Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 409 proves that humans deserve this crisis!
Zhang Chao walked to the window of the conference room and looked outside.

The October magazine office is located on the North Third Ring Road, next to Yanshi University. Although the Bird's Nest cannot be seen because the office is not high up, the whole city's restless atmosphere still cannot be suppressed and comes into view.

Zhang Chao first asked a strange question: "The opening ceremony will be in a week, right?"

Everyone was stunned for a moment. Xu Changchang was the first to react and replied, "Yes, it's only been a week." As he said this, there was an expectant look in his eyes.

After all, it is the world's highest-level and largest sporting event, and it can be held at the doorstep of Chinese people. Most people want to see it with their own eyes.

Zhang Chao nodded and asked, "Madame Bovary was first published in 1856. Do you know what happened in France the year before?"

The year before 1856 was 1855? What happened in France in 1855? This is really beyond the scope of the course, and we are not majoring in history.

Zhang Chao retracted his gaze and said, "In 1855, a grand event was also held in Paris, France - the second "World Expo."

What a mess! What does it have to do with Madame Bovary or the issue we are discussing today? However, everyone remembered that Shanghai will host the World Expo in two years, but they can't remember which Expo it will be.

However, since the other party was Zhang Chao, the editors could only listen patiently.

Zhang Chao went on to explain: "At that expo, 'elevators', 'concrete', 'aluminum products', 'rubber' were exhibited... these things are still an indispensable part of our daily lives even today, 150 years later.

Of course, there are also railways, trains, and steamships that have already appeared and become popular... Of course, writers have recorded many "tragedies of the times", and Madame Bovary is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone is so familiar with literary history, so I won't name the others."

Zhang Chao's last sentence successfully made the editors laugh, although it was a bit forced.

Zhang Chao continued: “That’s why Dickens wrote the famous quote at the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities, ‘It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…’ The profundity of this quote does not lie in its value judgment, but in the fact that it reveals the essence of all eras of rapid development.

"Mr. Jiang", who gives rewards through live broadcast in "Painted Skin", is essentially no different from the upstarts of the Paris Stock Exchange in the 19th century. They are all using currency to exchange for a sense of existence; "Xu Changchang"'s obsession with virtual personalities and Emma's obsession with lace magazines both stem from the anxiety of class transition.

This is the inevitable development of the times, a brand rooted deep in human nature, and the driving force behind the creation of the times. The "progress" of any era is accompanied by a price, and the price itself is part of the progress.

If you think there are no 'good' or 'bad' characters, why do you feel the need to criticize the times?"

Xu Changchang's eyes revealed a confused look. Chen Jie couldn't help but question: "Although this makes sense, the function of literary works is not only to portray the times, but also to reflect on the times.

If we accept all the good and bad of the times, how can literature solve the "spiritual crisis" of mankind? "

Zhang Chao immediately asked, "What spiritual crises has literature solved in history?"

Chen Jie said unconvincedly: "For example, Dante's Divine Comedy combines the good and evil of human nature with theological ethics, giving humans the possibility of self-salvation; and Boccaccio's Decameron affirms human desires and worldly values, injecting humanistic light into the spiritual void after the collapse of religion.

Literature became one of the carriers of the new faith, shifting from theism to anthropology, and laying the ideological foundation for the Renaissance.

Zhang Chao asked: "Can The Divine Comedy and The Decameron alone cause the collapse of religion in Europe that has lasted for thousands of years?"

Chen Jie was speechless for a moment, but he still managed to say: "Of course not all of them... European society at that time also reached a crossroads..."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Look, at least we have a consensus on this point, that is, these works themselves are the product of the times. When Dante's "Divine Comedy" was created, the Black Death was raging in Italy and the population dropped by one third; Boccaccio's "The Decameron" was written during the plague period when Florence was littered with corpses.

But did Dante's hellfire burn away the ignorance of the Middle Ages? Did Boccaccio's civic jokes make the church hand over indulgences? No, they just opened the abscess for people to see - and the knife that opened the abscess is what you call the "price".

When Flaubert wrote about Emma taking poison, Paris was busy building subways, holding salons, and selling stocks. Those ladies who cried while reading Madame Bovary went to department stores to buy lace dresses the next day. Literature is not a prescription, but a mirror.

A mirror can show you the vegetable leaves between your teeth, but it can’t brush your teeth for you.”

Yang Ying couldn't help herself and questioned, "Should we just let material desires devour human nature? The spread of Madame Bovary can at least prevent some ignorant women from falling into the trap.

But "Painted Skin"... although it is well written, "Xu Changchang" always makes me feel uncomfortable. Even "Master Jiang" seems to have some sympathetic sadness in your writing.

I believe your novels will still cause a sensation and be popular, but many of your readers are still 17 or 18 years old or in their twenties. Will their values ​​be affected by it?

If girls think that they can make tens or millions of dollars by twisting their waists and acting coquettishly in front of the camera like "Xu Changchang", then wouldn't the entire society's value system collapse?
Why is it that the more we discuss this, the more frightened I feel…"

Zhang Chao laughed and said, "If we continue discussing this, October magazine will simply reject Painted Skin."

After hearing this, Wang Zhanjun, who had been sitting on the Diaoyutai and not saying a word, was startled and said quickly: "Today is a purely academic discussion, and we will definitely publish Painted Skin!

But everyone's concerns are justified, and literary works generally have to consider social impact. I heard that every time your work is published, Contemporary and Harvest receive thousands of letters from readers.

Reporters will also interview the magazine's editors, so we hold this forum in the hope that everyone will be mentally prepared."

Zhang Chao nodded and continued, "What I just said, 'Literature is a mirror', is indeed not accurate enough. Let me explain it again - the Renaissance did not overthrow the church by Dante's sonnets, but by the gold coins of Venetian merchants, the bills of exchange of Florentine bankers, and the ink of Gutenberg's printing press.

So literature never 'solves' a crisis, it only does two things -"

Zhang Chao paused, raised two fingers in front of all the editors, and said slowly:

"First, prove that the crisis exists; second, prove that human beings deserve this crisis." This sentence flashed like thunder from the sky above the conference room of October magazine: first there was a flash of light, and then a rumbling sound came from the invisible and unknowable distance, becoming clearer and clearer, and finally hitting everyone's eardrums like a drumstick, echoing for a long time.

What is the purpose of literature?
People have been asking and answering this question for two thousand years.

From "literature (tragedy) purifies emotions by inducing "fear and pity", to "literature should reveal the ultimate truth", to "literature is a "history of social customs" that exposes the corruption of human nature by money", and also "literature is a "dagger and a javelin", "literature captures the beauty and sorrow of the moment and continues the traditional aesthetic spirit", "literature should resist the shallowness of entertainment to death and rebuild deep thinking"...

Every question and every answer is like a strike on the huge bell of this ancient artistic subject, making a deafening sound and making the entire era tremble.

But writers throughout history who can give such an answer are rare. Most people - including the best ones - will only quote the famous sayings of their predecessors instead of speaking for themselves, let alone elaborating on them.

There are two reasons for this: first, it is not easy to surpass the experience of predecessors; second, it is too difficult to condense one's own views. After all, this proposition is too grand, and it is easy to appear frivolous and biased if you want to condense it in just one or two sentences.

But Zhang Chao gave his answer in this small conference room today, which is not only concise and meaningful, but also profound enough -

“Literature does only two things: first, to prove that a crisis exists; second, to prove that human beings deserve such a crisis.”

Wang Zhanjun could no longer maintain his composure. He put down the teacup, opened the leather-covered notebook in front of him which he had only intended to write for show, took off the pen cap, and wrote the following line on the paper with the thickest pen tip.

Then he sat up straight and asked solemnly, "Please tell me in detail. I believe everyone is very curious."

Zhang Chao also unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and took a sip before saying, “In fact, half a year ago, when I was thinking about the creation of these short stories, I kept asking myself – why did I write them?
It was not until I came to the conclusion just now that I started writing the first line.

People in the Middle Ages suffered from insomnia over whether they could go to heaven after death; people in the 19th century suffered from the question of whether love could transcend class; people today regret not being able to attract others; people tomorrow will worry about whether they will lose fans if they turn off the filter for ten seconds.

These spiritual crises are essentially the same - people are bound to fall when they try to transcend their own limitations; but the fall itself is evidence of transcendence.

Sister Yang just asked me, "Should we allow material desires to devour human nature?" The answer I gave to others before was, "Material desires devour human nature because the degree of materialization is not enough. If the material is abundant enough, human nature can control the material."

I don't want to change this answer; but what I want to say today is, 'The fear of material desires swallowing up human nature is precisely the spiritual crisis of contemporary Chinese literature! '

We always miss the Xiangxi described by Shen Congwen, the Gaoyou in Wang Zengqi's memory, the magical Gaomi Northeast Township in Mo Yan, the Shaanxi countryside with intertwined desires in Jia Pingwa's vision, and of course Chen Zhongshi's immortal "White Deer Plain"...

We always lament the disappearance of rural civilization, but ignore the stories happening on this land. If literature is only willing to be the gravekeeper of agricultural civilization, how can it write the epic that is happening?

I initially thought that it was because China's agricultural history was too long and its civilization was too profound that people's pens could not write today's novels. Now I gradually understand that it is because the wheel of time is too fast, and some things are fleeting, often slipping away before writers can grasp them.

Just like the landline telephone, which became popular in the 90s, reached its peak in the early s, and then began to decline. Today, even if there is a landline at home, who can make a few calls?
The telephone elements that we often see in American and Japanese literary works, such as the simplest "caller message", have slipped away from us before they have formed a certain "cultural image" in China, which is actually quite disorienting.

But these are just appearances, just external things. Just like my novel, the characters are inspired by Madame Bovary - France in 1850 was also an era of rapid change. Why could Flaubert seize that fleeting gap and create an immortal classic?
Because he truly restrained the urge to create a grand world or a great character, and was willing to "sit" next to this mediocre and boring woman, connecting her spiritual world with the turbulent external world, and tapping into her inner vitality, thus reflecting the injustice inflicted on her by the entire French society at that time.

As a result, the real spiritual crisis hidden under the rapidly increasing material wealth emerged.

Flaubert faced that era head-on!

But in most cases, our top writers are still used to writing about "extraordinary people" and "extraordinary things" - of course, they often think that they are writing about ordinary people, but they are just prettier, stronger, kinder, and more resolute than ordinary people...

I didn't want to write about an 'ordinary person' who is better than 'ordinary people' in every way, so I created "Painted Skin", and I created "Xu Changchang", "Jiang Ye", and "Li Mo".

I believe that readers as a group are wise enough not to regard Painted Skin as an ode to material things.”

After finishing this long string of words, Zhang Chao was tired. He found an orange from the table, peeled it slowly, and then put it into his mouth one slice at a time, eating it leisurely.

The meeting room of October magazine was frozen into an oil painting. Only Zhang Chao was moving. Apart from that, there were flickering cigarette butts in the hands of several male editors, and traces of smoke rising up.

After a long while, Xu Changchang timidly said, "Teacher Zhang... Zhang Chao, you just said that I have written down everything. Can I write it down and attach it to the back of Painted Skin?"

Wang Zhanjun finally reacted at this time and quickly said: "Xiao Xu's suggestion is very good. I think your words should be seen by more people."

Zhang Chao also recovered by then, looked at the two men with a half-smile and said, "Are you not afraid of offending people? I am not afraid at all."

Wang Zhanjun slapped the table lightly and said, "A hundred schools of thought contend! What's there to be afraid of? Publish!"

Then he turned to Zhang Chao and said, "You didn't seem to have finished what you were saying just now? Do you want to summarize it?"

Zhang Chao looked at the editors and said, "I think we should let everyone summarize. In fact, what I said today was inspired by your doubts and questions, so it can be considered a joint creation - so why not sign a few names!"

After Zhang Chao said this, many people's faces changed, especially the three people who spoke the most.

Xu Changchang was like a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers. He said directly: "Okay! How about I make this summary?"

Zhang Chao and other editors turned to look at her, their young, lively faces full of anticipation.

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "Okay, actually you are the most suitable. You are "Xu Changchang"! "

(End of this chapter)