on the shuttle bus, the small TV was playing a news special about how Zhang Chao made Shintaro Ishihara so angry that he had to be rescued twice.

When entering the city, I occasionally looked out of the bus window, and from time to time, Zhang Chao's face, which always seemed to be smiling, flashed on the electronic screen of the building.

After getting off the bus, at the entrance of the bookstore next to the hotel, there were large posters of "Your Name" and "Crime Police Glory", as well as the pre-sale poster of Zhang Chao's new book.

From time to time, you can even see Japanese girls in school uniforms taking photos with Zhang Chao's portrait next to the poster.

Now that we have entered the hotel, the TV randomly plays a special interview with Zhang Chao from the "Japan Television". He sits casually on the sofa and has a cordial conversation with the 1994 Nobel Prize winner in Literature and the master of the "New Sensationalism" literature, Kenzaburo Oe.

The young writers in the delegation thought they had come to an amusement park specially built for Zhang Chao, otherwise how could they see him everywhere.

I heard that this trip has a session called "Contemporary Chinese Literature in Japan", which will be hosted by Zhang Chao...

"Why not just change the name to 'Zhang Chao in Japan'..." Shuang Xuetao suppressed his laughter and whispered to Ma Boyong beside him.
Ma Boyong was also speechless. As a senior employee of Tide Culture, he naturally knew how capable Zhang Chao was at causing trouble; but what Zhang Chao did in Japan was completely beyond his imagination.

Even after watching all of Zhang Chao's recent interviews and speeches, he still found this matter magical.

After a long while, Ma Boyong finally said, "Now I know why he insisted that the two of us drop our work and come to Japan with him."

Shuang Xuetao was stunned and asked, "Didn't they ask us to come to Japan to expand our business and see if we can get some articles? Why else?"

Ma Boyong pointed at Zhang Chao on TV and said, "He must have felt that it was boring not being able to show off in front of his acquaintances after performing for so long in Japan, so he specially called us over to watch his performance!"

Shuang Xuetao: “…” It really sounds like something he would do.

At this time, Zhang Yueran reached out and patted Ma Boyong, making a "hush" gesture, meaning not to disturb everyone from watching the conversation between Zhang Chao and Oe Kenzaburo. Ma Boyong and Shuang Xuetao both shut up tactfully and concentrated on watching TV.

"Actually, it was only after Brother Watanabe contacted me that I hurriedly found a novel of yours to read. It was "Young Babylon" published together with "Crime Police Glory". I think you wrote it when you were 19?"

As Kenzaburo Oe spoke, he took a book from the staff. It was the "Young Babylon" he had just mentioned.

"Yes. It was a commissioned article for a magazine. I spent about a month writing it. It was about places and people I was familiar with." Zhang Chao also felt a little emotional. This novel was his first attempt at pure literature and it was still a bit childish. No one in China had mentioned it for a long time.

Dajiang stroked the cover of the book and said slowly, "It seems that all writers start writing from their surroundings... From this book, I saw that you, Zhang Chaosang, have a quality that other young writers rarely have—

A sense of youthful vicissitudes. ”

Zhang Chao's eyes narrowed and he looked at Dajiang seriously.

Da Jiang also noticed Zhang Chao's eyes, and after laughing, he said, "It seems that I was right. Although this "Young Babylon" has a complex writing technique, I feel that you always keep a distance from the characters in the novel, whether it is Lu Xiaolu or Lan Bai.

Writers always empathize with their characters, but you seem to shut them out before they really enter your heart, and then peek into their lives through a 'one-way glass'.

This kind of distance is not as cold as Hemingway's documentary filming, but you can really feel that your attention to the characters is warm...

It is a wonderful reading experience. You have found an excellent balance between rationality and sensibility. "

Zhang Chao fell silent. He was deeply impressed by Oe Kenzaburo's sharpness. As a world-class literary award winner, he possessed a rare literary touch among writers. After reading only one of his works, he grasped the peculiarities buried deep in Zhang Chao's heart.

As a reborn person, on the one hand he embraces life enthusiastically, but on the other hand he also feels a little alienated from this world.

This sense of alienation gives him a perspective that is always "outside the event" - Zhang Chao's novels either use the "third person" or the "first person", and "I" is not the protagonist, but a bystander, narrator, and occasional companion.

However, Zhang Chao will not let his emotions drift away from the story. Instead, they become a framework to constrain the core of the story to grow in the direction he wants. This creative attitude of "full commitment" and "limited participation" has constituted the internal support for Zhang Chao's writing over the years.

Zhang Chao himself certainly noticed it, but this was not something that could be told to outsiders - Oe Kenzaburo was the first person to notice it.

After a long while, Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Actually, I call this 'absenceism.'"

"Oh?" Oe Kenzaburo's eyes lit up, and his tone became a little excited: "Is this a summary of your own creative experience?"

At this time, the local receptionist who was responsible for checking in the representatives at the front desk came over and said to the young writers: "Everyone, come quickly to get your room cards and put your luggage away early..."

Before he could finish his words, he was swallowed back by a few angry and sharp looks.

Everyone here is a writer, and of course they understand that this interview has reached the most critical moment. Even the interviewer Watanabe Tsuneo stopped interrupting and completely handed the stage to Zhang Chao and Oe - is Zhang Chao going to propose a completely new literary concept in this interview?

Thinking of this, these young writers couldn't help trembling.

Combined with the sales of Zhang Chao's works and his influence, one can imagine how many followers this concept will have in the future. It is not impossible that it will eventually become a literary genre after several years.

This is the real "founding of a school of thought"! And it happened in front of Kenzaburo Oe!
Announcing in front of the master of "New Sensationalism" that "absenceism" will enter the literary stage - this is a major event that will be written into literary history!

How can you bear to miss this crucial moment?
Everyone focused their attention on the TV, only to hear Zhang Chao slowly say: "I think that when a writer is making up a story, it is best to keep a certain distance from the original story.

He may have heard someone else's retelling, or looked up information, or simply got the inspiration from a reading or conversation. He himself must not have existed in this blueprint, and he cannot even be a witness - that is what I call 'absent'.

Only by being ‘absent’ can he break away from the limitations of being an ‘eyewitness’ and use a more objective, calm and profound mindset to create a whole story based on the original. ”

Oe Kenzaburo became more and more interested and asked, "Not being there... That's surprising. But if you think about it, it does make sense - 'those who were there' are 'accomplices' in the incident, and experiencing it personally will also cause their emotions to be 'polluted'.

If we look at it from the perspective of possessing the text, perhaps ‘absence’ is more comprehensive than ‘presence’. This is really an understanding that goes against common sense!”

Does Dajiang agree with this theory?
Although it wasn't too surprising, everyone still couldn't believe it and wanted to rub their ears to see if they had heard it right.

Zhang Chao nodded in agreement and said, “When I first realized that I was creating with this mentality, I was also very surprised. After all, ‘experience and fiction’ is the eternal proposition of literature, especially novels.

Every creator tries to balance the weight between the two. But after creating works such as "Young Babylon" and "Crime Police Glory", I think the author must maintain a necessary aesthetic distance from the material. This distance is not a simple physical distance.

Instead, through the filtering of narrative media, the fermentation of memory, and the process of cultural translation, writers gain creative freedom that transcends the perspective of eyewitnesses.

When writers get rid of the shackles of being ‘present’, their imagination can break through the cage of empiricism and construct an artistic reality with more universal significance based on the blueprint of reality. ”

After listening to this, Kenzaburo Oe was not only interested but also surprised: "It seems that you have already made a very complete summary of your theory?"

Zhang Chao said: "I have been thinking about 'absence' about a year ago. I have talked to myself countless times, but today is the first time I said it out loud."

Dajiang thought for a while and asked further: "In fact, your "absenceism" has another layer - if an author is too involved in dealing with the blueprint, even if he is "absent" in actual experience, he has become "present" on a psychological level, and he will not be able to do the construction you mentioned."

Zhang Chao couldn't help but sit up straight when he heard this - Dajiang is indeed a master, he thought of some things that he didn't say - and said seriously: "Yes. The most important thing about 'absence' is the psychological distance and emotional distance, not the physical distance.

"Absenceism" does not exclude emotional involvement, but emotions must be tempered. It cannot be an indiscriminate empathy, an involuntary outpouring, or a tiresome reading...

In fact, this is not my personal creative experience, but many great predecessors have already practiced it - it’s just that their reputations are too great, and the literary concepts they created are too dazzling, resulting in this specific "technique trail" not being paid attention to.

I am a nobody who has just gathered together the gold that has leaked out from between their lines."

Oe Kenzaburo laughed and said, "It's unlike you to be so modest, Zhang Chao-san! If Ishihara could still wake up and see you say such words with such an attitude, he might faint again."

Zhang Chao said earnestly: "In front of truly great writers, humility is not only a virtue, but also a reverence for the essence of literature."

Dajiang asked curiously, "Then tell me, which writers inspired you?"

Zhang Chao slowly sorted out the stories one by one: "First is Kafka. Kafka had never been to America and didn't even know English, but he used his experience in the Jewish community in Prague to create a modern space in his novel America that was more prophetic than the real America.

He told me that cultural distance forces writers to abandon superficial descriptions and instead capture the inherent characteristics of civilization.

Then there is Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. In this novel, the author sets up a quadruple narrative framework, constructing a layered narrative maze through modern scholars, medieval translators, monks' manuscripts, and the experiences of the parties involved, keeping the truth always in a state of elusiveness.

He told me that a multi-layered narrative structure can eliminate the limitations of a single perspective..."

Kenzaburo Oe chimed in and added, “Young Babylon has some echoes of The Name of the Rose.”

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Yes, that was my first attempt."

Dajiang said: "It's hard to imagine how you can read so many books at your age - especially Eco. He is very famous, but if you don't have a certain understanding of European culture, semiotics, theology... these profound knowledge, "The Name of the Rose" is actually not that easy to read."

Zhang Chao said: "In fact, I didn't understand all of it - I only found what I wanted from the part I understood."

Dajiang nodded to show that he understood, and then asked, "Who else?"

Zhang Chao let out a sigh of relief and said, "There are so many - before writing One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez deliberately put aside the family stories he heard in his childhood for twenty years; Nabokov wrote in English; when Flaubert created Madame Bovary, he consulted a lot of social news and medical archives instead of personal experience...

Oh, and Hemingway, whose telegraphic writing is essentially a strategy of absence—deleting subjective adjectives and using verb chains to construct objective scenes. This linguistic cleanliness helped him resist the tide of memory, thus cultivating an iceberg-like narrative tension.

There are too many, too many for me to count - I am not building a 'castle in the air', but you - Mr. Oe - great writers like you have inadvertently built the framework.

All I did was step on the ladder and reach out to pick the apple."

Upon hearing this, Dajiang burst into laughter again - for a serious literary writer like him who is always serious and even a little gloomy, such "gaffes" are rare.

After the effect, Dajiang said to Zhang Chao: "It's not that we set up the ladder, but you are the only one who saw the fruit and discovered the ladder. "Absenceism", "Absenceism"..."

While muttering to himself, Dajiang suddenly stood up and said to the audience: "'Absenceism' is produced by the witnesses present. It is a lucky thing to be able to witness the birth of a new literary concept in life!"

After that, he took the lead in applauding Zhang Chao. Soon, the applause echoed throughout the studio and the lobby of the hotel where the delegation was staying.

The people gathered in front of the TV still had a dreamlike feeling at this moment - was Zhang Chao's "absenceism" certified by the Nobel Prize winner in Literature?
This is the kind of plot that only appears in online novels!
(End of this chapter)