Chapter 58 Explain that the road to hell is full of good intentions, and so is heaven

I will not kill for my country.I will not kill for capitalism, communism, social democracies, welfare states.I'm going to kill Carter for killing so-and-so.Killing people for family grievances is a better reason than doing it for patriotism or which economic system you like.I love it, I hate it, it's all about me. The word "influence" is very mysterious. From a certain angle, it seems to be a light and short version of "plagiarism". From another direction, it can become another feature of "homage".But in any case, "influence" is a very sensitive word for a writer. No wonder Harold Bloom proposed the so-called "anxiety of influence" (The anxiety of influence), thinking that every author They all grew up struggling with the traces of previous writers.

The reason why I mentioned this matter is mainly because when I got the manuscript of "MODERN TIMES", I was reading Haruki Murakami's "1Q84" at the same time, and then I strongly realized that these two works actually seem to be They share the feeling structure of the same era, and then write such novels that communicate with each other. However, such a statement may cause Isaka Kotaro anxiety, especially after he was classified as a series of writers influenced by Haruki Murakami by the book critic Yoshida Nobuko, the title "haruki children" (haruki チルドレン) has been shrouded in him. on the head.Although he has refuted this statement in many interviews, and even mentioned the name of Shoji Shimada, thinking that he is more influenced by Shimada (although few people can see this), we may It is still possible to explore the charm of Isaka's novels from the similarities between him and Murakami.

The most obvious similarity between Isaka and Murakami is probably that they both love a certain conversational style. Although they are only describing or narrating, they often use a large number of distinct and special metaphors as if they were alone (this also caused the two It is easy for individuals to create such things as "famous quotes").In addition, their unique love for music also makes their novels obviously contain a certain sense of rhythm and rhythm (this is not easy to detect through translation). Of course, their worldviews and creative techniques are significantly different, which also makes them unique writers.Interestingly, no matter whether these two writers have some kind of "influence" relationship, they both took a stylistic turn at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.

Murakami reached the existential peak of his writing career in (2002), after which "After Night" (2004) is like an echoing addendum, but in "1Q84" he is Extending his tentacles into the concept of "history" that he hadn't touched much in the past, and then evolved his thinking on Japan's current situation.In contrast, Isaka is in "OH! FATHER" (-!) declares that "GOLDEN SLUMBERS" is the beginning of the second issue of his career as a writer. Not only are they like "brothers" as Isaka said, but they are also two major works that established a new style for him.

Then, what kind of direction does Yisaka's work take? One time I went to visit the Japanese Reasoning Literature Archives, met the curator Mr. Gonda Wanji, and chatted with him about the work on Seicho Matsumoto that he had just completed at the time. Face the dark bottom of this society and turn it into words.But I was a little surprised when he said that the system started by Seicho Matsumoto was actually extended to Kotaro Isaka. Because compared to Qingzhang's accusatory character, Yisaka seems to be much gentler. He doesn't yell at his own ideas, and he doesn't strengthen the opposition between people and social symbols in order to pursue dramatic effects. The two seem to be very different. Writer, why did Mr. Gonta bring them together?

But when I saw "MODERN TIMES", I seemed to understand this point of view a little bit. As a sequel, Yisaka seems to think more seriously about the relationship between "country" and "people", so we thought that the role of "Inuyang" he intended to portray in the previous work represented the government and power, but now we find it in "MODERN" In TIMES, the character who previously represented "evil" was just a decorative character who played a part in the game. Above him, there seems to be something else that dominates us. From this point of view, I would think of the concept of "bureaucracy" (bureaucracy, also translated as "bureaucratic system") proposed by sociologist Max Weber. He used this to explain contemporary society and believed that modern In fact, the political system has undergone a continuous modernization process, and has developed the ruling organization that we see today, which is theoretically the most rational and spiritual calculation. The division of labor, authority levels, and legal regulations make the bureaucratic organization an "inhuman ", so it will not be bound by people's joys and sorrows, and can fairly and completely claim everyone's rights.But as individual characteristics are gradually weakened, the bureaucracy has grown into a huge rational iron cage beyond everyone's imagination, which in turn confines us.

However, what Yisaka saw was that when the bureaucratic organization imagined that it represented the country itself, the country became a huge organic living body, and in order to continue the existence of itself, the country would do everything possible to obliterate the things that affect its own development (even if that thing is one's own nation).So why there is endless violence in the book, because when we realize the existence of the state apparatus, it is often when power is exerted on us.What is even more astonishing is that all these violent means to maintain the country itself are not from one person, but from individuals under the whole, that is, each of us has contributed a little bit of our own strength to help The state consolidates itself.

In this way, Isaka is indeed a bit like Matsumoto Seicho, especially the process of asking the right questions and getting unacceptable answers.However, unlike Qingzhang, this era is not an era where it is good to point out "where is the problem", because we are deeply addicted to the structure, as long as the structure exists, similar problems will continue to appear, so Yisaka tries to ask The question is not "why is it like this", but a more essential "why did we let this world become like this"? Zhang Dachun once mentioned the concept of the so-called "ideal reader". He believes that when an author creates, he must presuppose that someone can fully understand the symbols, intentions and hints in the work, and only then can he convey a complete message. .From this point of view, the work-in-progress "Goodbye Strawberry Field" has become a metaphorical structure. It is not important what readers read, but how to start, extend, search, and interpret from what they read. Expand the understanding and reshaping of the whole world.

This not only reminds us that when reading Yisaka’s works, we must carefully understand the message he brings, but also tells us that “seeing” does not mean anything, and “doing something” is the real possible power to bring about change, even if we don’t Knowing if what we're doing now will make a difference, but the drive will eventually take us back to have a say in our situation. Judging from Yisaka's later works, he began to explore the "activity" of human beings, which also hints why he adopted a sci-fi setting to write "MODERN TIMES", because this is only a possibility in the future, and we are "present" His actions will determine whether this is just fiction or a prophecy.

Believe what you believe, think what you should think, and do what you should do. And don't forget- Bring your courage with you. About the author: Qu Chen, a doctoral student in the Chinese Department of Chung Hsing University, a member of the Reasoning Literature Research Association.

---

Notes: