In the 1980s, the Chinese literary scene ushered in a major explosion, and various literary trends surged up. With the "scar literature" represented by Liu Xinwu and Wang Meng, the "root-seeking novels" represented by Jia Pingwo, Wang Zengqi, and Acheng, and the "avant-garde novels" represented by Yu Hua, Mo Yan, and Ma Yuan, a large number of far-reaching classic works have emerged.
In the literary fever that has lasted for more than a decade, there is a genius writer who is not among them. While domestic writers were in full swing, he studied at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States and indulged in the beauty of the wisdom of the cultural sages of various countries. By the time he returned home, the golden age of literature had passed. He ran all over Beijing with his novels, but no one published his works. It was not until his bizarre death at the age of 45 that his works were not noticed, causing a wide sensation in the literary world and reader circles, and he was Wang Xiaobo.
After reading Wang Xiaobo's works, the Mai family said: "If Wang Xiaobo can live for ten more years, his status in Chinese literature can be comparable to That of Lu Xun." Although this is a family statement, it is enough to show Wang Xiaobo's outstanding talent in literature.
Wang Xiaobo's surviving works are not many, and the novel works are mainly based on the "Times Trilogy", of which "Golden Age" is the most outstanding. This novella of only more than 50,000 words, Wang Xiaobo took 20 years to create and complete, pouring out all his ideas and skills for the novel. However, this novel that Wang Xiaobo was most proud of before his death was initially considered a "rogue novel" and no one dared to publish it.
Indeed, Wang Xiaobo's "Golden Age", people who look at it for the first time will be shocked by the words inside, and the whole text is full of direct and bold lyrics on sex, which makes it difficult for readers who are accustomed to reading Yang Dai and Wang Anyi's words for a while. This bold and direct way of writing is both Wang Xiaobo's style and his intention. If you read it more than five times, you will find that without sensory stimulation, between the lines is Wang Xiaobo's pursuit and exploration of the essence of life, and you will see his desire to break through the dilemma of survival.
The novel is set against the backdrop of the protagonist Wang Er going to Yunnan to join the team, and describes the "great friendship" between Wang Er and Chen Qingyang. Although Wang Er is an "intellectual youth", he has only read books for seven years, and his age is only 21 years old, and his life is in a stage of vigorous development. In this golden age of life, he wanted to eat, wanted to love, and had many dreams. But in the small mountain villages of Yunnan, all these extravagant expectations have come to an abrupt end. The greatest pain of growing up is not the transformation of the wind and rain, but the confusion when you run into walls everywhere and can't find a way out. Cognition cannot be improved, emotions cannot be sustenance, and even in good years, life is eclipsed.
"Life is a slow process of being hammered, people grow old day by day, their extravagance fades day by day, and finally they become like a cow that has been hammered."
Chen Qingyang is a young doctor who graduated from the Medical University and should have had a bright future. However, under the influence of the torrent of the times, it was also sent to Yunnan for transformation. Her skin is white and beautiful, bright and beautiful, although she only wears a white coat, but it can't stop her unique charm. In order to get close to her, men came up with all kinds of strange reasons to see her. The women were jealous of her snow-white skin and pretty face, and rumored that she had broken her shoes. If you don't get along with a group of people who don't dare to look directly into your heart, if you don't go along with them, you will inevitably be excluded and slandered.
Each of us comes into this world and is fighting against the world all the time. Some people are maverick, keen on self-preservation, unwilling to compromise with the world, and finally find themselves out of place with the world and fall into the cage of self-isolation. There are also people who constantly change themselves to adapt to this society, do things based on the eyes and judgments of others, and eventually become sleek and sophisticated, losing their true selves.
Schopenhauer once said: "Man's relationship with the world is directly proportional to his intellectual poverty and universal vulgarity." A person in this world either chooses to be lonely or vulgar, and there is no other way. "Happiness cannot be obtained from anywhere else, the world is full of misfortune and pain, and if there is a man who escapes from these, loneliness awaits him in every corner. Therefore, the luckiest fate is that people with rich personality and good intellectual endowments are. Wang Xiaobo is a typical one.
Wang Xiaobo's father was a professor of logic in China, and his family had a lot of books, and from an early age he and his brother read the works of the world's famous thinkers. He reads 7 times faster than normal people, and in addition to literature, he has an ardent interest in philosophy, logic, mathematics, computers, and other fields. He was a romantic knight in his wife's mouth, a bard, a free thinker.
Although the depiction of sex in the book is staggering, Wang Xiaobo calls himself a "serious writer", and his sexual purity symbolizes a vigorous vitality. He tirelessly tells us in his words that life is tasteless and that only those who follow the heart and appreciate wisdom can discover its beauty.
Wang Xiaobo's novel, rare is the truth, he put aside all false faces, tell us the way to obtain inner peace.
Only by taking out our hearts can we establish a sincere and deep relationship with the world. Life itself is absurd, full of black humor, you may wish to think of your past life as a novel, and see your past self as a character in a novel, so that the mood will be much better. If you can look at your past in this way, you can see a lot of places to sing and cry.
Nowadays, people don't like to read novels, which shows that our lives are full of fun. But this low-level, easy-to-access pleasure can only be a fleeting pleasure, and it can sometimes numb us and lose the impetus to move forward. Here we recommend Wang Xiaobo's classic works, appreciate the charm of thinking, and discover a better self. Click on the link below to purchase.
All three volumes of the Golden Age Silver Age The Complete Works of Wang Xiaobo in the Black Iron Age [Shiyu Bookstore] ¥35 Purchase