Chapter 2 Bai Xianyong's Novel World——A Discussion on the Theme of "Taipei Man"

Bai Xianyong's is a work of great complexity.This book is composed of 14 short stories, each of which has different writing skills and different lengths, each of which can exist independently, so it can be called a first-class short story.But when these fourteen articles are gathered together and connected into one body, the effect increases suddenly: not only does the scope of the novel become wider, allowing us to see the "phases of all living beings" in society, but more importantly, because one of the themes and meanings is repeated, and they complement each other. , so that we can further understand the meaning of the work, and let us have a glimpse of the author's outlook on life and the world hidden in the work.

Looking at the surface first, we find that in these fourteen short stories, the main characters have two things in common: 1. They were all born in mainland China, and they all came to the small island of Taiwan following the retreat of the Nationalist government.When they left the mainland, they were either young or middle-aged, but fifteen or twenty years later in Taiwan, they were either middle-aged or elderly. Second, they all had an unforgettable "past", and the burden of this "past" directly affects their current real life.What these two have in common is the superficial chain that connects the fourteen chapters together.

However, apart from these two points in common, the characters can be said to include all strata of Taipei urban society: from the old and tall Confucian general Pu Gong ("Liang Fu Yin") to the retired maid Shun En ("Nostalgic for the Old") "Fu"), from the high-society Mrs. Dou ("A Dream in the Garden") to the low-society "Commander-in-Chief" ().There are intellectuals, such as Professor Yu Qinlei in "Winter Night"; there are businessmen, such as the proprietress in "Huaqiao Rongji"; there are domestic workers, such as Wang Xiong in "The Rhododendron as Red as Blood"; For example, Lai Mingsheng in "Sui Chu"; there are famous women in social circles, such as Yin Xueyan; there are low-level dancers, such as Jin Dapan.These "big" people, "medium" people and "small" people come from different provinces or cities in mainland China (Shanghai, Nanjing, Sichuan, Hunan, Guilin, Peking, etc.). There is no one who is not burdened with a heavy and constant past.And this "past", this "memory" is more or less directly related to the "era of troubles" from the founding of the Republic of China to its relocation to Taiwan.

Mr. Xia Zhiqing mentioned in the article "On Bai Xianyong": "It can even be said to be a history of the Republic of China, because the protagonist in "Liang Fu Yin" had a prominent history during the Revolution of 1911." We seem to be able to find all the important historical events in the book: the Revolution of 1911 ("Liang Fu Yin"), the May 4th Movement ("Winter Night"), the Northern Expedition ("New Year's Eve", "Liang Fu Yin"), the Anti-Japanese War ("Liang Fu Yin"), New Year's Eve, "Autumn Thoughts"), the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party ("A Handful of Green").General Li Haoran in the last "National Burial" is a collection of historical relics of the Republic of China:

Admiral Huanhuan.Shi Wei Ying Yang.Dedicated to revolution.Straightforward. In the Northern Expedition, the cloud follows, and the battlefield is covered.The same hatred against Japan.Raise pens to praise. It is not mentioned in this "sacrificial text", but what we know from the dialogue recounted in the article is that General Li finally fought against the communist army and retreated to Guangdong. The infinite sorrow of the loss of children.And his refusal to submit to his old age, his arrogance of refusing to surrender to the fact that his body is not supported, how heartbreaking it is!

As Mr. Yan Yuanshu mentioned in the article "Bai Xianyong's Language", Bai Xianyong is a writer with a strong sense of time and space and a strong sense of society. He really uses realistic techniques to capture the life of mainlanders from all walks of life after coming to Taiwan. The appearance of life in the past ten years, but if it is limited to realism and ridicule of the appearance of all beings, and it is compared to a Victorian novel with the ultimate goal of reforming society, I think it completely ignores the underlying meaning. The meaning hidden beneath the surface, the theme, is very complex.It is a very difficult and risky job to try to explore and further pry into the author's views on life and the universe. Probably because of this, although it has been published for more than three years and has printed nearly ten editions, Bai Xianyong has also been recognized as a contemporary writer. China's extremely talented and successful short story writers, but it seems that none of the literary critics have seriously analyzed this issue. I say this work is difficult because it is full of meaning and imagery. Like the shining stars in the sky, they leave "impressions" everywhere, but it seems that they cannot be captured by words.Now, I am willing to accept this "provocation", try to capture and explore the theme of the purpose, and make it systematic and organized.I intend to try to define Bai Xianyong's views on life within the scope of my personal understanding and rely on its connotation, and to outline the outline of the world in his vision.

I would like to divide the theme of the discussion into three sections, namely "the comparison between the present and the past", "the struggle between the soul and the flesh" and "the mystery of life and death".In fact, this division is rather arbitrary and inappropriate, because these three themes are interrelated and embracing each other, and they are actually one, forming the inner chain connecting these fourteen short stories together.I divide it this way, purely for the convenience of discussion. When we read it, no matter whether we take it out one by one or appreciate the fourteen chapters as a whole, we will all feel the strong contrast between "now" and "past". "Alley" (weeds and flowers by the Zhuque bridge, the sunset at the entrance of the black clothes alley, and the swallows in front of Wang Xietang in the old days, flying into the homes of ordinary people) points out this theme and conveys the author's overwhelming sense of sadness. In fact, we It can almost be said that there are only two protagonists in a book, one is the "past" and the other is the "present".Generally speaking, the "past" in the middle represents youth, purity, sensitivity, order, tradition, spirit, love, soul, success, glory, hope, beauty, ideals and life.And "now" represents aging, decay, numbness, chaos, Westernization, materialism, lust, flesh, failure, triviality, despair, ugliness, reality and death.

The "past" was China's old simple, orderly, and human-centered agricultural society; the "now" is a complex industrial and commercial society that prioritized interests and pursued material comforts. (The author's social outlook) The "past" is the majestic and splendid traditional Chinese spiritual culture; the "now" is the Western machine civilization that has lost its spirituality and cares about material gains and losses. (The author's cultural view) The "past" is pure and flexible youth. "Now" is the flesh body that is corrupted by the pollution of time and tends to decay. (The author's personal view)

The theme of the comparison between the present and the past throughout each chapter, more or less, explicit or implicit, can be interpreted from the above four perspectives of country, society, culture, and individual.The soul-stirring sense of loss underlying these fourteen articles stems from the author's feelings about the rise and fall of the country and social upheavals, his nostalgia for the traditional Chinese culture facing crisis, and the most basic is the author's "love" for human life. "Limited", the eternal regret that human beings will never be able to stay young and stop the torrent of time.

No wonder the main characters are all middle-aged or elderly.And their glorious or unforgettable past is not only related to the history of the Republic of China, not only related to traditional social culture, but most fundamentally, it is absolutely inseparable from their personal youth.People who used to be all-powerful, such as Park Gong or General Li Haoran, created vigorous historical sites. Of course, when they were young or in their prime, other small figures such as Mr. Lu ("Huaqiao Rongji") or Wang Xiong ("That Piece of Blood is Red") "The Rhododendrons of the Azalea"), the precious and inescapable past is also related to their "youth": Mr. Lu's love with a girl from the Luo family when he was young, and Wang Xiong's love for the "little girl" whom he had betrothed in the countryside of Hunan when he was young. The unconscious nostalgia for "Sister Aberdeen". (Their tragedies, of course, on the surface, but also in reality, stemmed from the war in the Republic of China).The "past" of these little people is different from Park Gong and General Li. In the eyes of others, it has no historical value, but to them, it is also the whole meaning of life.

Many characters in the book not only "can't" get rid of the past, what's more pitiful, they "refuse" to give up the past, they desperately cling to the illusion that "the present is still the past", trying to "catch back the past" self-deception In this way, we can find the layouts and scenes that seem to be the same on the surface but different in essence everywhere in the chapters. This difference between "appearance" and "essence" is a book. The most important irony (irony) is also the place where Bai Xianyong expresses the most sympathy, which makes readers feel compassionately. First of all, Bai Xianyong called these mainland Chinese "Taipei people", which is very meaningful.These mainlanders have retreated to Taiwan for many years and lived in Taipei. They look like Taipei people, but they are not.Huaqiao Rongji in Taipei, although it is also a snack shop, is not Huaqiao Rongji at the Huaqiaotou outside the Shuidong Gate in Guilin.The last dancer in Taipan Jin’s arms is the same handsome and shy male student, but he is not the Yueru whom she had been madly in love with back then. It’s also called Ren’ai East Village, but it has nothing to do with the one I live in Nanjing.”Yin Xueyan has never been "unwilling" to reduce the pomp of her mansion to that of Shanghai Xiafei Road, but her mansion is obviously in Taipei, not Shanghai. Lai Mingsheng of "New Year's Eve" was recalling the glorious battles of the national army in the past, and heard "a loud explosion outside the window, and two strong white lights flashed on the window".But it's not that "Taierzhuang" is under fire!It's the Kongming lanterns that people play on New Year's Eve.The juanjuan is the five treasures, but not the five treasures. Mrs. Hua in "Autumn Thoughts", there are dozens of white fluffy "handfuls of snow" planted in her garden, but not the more than 100 "handfuls of snow" that bloomed in her Nanjing residential garden in the autumn of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. Professor Yu's son Junyan in "Winter Night" looks exactly like his father when he was young, but he is not Yu Qinlei who was full of romantic spirit back then, but a male student who wants to go to an American university to study physics.Mrs. Dou's garden banquet made Mrs. Qian skip the boundary of time for a moment, and returned to the scene where she bought Gui Zhixiang's 30th birthday wine in Nanjing Meiyuan Xincun Mansion.But Staff Officer Cheng is not Zheng Yanqing after all, and she herself has passed away and her status has declined, and she is no longer the wife of General Qian who enjoyed all the glory and wealth in the past. Although Bai Xianyong's "refusal" to give up the past to these mainlanders has a bit of irony, I think sympathy far exceeds criticism, and pity far exceeds ridicule.so.I think that in his article "Bai Xianyong's Language", Uncle Yan Yuan said that Bai Xianyong "is a satirical writer", which is easy to cause misunderstanding; while he said that Bai Xianyong "ruthlessly analyzes...a society that has withered and corroded without knowing it ", the word "cold" is really a misnomer.Of course, Bai Xianyong is not like what Mr. Yan said, he only deals with the upper class (the lower class described by Bai Xianyong is really "indecent" astonishingly).But when dealing with the upper class, he has a kind of pity, a kind of sympathy, and sometimes even a kind of admiration for the inability of the characters to face the reality.For example, "Liang Fu Yin".I think that although Bai Xianyong portrays Park Gong's life out of touch with reality, he respects Park Gong in awe.Mr. Ye Weilian wrote in his article "How Can Torrents Make Reflections Shaped" on Bai Xianyong's novels: The all-powerful Pu Gong, the revolutionary veteran in "Father of Liang", is now in his twilight years, and he "hangs his head and fell asleep" within an hour of playing chess with Commissioner Lei.Not only has the revolutionary vitality completely disappeared, but also the etiquette and customs of the funeral of Wang Mengyang (another revolutionary veteran), and superstition: the style in line with Park Gong’s generation has been submerged unconsciously... I read "Liang Fu Yin" carefully, but I feel a little different from Ye Weilian.If I get it right, I think what Bai Xianyong mainly wants to express is Park Gong's arrogance and dignity of being stubborn and adhering to tradition.From the very beginning, Bai Xianyong described Park Gong's appearance, wearing a sable cap and a black satin robe, "a huge figure, walking around, with a silver beard on his chest, floating in the wind...the expression on his face is very dignified", that is, Let us see the noble temperament and awe-inspiring majesty of Park Gong.Park Gong's factual "divorce from reality" just gives this novel a moderate amount of irony, but it does not hurt the author's sympathy and respect for the protagonist.Park Gong played chess with Commissioner Lei, and before "suddenly falling asleep", he "surrounded and strangled Commissioner Lei's corner to death".After he was awakened, he knew that his body was weak, but he refused to give up easily. He said: That's okay, then you memorize today's score.Come another day, let's clean up this mess. In the last paragraph of this article, Bai Xianyong described the scenery in the courtyard of Mr. Pu’s residence: "...the orchids have already bloomed, and on some withered stems, there are only three or five buds left, emitting a faint fragrance. But those leaves are very green." The blooming orchids and buds obviously allude to Pu Gong's old body.And the "leaves that are very green" should be the indomitable and consistent spirit that Park Gong used to create the Republic of China! Among the characters, we can roughly divide them into three categories: 1. People who live entirely or almost entirely in the past. Most of the main characters belong to this type, such as Yin Xueyan, Lai Mingsheng, Mrs. Shun En, Park Gong, Mr. Lu, Mrs. Hua, "The Leader", Mrs. Qian, Qin Yifang and others.Those that are not obvious but are characterized by modified behavior, such as Zhu Qing in "A Handful of Green" and Wang Xiong in "A Rhododendron as Red as Blood".Both of them "stagnated" before the tragic changes in their lives (Zhu Qingzhi lost her husband, Wang Xiongzhi was intercepted to beat Japanese ghosts), so Zhu Qing became "love to eat 'boy chicken', and only like the boys in the air force"; and Wang Xiong's obsessive love for Li'er is actually his unconscious pursuit of the lazy, white and fat Hunan "little girl" in the past. Bai Xianyong calmly portrays those who are unable or unwilling to face reality and are out of touch with the world, expressing or implying that they are bound to perish.But he gives the most sympathy and compassion to this type of people. 2. Those who keep the memory of the "past" but can accept the "present". Among the roles, those who can accept the reality without completely abandoning the past include Mr. and Mrs. Liu Yingchang in "New Year's Eve", Jin Taiban, "Master's Wife" in "A Handful of Green", the proprietress in "Flower Bridge Rongji", and "Winter Night". Yu Qinlei and Wu Guozhu and others.They each have an unforgettable past, but they are forced by reality to give up most of the past and most of their ideals.The rest are just casual memories.In this way, the burden has been lightened, and they have the strength to shoulder the burden of "reality". Although they sometimes stumble, at least they can move forward slowly in the real world.These characters have different degrees of consciousness about the fact that they are forced to abandon the "past". For example, "teacher's wife" has no conscious regret, but Yu Qinlei and Wu Zhuguo have a certain attitude towards the fact that they have to adopt in order to survive. An indescribable sense of helplessness.This infinite sentimentality is reflected in the epilogue of "Winter Night": The winter night in Taipei is getting deeper and deeper, but the cold rain outside the window is still falling continuously. Bai Xianyong also has deep sympathy for this type of people.Moreover, his brushstrokes convey the infinite emotion from his own heart: To live in our present world, our greatest luxury is probably just an occasional review of the "past"! 3. People who have no "past" or completely cut off the "past". This type of characters can be divided into two categories, one is the younger generation, that is, young men and women from other provinces who were born in Taiwan or came to Taiwan when they were young, but have no real contact or acquaintance with mainland China.They are Chinese without "roots" and "past".For example, Jun Yan in "Winter Night" and Li Zhu and Yu Xin in "New Year's Eve" belong to this category. Because they have not seen the rise and fall of the country with their own eyes, they have not personally experienced the personal joys and sorrows associated with each other. They are either indifferent, incomprehensible, or lacking in sympathy for the feelings and behaviors of previous generations, and there is always an insurmountable distance between them. The other category is people who "cut off the past".For example, Shao Ziqi in "Winter Night", Wan Lu Ruzhu in "Autumn Thoughts", and Wang Jiaji in "The Song of Liang Fu" belong to this category.They cut off the past, not because it was too painful to "review" like Zhu Qing's "A Handful of Green", but because their "rationality" prompted them to fully accept the past. Reality, and in order to speed up the pace and catch up with the times, it has completely discarded the "traditional burden" without hesitation. Only for this kind of person who completely abandons the "past" for the sake of the "present", Bai Xianyong has a little bit of blame.But the blame was mixed with understanding, as if they had to admit that they were right: "Of course, of course, in analysis, you are still right." It can also be said that Bai Xianyong's "brain" agreed with their style of work.But his "heart" is obviously with all the beings who cling to the "past". Let's compare the two middle-aged people who came back from abroad: Wang Jiaji in "The Song of the Father of Liang" and the young master of the Li family in "Reminiscing the Old Fu". The former is obviously very rational, completely Westernized, and abandoned People of Chinese tradition.His father Wang Yuyang (revolutionary veteran) passed away. He came back from the United States to attend the funeral, but he was very impatient with Chinese customs and customs and did not understand. It was refuted."Wang Jiaji abandoned tradition and lost the spirit of the Chinese people, but in the real world, he was able to succeed, keep up with the trend of the times, and not be eliminated. The young master of the Li family is just the opposite: he is also from an old Chinese aristocratic family, and his father was also a vigorous general back then.After he went abroad, apparently because he left his "roots" suddenly and couldn't adapt to the external environment, he finally became an idiot. We don't know whether he encountered any special accidents abroad that caused his mental breakdown.But we know that the fundamental reason why he retreated into the world of insanity was that he could not accept the reality and was only willing to look back instead of looking forward. No matter how objectively a writer writes novels, his attitude towards the characters in his pen (sympathy or dissympathy, like or dislike) is leaked from the "tone" of his work.When we read "Si Jiu Fu", we can feel Bai Xianyong's infinite pity for Young Master Li from its "tone".This reminds me of American writer William Faulkner (William Faulkner).In his magnum opus The Sound and the Fury, he has the same deep compassion for the idiot Benjy of The Compsons.In fact, although there are many differences between the works of Bai Xianyong and Faulkner (such as the "tone" of the works, Bai Xianyong is calm, while Faulkner is passionate), I think the two writers have several similarities: First, they both prefer to love Looking back, there are losers who are "clear" but escaping from reality. In "The Sound and the Fury", Faulkner loves Binju, and also pities Katie (Caddv) who despises the "chastity" of the body. Quentin, whose sister commits suicide with some incestuous feelings.But he has no sympathy for Jason, the only neurotic, rational, and realist among the brothers and sisters in the Campson family.Second, they all use phenomena such as madness, degeneration, and death to insinuate the collapse of a large family in the upper class, and further insinuate the gradual disintegration of a culture.What Faulkner alluded to was the "Southern Culture" that declined after the American Civil War.The spirit of this "Southern culture" is quite similar to the old Chinese social culture: agricultural, respecting tradition and honor, paying attention to human feelings, and being a gentleman.Faulkner is also full of nostalgia and nostalgia for the old culture and old order that has been swept up by the trend of the times.The difference is that the American southern culture has a history of only one or two hundred years.But what Bai Xianyong was carrying was a burden of five thousand years! The battle between the soul and the flesh is actually a battle between the present and the past, because in the world, "spirit" and "past" confirm each other, and "flesh" and "present" identify with each other.Spirit is love, ideal, spirit.Flesh is sexuality, reality, flesh.In the world of Bai Xianyong's novels, the tension and pulling force between the soul and the flesh is extremely strong, and the two parties are fighting each other, and there is no room for compromise at all. Mr. Lu in "The Wing of the Flower Bridge" has been in Taiwan for many years, but he clings to the "past" tightly. He wholeheartedly wants to marry the "smart" Luo family girl who fell in love in Guilin when he was a teenager and lives in the mainland.This ideal is the whole meaning of his life. With it, he doesn't care about and see the hardships and pains of real life, because his "spirit" tramples and controls his "flesh". The ideal was shattered, so that he no longer had an inch to cling to his dream, the "spirit" was defeated immediately, and the "flesh" immediately won, so he married a washerwoman with big breasts, big buttocks, Ah Chun, who was only flesh and soul, and the whole time. The day is addicted to the venting of sexual desire: having lost the "past", desperately wants to grasp the "present".But when he couldn't even grasp the ugly "now" (A Chun stole someone from Mr. Lu's room, he went back to catch him, but was "torn and pulled" by Ah Chun and bit off most of his ear), he immediately put his whole body together. collapsed and died of "cardiac paralysis".His death, his "heart paralysis", can be said to be a tragedy caused by the conflict between his soul and body. Wang Xiong of "The Blood-Red Rhododendron" is basically similar to Mr. Lu's story.Wang Xiong is a male servant who obviously has no education and has no ability to understand or reflect on his own behavior and feelings. However, we can see from Bai Xianyong's understated dialogue that this male protagonist is so obsessed with Lier. Reason for love: He wants to capture the "past" in Li'er.The image of Lier is integrated with the "little girl" whom he married in the Hunan countryside when he was a boy. His fascination with Lier today is actually his fascination with the "past".Thus, unconsciously, the phantom of the "past" dominates him - the victory of the "spirit".During this period, the "flesh" also rebelled, trying to pull Wang Xiong in the opposite direction: the "fat" and "flesh trembling" prostitute Ximei was the symbol of the "flesh" in Wang Xiong's body, but the "spirit" The power is too strong, squeezing the "flesh" at one corner, the "flesh" can't lift its head at all, but it wants to wait for an opportunity to retaliate. This kind of confrontation between the spirit and the flesh, Bai Xianyong pointed out in a few sentences: My aunt said that Wang Xiong and Ximei must have clashed. Wang Xiong and her became rivals as soon as he came. Wang Xiong avoided her every time he saw her, but Ximei liked to tease him. Whenever she made him blush, she was very happy. But time cannot last forever, Lier must grow up.After entering middle school, the image of Li'er no longer fits the image of the ten-year-old "little girl" that was stuck in Wang Xiong's mind.In real life, Lier began to separate from Wang Xiong, because Bai Xianyong deliberately used external phenomena to project Wang Xiong's inner phenomena. In the end, when Lier abandoned Wang Xiong, that is to say, when the "past" abandoned Wang Xiong, His life lost its meaning and his "spirit" withered.The rest is just an empty "now", just the body, just Ximei.But how could his castrated "spirit" be willing to stop there?His final violence against Ximei and his suicide are actually his "spirit"'s final revenge on his "flesh", and his final victory.Didn't he, after his death, didn't his soul return to Li'er's house, watering the garden every night, watering the hundreds of rhododendrons as if they were spouting blood, blooming "so presumptuous, so angry! " In the past, it was love and spirit, but now it is lust and flesh. The implication of this theme often appears in other chapters besides the above two.In Nanjing in the past, Zhu Qing ("A Hand of Green") loved Guo Zhen with all his heart.Now, in Taipei, "Miss Zhu loves to eat 'Chicken Chicken', especially the boys in the Air Force."In the past, in Shanghai Paramount, Taipan Jin once gave complete love to a male student named Yueru.Now, in Night Paris, Taipei, in order to find a comfortable physical habitat, she is about to marry the elderly wealthy businessman Chen Farong. The "religious leader" ("Sparkling Stars in the Sky") used to be in Shanghai, and his homosexuality towards Jiang Qingzhi who had "that aura" was love.Now, his hook-up with the little Yao'er in Sanshui Street is lust.Yaxin, the ex-wife of Yu Qinlei ("Winter Night"), is spirit, love, and ideal.His current wife is an ugly reality he is forced to accept in order to maintain his "physical life" (eating and sleeping). In the world of Bai Xianyong's novels, the impossible compromise between "spirit" and "flesh", or between "past" and "present", in the final analysis, originates from a fact that everyone has known since ancient times: time never stop.Time, not for anyone, stops flowing, youth, not for anyone, stay for a moment.Mr. Lu has been looking forward to and wholeheartedly wanting to marry a girl from the Luo family and bring him back to the "past".But who can take back the past?Even if his cousin living in Hong Kong did not lie to him, even if the girl from the Luo family really came to Taiwan from the mainland to marry him, how could he get back the lost fifteen years?As far as the erosion of "time" is concerned, it is no longer possible for her to look like the one in the photo: "The beautiful body and the pair of eyes are so pitiful."As for Mr. Lu himself, "the back is a bit rickety...a head of hair is graying first,...the corners of the eyes are deeply wrinkled", how can he be the same as the one who was "wearing a student uniform, neat and clean, wearing a Compared with myself in a "student duckbill cap"!Thus, in the world of Bai Xianyong's novels, "love" and "youth" have an inseparable relationship.People can't stay young forever, and love can last only when it is solidified into a memory (so the love in Bai Xianyong's novels must be sustained by life or death).However, poor human beings are often unwilling to keep only one memory.They want to capture this frozen past and move it into reality, thinking that it will be the same as before, but they don't think that the flowing time cannot accommodate the frozen moment. "Past" can never become "now".In this way, the ideal pursued by Bai Xianyong and those Taipei people cannot be realized at all. When discussing the theme of "the comparison between the present and the past", I divided the characters into three types and pointed out the degree of Bai Xianyong's sympathy for these three types of characters.Now we can also make the same analysis from the point of view of the soul and the body.Bai Xianyong gives the most compassion to those who embrace the "spirit" and reject the "flesh", such as Mr. Lu and Wang Xiong (of course, we can also extend it to include all characters living in the "past").But he shows that these people must perish, because most of the "spirit", most of the "spirit", after all, is not what the flesh and blood can bear.Bai Xianyong has no sympathy for people who have only flesh but no spirituality, such as Ximei, Ah Chun, and Professor Yu's current wife, and even despise them.But he also sympathizes with those who are forced by reality to accept the "flesh", but retain the memory of the "spirit" and occasionally look back.Such as Jin Taipan, Yu Qinlei.Bai Xianyong seems to be full of sorrow and helplessly admits: People, if they want to live or die, the best they can do is to look back occasionally. In the world, the memory of past loves or "spirits" represents a kind of redemption from the "fall", from the "physical reality".In this way, when the realistic and vulgar Jin Taipan thinks of his love with Yueru, he can suddenly become sympathetic, and unload the diamond ring to Zhu Feng and the "little evil" in her stomach. The reason why the "leader" of "Jichunjiao" is different from a group of "night wandering gods" who are older than him, but has "a little convincing style" is because he has had a brilliant artistic life (spirit) for three years in the past , and once fell in love with his "Prince Charming" wholeheartedly.Yu Qinlei accepted the reality, but he was still able to maintain his humanity and humanity because of his memory of his ex-wife Yaxin's love, and his occasional review of his glorious romantic spirit (spirit) that participated in the May 4th Movement. And time, relentless time, never stops, always goes on.Whether you are an all-powerful general or an uneducated male worker, whether you are a magnificent lady or a low-class prostitute, it is the same in the end. Time will corrode your youth and finally turn it into a pile of ashes. All great achievements, all glory and wealth, can only stay temporarily, and eventually disappear.All the laughter, all the tears, all the joy, all the pain, in the end it's all emptiness because life is limited. Life is nothingness.a dream.a memory. After careful reading, I feel that this kind of Buddhist thought of "everything is empty" is hidden at the bottom. I don't think it is accidental that Bai Xianyong listed "Forever Yin Xueyan" as the first article.Although this novel can also be interpreted as a mockery of all beings in society, I think the meaning of "symbol" far exceeds "realism".Yin Xueyan, interpreted in symbolic meaning, is not a person, but a demon.She is a ghost, a god of death.She transcends the boundaries of time: "Yin Xueyan will never grow old"; she also transcends the boundaries of space: "She will never affect her balance due to changes in the outside world."She is "evergreen", she has "her own melody... her own beat".Bai Xianyong repeatedly uses the image of "wind" to imply that she is a ghost: "floating with the wind", "like a March breeze", "as if being intoxicated by this wind", "walking like the wind", " A gust of wind came in."And she is "like a silver priestess all over her body", "dressed in white, with her hands folded in front of her chest, like a Guanyin", "walking out of the Bliss Funeral Parlor with her wind-like steps", etc., simile and metaphor , countless.Coupled with the objective fact that anyone who combines with her will inevitably perish, the author's intention to compare her to a ghost is obvious. The reason why I emphasize that Bai Xianyong deliberately compares Yin Xueyan to a ghost is to prove that the bottom layer of the proof is indeed the hidden thought of "everything is empty".Because Yin Xueyan is both a demon and a ghost, her words and actions surpass the words and actions of a real person, and become a kind of "prophecy" of a prophet, that is, a high-ranking author's comment on life .Its function is a bit like the "chorus" (Chorus) in Greek classical drama, and it is also similar to the witch in Shakespeare's "Macbeth". So, when Yin Xueyan said: Sister Song's family, "People are not happy for a thousand days, and flowers are not popular for a hundred days." Who can enjoy the glory and wealth for a lifetime? This is what the aloof Bai Xianyong said about the world, and when "Yin Xueyan stood aside, three nines with a golden mouth in her mouth, slowly puffing out smoke rings, looking at her group of proud and frustrated people with compassionate eyes." , the old, the middle-aged, and those who used to be all-powerful. The guests who were once magnificent are fighting each other fanatically (meaning playing mahjong on the surface) and slaughtering each other." We seem to vaguely hear Bai Xianyong's sigh from behind the dark tomb: "Oh, poor, truly poor human beings! So obsessed with obsession! But they don't know that they will die!" Human beings are bound to die.The god of death, just like Yin Xueyan, patiently, smilingly, condescendingly, overlooking all living beings, watching them fight and slaughter each other.Then, impartial and unselfish, she took them one by one into her cold embrace. Female, "Forever Yin Xueyan", in addition to constituting a picture of "all beings in society" on the surface, also has a deep meaning, which is the author's invisible "opening remarks".This reminds me of the "prophecy" in the first chapter, which also has a similar meaning.That is what the "lame Taoist" said: Everyone in the world knows that gods are good, but fame cannot be forgotten!Where are the ancient and modern generals: the pile of grass in the barren mound is gone. Everyone in the world knows that gods are good, only gold and silver can't forget!In the end, I only hate that there are not many gatherings, and when there is a long time, my eyes are closed. Everyone in the world knows that gods are good, only the beautiful wife can't forget them!On your birthday, you express your kindness, and on your death, you go with others. Everyone in the world knows that gods are good, only children and grandchildren will never forget them!There have been many infatuated parents since ancient times, who has seen filial children and grandchildren? But Cao Xueqin's "prediction" is "clear statement".Bai Xianyong's "prophecy" is a "metaphor" using modern literary techniques. Equally meaningful as Yin Xueyan is the last article "National Burial", in which the old monk Liu Xingqi suddenly appeared in the mourning hall.This monk is not a "person".He faced the coffin of General Li Haoran, bowed three times with palms together, walked out, replied to Qin Yifang with half a sentence, shed a few tears, and then "without looking back, wearing a black cassock, floating in the cold wind Fluttering, and in an instant, there was only a black shadow left."If Yin Xueyan is a ghost, Liu Xingqi is a Bodhisattva. He is compassionate and sympathetic to the world - because he has personally experienced extreme pain, he has surpassed liberation, and can have infinite compassion for the suffering of all living beings.And the mind of the old monk, who can't even express his life because he mourns the misery of the world, is also the mind of the author himself. That's right—Zi Xianyong is Yin Xueyan and Liu Xingqi.Not only watching with cold eyes, but also compassionate.It is a ghost, it is a Zen master, it is a demon, it is an immortal. On the other hand, I think Bai Xianyong also has a Taoist philosophy that "life is death and death is life".凭着常人的理性与逻辑，“过去”应该代表死亡，“现在”应该代表生命。但在白先勇视界中，“昔”象征生命，“今”象征死亡。这一特殊看法之根结，在于白先勇将“精神”，或“灵”，与生命认同，而将“肉体”与死亡印证。如此，当王雄自杀，毁了自己肉身，他就真正又活起来，摆脱了肉体的桎梏，回到丽儿花园里浇杜鹃花。郭轸与朱青的逝去了的爱情，是生命；但埋葬了“过去”的朱青，却只是行尸走肉。朱焰“只活了三年”，因为随着他“艺术生命”之死亡，他也同时死亡。 最后，我想借此讨论生死主题之机会，同时探讨一下白先勇对人类命数的看法。我觉得他是个相当消极的宿命论者。也就是说，他显然不相信一个人的命运，操在自己手中。读，我们常碰到“冤”、“孽”等字眼，以及“八字冲犯”等论调：会预卜凶吉的吴家阿婆，称尹雪艳为“妖孽”。金大班称朱风肚里的胎儿“小孽种”。丽儿的母亲戏称她“小魔星”，又说王雄和喜妹的“八字一定犯了冲”。顺恩嫂得知李长官家庭没落情形，两次喊“造孽”，而罗伯娘解之为“他们家的祖坟，风水不好”，朴公关心王孟养“杀孽重”。娟娟唱歌像“诉冤一样”，“总司令”拿她的“生辰八字去批过几次，都说是犯了大凶”。朱焰第一眼就知道林萍是个“不祥之物”。蓝田玉“长错了一根骨头”，是“前世的冤孽”。 我必须赶快指出，我上面举的例子，若非出自作品中人物之对话，即是出自他们的意识，绝对不就代表白先勇本人的意思。事实上，这种谈话内容，或思想方式，完全符合白先勇客观描绘的中国旧式社会之实际情况。然而读中的某些篇，如《那片血一般红的杜鹃花》，或，更明显的，如，我们确切感觉出作者对“孽”之浓厚兴趣，或蛊惑。白先勇似乎相信，人之“孽”主要是祖先遗传而来，出生就已注定，根本无法摆脱。他好像也相信“再生”之说：前世之冤魂，会再回来，讨债报复。 中的娟娟，身上载有遗传得来的疯癫，乱伦引致的罪孽；她“命”已注定，绝对逃不了悲惨结局。白先勇确实有意把娟娟写成五宝再世。五宝是此篇叙述者（总司令）在上海万春楼当酒家女时的“同事”，也是她同性恋爱的对象。五宝和“总司令”唱戏，“总爱配一出'再生缘'”。后来她被一个叫华三的流氓客，肉体虐待，自杀身死，死前口口声声说：“我要变鬼去找寻他！”十五年后，在台北五月花，“总司令”结识娟娟，长得酷似五宝，同样三角脸，短下巴，“两个人都长着那么一副飘落的薄命相”。她把她带回家里同居。后来娟娟结识柯老雄（与华三同样下流，皆有毒瘾），“魂魄都好像遭他摄走了一般”，任他万般施虐。然而，在“七月十五，中元节这天”，娟娟突然用一只黑铁熨斗，将柯老雄的头颅击碎，脑浆洒得满地。白先勇用非常灵活的“镜头急转”之技巧，混淆今昔，使娟娟与五宝的意象合而为一，传达出娟娟即五宝的鬼之旨意。娟娟杀死柯老雄后，完全疯掉，但她已报前世之冤孽，也仿佛一并拔法了今世新招之孽根，虽只剩下一空壳，也好像没什么遗憾了似的。 白先勇小说人物之“冤孽”，常与性欲有关，而且也常牵涉暴力。但我觉得白先勇亦存心将他的冤孽观，引申而影射到一个社会、一个国家、一个文化。如果人的全部理性、都无法控制与生俱来的冤孽，那么，同样，一切人为之努力，皆无法左右命中注定的文化之盛衰，国家之兴亡，社会之宁乱。此种哲学理论固然成立，但毕竟太消极些，只能适用于“昔”，不能合乎干“今”。然而这种基于实用社会学观点的价值判断，却绝对不能介入文学批评之范畴内。因为实用社会学所针对的，是终将成为“过去”的“现在”，而文学艺术，惟有文学艺术，是不受时空限制，融汇“今”“昔”的，我就至少知道一位诺贝尔文学奖金得主，威廉·福克纳，对人类命运的看法，与白先勇相差不远。在他作品中，doom（命、劫数）curse（孽，天谴）等字，一次又一次地出现。