Chapter 62 Postscript (Author: Liu Zaifu)

I have never read Gao Xingjian's poems, and his poems are rarely published.But after reading it, I immediately thought: Xing Jian is a poet.This is not only because many chapters of this new work are profoundly enlightened philosophical prose poems, but also the whole work is filled with the tragic poetic flavor of a great era.This novel is the tragedy of poetry, the poetry of tragedy.Maybe because I am of the same generation as Xing Jian, and I have experienced the nightmarish era shown in his writings, so I sighed and cried several times while reading and couldn't help it.At this time, I am completely convinced that a milestone work in China was born in the last year of the 20th century.

It can be said to be a sister chapter, and the same Pangbo.However, the protagonist of the novel returns to reality from the exploration of cultural origin, spirit and self.When Hong Kong returns to the motherland, the protagonist meets a German Jewish woman, which evokes memories of life in the mainland.The lingering memories start from my childhood before 1949, and then extend to the constant political changes, and even the ins and outs of the Cultural Revolution and fleeing, and then wandering in the Western world.The triple structure of the protagonist "I", "you" and "he" in the book becomes the correspondence between "you" and "he".The "I" was killed by the harsh reality, leaving only the "you" at this moment and the "he" at that time and place, that is, reality and memory, existence and history, consciousness and writing.

The conception of Gao Xingjian's works is always very special, and has a strong sense of modernity. In 1981, his essay "A Preliminary Exploration of the Techniques of Modern Fiction" sparked a debate on "modernism and realism" in mainland literary circles, which led Chinese writers to pay attention to modernist literature and its modes of expression.While his literary theory caused controversy, his play "Absolute Signal" was criticized and even banned.Eighteen of these plays have been published so far, and they are also the pioneering works and the most valuable achievements of Chinese modernism in the 20th century.Because of Gao Xingjian's pioneering role in the Chinese contemporary literary movement and the modernist color of his works.As such, he has always been in people's minds (including me) as a modernist writer.

The limitation of the realism method is that it always slides on the surface of reality and cannot enter the depth of reality, and it is always difficult to get rid of some writing modes of accusation, condemnation, exposure and small complaints.In mainland novels in the early 1980s, this writing method was quite popular.In the late 1980s and 1990s, mainland writers were dissatisfied with this method, and many emerging writers redefined history and rewrote historical stories.These writers get rid of the mediocrity of "reflecting reality", and experimenters follow the talents of pioneers.However, the "history" they write gives people a sense of "fabrication".And this kind of "fabrication" creates emptiness in the works, which is to avoid a big realistic era, lacking a deep understanding and criticism of this era, and correspondingly, lacking a full understanding and display of human nature.Gao Xingjian seemed to see clearly the weakness of the above two ways of thinking, so he blazed his own path.This road, let me call it the "extreme realism" road.The so-called "extreme", first of all, is to reject any fabrication, to present history extremely truthfully and accurately, so real, so accurate, so severe that it is almost cruel.Gao Xingjian is very smart. He knows that the real era he experienced is full of thought-provoking stories, and accurate presentations are enough to move people's hearts and souls. Another meaning of "extreme" is to refuse to stay on the surface, but to dig deep into human nature.Not only does it describe the biggest disaster in contemporary Chinese history extremely realistically, but it also describes human fragility extremely vividly, which is shocking and soul-stirring.

When naming "extreme realism", I thought of two questions: (1) How was this writing style forced onto the literary stage? (2) What are the conditions for this kind of writing to be successful? Regarding the first question, when I read novels in recent years, I already felt that literature is in a predicament, and it can even be called a hopeless situation. It means that the two most basic writing methods have reached their peak: not only the realism method has reached the peak; the avant-garde art The acting was also over the top.The method of realism does not work, but we cannot avoid the reality of existence, the predicament of existence, and the harsh reality of life. What should we do?Some smart literary artists today have found a way out called "playing", playing with avant-garde, avant-garde art, playing with pure forms, playing with language, playing intellectual games, and turning literature into a concept and a program.However, by the end of the century, people have gradually seen the pale face of these games.After all, language is not the final home, tools are not existence itself, literature and art are not puppets of form, packaging is not spiritual body, postmodernism is only an empty shell of "ism" after all, and has no actual achievements in creation.In short, the art revolution has come to an end, and the avant-garde game has also come to an end.Gao Xingjian clearly saw the end of the formal revolution, so he bid farewell to "ism", and also bid farewell to revolution and art revolution.His "extreme realism" is a new path chosen after the "bombing" of the above two ideas.He was right.He bravely and resolutely walked into reality and into the ontology of life, and transformed the reality and ontology of life he embraced into poetic art form with a high degree of talent.

Regarding the second question, I thought about it for a long time after closing the book, and then read it again while thinking.I finally found the author's perspective on the protagonist's calm observation of reality behind this work.Whether Gao Xingjian is writing dramas or novels, he has a calm and calm attitude.It is very dangerous to look at this kind of reality and people in the same light as reality: the works may become very mediocre, boring, tacky or emotional, but Gao Xingjian does not fall into this trap.He enters reality and transcends reality. He observes everything, especially the protagonist in his works, with the eyes of a contemporary intellectual who has fully understood the universe and the shadow of past ideology.Therefore, this protagonist is completely realistic. He is a very sensitive, heart-rich person, but in that horrible age, he was forced to be an idiot, a person who washed his soul and emptied it. And in exchange for those who live.However, he was unwilling to do so, especially unwilling to stop thinking.However, while hiding his eyes, he maintains his inner balance by talking to himself. The novel captures this tense inner contradiction, portrays the psychological activities of the characters in detail, and expresses the fragility, struggle, darkness, etc. of human nature. In this way, it not only becomes a solid historical witness, but also becomes a great tragedy showing the common destiny of people in a big historical era. In the interrogation and great mercy.Gao Xingjian is not simple. He walked into the dirty reality, but walked out freely, bringing out a fresh feeling, triggering some new thoughts, and creating a new realm.This is really "turning decay into magic".

In 1996, Gao Xingjian contributed a nearly 300-page collection of literary theories entitled "No Doctrine" in the "Literary China" academic series edited by Hong Kong Tiandi Book Company.It can be seen from this essay that Gao Xingjian is a writer who trembles with the pulse of freedom and firmly expresses his personal voice. He is a free man who has completely stepped out of all kinds of shadows, especially the shadows of ideology (the shadow of doctrine). , is an all-rounder in literature and art who puts the creation of personal spiritual value on the top of the tower of life.The absence of doctrine is not the absence of thoughts and philosophical attitudes.Gao Xingjian is just a very thoughtful and philosophical person, and his philosophy has a kind of thoroughness.Because this philosophy does not come from the study academy, but from his unforgettable experience and perception of a difficult era.Therefore, this philosophy is entirely his own.In the novel, we see that he completely destroys all kinds of masks, bids farewell to all kinds of fantasies and idols (including utopia and revolution), and does not create new fantasies and idols.This novel is a book of fugitives, and it is the painful and joyful freedom of a wanderer in a world without a motherland, a doctrine, or any pretense at the end of the century.It tells people some stories, and it also tells people a kind of philosophy: people should seize the moment of life, live in the moment to the fullest, and don't fall into all kinds of shadows, illusions, concepts and nightmares created by him and himself, and escape from all of them , is freedom.