Chapter 34 Section 4 Private Discourse: "An Essay on No Dream Tower"

Before discussing Zhang Zhongxiao’s 18, let’s excerpt a passage from it: Loneliness is the crossroads of life to gods and beasts, and the dividing line between heaven and hell.People here experience the most severe tempering, rising or falling, sublimation and destruction.There are thousands of temptations and terrors here, countless weak people have sunk, and only the strong can swim through the lonely sea.Loneliness belongs to the strong, and it is the place where he shows his talents, while the weak can only perish silently in loneliness.Loneliness belongs to the wise, philosophers contemplate the strength and weakness of human beings in solitude, but ignorant mediocre people just look dead and struggle in solitude. ("Wumenglou Essays. Collection of Scraps. Fifty")

From this passage, we can see that when writing, Zhang Zhongxiao must be in extreme loneliness. In his own words, it is "a long time of emptiness, and he has lost his love for the world" (preface to "Scavenger Collection").The title of the book seems to imply his loneliness and despair.However, he still transformed this "dreamless" despair into a purgatory of spiritual purification and exaltation with unimaginable willpower. The "notes" in "Essays" have a serious and dignified style, and his suppressed passion flows underneath.That powerful external blow must have caused strong confusion in his heart: In the first article of "Miscellaneous Copy of Wumenglou Literature and History", he wrote that "almost all the great thinkers in the history of philosophy have put forward a central topic (moral principles ), that is: the task of philosophy is to enable people to have the power (rationality) to change external oppression and internal impulse", but in the fourteenth he wrote: "When I was young, the truth made me yearn for a long time, and the truth made me deeply Excited. But later, I felt that the truth was like an elusive firefly, the truth was like a soap bubble that seemed to exist, and the shadow of Kant approached me." But he rejected this doubt with a strong will Talking about the nihilistic mentality that resulted in the end, he would rather believe that "the truth exists, and the truth also exists." Shine on, otherwise the vicious defeat will be better than the masculine violence, the spirit will collapse, and you will fall into the animal way forever." (Preface to "Scavenging Waste Collection") In this sense, it shows how an upright intellectual resists after suffering a catastrophe. The threat of nothingness, the spiritual process of regaining trust in human beings, humanity and conscience.

"A person's greatest misfortune is to make him see what he doesn't want to see—all kinds of misfortunes such as war, mourning, stupidity, and hatred" ("Narrow Road Collection. July 1"), but all these misfortunes made Zhang Zhongxiao met.If he wants to reflect on these misfortunes and disasters and their causes, he has to focus on the foreign oppression.In this regard, his words are extreme and sharp: "In an upside-down world and chaotic era, it is natural for people to speak unreasonably and behave against human nature" ("Wumenglou Literature and History Miscellaneous Copy. 57") "The method of the Inquisition was to destroy it; and the modern method is to prove that it is heretic. The method of the Inquisition to deal with the heretic was to burn him, and the modern method is to silence him, or until he speaks out against him." from the heart" (ibid. 80). ... Zhang Zhongxiao's criticisms mostly come from his observation of modern "ruling techniques". Half of this should be attributed to his precocious wisdom, but the other half must be said to come from his own flesh-and-blood relationship in suffering. Lian Lian's painful experience, the extraordinary real feeling of the despicable means by the powerful to control society and people's hearts under the autocratic system.He was a brilliant observer and critic of the system.This kind of excellence lies in that he not only deeply understands the means of the ruler's tactics, but also reveals the psychological basis for the existence of this technique from the two aspects of "ruling" and "being ruled".In this regard, he inherited the tradition of critique of reality and national character since Lu Xun. He revealed the psychology of "master" and "slave" after the modern transformation of traditional Chinese politics and the existence of this modern ideology. moral and psychological basis.Some of his views are full of avant-garde:

"The ruler's magic method: For those who are not good for themselves, it is best to deprive him of all power, so that he can only become a slave, that is, he can do nothing except work hard. To achieve this goal, you must first deprive him of his personality (self-esteem). If you have no self-respect, your words don’t count, and if you have no credit, you have no trust, and you have no organizational power (influence). Therefore, people live shamelessly (do hard work), and the world is peaceful” ("Scavenger Collection. 58"). "Privilege and lies are a pair of playing partners. For one's own privilege, of course rebuke others' demands for human rights. Or call individual privileges human rights, turn human rationality into personal desires. Turn rights into privileges, or A right that exists in the form of privilege. On the one hand, abuse others unscrupulously, and on the other hand, indulge yourself unscrupulously." ("Narrow Road Collection. Ninth Four")

Here, Zhang Zhongxiao profoundly pointed out the causal relationship between the autocracy of the "ruler" and the moral servility of the "ruled". Here, he also revealed the institutional root of the moral corruption under this system. , conversely, that is, the moral basis of this system itself is corrupt.Only when we understand the misery in his heart when he observed and experienced these oppressions and corruptions, can we understand why he blamed the ancients so much when he traced the root of these "stupid" and "hatred"—because he felt deeply: " The Chinese people's so-called scheming is a set of ruthless ruling methods, cruel deceit and violence. The so-called "treachery" and "loyalty" are nothing but language to beautify oneself and vilify others. The higher the scheming, the more his heart The less human nature there is in it." ("Miscellaneous Copy of Literature and History" 73) "All spiritual training (mind art) in ancient China is to form a strong and powerful will, to enslave countless wills and wills without will." ("Zaolu Collection. Five or Six") and only by understanding these, can we appreciate the bitterness and sadness in his deafening voice.

"If spiritual power is dedicated to corrupt ideas, it will become a murderous force. Just as human intelligence, if it is not combined with humanitarianism, but combined with annihilating ideas, it can only increase human cruelty. ("Narrow Road Collection. 69 ")" When a person faces the powerful darkness, if his mind is not engulfed by the darkness, either because of his strong will, or because he has found a way to dissolve the darkness.In "Essays", we can see everywhere Zhang Zhongxiao's efforts to resolve this darkness, a desperate fighting spirit.In fact, he insisted on the most valuable aspect of the cultural tradition of intellectuals, that is, he still insisted on taking responsibility for human justice and conscience even in adversity.In "Narrow Road Collection", he wrote: "Even if the strong wind and dust bury you, you will never forget that when the spiritual light comes, your life will be more active." "The moral responsibility of knowledgeable people , adhere to the conscience of mankind. Only upright people can live up to the mission of justice." ("Zaolu Ji" June 1, June 4) Zhang Zhongxiao obviously clearly recognized this point.This kind of loyalty to thought, justice and conscience made him even reflect on himself. The following passage records the real situation of his writing, and the comparison between the profoundness of his spirit and the predicament of his situation is even more shocking:

"I used to think that only revenge and perseverance are the manifestations of being responsible for others, but now I feel that forgiveness and forgetfulness also have a certain meaning, as long as they are not used and sacrificed by evil. Jesus is not completely wrong. September 10, 1961 One day, six days after the onset of illness, I stayed in Wumenglou, when the westerly wind was bitter, the autumn rain continued, cold clothes were all bought, and breakfast was lacking." ("Miscellaneous Copy of Literature and History. Ninety-Nine") After suffering such unexpected disasters, Zhang Zhongxiao can still write such words, which is truly admirable.From this point of view, Zhang Zhongxiao in "No Dream Building" still has dreams, but they are no longer the kind of "utopian" illusions that are illusory and used by the autocratic system, but only the "conscience" and "freedom" of people. The glimmer of hope with "meaning" has not yet been dashed.He believes: "The meaning of life is: get help from others and accept help from others. To help people, by helping people, you also help yourself. The relationship between people should be: respect each other, help each other, and cooperate with each other Rather than hatred, killing and harming each other. It should be a partnership, not a hostile relationship." ("Narrow Road Collection. Ninety-three, Nineteen") These dreams of Zhang Zhongxiao are very simple, far from being as brilliant as utopian dreams. .But the problem is that when people in an era are pursuing the dream of "brilliance and brilliance", this very simple dream has become a luxury, and the society with utopia as its dream provokes its members to realize this dream It's a sharp irony of being against each other and completely destroying the relationship between people.In this context, we can understand the thrill of the simple "dreams" of "Wumenglou". We seem to hear the appeal and cry of humanity in the wilderness.In fact, over generations.People keep making such appeals, but only when people like Zhang Zhongxiao have come out of the pain and persecution, can they express their sincerity and force.

The value of the book is not only in literature, it also has important value for understanding the culture of that era, and this value is still fresh for a long time.The reason why they have the significance of literary history is that they are not only an expression of thought, but also accompanied by flesh-and-blood feelings, and in the process of displaying the flesh-and-blood thoughts and emotions, they let us see that era. The psychological process of intellectuals with conscience, and on this basis, they have created statues of intellectuals themselves.As private discourses, they could not be published publicly at that time, so they were unknown. However, the articles of the ages, facsimiles do not spread falsehoods, and the waves of time make "the sinking sinks, and the floating floats by itself". A monument to moral writing.

Notes: 1 Quoted from Chen Yi's "Speech at the Symposium on Drama Creation, Peking Opera, and Children's Drama". The report was made on March 6, 1962, and later published in the second issue of "Literary and Art Research" in 1979. 2 Two Instructions: Abbreviation for Mao Zedong's two instructions on literary and artistic work in 1963 and 1964. On December 12, 1963, Mao Zedong made his first comment in the "Report on the Situation" compiled and printed by the Literature and Art Department of the Central Propaganda Department: "All kinds of literature and art forms-drama, folk art, music, fine arts, dance, film, poetry and literature Wait, there are many problems, the number of people is large, and socialist transformation has achieved little success in many departments. Many departments are still ruled by the dead....Many Communists enthusiastically advocate feudalism

Wouldn't it be strange if they were not keen to promote socialist art, but capitalist art? "The Central Propaganda Department, the literary and art units directly under the Ministry of Culture, and the associations of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles carried out a half-year rectification according to the spirit of the instructions. At the end, the Central Propaganda Department compiled a "Situation Report" "Newspaper" (draft), Mao Zedong made a second comment on this report on June 27, 1964: "These associations and most of the publications they hold (it is said that there are a few good ones), in the past fifteen years, Basically (not all people) do not implement the party's policies, become officials and masters, do not get close to workers, peasants and soldiers, and do not reflect socialist construction.

In recent years, it has fallen to the brink of revisionism.If it is not seriously reformed, it is bound to become a group like the Petofi Club in Hungary one day in the future. " After the order was issued, the units and groups within the scope of the first rectification carried out another rectification, and the literature and art circles soon set off a movement to criticize the bourgeoisie and revisionist poisonous weeds.Jiang Qing and others soon developed the "Black Line Dictatorship Theory of Literature and Art" based on these two instructions. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China rejected these two instructions in 1981.See pages 394-395 of "New Chinese Literary Dictionary" edited by Pan Xulan. 3 "Write the center, perform the center, and sing the center": the slogan of literature and art.at the first literary conference Zhou Yang made a report on "New People's Literature and Art" and spoke highly of Yan'an workers, peasants and soldiers The practice of mass literature and art "closely cooperating with the current central work"; the second literary era Meeting Zhou Yang's report "Striving to Create More Excellent Literary and Artistic Works", Once again affirm the experience of local literary and art workers in "literary and artistic propaganda that cooperates with the tasks of the center". By 1958, the argument of cooperating with the work of the center had evolved into "writing the center, acting the center, The slogan "sing the center" played a role in fueling the Great Leap Forward movement at that time. It was not until the end of the 1970s that this slogan was negated. 4 Quoted from Li Yang's "The Road to Resisting Fate", Times Literature and Art Publishing House, 1993 edition, 219 Page. 5 Quoted from Yao Wenyuan's "Comment on "Sanjia Village"──"Yanshan Evening Talk" and "Notes on Sanjia Village" The Reactionary Essence of China", originally published in Liberation Daily and Wen Wei Po on May 10, 1966, Yao made some revisions when "Red Flag" magazine reprinted. The quotations in this textbook are based on "Three Schools" Village Notes" appendix Yao Wen (the appendix is ​​based on the "Red Flag" magazine), see 215, 227 pages. 6 Quoted from Li Yang's "The Road to Resisting Fate", Times Literature and Art Publishing House, 1993 edition, No. 196 Page. 7 "Song of Guilin Landscape", respectively originally published in "People's Literature" in 1961 The 10th issue and the last 3rd issue, this textbook is based on "Selected Poems of He Jing" published by Shandong people Publishing House December 1979 edition, "Four Collections of Liu Baiyu's Prose" Chongqing Publishing House 1989 edition. 8 Quoted from Li Hui, included in Li Hui's Collected Works.Looking at the Clouds Through the Vicissitudes of Life, Huacheng Publishing Press 1998 edition, p. 109. 9 "Yanshan Evening Chat" was published by Deng Tuoying "Beijing Evening News" under the pseudonym "Manan Village" Essay column, first published from March 1961 to September 1962, containing a total of More than 150 essays.It was once published by Beijing Publishing House in diversity, and in March 1963, "Swallows" was published. Mountain Night Tales" collection. In 1979, the same publishing house published a new edition. The discussion of "Shan Ye Hua" is based on this version. "Sanjia Village Notes" is a miscellany of "Frontline" An essay co-written by Deng Tuo, Wu Han, and Liao Mosha under the pseudonym "Wu Nanxing" Column, from October 1961 to July 1964, published more than 60 essays, In September 1979, People's Literature Publishing House published it as a collection, and this textbook is based on this edition. In addition, the essay about Deng Tuo not included in these two episodes is a reference to Li Hui's "Scholar Tired" one article.Hereby explain. 10 "Yanshan Night Talk", Beijing Publishing House, 1979, p. 156. 11 The above quotations are quoted from Li Hui's "Scholar Tired", see "Li Hui's Collected Works"."Looking at the Wind and Cloud in Vicissitudes", Huacheng Publishing House, 1998 edition, page 228, page 236. 12 When Deng Tuo wrote this article, "Evening Chats at Yanshan" had ceased, but "Notes on Three Family Village" Still going on, this article has not been included in the second book, the quotation is quoted from Li Hui's "Scholar Tired", Ibid., p. 239. 13 Quoted from page 81 of "Yanshan Evening Chats". 14 Quoted from pages 7-8 of Notes of Sanjia Village. 15 Quoted from page 92 of "Yanshan Evening Talk". 16 Quoted from "Wang Dao and He Dao", see ibid. page 321 for quotations. 17 Quoted from Li Hui's "Scholar Tired", included in "Li Hui's Collected Works.Looking at the Clouds Through the Vicissitudes of Life, No. 239 Page. 18 First published in "Fire Phoenix Library" curated by Chen Sihe and Li Hui Series, Shanghai Far East Publishing House, 1996 edition.