Chapter 12 Preservation and Transmission of Literary Classics

——Written before the Taiwan Literature Classics Symposium Probably because the twentieth century is coming to an end, everyone is busy doing the accounting and making lists for this century, and all walks of life are reviewing what achievements and contributions humans have made in the past century.The literary world is certainly no exception. Last year, the American "Blue Lantern Book House" publishing house (Random House) compiled a list and selected 100 most outstanding English-language novels of the 20th century.Joyce was selected as the first book, and the first five books are: Fitzgerald, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man": Joyce again, "Loritai": Nabukov, and "The Beautiful The New World: Huxley.As soon as this list came out, it immediately caused a lot of discussion, and even the ten judges argued endlessly with each other.Originally, each of the five novels received nine votes, so another round of voting was necessary to finalize the current order.Some judges complained that there were too few female writers, only eight, and some protested that the list was centered on Britain and the United States, and writers from Australia and South Africa were not included in the list.The outside world has also questioned this list. Some people suspect that the review committee members are all editors of "Modern Library" (Modern Library), and most of the works on the list are books of "Modern Library", which belongs to "Blue Lantern Bookstore". It is inevitable that there is a suspicion of promotion.Some people also find reasons to say that the judges are too old, with an average age of 68, which is out of fashion. The director of "Blue Lantern Bookstore" admitted frankly that the purpose of drawing up this book list was to arouse public debate, and of course also hoped to promote the "modern library".In all fairness, the books published by "Modern Library" are indeed of a high standard, many of which can be called classics.I also like "Modern Library" very much. When I was a student, I collected a set. My copy is also "Modern Library".

At the same time, "Time Magazine" (TimeMagazine) is also doing a "century in retrospect" special, select the leading figures in various industries.The poet in the literary world chose Eliot, the novelist turned out to be Joyce again, and the other five novelists were selected as companions: Kafka, Woolf, Hemingway, Marquis, and the black writer Alan Ralph Ellison.The list is worldwide, and the debate is certainly greater.There is not even a single French writer. The French will definitely sneer and sneer when they read this list, and they will unceremoniously take Joyce down and replace Proust. Great novels certainly are.

The twists and turns in the production of literary classics are still frequent The evaluation of literature and art is inherently different, and it is difficult to determine objective standards, and the results often vary according to time, place, and person.But no matter what, the two lists of "Blue Lantern Bookstore" and "Time Magazine" came out, at least the American cultural circle, at the end of the world, finally gave Joyce justice.When Joyce's book was published in the United Kingdom and the United States, it hit a wall everywhere and suffered a lot.His first novel collection "Dubliners" was once rejected by twenty-two publishing houses.When it was first serialized in an American magazine, LittleReview, it was banned by the authorities, who considered the novel "obscene", and even two female editors were sued.In 1922, a French publishing house finally published it, but as soon as the books were shipped to the United States, the first batch was burned by the post office, and the second batch was confiscated by the customs. It took until 1933. The court only lifted the ban on the book.

I cite Joyce’s difficulty in publishing as an example, just to illustrate one thing: some literary classics we see now have actually experienced setbacks and struggles at the beginning, and sometimes they have to rely on the right time, place, people and various Only the combination of these factors can be passed down.Kafka, who was a contemporary of Joyce, had several of his novels, etc., not published during his lifetime. When Kafka was dying, he asked his friend, the publisher Max Brod, to publish these novels. The manuscript of the book was burned. Fortunately, Brod did not obey Kafka's will, and we have the opportunity to read these masterpieces of Kafka today.Western modernist literature in the twentieth century is unimaginable without Kafka's novels.

The Chinese literary tradition has a long history. Over thousands of years, countless literary works have been lost, and there must be many classics among them.Let us imagine that during the Six Dynasties, if there were no dedicated people like Zhaoming Prince Xiao Tong to compile "Zhaoming Wenxuan", many important works of ancient Chinese literature would have been lost. The influence of history is so profound.The editors of other anthologies such as "Hua Jian Ji", "San Yan" and "Er Pai" have made great contributions to Chinese literature.Because of their unique insight, many excellent works of Chinese literature have been preserved.

In 1987, I returned to Nanjing and visited the tomb of Li, the emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, "Shunling". There are only two poems handed down by Li, "Shanhuazi", but both of them are the best among them.With Li Zhicai as the protagonist, there should be many works during his lifetime.When I was watching the exhibition of "Shunling" cultural relics, I couldn't help having a whimsy: if the manuscripts of the protagonist Li were suddenly found in the "Shunling" cultural relics, the appearance of Southern Tang literature would immediately change completely, just like at the beginning of this century. , the same as the appearance of Dunhuang tunes and words.The talent of Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, is even more like a river of spring water. The poems he left behind are only thirty or forty poems. I am afraid that the number of poems he wrote during his lifetime is definitely more than this number.The poets of the kings of a country like the two masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty, their works cannot be handed down to future generations in full view, let alone other ordinary writers.The preservation and handing down of literary works is indeed an arduous undertaking that cannot be taken lightly.

Literary works are also at risk of being lost With the development of printing in the 20th century, it stands to reason that literary works should not be lost.In fact, it is not the case. Let us not forget that for a long time, readers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait could not see the works of such an important writer as Shen Congwen. In the literary history of mainland China, the name Shen Congwen did not exist at that time.In 1981, when Shen Congwen visited the United States, I saw him in San Francisco. Shen Congwen said to me with great emotion: "It's a pity that Taiwan doesn't publish my book." I hurriedly argued: "Mr. Shen, your works have already been published in Taiwan. There are pirated editions!" At that time, bookstalls near National Taiwan University had already started selling banned books by mainland writers.Those bookstalls have actually contributed a lot to cross-strait cultural exchanges.We may find it inconceivable now that during the "ten years of the Cultural Revolution", almost all Chinese literary works of thousands of years disappeared in the mainland.In the same year, Mr. Wu Zuxiang went from Beijing to California to participate in the Lu Xun seminar. I showed him two long-collected "Wu Zuxiang's Novels Collection" and "Wu Zuxiang's Prose Collection". Those two books were published in Hong Kong. An overseas orphan copy, the age is long and the book is worn out.Mr. Wu Zuxiang was holding the two broken books, his hands were shaking with excitement, as if he was reunited with his long-lost children in a different place, because he hadn't read his own books in mainland China for many years. During the "Cultural Revolution", writers collected their own works, which might lead to death.I saw that Mr. Wu Zuxiang was so reluctant to part with his two collections, so I gave them back to him.

Serious literary works lose market space Writers in Taiwan are in a much better position because they have a favorable position, but that’s not always the case. Some writers’ works were almost buried due to various political and economic reasons, and they were unknown. When I was studying at National Taiwan University, I heard that our teacher, Mr. Tai Jingnong, was a famous novelist during the "May 4th" era, and he was also highly praised by Lu Xun.But Mr. Tai's novels are only heard, but never had the opportunity to read.At that time, Mr. Tai’s creations might not be published in Taiwan. Until the 1980s, I knew that Mr. Liu Yichang had discovered Mr. Tai’s old works in Hong Kong, so I hurriedly wrote to Professor Ke Qingming, who once served as the editor of "Modern Literature" , asked him to obtain Mr. Tai's consent to republish his novels in "Modern Literature", and only then did the future version of "Tai Jingnong's Short Stories Collection" come into being.Ke Qingming mentioned in an article commemorating Mr. Tai that when Mr. Tai saw his long-lost novels, he said calmly: "It's been fifty years, and I didn't expect to find them!" I think Mr. Tai was still happy of.

About the middle of the 1980s, I participated in a symposium held by three generations of novelists in Taiwan. Mr. Jiang Gui, a senior writer, was not able to attend that day, so I volunteered at the meeting to plead for his long-out-of-print novel. , Calling on those who are interested in reprinting.As far as I know, over the years, some scholars wanted to study this book, but they couldn't find it on the market, so they had to borrow the whole copy from the library.This time, Mr. Jiang Gui's novel has been selected as a classic of Taiwanese literature. There should always be a chance for this novel to be republished.Literary classics are in danger of being lost if they are not protected and promoted by caring people.

Over the years, Taiwan's society has been prosperous, and its publishing industry has unexpectedly flourished. However, under the dominance of the market economy and commercial culture, serious literary works have lost room to survive in the market because the sales volume is not large enough.This reminds me of Mr. Zhou Mengdie who came to the bookstall in front of Star Cafe on Wuchang Street in the 1960s. There, we can always buy old literary magazines and some high-profile poetry collections that cannot be sold.I don’t know if there are still people who have Mr. Zhou Mengdie’s sad wish for the rise and fall of literature, and open a bookstore to sell high-level literature books, so that readers who really love literature in Taiwan can buy them there. Literary works you want to see.

Taiwanese Literature Has Taken Its Place in the Academy Taiwanese literature has long been a tradition of its own, and it is unique in the world of Chinese writing, just as Irish literature and American literature occupy the position in English literature, and it has the importance of inheritance and initiation.Especially in the thirty years after 1949, mainland Chinese literature lost its vitality due to political interference, and Taiwanese literature during this period became even more precious in the history of literature.What impressed me the most about this selection of Taiwan literature classics is that most of the sixty-seven review members are teachers of Taiwan modern literature in colleges and universities, and it is said that Taiwan modern literature has already It has become "excellent learning" and has become a part of the freshman Chinese language of general education, and it is widely loved by college students, and there are many electives.This phenomenon was probably unimaginable ten years ago.This is a great progress in Taiwan's humanities education, and Taiwanese literature has finally gained a legal status in the academy.Looking at it this way, I became optimistic again. With so many teachers and students teaching and studying Taiwanese literature, I believe that the excellent works of Taiwanese literature will be passed on from generation to generation.And this list of books selected by Taiwan literature classics can just be used as an important reference for colleges and universities to teach Taiwan modern literature courses.