Chapter 23 fourth quarter

Because of facing death too much, living becomes more and more concrete and trivial.As soon as the fear of air raids was relieved, Zhang Ailing and Yan Ying couldn't wait to run down the street, thinking about where to buy ice cream.They stood at the stall eating fried radish cakes, and the bruised and purple corpses of the poor lay across from a foot away. A farmer carrying vegetables was crossing the road and was questioned.The chunky young Japanese soldier seemed to have a mechanical arm, and he slapped his mouth several times without saying a word.The farmer didn't say a word, he didn't understand anyway, he just kept smiling.A knitted hat, a blue padded jacket with a rope around the waist, and narrow and long sleeves.

Zhang Ailing stared blankly, and the slap seemed to be slapped on her face, and the pain was even worse in the winter cold.go home!There is only one thought in her mind now, to go back to Shanghai!Although it has also fallen there, Shanghai is Shanghai after all, and there is an atmosphere that I am familiar with, dear people, it is different after all. There were always pairs of Japanese soldiers walking around on the campus, and sometimes they just opened the door and walked into Zhang Ailing's dormitory casually.Fortunately, they played the role of campus police in the university, and there was no violence.Yet that perplexing threat is ever present.She just wants to go home!

She went to Repulse Bay more and more frequently to find someone to ask about the ferry ticket - last time, among the friends who came to Hong Kong with Yifan, two stayed and did not leave, and they had already lived together during the war.Because of loneliness, because of panic, because after stripping off all the flashy decorations, I can see the true heart.So, falling in love became the only choice.When the air raid was at its height, they hid in the Repulse Bay Hotel to avoid bombs-it's all about the story. Before it came out, the novels that Eileen Chang gave a clear background in Hong Kong were mainly "The First Incense", "The Second Incense", these three incenses, and half of them—say, half of them, because the first part of the story Half of it took place in Shanghai.It is also written about Hong Kong, but it is already very "separated".

From these novels, we can clearly see the influence of war on Eileen Chang's works.We might as well compare it with "Amber Records": "At the beginning of the war, most of the students at the University of Hong Kong were happily jumping, because December 8 was the first day of the exam, and it was a rare event to be exempted from the exam. We finally had enough hardships that winter, and we knew the severity better. But the word 'light and heavy' is hard to say... After removing all the superficial words, it seems that there are only two items left: food, drink, and sex." - "Ash Remnant Record"

"That day was December 7th. In 1941, on December 8th, the cannon rang. Between one cannon and one cannon, the silver mist of the winter morning gradually dissipated. On the top of the mountain, in the valley, the whole island The inhabitants of the city looked out to sea and said, 'It's a war, it's a war.' No one could believe it, but it was a war."— ——Not only did she choose the eve that was the most memorable in her memory, but she also had a similar mentality. "I felt very uncomfortable—was it possible to die among a group of strangers? But what good is it to die with your own family members, whose flesh and blood are blown to pieces? Someone shouted an order: 'Touch the ground! Touch the ground!' Is there any room for people to squat down? But we squatted down one by one. The hat covered the face, and it was dark for a while before we realized that we were not dead, and the bomb fell across the street..." - "Amber Records"

"At this moment, there was a loud bang, and the whole world went dark, like a huge box, the lid was snapped shut. The countless loves of Luoshou were all locked inside. Tassel was dead Who knows that he is still alive. When I opened my eyes, I saw glass shards all over the ground, and the shadow of the sun all over the ground." "Bullets shuttle back and forth. Liuyuan and Liusu followed everyone and pressed their backs against the wall of the hall... Liusu has reached this point, but instead regrets that she has Liuyuan by her side. One person seems to have two bodies, and he is double-deceived." Dangerous. A bullet can't hit her, but it might hit him. If he is dead or disabled, her situation will be even more unimaginable."——()

——Because women's wartime memories are indeed related to clothes, it is "Luo Chou Qi Hate". As for the 18-day siege in the book, the original sound is reproduced, and because Fu Li is on a fictional character, it is easier to play and the performance is more specific and detailed: "Many people have already told me how bad and chaotic the various facilities in the siege are. In the cold storage room of the government, the air-conditioning pipes are in disrepair, and there is a mountain of beef. I would rather watch it rot than take it out. Do defensive work The people in the city were only given rice and soybeans, no oil, no fuel. The air defense agencies everywhere were only busy fighting for firewood and rice, trying to feed their personnel. How could they have time to take care of the bombs? I didn’t eat anything for two days in a row. Go to work with high spirits. Of course, a person like me who is not doing his duty should be wronged." - "Amber Record"

"There is an army stationed downstairs in the Repulse Bay Hotel, and they still live in the old rooms upstairs. After staying there, I found out that although there is a lot of storage in the hotel, they are all reserved for soldiers to eat. Except for canned milk, milk In addition to mutton and fruit, there are sacks of white bread and bran bread. The guests are allocated only two soda crackers or two sugar cubes for each meal, and everyone is dying of hunger."—— Regarding "removing all the superfluous texts, what remains seems to be only the two items of eating and drinking." The contrast between the two articles is even more striking:

"Hong Kong has rediscovered the joy of 'eating'. It is strange that one of the most natural and basic functions has suddenly received excessive attention... In post-war Hong Kong, there are squatting clothes every five or ten steps on the street A person who looks like a clerk of a foreign company in Jichu fried a small iron-hard yellow cake on a small stove... All the school teachers, shop assistants, and lawyers' assistants have all changed their careers to become bakers... We stood at the stall to eat Fried radish cakes are rolled, and the bruised corpses of the poor are lying under the feet of the feet...Because there is no gasoline, all the car dealerships have been converted into restaurants, and there is not a silk shop or pharmacy that does not also sell cakes. Hong Kong has never been so gluttonous No way. The boys and girls in the dormitory talk all day long about eating." - "Ambers Record"

"Liu Yuan took a lead bucket to the mountain to draw a bucket of spring water and started cooking. After that, they were busy eating, drinking and cleaning the room every day. Liu Yuan was able to do all kinds of rough work, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor, helping Tassel twist the heavy Sheets. It was the first time for Tassel to cook on the stove, and it had a bit of hometown flavor. Because Liu Yuan couldn’t forget Malay food, she learned to make deep-fried ‘sandbags’ and curry fish. They felt unprecedented interest in food.”—— Naturally, the most touching thing is the love story——

"During the 18 days of the siege, everyone had that unbearable feeling of four o'clock in the morning-the shivering dawn, everything is blurred, shrinking, and unreliable. I can't go home. When I go back, maybe home no longer exists. Yes. Houses can be destroyed, money can be turned into waste paper in a blink of an eye, people can die, and even oneself is in danger. It’s like the poem in the Tang Dynasty, "Desolately go to love, flooding into smoke", but it’s not like the Wuqin here The emptiness and despair of being naked. People can't bear this, and they are eager to cling to something solid, so they get married." - "Amber Record" ——This explains the source of the story of Bai Liusu and Fan Liuyuan. "In this turbulent world, money, real estate, and eternity are all unreliable. The only reliable thing is this breath in her voice, and this person sleeping next to her. She suddenly crawled to Liu Yuan's side, separated by His quilt, hugging her. He stretched out his hand from under the quilt to hold his hand. They see each other transparently. It's just a clear understanding, but this moment is enough to make them harmonious together Live for ten or eight years. He was just a selfish man, and she was just a selfish woman.In this age of war and chaos, there is no place for individualists, but there is always room for an ordinary couple. "— Zhang Ailing also "sees them transparently".She hadn't been in love at that time, and naturally she wasn't married, but she saw how those wartime mandarin ducks held their hands under artillery fire, and talked to Zicheng.She was moved by it, but also sighed by it; blessed by it, but also desolate by it. Later, Mr. Fu Lei, a translator, wrote an article "Comment on Zhang Ailing" under the pseudonym Xun Yu, and he thought it was not as good, because Liu Yuan and Liu Su's understanding of human nature is: "General emotion, incomplete introspection. Sick civilization cultivated their frivolous, cruel Destruction makes them feel emptiness and disillusionment, and they also have no deep reaction.” He speculated: “Most of the materials are obtained indirectly: the distance between the characters and the author, the age, the environment, and the psychology are so far away that she has to Abandoning herself, try to live on the characters, follow the logic of lust development, and drill into the personality of the third party. So she touched the bloody reality; as for, maybe because the author's impression of being in a dangerous city is too strong My own feelings are unconsciously and excessively transferred to the characters, reducing the opportunities for objective exploration. She is of the same age as her characters, and it is easier to mix subjective sentiments." He also pointed out: "Only by experiencing life in sentient beings, Only then will the author and the characters progress at the same time, and gradually surpass themselves." However, Fu Lei didn't know Zhang Ailing's life experience. He only read her works and knew that she had "been in danger and catastrophe". Most of the material is obtained indirectly." In fact, although there is no fiction, it depicts the elegant game between the noble men and women who accompanied Huang Yifan to live in Repulse Bay, expressing Zhang Ailing's most sincere emotion in the war-torn siege; it is also not fiction, it has a profound meaning Supported by family background and life accumulation, Zhang Zijing’s later memoirs clearly pointed out that all the scenes, characters, and even details, dialogues, and clothing in the film have their own basis. When he saw his sister’s words, he remembered the real life What is the second master, third master, Qiqiao, Changbai, and Chang'an like—— "I knew at a glance that the story and characters in this novel were born in the home of Li Jingshu, the second son of Li Hongzhang. Because many years before that, my sister and I had already entered the real life, and the "Cao Qiqiao" and "Cao Qiqiao" in the novel. 'Third Lord', 'Chang'an', and 'Changbai' met face to face..." "'Jiang Mansion' refers to the family of Li Hongzhang's second son, Li Jingshu..." "The year the Jiang family separated, my sister was two years old and I was one. So, the most important plot in the first half..." "My sister heard it from Daizhen, the eldest grandma of the Jiang family in the novel; some of it was found out by my sister's inquisitive inquiry..." "The 'uncle' here, whose real name is Li Guojie, once served as the director, chairman and general manager of the China Merchants Bureau. He was assassinated by the Kuomintang military reunification agents in 1939. His wife was born in the home of Yang Chongyi, the censor of the late Qing Dynasty..." "My sister learned about the secret affairs of Li Hongzhang's big family that outsiders don't know about from her chats..." "Li Guojie's third brother, Li Guozhen, was born disabled (schizophrenia) and ugly, so it was not easy to marry a well-matched official woman. Seeing that he could not find a wife, the cigarettes in this house would be cut off. I don't know who gave a Idea: to find a country girl, as long as she is decent-looking, and if she takes over the house, she can give birth to a son and a half to pass on the incense. This is why Cao Qiqiao entered Lihou's mansion..." "The second half of the plot is mostly about how Qiqiao used money and opium to control her son Chang'an and daughter Changbai after her love disillusionment. It was only then that my sister and I entered the historical scene of the second stage of this novel, and They met in real life.  …” "My sister and I call Cao Qiqiao 'Third Mother', Changbai 'Cousin Lin', and Chang'an 'Sister Kang'..." It is true that Zhang Ailing and Qiqiao are separated by age and identity, and she is also separated by identity and experience from Liusu - she was only 23 years old at the time, let alone married, she had not been in love yet.After the catastrophe in the dangerous city, she did not hold any hand and get married in reality, but let Fan Liuyuan and Bai Liusu get married in the novel—it was not a simple romantic love story, it was a story of war and Peaceful embers of life. She once expressed sincerely in "Ambers Record": "After all, the war is over. It's a little uncomfortable to stop for a while, but peace disturbs people's hearts, like being drunk. Seeing the plane in the blue sky, we know that we can admire it with our faces up, so that no bombs will fall on it. On the head, just because of this, I think it is very cute. The trees in winter, thin and misty like pale yellow clouds; the clear water flowing from the water pipes, the electric lights, and the bustle of the streets, these are ours again. First, Time is ours again—day, night, seasons of the year—and we can live for a while, how can it not drive people mad with joy?"—("Amber Record") "These are ours again"—she had felt this once before, from running away from her father's house and living a new life; this time, it felt more real and improved, because she could speak Speak out, and feel with people who share the same experience—as if feeling everyone's emotion, then this emotion can come with confidence and greater. The individual is small, but the masses are great, even if it is suffering and sorrow, it is the suffering and sorrow of the masses that is great. Then two of these "crowds" hide and get married quietly, why is it not great? Fu Lei said in his comments: "Undoubtedly, it is Ms. Zhang's most complete work so far, and it has the flavor of certain stories. At least it should be listed as one of the most beautiful gains in our literary world." It seems that after him, people often like to compare Zhang Ailing with Lu Xun, thinking that Lu Xun is the standard-bearer of the times and a great writer; while Zhang Ailing only reflects the life around her, and is not "great". But what if we look at it from another angle?Lu Xun's writing is naturally good, profound, alarming, and full of the power of the times - but it is too contemporary, and it has an inherent brand; and Zhang Ailing's writing, in the early 1940s Needless to say, it is good, leading a generation of coquettish, creating "Zhang Ailing's ethos", there were many imitators at one time, and once formed "Zhang Ailing style", because most of the people who imitated her were middle-class college students, so it was also called "Young Master and Miss School". ; In the 1980s, Hong Kong and Taiwan literature hit the mainland, and Zhang Ailing's name became popular again. She was regarded as a Hong Kong and Taiwan writer, which caused a little commotion among inland readers who didn't know the details. , Ke Ling also wrote an article "Send Eileen Zhang Ailing from afar" at the right time, and he did not forget to criticize a few sentences while admiring the beauty. Zhang Ailing died suddenly in her apartment in Los Angeles in 1999, and the literary world was shocked. Only then did people really pay attention to this extraordinary writer, and began to review and discuss her life legend and works after mourning; It is flooding and needs a memorial tablet for people to worship. Eileen Chang, who was brilliant more than half a century ago, was regarded as the "father of petty bourgeoisie" and "grandmother of the patriarch", and became a big hit again-a writer, like this vigorously and enthusiastically After more than half a century, if this is not called "great", then the word "great" itself has become too "narrow". The topic of the first discussion at the "Eileen Chang and Modern Chinese Literature" International Symposium held in Hong Kong in late October 2000 was: Has Eileen Chang become another "myth" in the history of modern Chinese literature after Lu Xun? The seminar was hosted by the Chinese Department of Lingnan University, and the conveners were Liu Shaoming, Liang Bingjun and Xu Zidong.Speakers at the first symposium were Zheng Shusen, Wang Dewei, Wen Rumin, Liu Zaifu, Xia Zhiqing and Huang Ziping.Liu Zaifu believes that "of these two literary geniuses, one is Lu Xun who carries out his genius to the end; the other is Zhang Ailing who does not carry out his genius to the end. Zhang Ailing lost her artistic independence after going abroad and became a 'died genius'." Xia Xia Zhiqing believed that if Zhang Ailing died young, Lu Xun would fail even more.Zhang Ailing's "died" was to make a living, and Lu Xun was not advisable to be used as a left-wing leader in his later years. But at this time, none of them have read He, He, and even avoided the existence of He.Without a comprehensive discussion, the conclusion will be difficult to be fair.But Zhang Ailing is a stranger who doesn't even want to keep the coffin after death, so naturally she doesn't care about other people's "conclusion of the coffin". However, in the English autobiography published after her death, we finally see her evaluation of Lu Xun’s articles for the first time: "The ancient books are boring. The new literature only emerges after the successive defeats of half the world, and all of them reveal their own scars. Lu Xun's writing is pure contempt, perhaps because of deep love and responsibility. But Pipa ( Eileen Chang’s own substitute in the book) is viewed with a completely unfamiliar eye, and it’s just disgusting.”