Chapter 23 postscript

Because it is Gao He's "closed work" on the theme of "official anti-corruption", I wanted to write a few sentences at the end of the book - it is a summary and an explanation. Gao He published his first novella "Precious Metals" in 1992, and won the "Gansu Fei Astronomy Award".But what made him a well-known writer was his anti-corruption novel published in 2005.Because of this book, the term "sub-corruption" was popular at that time, and it spread to the "two sessions" and became a topic among "representatives" and "committees". Published in 2006 was his second novel of the same kind, and it sold well.Got this one again this year.

Since it is well-known as an anti-corruption novel in the officialdom, and its economic and social benefits are very good, why should it be closed on this subject?Excluding the reasons such as the exhaustion of Gao Hejiang's talents, the bad market, and the exhaustion of materials, the reason for closing the pen can only be attributed to "disappointment".Although the word disappointment is a bit empty, it is very powerful and can often make people very decisive.A step forward in disappointment is despair. During the "Cultural Revolution", most of the intellectuals who could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide went from disappointment to despair.And Wang Guowei's death.It is also said to be associated with despair.

The source of disappointment can be roughly attributed to "wish that cannot be achieved".Intellectuals with a conscience should wish to explore truth, criticize society, and supervise the government in the form of culture and art on the premise of independence of personality, freedom of will, freedom of thought, and freedom of expression.If they cannot realize this desire for a long time, and even suffer humiliation and persecution due to such efforts, they will inevitably be disappointed and hopeless.Throughout the ages, intellectuals with a conscience in China have experienced more disappointment and despair.

The closure of the subject of anti-corruption in the officialdom contains not only Gao He's disappointment in creation, but also his disappointment in social reality. The disappointment at the creative level can be analyzed as follows.Although Gao He's three official anti-corruption novels are good-looking and easy to sell, there is a big gap between the depth and breadth of what the novels reflect and the actual situation.Gao He's writing process on this subject is actually a process of being scratched and tortured.Just imagine, a writer and artist has a lot of profundity to express, but can only express three parts; has a lot of passion to express, but can only express three parts, what will it be like?Not only that, readers and history may misunderstand the author, thinking that this is not his three points, but his ten points, which will greatly reduce his image.They will even be classified as "speculative literati" by history.Some people may say that even three points is better than closing the pen and not scoring one point!I think this should be a question of "complete jade and broken tiles", and there is not much significance for discussion.

Disappointment at the level of social reality is more complicated and unspeakable.This reminds me of Mr. Shao Yanxiang, a famous poet and essayist with a strong sense of social responsibility and a deep conscience.In the late 1990s, I heard on the radio that he "no longer writes anti-corruption essays."A few days ago, I asked him why he made such a decision, and the answer was: the information on corruption that can be known is very small and superficial, it is difficult to write clearly and thoroughly, and it is useless to write.Why "doesn't work"?I think that anti-corruption articles that cannot publicize the truth of corruption and the root causes of corruption are indeed very difficult to have much anti-corruption effect, and even if they are publicized, so what?Probably Gao He would feel the same way.

Closing the pen is not breaking the pen, disappointment is not despair.We hope that disappointment will become hope, not despair.We are waiting for the day when the "official anti-corruption pen" will be unsealed.Fortunately, what Gao He sealed was just an anti-corruption pen in the officialdom. His sum is also very good-looking, and there are also good-looking ones that will be published soon.