Chapter 11 Zhang Xinxin: Nobel, against artistic humor?

There was a sudden knock on the bathroom door. I knew something unexpected must have happened.Sure enough, in the sound of water, I heard Steve report loudly: "The Chinese won the Nobel Prize for Literature! His name is 'Gao shin jin'." I can imagine him jumping up from the NBC morning TV news and looking for me everywhere. I continued underwater and calmly replied: "I already knew." Then, while getting dressed, he looked at a little note Steve had left on the mirror.The same message was hurriedly copied on the note.Gao Xingjian's name was all misspelled from the news, and the report that rushed to act at the first time was too hasty, and the name was out of tune, and it actually said that Gao now lives in the United States.

On the radio, NPR is interviewing Professor Perry Link of Princeton University.He's the best sinologist you can find on the best public radio in the country.Lin Perui was the chairman of the China-US Academic Exchange Committee in the late 1980s, and published the "Beijing Evening Talk" describing the situation of Chinese intellectuals; It provided ideas for Mr. Fang to take refuge in the US embassy; I once participated in the writing of "Unofficial China" hosted by Lin, and had a personal conversation with him.In my impression, his unofficial stance is very gentle. He speaks fluent Chinese with a Shandong accent and has a sense of humor. He once learned Chinese taxi drivers in the Voice of America. The editor of the Chinese department was greatly impressed.After June 4th, he fled from China, and I happened to arrive in Hong Kong. I met him on the stairs of the University of Hong Kong. He took out the academic chairman’s business card, crossed out his title, and hurriedly wrote down the phone number of a temporary sojourn.That picture has a great sense of escape.

The mild-sounding Perry Link was clearly still in shock.Falling into the Lin-style sentence is a euphemism, and Gao Ben is not the first choice. (You can guess the first choice in his vision), Lin recited Gao Xingjian's creative achievements: drama stations, novels.The reporter asked him about Gao's publications in the English-speaking world, and he described that only two of Gao's works had been published in English in the past year.Lin said that Gao Xingjian's works are artistic and socially critical, and mainland China does not tolerate artistic socially critical works.Sure enough, it was Perry Lin, tactfully and pedantically, saying that no matter what, the Chinese won the Nobel Prize for the first time in history, which will bring more Chinese writers into the attention of world literature.As for the reason why Chinese writers have not been able to win awards for a long time, he believes that it has something to do with translation.As I listened, I thought to myself, Howard Goldblatt, Orville Schell, and Jeffrey Kinkley, those masters in the American Sinology circle, don’t know what to think?Thinking about it further, the international Chinese commentators in the United States, such as Wang Dewei and Zheng Shusen, must have been dumbfounded by Nobel this time.All wrists are a bit lost?Are you looking for words to adjust the statement?Are you saying you have foresight?Or is it a bit confusing to put it bluntly?And how does China treat this Chinese writer who was described by the international media as "works banned in China"?How to deal with the choice of Nobel?

What really makes me feel emotional is that looking at the world of flashy literature, who would know that in the corner of northern Europe, there is a Chinese who is very quietly holding the basic game of this literary card? And this person's article commenting on the new Nobel laureate for Hong Kong's "Ming Pao" was written a few days ago. This man is called Chen Maiping.He is a veteran of "Today" magazine, and now teaches at the Chinese Department of Swedish University.Two children, a wife of a Swedish sinologist who is also a translator. The wife is very beautiful and pedantic. She once had the opportunity to work as a cultural counselor in China, but Maiping was reported by the Chinese embassy. Therefore, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wanting to transfer his wife's opportunity to someone else, it became a live and continuous news broadcast by the Swedish media for a while, which made it very difficult for the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step down, and the position was always vacant.

Mai Ping and I were classmates at the Central Academy of Drama.I am studying directing as an undergraduate, and he is a graduate student, specializing in Shakespeare.In March this year, I went to Sweden for a meeting, and he took me to the street.Speaking of the old scenery of the college.And only then did I realize that we didn't talk so much to each other when we were in college.He said that he dared to say it now, and felt that I was very lonely and dared not talk to me, but I said that I thought he was very deep, so I didn't dare to talk to him. Mai Ping was wearing a dark green windbreaker, dangling an extremely long umbrella, and carrying a schoolteacher's heavy leather bag, shaking on the side of the icy Stockholm street, speaking in a slow voice.The long winter in northern Europe aggravated his original melancholy.However, in my opinion, Meiping seems to have a bit of a detective taste.

Li Ao from Taiwan is worthy of being smart. He has noticed the importance of Chen Maiping more than sinologists and international Chinese literature critics.Last year, when Chen Maiping went to Taiwan for a meeting, he found that someone was always shaking at the door of the hotel, which annoyed him. When he was going to catch him and ask him to understand, he came up to him automatically, saying that he was Li Ao's agent, and asked him how to make a promise. Bell nominated.Mai Ping breathed a sigh of relief, laughed, and pointed out several elements of the Nobel nomination: the translation of the work, who can be the nominee, including the professors of the academy.Under the specific guidance of Mai Ping, he found a translator, translated the work, and asked, how can we prove that the Nobel Committee has received the nomination letter?Mai Ping continued to smile, and said slowly, a registered letter with a return receipt, signed by the secretary is the evidence.This is the story of Li Ao's nomination for the Nobel Prize, which caused a stir in the Chinese-speaking world as a show for the party.

If Chen Maiping walking on the streets of Sweden is like a detective, a bit Sherlock Holmes, I may be more like Watson, like the fool who asks questions on behalf of readers.We naturally talked about Nobel.Because he was talking about his big brother Bei Dao.Talking about participating in publications in the early years, the two rode bicycles, and he followed Bei Dao, one in front of the other, facing the strong wind, making a big circle, and returning to the original dilapidated house, which seemed like a test.That brief era of innocence! And Bei Dao undoubtedly wanted to win the award.One year even the reporter was recruited first. Mai Ping called him and was shocked. Bei Dao replied, "If I win the award, maybe Shao Fei (divorced wife, painter) will come back?"

(──I think Bei Dao is human because of this.) Mai Ping narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, "Who do you think of in China now?" His smile was like that of a mischievous big child, so I thought to myself that I couldn't answer correctly. I still counted Bei Dao, Mo Yan, and Zheng Yi.The reason for Bei Dao is Ma Yueran, the Chinese overlord in the committee.He is admired by the capitals among writers and critics. I think this has a lot to do with his being in the Nobel Prize.He is the former head of the Chinese Department of the Swedish University, and he nominated Bei Dao for as many as 10 years.The outside world said that he also likes Li Rui very much, but he will not mention Li Rui──he will never mess up his own position. (It is easy to understand by reading novels describing the inside story of the academic school.) The Swedish Publishing House of his translation of Bei Dao's poems did not want to publish this year, which indirectly shows that Ma Yueran's academic authority is changing.

Mo Yan's reason is more sufficient.His masterpiece "Red Sorghum" is an English translation of Goldblatt, and the translation is very careful, and the Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe also mentioned him. And Zheng Yi also has a legend.The latest legend is that he felt like he was going to win an award. "Where's Gao Xingjian?" Chen Maiping asked at the time. I admit, I didn't think about it.And, frankly, I don't think he's that great. "However," Mai Ping said with a smile, "his scripts, his novels, plus his reviews, the key is that he has reviews, and his works are widely reviewed in Europe..."

It is not difficult to think of the precedents of the recent winners in creating and dabbling in Guangbo, especially when thinking about the internationalization of words, the illusion created by comments may often be greater than the illusion effect of text content. If we say that this is an era of international business, One of the characteristics is that the statement is more important than the content.I immediately agreed with his prediction.What's more, he analyzed the emergence of new forces within the Nobel Prize for Literature: Therefore, Gao Xingjian's works do not need to rely on sinologists in the English market, nor do they need to be promoted by Swedish Ma Yueran. He can translate from French and go directly to the Nobel Prize through other judges.

Although I didn't listen to this sentence very carefully at the time, but then, when I saw Ma Yueran, I understood.I met Ma back then, more than 10 years ago, and he is still the same, with silver hair and a very elegant appearance. However, after years of experience in international culture, I admit that I see people and things differently.That time, He Qinglian, a Chinese female economist, played the leading role, and Ma was in the audience.However, when speaking as an audience, he is not the audience.After criticizing the lack of self-reflection among Chinese intellectuals, he suddenly changed the subject and mentioned Gao Xingjian, saying that he had read Gao Xingjian's works recently and he admired Gao Xingjian very much.He wants to translate Gao Xingjian. The length and content of his speech completely exceeded the audience's questions, and had nothing to do with the topic of the meeting.Sitting in the corner of the stage, under the inspiration of Sherlock Holmes, looking at this Sinologist, I intuitively felt that his words were released for someone else to hear.Do I dare to say that at that time I decided that Gao Xingjian was an important candidate?However, after discussing with Chen Maiping, we believe that it will take a few years to focus on Gao Xingjian.We are still too narrow in the cultural game, forget about parameters like WTO at that time. In my opinion, the Chinese commentator who really wants to talk about Gao Xingjian right now might not be Liu Zaifu, but Li Tuo and other cultural figures in mainland China in the 1980s?Gao Xingjian's earliest known in mainland cultural circles is not so much for his performance in a small theater (I used it in the short story "Theatrical Effects"), but for his booklet "A Preliminary Exploration of Modern Fiction Techniques".It was the early 1980s, and he, Li Tuo and Feng Jicai were discussing new forms and techniques of novels.Later they thought to themselves that it was hard to say that there was anything really new about it.That raised "butt curtain" (literary commentary at the time) was part of a big discussion and a big critique.I have also become one of the objects of great criticism. After a small improvement in the situation, I was able to enter the Beijing People's Art Theater as a director. Gao Xingjian was working as a screenwriter at the People's Art Theater at the time and had just written a play.Director Lin Zhaohua, the vice president, wanted me to be his assistant.I read the script.I have opinions on Gao Xingjian's script.In my opinion, his scripts are the same as his novels, in that the mystery of the narrative is greater than the pleasure of reading and the charm of stage practice.In other words, he is more like the original creation for the critic's second creation.I have read some contemporary "foreign drama" techniques in college, and I can find comparisons in his scripts, but there are not so many original things that stimulate my creative desire.Moreover, Lin Zhaohua has his cunning, you can hardly tell whether he understands the author and the script, and he also likes to cover the stage with words, rather than the attractive places that can't even be said.I euphemistically stated what I think is the stage modification method. Of course Gao Xingjian insists on himself and is very gentle. However, he can only be understood and not developed by other creative collaborators. I would rather the playwright be fierce. If you are confronted, new creations are more likely to emerge.There was no need to get stuck over a play, so I rode my bike down the canal and wrote my own—should I say now that I knew the winner? When I was with Gao Xingjian, I never talked about novels or creation.I thought about it subjectively, because the opinions are not quite the same.However, as a friend, sometimes, you actually have more real topics than you thought your life created.I got this feeling from Gao Xingjian.In the early 1990s, I went to France as a visiting scholar, and privately studied with Gao Xingjian whether I could survive there.Xing Jian gave me very direct instructions.There is no bend at all.At that time, he made a living by selling paintings, (although I think his paintings are said more than "opinions".) He said that writing is absolutely not enough for food.Of course, he has French, and he majored in French in college.He just spread himself out in this way, and asked me to study how I live and how to support my writing with other things.Whether Gao Xingjian is a super writer is likely to become a topic of private controversy now.However, in my opinion, Gao Xingjian is a sincere person. At the creative level, the relationship between human sincerity and literary expression is not as great as ordinary readers think.The problem is, there's really no general readership here.Gao Xingjian's award raises some questions: For example, is it really a creator playing against tyranny?Is the work now banned?Or, in the era of commercialization, in the anxious China, there is no publishing market for his works?And the Nobel is not an Oscar, and has nothing to do with the mass reading market. However, under the illusory sense of "globalization" in the 21st century, the spiritual survival behavior of personal creation actually relies on the hidden commercial promotion of reviews unprecedentedly, while sales are in different places. The good ones that come here are resold by the "sensation" in other places.As for whether it will be sold after resale, it is another matter.And is Gao Xingjian a first-rate writer of Chinese?Did foreigners miss the translation?This question is a bit interesting.In my opinion, people's perception of language is quite regional, and their inner time and space are different. Readers who think that Chinese is the best can't judge words according to their own tastes.The phenomenon of "success" in Gao Xingjian's literature suggests that the theme is philosophical and ethereal, and it may also be in line with the international cultural market (who said that the Nobel without readers is not a market?) The Chinese creative products have lacked a sense of philosophy and introspection for many years. , Epic sense of taste?There is also a secret question: Although Gao Xingjian’s novels have a very small market in Taiwan (one person’s Bible sells 200 copies), but some small publishing houses in Taiwan can print books for mainland writers, does this fact remind us? , culture is in a highly commercialized world, in which places are there more micro-survival climates?Because, similarly, some of Gao Xingjian's drama creations were supported by the French Ministry of Culture.The curious thing is, will Gao Xingjian be grateful to the cultural nourishers who continue his creation in the writing of the speech he is preparing for these two days? And Chinese cultural intellectuals will be in chaos because of this?And how messed up, is it not scolding or praising, but ordinary people still say they can't understand the superficial article?That would be worse than what we had worked hard in the 80s. Just a few days before the Nobel results were released, Kenzaburo Oe visited China.This time Dajiang didn't mention Mo Yan, only Zheng Yi.He revealed that the feeling is that Zheng Yi is very likely to win the award, and a country should not banish its own outstanding writers.He repeatedly mentioned Zheng Yi's name in his speech, insisting that the translator translate all these contents.The results are also translated. The night before I left China, I went to the house of a female editor. She was the person who introduced Da Jiang's copyrighted works to China. She was also the late wife of the early founder of "Today". She was an excellent prose writer.Mai Ping had just called when I went in.She told me in shock that she asked Mai Ping, which country's writer will win the award this time?She was thinking about the introduction of copyright.Mai Ping told her that this time it might be China.She guessed Zheng Yi.Mai Ping said not necessarily.Just say, "I'm sad for the old Bei Dao. But, you just wait and see, this time it's going to be a lot of fun." I told her that he was talking about Gao Xingjian.She can't believe it. Old photos of her and her husband are placed on the female editor's small table.Every time I go, I watch silently for a while.The female student who helped copy at that time, later, her husband fell ill and finally died after being bedridden for a long time.She was alone with her child, always in the fear of being watched and raided. She was writing, she was publishing, and when she entered the house, she put down her schoolbag and lay down in front of the manuscript.Unlike the naive woman in the photo, she is already quite sophisticated and introspective.The Next Generation of Poets collects memories, including hers, in The Next Generation of Poets.Unlike Gao Xingjian's works, this book was indeed banned, and only 6,000 copies were printed, but it is still being sold and pirated.Always hit 6,000 volumes.Countless readers are looking for tiny memories in books, and pirates only look at stealthy profits.Mai Ping made the long-distance trip just to tell her that he also had a book next to his bed, and reading this book reminded him of writing his own literary memories.And when we were walking on the streets of Sweden, we discussed Gao Xingjian and Nobel, and also discussed his own new novel with Mai Ping.He also told a story that when he met Ah Cheng for the first time that year, there was a table of people, and Ah Cheng was becoming famous.Everyone on the scene laughed at Ah Cheng and pointed at Chen Maiping.Wanzhi is Chen Maiping's pen name.Mai Ping is a pioneer of modern Chinese novels. When listening to him tell his old stories, I have a kind of indifferent sadness.I feel that Mai Ping's words are a bit of forced self-prompt and self-encouragement.He's still writing novels, written about his own life experiences for his sons, but his new novel loses the avant-garde of his earlier days and takes a very honest (too honest!) approach. ──All those of us who wandered around the fringes, who used to be literary elements and non-literary ones, don’t know if other people at this moment are like me, under the superficial self-encouragement and gentle questioning, calling for distant , past, all self-cultivation?