Chapter 66 5. Partnering with Nietzsche

After my master's degree, I stayed and worked in the Institute of Philosophy.A person in charge of the Research Office of the History of Marxist Philosophy appreciated me very much and asked for me, and I was assigned to that office.However, I soon discovered that the atmosphere there was very unsuitable for me.With the help of Teacher Jia, I was transferred to the Modern Foreign Philosophy Research Office in the second year.Following the inertia of my master’s degree, the main academic work I did was still the introduction and translation of Soviet philosophy and the research on Marx’s theory of human nature.As a pastime, I read all kinds of idle books, including several Nietzschean works translated by Xu Fancheng and Chu Tunan before liberation, and I instantly hit it off.In that year, someone in the Institute was preparing a series of "Foreign Aesthetics" and asked me to write a manuscript, so I decided to write an article on Nietzsche's aesthetics.So, I started to read Nietzsche's original German works with a dictionary in my arms, while translating some passages in and in it.My translation was extremely slow and difficult, but I had no interest in it. I felt that Nietzsche’s few thin pages contained much richer content than a large pile of Russian books. It was like a beautiful riddle, which was solved after boring labor the answer.In 1983, I wrote the article "From the Spirit of Dionysus to the Will to Power—A Preliminary Exploration of Nietzsche's Philosophy of Art", and it was not published in the second series of "Foreign Aesthetics" until April 1986. This was the beginning of my Nietzsche research.

After tasting the sweetness, I couldn't stop and started to translate the full text in September 1983.Once published, it was unacceptable, and then translated other works and compiled "Anthology of Nietzsche's Aesthetics", with a total of 280,000 words.When I started the translation, I didn't think about publishing it, just because I liked it and I could practice German at the same time.After the translation, it coincided with Gan Yang's founding of the humanities academic library, and it was included in it, and was published in Sanlian in December 1986.After translating Nietzsche, I no longer want to translate books on Soviet philosophy, and I can no longer tolerate such clumsy style and endless empty words.At the same time, I am tired of entangled in Marxist anthropology.After I stayed in the Institute for a year and a half, the Institute discussed the issue of our group of postgraduate assistant researchers becoming full-timers. Some people firmly opposed my becoming full-timers. One of the reasons was my views on human nature.Shortly thereafter, a campaign to eliminate "spiritual pollution" was carried out, and academic issues of humanitarianism and alienation were combined with obscene books and paintings. I was included in the cleanup list in the institute.Wouldn't I rather taste the forbidden fruit set by God than break into the forbidden zone set by man?Well, now that I have tasted the forbidden fruit set up by God in Nietzsche, it is even more ridiculous to look back at the restricted areas set up by humans.In fact, once back to the thing itself, the barriers of ideology cease to exist.The anthropological debates in the early 1980s were nothing more than arguing about the legitimacy of thinking about the fundamental problems of human beings. One faction declared it illegal in the name of Marx, and the other faction also defended it in the name of Marx.However, shouldn't a thinker go directly to the question of essence, regardless of any disputes over names?

In 1984, the whole country began to officially recruit doctoral students. I was a student of Ruxin on the job, and I decided to take Nietzsche's philosophy as the research topic.Afterwards, I heard from an insider that Ruxin was also interested in Nietzsche and had started research. However, in order not to affect my independent exploration, I quietly changed my research direction.He never mentioned this matter to me himself, but it moved me even more.Quite often, the opposite is the case, with tutors making students do things for them and then keeping the results for themselves.When I was admitted as a doctoral student, I was already planning to write a book on Nietzsche, which was suggested by Fang Ming.Fang Ming was the editor of the People's Publishing House at the time, planning to compile a series of books, and wanted me to lead the way. At the beginning of 1985, I locked myself in the basement that was used as a dormitory. It took me two months—the diary records: I started writing on January 28 and finished it on March 25—to write this 180,000 booklet entitled Nietzsche at the Turning Point of the Century.

Fang Ming and I hit it off.He was a round younger than me, in his twenties at the time, and when I first met him at the publishing house, I could read 100% friendship from his eyes.We all write poetry, and the prose poems he wrote have the style of Tagore, but it is a pity that he stopped writing them later.He came to see me, found me living alone in a basement for years, and was shocked by my ability to endure loneliness.I said, you didn't see me pounding the wall with my fist and crying and shouting.He sighed to people and said: "Zhou Guoping is the most humane person, both elegant and crazy, not at all like his age. Without him, the world would be too inhuman." I have an article titled " Human Nature, Love and Genius", he pointed to this topic and said: "This is entirely Zhou Guoping's own problem!" He also said a "dirty word", which became a famous saying among friends: "Others write like peeing, Zhou Guoping writes Something like ejaculation." These words show how partial he was to me, and it was with this partiality that he urged me to write Nietzsche.After the manuscript came out, he was very excited, but he was also worried that my views would go against the grain and that publication would encounter obstacles, so he suggested that I ask Ruxin to write a preface.I thought to myself, since Ruxin is in a high position, and he was in trouble because he first published an article to justify the name of humanitarianism after the Cultural Revolution, this matter is difficult for others.But, no matter what, I will finally send the manuscript to my supervisor for a look and ask him for comments.

Ru Xin read it very carefully, called me over after reading it, and said something to me.I jotted down the general idea, and I still think it’s good today, so I’m copying it here: “It’s very good to write philosophical works like this, I like it very much, it’s refreshing to sweep away the dull way of writing in the past. When this book comes out, it will be Those that have a great impact will attract attention. However, I still think that you should not overstate it, and some places should be diluted. Some of Nietzsche’s views should be criticized. When you revise, don’t make things even and smooth, and don’t erase your He also said: "In fact, for a thinker, the main thing is to absorb his essence, digest it, and excrete the dross. The question depends on whether you have a strong stomach. What toxins are you afraid of if you have a strong stomach? With a strong stomach, no matter what you eat, you can’t digest it, and you’re going to get sick anyway, so who’s to blame?” After hearing these words, I dared to ask him to write a preface, and he readily agreed.

A few days later, the preface was written, which was quite wonderful, especially this sentence: "On the judgment seat of history, only the weak need defense, but Nietzsche is by no means weak. What he needs is not defense, but understanding." However, on the same day that I got the preface, Fang Ming came to me and said as soon as he entered the door: "Your Nietzsche has suffered bad luck." He told me that the editor-in-chief of their agency said to Xue Dezhen, the director of the philosophy editorial office: " Isn’t Nietzsche a fascist thinker? Why write about him? Now there is a trend of overturning the verdict. The Soviet Union did not overturn Nietzsche’s verdict. If we did, what would the Soviet Union think?” Lao Xue complained to Fang Ming: “There are still people saying such things today! "Afterwards, the editor-in-chief asked a senior editor in the agency to review the manuscript and come up with opinions.The old gentleman wrote a review opinion, to the effect that he wanted to help the author understand Nietzsche with Marxism-Leninism, which of course explicitly rejected the publication of the book.However, he also wrote a sentence of encouragement: "The author is very talented. If he can develop healthily, he will be a very promising writer." Fang Ming said angrily: "A very promising writer? Not now, still Want to wait for the future?"

Of course Fang Ming was not reconciled. He took an active part in publishing Ruxin's preface in the People's Daily, and went to five publishing houses in Beijing to recommend my manuscript.The answer is the same: the book is good, but dare not publish it.A full year later, Shao Min, editor of Shanghai People's Publishing House, came to Beijing to collect manuscripts and volunteered to bring them back to Shanghai to try his luck.A miracle happened: it passed the third trial in half a month, and it was published in five months.During the editing process, Shao Min kept complaining to me, saying that he had read the manuscript and proofs many times, and was still so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.We knew each other before, and became friends through the publication of this book. Later, mine was published by him.

In September 1986, I went to Shanghai to participate in a book release event.This is the first book I wrote independently, and it is something I have really thought about, so it can be counted as my first book, and I am naturally very excited.I am not very enthusiastic about the book signings and lectures arranged by the publishing house, knowing that they are just ostentation.My favorite thing to do is to stand near the counter, no one knows that I am the author, and secretly observe the reader's reaction.There was an older young man wearing glasses who looked quite arrogant. The salesperson recommended this book to him. He glanced at the cover and said contemptuously: "What is the value of Nietzsche written by the Chinese!" The salesperson said: "This book is different. .” He picked it up and flipped it over, and said, “It’s not too bad.” Then he paid.I kept pretending to flip through other books, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.At that time, my greatest wish was to become an invisible person, to follow every reader who bought my book home, and to see the expressions on their faces when they were reading.

Although Ru Xin had predicted that this book would have a great impact, the overwhelming response was beyond my expectation.It sold 100,000 copies within a year, letters from readers flew in like a snowflake, and then became a long-selling book that was continuously reprinted.For several years after its publication, it was repeatedly listed at the top of the list of most popular books among college students.In 1992, Hong Kong published a book titled "The Eighties: 33 Books That Changed China" and listed it as one of them.It has won me many artist friends. Cui Jian told me that many people who are involved in rock and roll like this book. Wang Guangyi told me that this book has become a must-read for trendy painters, and almost everyone owns a copy.Many people have asserted to me in almost the same language that this book has enlightened a generation.Until now, I often meet people in their forties and fifties who talk to me about the shock that this book brought to them back then.

Of course, I understand that this book is at best a popular pamphlet introducing Nietzsche's thoughts.According to my own analysis, there are three reasons for such a sensational effect.First, in the long-term propaganda and teaching in our country, Nietzsche's philosophy has been completely denied, and it is simply attributed to the ideological origin of fascism and reactionary idealism and voluntarism.In the mid-1980s, although sporadic articles on Nietzsche began to be positively evaluated and studied, this book is the first book with a clear banner after all, restoring a hideous political madman to a person with a distinctive personality who sincerely thinks about life issues. Philosophers, this dramatic reversal of evaluation is naturally impressive.Second, the writing style of this book is different from ordinary philosophy books, fluent and full of passion, so it can give people a sense of freshness, and it is easy to be accepted by ordinary readers.In fact, when I write, I am always immersed in the atmosphere of Nietzsche's own prose style, and I can't help being influenced by it.Thirdly, the most important thing is that I have used Nietzsche to talk about my own true feelings and thoughts in the book.In many places, it is almost impossible to tell what Nietzsche said and what I said.While I was elucidating Nietzsche's philosophy, my own life experience spewed out as if I had found a breakthrough.When I had great sympathy with Nietzsche, I actually transformed the problems that Nietzsche thought about in Europe yesterday into my own problems, and the great sympathy of readers shows that they are also problems faced by many people in China today, touching the transition period Common life confusion and spiritual crisis.Therefore, if we want to talk about the status of this book, it must not be in the history of academics, but in the history of the soul of contemporary Chinese people.For myself, the significance of this book is that it makes me clear that the direction of my philosophical research should be the life topic that I have always paid attention to, so it can be regarded as the real beginning of my philosophical journey.

While publishing the book, I also gave lectures at some universities in Beijing and other places.The most memorable thing is the first lecture in my life. The book has not yet been published. In the auditorium of the Peking University office building, nearly a thousand seats are full.As soon as I spoke, the electricity suddenly went out, a candle was lit on the podium, and it was pitch black. I felt like I was preaching, but I was talking about Nietzsche who declared that God was dead.As soon as he finished speaking, the lights suddenly turned on again, and the audience cheered.In addition to universities, I was also invited to give lectures on Nietzsche in some high-level cadre study classes. The sponsors included the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee. This can well reflect the active atmosphere of that era.In the class at the Youth League Central Committee, the audience was more than 200 secretaries of the Youth League Committee of universities across the country. After I finished speaking, a well-known moral education expert at the time asked to arrange him to give a lecture called disinfection, but the organizer politely refused. If "Turning Point" was an impromptu work that I completed in one go within two months, then the delivery process of my doctoral thesis "Nietzsche and Metaphysics" was extremely difficult. From the beginning of writing to the completion of the draft, it was delayed for more than a year until 1988 It was not completed until the middle school, resulting in a corresponding postponement of the defense and graduation.In this 180,000-word book, I am confident that my academic ability has withstood the test, and I have given a fairly clear analysis of Nietzsche's thoughts and achievements in ontology and epistemology, proving that he is not just a He is not only a poetic philosopher who cares about life issues, but also a philosopher in the strict sense who thinks thoroughly about traditional metaphysical issues and opens up new ideas.What makes me unforgettable is that Ruxin organized a defense committee of the highest standard for me, and hired academic seniors He Lin, Feng Zhi, Yang Yizhi, and Xiong Wei, all of whom passed away shortly after.In addition, there are middle-aged handsome Ye Xiushan and Mr. Wang Shuren.Mr. He Lin served as the chairman. He was really old at that time, and it was very difficult for him to walk and speak, and he needed help and communication.Mr. Feng Zhi is worthy of being a great scholar in the field of German culture. He is very familiar with Nietzsche's works and pointed out two factual mistakes. After checking the books, I have confirmed them.The teacher-student friendship between me and Ru Xin can be said to be as light as water. I would not disturb him unless it was absolutely necessary, but I always thank him for his enlightened style and silent support and kindness when he guided me.My doctoral dissertation was published in Hunan People's Publishing House in September 1990. It was included in the "Doctoral Dissertations" series edited by Ye Xiushan and me. Only 2,000 copies were printed. In stark contrast.However, thanks to this book, friends in the philosophy circle dare not say that I can only write popular pamphlets. Some overseas scholars also highly respect this book. A philosophy department of a university in Taiwan even lists it as a must-read for graduate students. Book.Overall, the value of this book has not been appreciated as it should be.I have read two monographs on Nietzsche in China, one is domestic and the other is a doctoral dissertation published in Germany. Both of them have dedicated chapters on my Nietzsche research, but they are mainly about "Turning Point". Then take it with you.I personally think that "Turning Point" is completely incomparable with this book in terms of academic level and depth of thought. I was just a fan of Nietzsche's works when I wrote "Turning Point", but in this book, I really entered Among Nietzsche's problem thinking, few people have reached the level of depth. After finally unloading the burden of my doctoral dissertation, I bid farewell to Nietzsche.Friends in the academic world often express their regrets. They think that Nietzsche is so important, and I have done a good job, so I should continue to do it.My own mood is very contradictory. Although doing Nietzsche translation and research also brings me great pleasure, I am not willing to exhaust all my energy on a certain thinker, even if he is Nietzsche.Even so, I have been doing a little bit of translation, which adds up to a million words, ready to be published after revision.