Chapter 2 Prologue: Met a Natural Writer

There are two kinds of writers: inborn and talented. The former has the demeanor of a master as soon as he makes a move, while the latter relies on continuous efforts to achieve success. Zhu Shaolin, the author of the book, has not met her face to date except for a few letters and phone calls, and I don’t know anything about Ms. Zhu’s background, but I know she is a young man who has just left school and doesn’t have much writing experience. .Six months ago, she sent her novel, hoping that I would read it and provide some advice.A volume of more than 200,000 words, in my busy life, it is really difficult to find time to read such a long novel, so I pressed it for half a year.Recently, Nine Songs Publishing House is going to publish this novel. The author is eager to know my opinion, and I haven’t read it after holding it down for so long. I feel really sorry for Ms. Zhu, so I decided to read it first without other priorities.Unexpectedly, I couldn't stop reading it once I read it, and I couldn't help but feel lucky to have met a natural writer.

In Taiwan's literary world, there are many short stories and few novels. Due to the fast-paced industrial and commercial society, readers lack the opportunity to read for a long time, and authors lose the patience to build their potential.In fact, it must be a novel if it really wants to cover an era or include a picture of a larger social level.However, long stories not only require more time than short stories, but also require higher skills. Unless you are a natural writer, it is not suitable as a test site for writing.I can't help but be surprised that the fledgling Zhu Shaolin hit it in one fell swoop.

It is about contemporary Taipei and a group of young people who question the current social structure, lifestyle, and values.Pursuing economic interests as much as possible and trying to get ahead are the unquestionable goals of life in a capitalist society dominated by a free economy.Otherwise, it is inevitable to be on the margins of society.In such a society, is there any possibility of multiple values?Is there room for survival in this society if one does not agree with the orientation of economic interests and climbing the social ladder?How much freedom does the capitalist society advertised with liberalism give people?This is the question the author asks the characters in the book.Around these issues, the author makes an in-depth and detailed discussion on "freedom" which is the basis of capitalist ideology.

"What is freedom?" ………… "Freedom does not exist. These two words are just a joke that humans make with themselves." ………… "Freedom, like the wind, exists only in motion." ………… "Since people live together in groups, under what rational constraints should they share freedom? This is the direction we should work hard on." ………… "Freedom only comes from love, not just the love between people, but also the pursuit of all ideals. When the fire-like enthusiasm is ignited in your heart, driven by your own will, you will pursue it wholeheartedly and regardless of all obstacles. , Don’t be afraid when others criticize you; don’t be afraid when the environment hinders you; because you have been completely loyal to your own will, that is freedom.”

The above is a fragment of the characters in the book discussing freedom.We know that freedom is one of the important themes discussed in existentialism.From the heated debates above, it can be seen that the existentialism that began to influence Taiwan in the 1960s has not disappeared from the minds of new humans, but is still fermenting strongly.Existentialism has two lines of thought: one is from freedom to choice to responsibility; the other is from absurdity to decadence to nothingness.Both are concerned with the questioning of the meaning of life. And the living life, how short and insignificant it is in the eternal world, spends its whole life shining brightly, thinking that it has achieved something and changed something, but in fact it has not even left a trace.People are dust in the wind.Marty thought of her hard life in Taipei for many years, those land battles, those freedom fights, even if they won, what was it?People are just dust in the wind, coming from nothingness, and finally nothingness, what is there to worry about?Even if you don’t worry about anything, the result is still the same. Compared with inanimate life, life itself is just as empty and meaningless.

However, the nihility of existentialism does not lead to pessimism, but a thorough understanding of life.This realization is called "God's nothingness" in Zhu Shaolin's vocabulary. Because the nothingness of man is different from the nothingness of God.Marty does not belong to any religion. She calls the most fundamental consciousness in her experience God.The emptiness of man is nothingness, and the emptiness of God is all offsetting and making up after all conflicts and turmoil. Because it is balanced, complete, and peaceful, it is emptiness. Based on the life experience and encounters of the protagonist Marty, this novel rediscusses and interprets existentialism in depth, making it have a dual dimension of realism and ideality, and also makes it beyond the limits of realistic novels. It is cumbersome, but has richness and depth in thought.Of course, some literary critics believe that eloquent debates will hinder the appreciation of literature.I personally think that ideological novels cannot eliminate ideological debates, and it depends on whether they integrate ideological debates into the scenes of the novel.If properly integrated, it can be not only a powerful thesis, but also a novel with rich literature and emotion. The novels of the imperial Russian era have already set a precedent for such novels.In short, it is an attempt to write about the transformation and progress of the mind and heart in addition to the emotion, and the characters must be written as what E.M. Forster called "round characters".

Marty, whose marriage failed, accidentally walks into the sad coffee shop in her wandering life, and meets a group of quite extraordinary young people, which changes her life.Among them are Haian who is as beautiful as heaven and man, Jier who is eloquent, Xiaoye who is affectionate and handsome, Suyuan who is considerate, and rattan who is dedicated to pursuing wealth...all of them have unique appearances and attractive postures. .The author's description of friendship and love (including same-sex love and opposite-sex love) is quite warm and touching.Sad Coffee Shop is the modern Grand View Garden for these young men and women, it seems to be a pure land in the filthy red dust of Taipei.And as the center of this group of people is Hai'an who has both the beauty and wisdom of Jia Baoyu.

Besides Marty, Hai'an is the key character that the author focuses on writing.Hai'an, who was born in a wealthy chaebol's family, besides his natural appearance and figure, was born with no worries about food and clothing, bold and unrestrained, so he naturally became the object of pursuit of many beauties.It seems that Hai'an, who blindly plays with the world, is actually the most affectionate person, but he is obsessed with the twin brother who died in infancy, which reflects Narcissus-style narcissism.The vagabond who wandered in Madagascar and was called Jesus had the same appearance as Hai'an. The love that Hai'an could not give in the world was all poured into Jesus. Indifferent Superman.Love that is not answered is unfinished love.Women who love Hai’an can’t get a response from Hai’an, and Hai’an who loves Jesus can’t get a response from Jesus. Love can’t be completed, and there is no freedom to speak of.Marty went to Madagascar to search for Jesus painstakingly, and then followed Jesus regardless of hardships. The reason for this was, of course, for his own liberation on the one hand, and more importantly, because of his inability to complete his love for Hai'an.Marty's tragic death is a form of martyrdom, just as Hai'an's self-mutilation is another form of martyrdom.Jier's cleverness and pragmatism make her see the danger of falling into Hai'an's love network early on, and escape in time.The most pitiful thing is Xiaoye, who loves Hai'an so deeply that she does not hesitate to dress up as a man to cater to Hai'an, but it is of no avail.This entire net of love constitutes the spiritual projection of overly suppressed same-sex love.

The scene in Madagascar is the least realistic part of the book. It is a dream, an ideal, and a reflection of Taipei society to contrast the vulgarity of reality.But without this part, the whole book would lose the ethereal spirit it has now.Of course, the character of Jesus can only exist in dreams and symbols. He is Hai'an's other self, a virtual Hai'an.Marty follows Jesus as she follows MS, and will not receive love in return.After experiencing both the virtual and the real, Marty finally came to his senses. From another perspective, it is also a bildungsroman novel, which describes Marty's progress from childishness to maturity; in the process of discovering himself step by step, Marty developed extraordinary self-confidence and resolutely embarked on an unconventional path.At the same time, this is also a novel about Taoism. It describes Marty's journey from ignorance to enlightenment. Once she realized it, Marty felt that her life seemed to be one with the universe.

During meditation her consciousness expands, expands, expands to fill the entire universe.She is as large as the universe, and there is nothing outside of her, not even the concept of nothing else.So she no longer hesitates because she can't find the direction, because all directions are within her, and she is the frontier of everything, so there is no wandering anymore. I also understand the meaning of life. Marty on the top of the mountain realized that the meaning of life is not to pursue the answer, the answer is just another answer to the question, life is to experience and experience, no matter where you live, the bustling metropolis is like Taipei, people live in the population explosion information explosion gold rush dream In the pain and pleasure of the explosion, this is the taste of Taipei, and this is the subject of Taipei people.There are also Antandro people living in the thorn forest. Their lives are slow and sluggish, and they enjoy the freedom of being close to animals, but they are limited to a life of hardship without civilization. This is the taste of nomads in the wilderness, which is their topic.

If you hear the Tao in the morning, you can die in the evening.After fulfilling the self, freed from the pain of love that cannot be perfected, death becomes an inevitable fate. A group of friends who run a sad coffee shop together died and scattered in the end, just like the disintegration of the Grand View Garden described by Cao Xueqin. However, each of them has experienced their own life and gained different degrees of understanding from it. This is a novel about people, and the plot is just random, sometimes it feels too accidental, such as Hai An's car accident, Marty's death and so on.British novelist Anthony Burgess (Antony Burgess) distinguished two types of novels into art novels and popular novels in the preface of his book "A Guide to the Best English Novels". , the latter is mainly writing the plot.Undoubtedly, Zhu Shaolin tried hard to write an art novel about people.Although the author does not have much writing experience, her ability to control the text, control the character creation, set off the scene, analyze and debate the thoughts are all amazing, which is enough to prove that the author is a natural writer. one type.We look forward to the author's performance at a higher level in the years to come.