Chapter 12 Landscape Transformation of Contemporary Chinese Literature

one French writer and thinker Andre Malraux once said that Russia has never had a Renaissance, nor has there been Athens.Of course this doesn’t apply to Russia, but it does apply to China, and I have to add that China never had a Renaissance, nor an Enlightenment, nor Athens, nor Jerusalem. Russia once had a Renaissance, although it never had Athens, it had Jerusalem.On the other hand, one of the reasons why the Russian spirit shakes the world is because of the eloquent eloquence of Russian novelists for the spirit of Jerusalem and the powerful indictment of the spirit of Athens. The Chinese nation, which often prides itself on having a splendid and rich ancient civilization, suddenly became inferior and proud in the 20th century.While never forgetting his own cultural ancestry, he also eagerly wants to fully possess the style of the Renaissance, the rationality of the Enlightenment Movement, the gods and temples of Athens, and the torture rack of the Crucifixion in Jerusalem.

But can it?If the answer is no, go further and ask, why not?Or to put it another way, why does Han culture, which has its own spiritual tradition, insist on approaching the above-mentioned cultural spirits, eager to possess its inherent qualities?Is it because the spiritual quality contained in Chinese literature and art can never be compared with it?Who doesn't know that since the "May 4th" New Culture Movement, there is nothing more urgent than literature to pursue the spirit and forms of European culture? Unfortunately, a "West" dream turned out to be a dream, and a nightmare at that!The dream was still a "Western" dream, only, it turned into a nightmare.The protagonist in the dream became the Germanic Prometheus, who stole the fire from the Confucian "heaven" and set fire to the land of China again.

The so-called "dream" refers to the willingness to identify with a certain western rational idea of ​​history.As far as the actual situation is concerned, there is no "dream", only killing without leaving traces, wailing without sound, and deserted graves without epitaphs. However, to this day, Chinese literature has still not entered the basic existential position in speech, although it has its own "modernist" literature, it seems that the complex entanglement of inferiority and pride is difficult to eliminate for a while. Is it because the hardships I have endured are not enough?Is it because the pain I have endured is not deep enough?Chinese people, as individual living beings, have never missed suffering and misfortune.One of the essences of a conscious life is that he knows what suffering is. As the German philosopher Max Scheler said: The basis of all consciousness is pain, and the basis of all higher consciousness is the rising pain , life is not essentially will to power.The penetrating power of Western literature is definitely not because Westerners suffer more than Chinese people, but because the spiritual background that Western literature relies on has a different landscape of examining pain and the resulting speech and individual existence. form.Traditional Chinese culture has the will to digest pain. Modern Chinese literature pursues Western literature, and it seems that it wants to penetrate into the bone marrow of pain, rather than digest pain.The trouble with contemporary literature is simply that it has yet to acquire a discursive form to see through history and individual suffering.

two Chinese literature in the 20th century can be divided into two stages: the literature since the "May 4th Movement" and the literature since the "Fourth Five-Year Plan".As for the "literature" from the 1950s to the 1970s, some people aptly compared it to the German "literature" of the 1930s and 1940s, and regarded it as one of the organic forms of power discourse.Castrated people have only castrated literature.Once literature is castrated, it will naturally no longer be called literature.Literature does not lament for the misfortune of individual history, nor does it lament for a single, purely individual suffering, but is hijacked to praise the inevitable process of history and social movements that ravage individuals, and to sing the praises of nameless "heroes."

The literature of the "May Fourth" generation and the literature of the "Fourth Five-Year" generation have many superficial similarities: they are both in the conflict of two cultural forms (Chinese and Western), and both are driven by desperate pursuit.It has always been the theme of literature to express the individual's self-struggle in the historical predicament and the connection between the personal destiny and the society and the destiny of the nation.No matter from the point of view of literature thematics, or from the pursuit of formalization of literature, "May Fourth" literature and "Fourth Five-Year" literature have their inherent continuity.

Is this Chinese Renaissance literature, Enlightenment literature, pre-modern (nineteenth century) literature?Neither, but they are all somehow related.Similarly, Chinese literature since the May Fourth Movement is also related to modernist literature in the twentieth century.This is not only because the context is different from that of the West, but more importantly, the Western writers’ view of personal destiny and world suffering originated from Athens and Jerusalem—the Greek spirit and the Christian spirit. Not yet claimed, though clearly intended to be. Why are Chinese writers no longer satisfied with using Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism to examine individual fate and existential suffering?Is it because of the "invasion" of Western culture?Not at all!Is it because the sufferings and misfortunes of the Chinese are not as profound and tragic as those of the Westerners?Not at all!What is relevant is only the spiritual intention of the individual, and then the spiritual intention of the nation.Fate, misfortune, suffering, there are only differences in form, not in essence or degree of suffering.

Although the literature of the "Fourth Five-Year" generation is similar to the literature of the "May Fourth" generation in various appearances, it has internal differences in quality.This difference is the difference between belief and unbelief.Although some of the differences between the two generations of literature can also be found in the external aspects - for example, before the "Fourth Five-Year" literature, there was no underground literature, while during the "Fourth Five-Year Plan", there appeared "above" and "underground" " literature, but none of these differences are essential.

Descartes held that a person must once in his life doubt everything that is slightly suspicious. Only through doubt can he prove that I exist and find the exact and reliable basis for knowledge and conviction.Husserl warned that in order to ensure the reliability of cognition, the judgment of existence should be suspended first, and thinking should be brought back to the transcendental pure self.These theoretical stipulations of Western philosophers have become existential stipulations among the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" generation. The "Fourth Five-Year" generation definitely did not learn the principle of doubt from Western philosophy textbooks, but learned the principle of doubt from their own personal experience with tears.

The "May Fourth" generation seems to be more enthusiastic about their pursuit than the "Fourth Five-Year" generation. They believe that despite depression and panic, they can always find some kind of ideal.In contrast, the "Fourth Five-Year" generation was instilled with certain ideals from the day they were born, and they also sincerely believed in this ideal.It is said that pursuing ideals is not their business, their mission is to realize ideals. Pursuing the truth is the long-cherished wish of the "May 4th" generation, and they finally found the truth after going through all kinds of hardships. This is the truth proclaimed by the Germanic Prometheus.Now it is proposed to re-examine the ideal, which is outdated by the times.

The ideal pursued may also be a false ideal, where the youth, blood and tears of entire generations are used to smear blasphemous idols, where the manipulative course of history accumulates and increases the sins of mankind—and the God of Christ does not Instead of manipulating history, he criticizes history with the judgment of the end of the day, and let his only son die on the cross, using his precious blood to atone for the historical sins of mankind.But they are still devout.Of course, the "May Fourth" generation had no reason to criticize their historical ideals, but they also had no right to force us to believe in such historical ideals.

The "Fourth Five-Year Plan" generation turned from pious belief to unbelief, which is a rejection of various false ideals.They no longer blindly believe in anything. The literature of the April-Five generation was precisely the expression of this unbelief. This disbelief is by no means the same as no longer seeking true belief.The disbelief of this generation is the disgust of blind faith and credulity, and the vomiting of all kinds of false beliefs and false ideals. From this disbelief also arises the possibility of never believing in anything more. The literature of the "Fourth Five-Year" generation can be divided into two levels, or the literature of two generations.This is the generation that experienced the Cultural Revolution ten years ago and the generation born after the Cultural Revolution ten years later.As far as the former generation was concerned, they were bred from infancy by idealism, which still left its mark in the rebellion of faith, while the second generation was bred from birth by disbelief. When people no longer use the pseudo-idealistic landscape to cover up the innocent misfortune of personal existence, and no longer use personal life to fill the terrifying abyss of historical inevitability, what landscape should they use to examine the misfortune of existence? The literature of this generation has begun to learn to respect the absence of individual existence, and intends to peep through the abyss of existence to see the position of individual existence beyond history and beyond the nation. three Due to the unique inherent qualities of this generation, the literature of this generation can easily mirror the Western modernist literature.The rationale for the pseudo-ideal is dismissed, and the abyss of individual existence opens up with horrific lacerations. As early as the end of the 1970s, I read what could be called "modernist" novels from a mimeographed literary publication circulated privately.One of them left a deep impression on me: it uses multi-perspective and multi-level so-called polyphonic techniques throughout the article to describe the non-revolutionary encounters of a few little people who are too sensitive to life.At that time, Western modernist works had not yet been widely translated, and it was difficult for people to find models for reference.Here, it is impossible for me to use a lot of space to give examples.Let me quote a short poem excerpted from a mimeographed literary publication of that year as an example: my soul It is summer forgotten on the tree of life let my voice drop the anchor parked at your door my eyes sing in the water are the stars scattered in the sea my lips It's the wind, it's the waves kiss gently your arms and shoulder blades The name of the author of the poem is unknown.But what does it matter?What matters to this generation is the freedom to sing about myself rather than class totality, about my individual physical existence rather than the conceptual existence of the laws of history.The choice and configuration of words here help the individual body to return to its own presence from the prison of historical rationality. Since then, with the translation and introduction of a large number of Western modernist literature, the literature of the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" generation almost hungrily drank from this spring.Is it advocating Westernization?Is it worshiping modernism?no.The fact is that the internal spiritual quality of the "Fourth Five-Year" generation is close to those Western modern schools called "Lost Generation", "Beat Generation", "Absurd Generation" and "Doubt Generation".It is true that this generation does not need much effort to understand those works of the modern school that their predecessors called elusive.Of course, the older generation of writers did not forget to stand up and beat the youth, and still wanted to use their ideals to teach or enlighten the youth.They do not realize that they have long since lost the qualification to present themselves as experienced to the young people, let alone the right to enlighten or teach them.In the words of the Russian philosopher Shestov, whoever wants to refute our unruliness should first refute the lies and alibi in existence.Whoever continues to preach to us that it is reasonable and justified to suffer and to be absent from a false course of history blasphemously set up by someone, indeed no one will listen anymore. It is not difficult to understand why the literature of this generation can be pre-understandably identified with Western modern literature in terms of form. Suffering is universal to human beings, transcending nationalities and regions, just as God who suffers with people is transcendent. Ethnic, supra-regional. On the other hand, it must be pointed out that the identity of this generation with Western modernist literature is still based on the form.The original form and content are inseparable.This content should refer to the universal suffering of existence, and to examine the spectacle of suffering.Form is, to a large extent, the pictorial expression of this scrutinized landscape of pain.As far as Western literature is concerned, this landscape originates from Athens and Jerusalem—the rational spirit and the Christian spirit.Even the rebellion of the modernists is a rebellion against this background.Western humanism has never severed its inner marriage with god-centeredism.Without God, there is no such thing as "nothingness" and "absurdity". Whether it is the previous generation of Chinese literature in the twentieth century—the "May Fourth" generation, or this generation—the "Fourth Five-Year" generation, they are far from grasping the spectacle that Western writers use to examine pain.A sense of pain and absence is clearly not enough.The mere formal imitation still cannot eliminate the blind spots in spiritual perspective. Four Why do we have to agree with the European cultural spirit to examine the spectacle of pain and absence?Why can't we go back and identify with the traditional landscape of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism? It is said that only one's own roots, the roots of one's own nation, are the homes that one can return to. The literature of the "Fourth Five-Year Plan" generation was accompanied by the clamor of contemporary Confucian scholars for a while, and began the trek of "seeking roots".This "root-seeking" upsurge was quickly blocked by a more resolute rejection of consciousness.The blood debt of "modernization" of the traditional consciousness has not yet been paid off, and people still have fresh memories of all kinds of imperial restorations dressed up in Western cloaks. Didn’t the Confucian “heaven” reappear disguised as the “heaven” manifested in historical rationality? Isn’t the Confucian way of kingship inherently related to the way of modern history? However, in literature, the enthusiasm for "seeking roots" is more reflected in the identification with the spirit of Laozhuang and Zhuangzi, and there are modern "seven sages in the bamboo forest".Of course, this is another reenactment of the old drama. I don’t know how many times this kind of "returning to Laozhuang" has been staged in the history of Chinese literature. What is the result?After this, are people ready to welcome the emperor to the throne again?Are you willing to digest your personal absence and suffering as natural again "in peace and inaction"?Is it determined that Gao Shi, who is "rarely confused" again, regards "nowhere to live" as the highest requirement of spiritual quality? There is another cliché: literature is human studies.But this "person" needs to be defined, that is, every lonely and suffering physical existence.Literature is concern and care for this or that physical being who longs to be present.It saves the innocent and the criminal wretch to become human in the discourse of the individual corporeal existence. "Root-seeking" literature does not make, or even intends to make, Chinese people as individuals, but as Chinese people.Individual predicates are dissolved in general nouns, and the status of the individual is wiped out. Of course, the literature of this generation will not willingly fall into the countless vicious circles in the history of Chinese literature.The absence of existence has opened up, and a new literature has determined to take us out of the "Chinese..." and thus make the Chinese individual. Fives "May Fourth" literature, as a new beginning of Chinese literature, was unfortunately interrupted. What is the fate of "Fourth Five-Year" literature? As a concept, contemporary Chinese literature cannot be equated with the concept of "Fourth Five-Year" literature.The latter refers to an undercurrent that actually exists in contemporary literature, the main body of which is young writers.To this day, literature has not obtained the right to exist freely. The most alluring slogan in today's literary world is "going global".Coincidentally, German literature "went to the world" at the end of the eighteenth century - the beginning of the nineteenth century, and Russian literature "went to the world" at the end of the nineteenth century - the beginning of the twentieth century.Will Chinese literature "go global" at the end of the 20th century - the beginning of the 21st century?What is "going global"? Indeed, in China at the end of this century, not only in the field of literature, but also in the fields of various arts, some unique individual expressions have appeared.This is indeed a rare time, it may be the moment when Chinese people are looking for their own individual physical existence and spiritual quality can be reborn, and literature will bring the physical language of Chinese back to the place of individual existence.This is the real "going to the world"—the existence of real existence.From a historical perspective, this is not difficult to understand.Whether it is the German literature from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, or the Russian literature from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, they have injected new spiritual blood into the understanding and speaking of this existing existence, and at the same time formed New literary traditions in their own national language.Since then, there have been many generations of literary masters.Even under the system of the Soviet Union, Russians still have their own Pasternak, Aitmatov, Astayev, Akhmatova, and Brodsky. From the new generation of Chinese literature, there is still no power to inject new spiritual blood into the understanding and speaking of this existing existence.To hope for this to happen requires, first of all, the renaming of literary narratives—the naming of nameless individual bodies.I insist that without “appropriating” the spirit of Athens and Jerusalem—to use the term of the contemporary French philosopher Paul Ricoeur—it is impossible for the narrative of Chinese literature to return to the individual body, and neither does Chinese literature. Possibility to enter into the world - to exist in the world. It is still a poem in mimeographed literary publications in the late 1970s. This Xiang wrote: we are like a piece of wood carried along, created nailed, sawed Finally, even looking at are strangers For the entire universe, we will also laughed at him and said: Heart, always that one. The poem encapsulates the individual encounters and absences of a generation, the erasure of their physical existence.But the Chinese are by no means the only ones suffering in this world.The literature of this generation may take us out of China and into the world.The so-called entering the world is just a different kind of landscape, examining the plight of individuals from the root of existence, from the perspective of the individual, not just from the country and nationality of China, or more precisely, from the perspective of the individual and eschatology. In this case, Chinese literature may be able to gain a deeper insight into the special existence of Chinese people, and then provide world literature with experience of Chinese literature. There has never been a Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, or pre-modernization in Chinese literature, and all these may gather at the end of the century and the beginning of the century. November 1986 Shenzhen