Chapter 24 1978 "The Answer"

Author: Bei Dao Genre: Poetry Original publication: The first issue of "Today" Published: November 1978 Bei Dao, born in 1949, whose real name is Zhao Zhenkai, used to use pen names: Bei Dao, Shi Mo.His ancestral home is Huzhou, Zhejiang, but he was born in Beijing. Worked as a construction worker in 1969, and later worked in a certain company. Emigrated in the late 1980s. Around 1978, he and the poet Munk founded "Today" and became a representative poet of Misty poetry. In April 1989, Bei Dao left his motherland and successively lived in Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, the United States and other countries.Bei Dao has written a variety of poetry collections, and his works have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has won the Swedish PEN Literary Award, the Guggenheim Scholarship, etc., and was elected as a lifetime honorary fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.Currently teaching at the University of California, Davis.

Bei Dao's poem: Vileness is the passport of the vile, Nobility is the epitaph of the noble, Behold, in that gilded sky, Filled with the curved reflections of the dead. The Ice Age is over, Why is there ice everywhere? The Cape of Good Hope is discovered, Why do a thousand sails race in the Dead Sea? I came into this world, With only paper, rope and figure, for before the judgment, Read the voices of those who are judged. tell you world I do not believe! Even if there are a thousand challengers under your feet, Then count me as number one thousand and one. I don't believe the sky is blue,

I don't believe Ray's echo, I don't believe dreams are fake, I don't believe in death without retribution. If the ocean is destined to break its banks, Let all the bitterness pour into my heart, If the land is destined to rise, is filling the unobstructed sky. That is five thousand years of hieroglyphs, Those are the eyes through which the people of the future will gaze. I have a dream, I must realize it! In order to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of China, Sina.com and China Broadcasting Network jointly launched a series of interviews "Republic Text", in-depth interpretation of classic works that once united people's hearts and inspired the times.Today we invite Mr. Tang Xiaodu, a famous critic of poetry and literature, to interpret Bei Dao's essay.The following is the transcript of the interview:

Moderator: Hello, fellow netizens.You are now watching the series of talk programs "Texts That Affect Us - The Texts of the Republic". Today we invite you to the live broadcast room. The guest is Mr. Tang Xiaodu, a famous poetry and literature critic. Moderator: Bei Dao's poem marks the beginning of the era of obscurity poetry. It is said to reflect the awakening voice of a whole generation of young people. It is a "manifesto" to bid farewell to a historical era that has passed away. Teacher Tang, please talk to us background of the poem. Tang Xiaodu: This poem was first published in "Today", a folk publication founded in Beijing. Bei Dao is also one of the founders. It is a literary publication. 1979 was the inaugural issue of the first issue, and this poem was published.

It was reprinted in the January 1979 issue of "Poetry Magazine", and Shu Ting's "To the Oak Tree" was also reprinted. "Today" was originally a very small magazine, but the circulation of "Poetry Magazine" at that time had reached 600,000 copies.Therefore, this poem had a great influence after being forwarded by "Poetry Magazine", and became a landmark work in the history of poetry in the future. Moderator: What question did Bei Dao ask at that time, or whose question did he answer? Tang Xiaodu: This still needs to go back to the context just now. It was published in November 1978 and written in April 1976.It was just before and after the commemoration of Zhou Enlai's death and opposition to the Gang of Four.Bei Dao's poem cannot be said to be part of the Tiananmen Poetry Movement, but it is definitely related to this event, with this background.

This poem is very angry and decisive in nature.Speaking of its object, since it is, there must be doubts first, that is to say, it has to face problems, or has problems.From the perspective of the poem, who is the object of the answer?is the world.But we can understand that because there were some language strategy problems at the time, I think the understanding of the world is not bad, "I came to this world with only a rope, I don't believe it, I don't believe it...".But from a smaller point of view, he can understand the events in which lies were prevalent around 1976, suppressed his inner voice, dared not tell the truth, and if he told the truth, he might suffer great persecution, the world of cultural centralization, he could understand It is said to be an answer to the cultural despotism of the Gang of Four, of course, in a broad sense, it can also be understood as an answer to the world, because the poet has already expanded the scope when trying to express this.

Moderator: When did you first read this poem? Tang Xiaodu: The first time I read it was in January or February of 1979, probably before the Spring Festival.What I saw was the first issue of "Today". At that time, I was an accompanying student at Nanjing University and lived with foreign students. Everyone had such a magazine.At that time, we might not have been able to read it if it wasn't for such an opportunity.I am in the 77th grade, and this kind of magazine is very privately passed on among my classmates, but because I live with foreign students, I can read many magazines they set, and I also like poetry.

Moderator: Did you see the magazine "Today" at that time? Tang Xiaodu: Yes, at that time this poem was on the headlines, and Mang Ke’s "Sky", I was very shocked at the time, my feeling was that Bei Dao’s brought me a rational earthquake and emotional saturation bombing. Such a feeling.Because his poetic concepts, language, and rhetoric are completely different from the previous poems, he shocked us a lot.At that time, Bei Dao and "Notes of Sun City" made a deep impression on me. Moderator: We know that Bei Dao's is a representative work of the Misty School, so are there any specific characteristics of the Misty School?

Tang Xiaodu: Under that historical background, our concept of poetry was before the Cultural Revolution.We read "Revolutionary History Poems", and of course there are also "Three Hundred Tang Poems" and other poems written by working people.The main model poets of domestic poetry at that time were He Jingzhi, Guo Xiaochuan, and Ai Qing, and the poetry of foreign countries such as Whitman and Aragon, all of which could be read before the Cultural Revolution.But then poetry entered a "false and empty" path. At that time, the path of poetry was narrower and narrower. First, it talked about extensive inheritance, and later it talked about classical and folk songs. Going narrower and narrower, only in this context can we understand why Misty poetry had such a big impact.

Moderator: There are too many desires behind it. Tang Xiaodu: At that time, it was a suppressed energy and expressed desire.Looking back now, from a strict poetic point of view, Misty poetry has only returned to the starting point of poetry. We can think that Chinese poetry has been going to the opposite side of poetry before that, becoming the negative number of poetry, and the era of Misty poetry , the poem returns to the starting point.At that time, an article "Poetry Must Tell the Truth" caused a huge response at that time. Moderator: What are the specific rhetorical differences in the poems of the Misty School?

Tang Xiaodu: Let’s take Bei Dao’s poem as an example. One of them is to return to the starting point of true expression and telling the truth, and it is to express the truth of the individual’s heart, so like Bei Dao’s “I don’t Believe..." Such a series of parallel comparisons have been criticized before, and they are considered to express a nihilistic attitude. But for poetry, this is a kind of personal expression. It not only returns to the nature of poetry, but what poetry means returns to the standpoint of intellectuals, which is the spirit of doubt and criticism. This poem is the starting point, and it is In a personal way, so it can be extreme. Moderator: So this rhetoric is still in line with his emotions. Tang Xiaodu: It is in line with his personal expression needs. I believe everyone will find this poem very enjoyable, including "Despicableness is the passport of the humble, and nobleness is the epitaph of the noble." Of course, this is a rhetorical absurdity. Rhetoric, this rhetorical technique exists in the folk, but it is not in the poems we are familiar with, especially after 1949. Everyone must use the correct way to say the correct words, so they are all clear and without differences. Said.But his poems are completely ironic, subverting the reality and absurdity at that time, whether it is truth, morality, ethics, or common sense, and turned to a very absurd side.So the absurdity of his syntax is the same as the reality.Rhetoric such as the gilded sky and the curved reflection were also impossible at the time, because the motherland, the sky, and the sun all had very clear referents and could only be used as fixed phrase collocations.At that time, it was best to say that the sky was blue. For example, "Song of Ideal" was matched with "white clouds and blue sky", but what do you mean by the gilded sky?The golden sky itself is anti-programmed, and gilding is of course associated with hypocrisy, lies, and cover-ups.And the sky looms over our heads, so the intention he conveyed is particularly strong. The beginning of Munk's "Sky" is "The sun rises, the sky is bloody like a shield, the sun rises, the sky is bloody", the intention he gave, and those who were used to the sky and the sun at that time, who is the sun , At that time, he could only have relations with the leader and the party, how could he be linked with the bloody shield? Duoduo's poems are about "a cold, uninspired sky", and they are all about an overall feeling, which is of course related to the despair, anger, and helplessness in his heart.So these intentions are very accurate expression of the state at that time.If the poet is indeed a vocal organ, it really expressed the aspirations of a large number of people at that time. Host: Now that you’ve mentioned this, the poem aroused such a great shock and response among teenagers at that time, was it also an expression of their inner emotions? Tang Xiaodu: To be precise, it cannot be said that this poem aroused repercussions among the young people at that time.It actually affects a minority.Because it has not been accepted by mainstream poetry for a long time, although it was first published in "Poetry Magazine" in 1979, it was criticized without naming names in 1980.Its dissemination is largely disseminated in criticism. The debate on Misty poetry started at the end of 1980, which greatly expanded the influence of Misty poetry, but this poem was not brought up for debate at that time.At the beginning, I saw such poems in a very small circle, and everyone was very excited.More other methods, such as avant-garde art, avant-garde music and novels, now we can say that it is non-mainstream poetry, but it was underground poetry at the time and could not be published. In fact, this poem was published because it was The atmosphere was particularly good. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, it was very relaxed, and it had a lot to do with the person who hosted the "Poetry Magazine" at that time, so it was published.At that time, many readers of "Poetry Magazine" may have been very moved, but they never expressed it. Moderator: Finally, there is a voice to express for them. Tang Xiaodu: No, they can't express their emotion in a way of public praise.More influence came from the later criticism process, more and more people in the poetry circle, and the Misty Poetry Movement, there were many imitators, all of them were in their 20s at the time, and they all loved poetry , At that time, it was necessary to find a blueprint and imitate it. Take myself as an example, because I have always liked poetry, and Bei Dao's and Munk's "Sky" greatly changed my concept of poetry and the way I wrote it.After reading these two poems, I wrote a relatively long poem "About Ourselves", which is actually speculative, but the language style has changed.I was not young at that time, I was already 24 years old. Among those who loved literature and poetry in colleges and universities at that time, the influence was very great, but the majority of young people had not read it yet. Host: Besides you, are there any friends or other classmates who have changed a lot after reading this poem? Tang Xiaodu: That's a lot, because I am only in college after all, and I mainly socialize with friends around me.After I worked for Poetry Magazine in 1982, I had extensive contact with poets and young writers, and quite a few people were changed by this poem.Or we can't say it is a certain poem, but the writing of a group of poets called Misty Poems.At that time, in addition to this poem, Bei Dao also had "Declaration", "In the age without heroes, I just want to be a person." "Red Sailboat" and "Grim Hope", including the "Notes of Sun City" mentioned at the beginning, this poem was made particularly prominent at the time, and was later affirmed as a representative work of Misty poetry.In fact, Bei Dao himself does not want to see it this way, and he is even ashamed to see it this way, because this is still an early work.But no matter how he looks at this issue, this poem has played an explosive role in the history of Chinese poetry. After an era of depression, when a large energy field is formed, there is always a poet who ignites this energy and becomes the breaking point.It should be said that Bei Dao's poems played this role.At that time, if it was said that Shu Ting had the greatest influence, "To the Oak Tree" and "Motherland and the Motherland", but her poems were completely different from Bei Dao's. She was more romantic, sentimental, and gentle. Soothes emotional pain.Bei Dao is cold, reflective and tough, and Bei Dao has obvious existentialism in his poetic philosophy. Host: Then we can understand that what he brings to readers is also a kind of sternness, experience and bravery? Tang Xiaodu: And he was more in line with the needs of the society as a whole at that time. Of course, this was realized through intellectuals and artists, and poets played the role of vanguard and guide in it.So at that time, the influence of Misty Poetry was not only in the field of poetry, but also in the field of novels, art, music, and philosophy. Many friends were shocked by this poem. Moderator: Just now we learned about the background and mood of the creation. We also want to ask where is the artistic charm of this poem and what is worthy of praise? Tang Xiaodu: Just now we talked about it as a representation. Poetry returns to personal expression as a representation. In addition, it is also very sufficient in terms of art.He's very emotional, and we could say it's very intense.In fact, we also talked about his four "I don't believe it" during the process. This is based on parallelism, and the power is very powerful.And his whole turning point, from the earliest overall intention to the back, "I tell you, the world, I have come, with only paper and rope..." This poem is mainly a representation of reflection on the one hand in the later period. , on the one hand as a representation of personality, as a representation of a reflective person.Many people later called "anti-heroes" and believed that Bei Dao had established a heroic image, but I think this image needs another image to supplement it. The "Declaration" said, "In an era without heroes, I just want to be One person", of course, at the end he said "If the sea is destined to burst, let all the tears flow into my heart", this seems a bit heroic, and it is also the kind of individual heroism that our generation has been educated since childhood. concept, but I think the most important thing is the last intention. The previous intention of "Sky" has been changed here. The previous talk is about "gilded sky", which seems to penetrate the sky at this time, "A new turning point...then It is the hieroglyphs of 5,000 years, and that is the eyes that people will stare in the future." This one starts from the panorama, leads to an intention from a voice, and finally returns to a foreground. Bei Dao once raised the issue of the form of poetry at the Hundred Schools of Poetry Association, saying that poetry can only be straight, of course he is not lying, and the means of expression are also very weak, such as jumping, synaesthesia, and montage are gone.But this poem is more in line with poetry in form. Even if you have correct feelings and correct views, it is not necessarily a poem, and must be expressed in a poetic way.Therefore, its entire transformation of intention, including its direct expression, is very well combined.Like his "Notes of Sun City" are all intentions, and the intention of "Motherland" I just mentioned, "A girl is a trembling rainbow, a flower spirit that gathers birds, and youth is a red wave", he only gives intentions, Does not explain.So the principle of poetry has completely changed from that declaration, from this preaching, to performance.This is not to say whether it is objective or not, because of course it involves some theoretical issues with a deeper poetic flavor, but performance was a minimum thing at that time.I am not directly stating a thing or narrating a thing, even if I am revealing it, I am expressing it from my subjective point of view. The neglected side, or the imagined side.Like "Red Wave Soaked Lonely Talk", as a youthful image, it can make you have very rich associations.This method has been generally killed before Misty poetry, and Misty poetry should be said to have restored the possibility of this aspect. Host: Thank you very much, Mr. Tang, for explaining so many details for us. I hope all netizens will like this poem and understand this poem more deeply through today's program. Goodbye!