"We are separated by something that cannot be crossed"

◎ Gu Yijun

Regarding the title of the novel collection "Russian Matryoshka Doll", the author Sansan made a certain level of "point" in the novel of the same name in the book: "Russian Matryoshka doll is a very interesting metaphor. At first, we were all big matryoshka dolls on the outermost layer, and then we would be disappointed and defeated again and again, but it didn't matter, there were many identical matryoshka dolls inside, just a little smaller. There seems to be a positive tone in this, because "there are many identical nesting dolls", and the sorrow and sorrow of life have room for maneuver. Intriguingly, however, another "voice" that reverberates through the novel points to the opposite interpretation: "From big to small, all matryoshka dolls look the same, which means that we will not grow in essence — we will still make the same mistakes, and the pain will cycle endlessly." "The collection of novels is a confrontation or coexistence between these two seemingly divergent ideas and attitudes.

The Russian Matryoshka Doll was written by three threes that were divided into two, namely "three threes of the creators" and "three threes of the situation interlopers". The former is linked to the "vocalist" who "we will not grow in essence", and after defaulting to some fatalistic ending of life, verify the narrative components of subjective presuppositions by creating a specific virtual space-time. The remarried women of "Only the Remaining Wilderness" cannot finally detach their husband Mr. Shao from "the traces of their past lives" and the "habits that he developed" from the original family members; the death doubt cloud of "Phoenix Yu Fei" is linked to the repeated fate and sinking trend of three generations of women; the young man who once lingered in the description of others "Patching Heaven" finally confessed that "I am a person who does nothing, I only want to be like others"; "Sad Island" A woman who has tried various ways of maintaining a relationship in a certain marriage must face the disillusionment and irretrievability of her feelings; the thugs who robbed the bank in "The White Tower" originally meant to promote the idealized society they identified, but after a small number of "practice" failures, they chose to "fight violence with violence"... Behind the stories of these frequently repeated losers is the deliberate handiwork of "Three Threes of the Creators".

On the one hand, the author is keen to construct plots that seem to see the end at a glance, but she also tries to stand against the "creator three three" in the world extended by the novel, and even overturns the "calculus problem" provided by the "creator three three". For example, "Evil has evil retribution", three three directly "real-name system debut". The structure of this novel can be divided into two parts: the "letter to the communicator" for "M" and the "juvenile evil deeds" woven by the "novelist three three". For "Evil and Evil Retribution", what attracted my attention even more was not the murder case that was abruptly announced at the end of the novel, but the inner fluctuations of the "communicator Sansan" after seeing the "ex" and the "new love of the ex": "I watched everything, but I couldn't come forward, and we blocked something that could not be crossed." ”

In a way, "what we can't cross between us" is the consistent narrative theme of Sansan's novel collection, and under this premise, "Situation Interloper Sansan" may be the girl in "Crazy Fish" who is ready to pour the goldfish given to her sister into the oil pot; the toll collector in "The Soup of GrassHogs" who tells the story of the true and false experiences; the female college student in "The Lily Scholar" who vows to become a lily scientist... These characters are the "embodiments" of the "situational interloper three-three" unfolding in different contexts, and their "intrusion" is to seek a zone that cannot be completely covered by the value logic of the "situation-maker" three-three. The contradictory relationship and aesthetic tension formed between the "situational interloper" and the "context maker" are embodied in the issues that have not been paid attention to in the current youth writing, arising from "what we cannot cross between us", and the multiple examinations and questions of the younger generation of novelists in "returning to a completely realistic world".

I would like to emphasize the "Crazy Fish" article in particular. In an interview with the media, Sansan himself highlighted the behavior of the girl throwing the goldfish into the oil pot at the end of the novel: "This moment is very cruel, and it is the same for 'me', this cruelty echoes an awakening of 'me', and 'I' see my true place in life." The "awakening" involved here has an unusually subtle point. The "oil pot" constitutes a "iron house" paradox as Lu Xun said, and Sansan lets the little girl in his pen place the goldfish (metaphorical girl form) in another kind of time and space of the "iron house", which is precisely to "echo the awakening of 'I' in a way that separates the "girl in the real state" from the "metaphorical girl", pointing out the embarrassing position and embarrassing attributes that the individual is difficult to get rid of in a certain state.

From the publication of the first collection of novels "Leaving the Soul" in 2013 to the "Russian Nesting Doll" that came out this time, Sansan, on the one hand, as an explorator and breakout of the virtual world, frequently crossed various normal world conditions, and at the same time consciously "retreated backwards in small steps". The retreat was accompanied by Sansan's increasingly in-depth observation and reflection on daily life. There is a meaningful sentence in yizang's message to "I" in "Patching Up Heaven": "If a person believes in one thing, the charm lies in the 'belief' itself, and no logic or persuasion can be exchanged." Most of the chapters in "Russian Matryoshka Doll" are works that Sansan completed in the near future of "post-adolescence", and it can be felt that Sansan reconstructs the cognitive way and position attitude of "believing" between the writer and the reader. The "belief" at the narrative level of the novel that Sansan understands often links contingencies that seem to be unrelated to the main line of the novel. In "Island of Sorrows", a couple whose marriage is on the verge of collapse witness a woman in blue in a circus in a foreign country who dies due to an operation error "the last performance". It is difficult to say what is necessarily related between the two, but it is that unfortunate moment that happens by chance that makes us as readers realize that "the thrill of the roller coaster going downhill will always remain in their hearts".

The "insurmountable things" and the special relationship between people produced by the factor of contingency echo and intertwine in the collection of novels "Russian Matryoshka Dolls", and those "insurmountable things" often loom subtle clues under uncertain conditions, and the clarity of the "awakening" and "position" of the self is clearly deepened in this process. And about "believing" is not only the reader's conviction of the narrative time and space created by the novelist, but it can perceive a certain part of the novel world presented, the essence of which is the emotional ripples and desire pictures that are not pleasantly reflected in the corner of the world, and the courage and strength to pierce the depths of real humanity knowing that it is "impossible to cross".

Sansan has explained his writing as follows: "The source of my imagination is probably curiosity, curiosity makes me reluctant to easily draw conclusions about things, but instead, keep an open mind and believe in all kinds of sudden possibilities and changes." At this time, she has completed most of the works of "Russian Matryoshka Doll", so it has important reference significance for readers to deeply understand "Matryoshka Doll". "Curiosity" highlights an unusually prominent temperament aspect of "Situation Interloper Three-Three", but the emergence of "Situation-Maker Three-Three" reflects the functional utility of the curiosity at the source of Sansan's imagination that is finally "accurately" projected to the place where reality is repeatedly obscured. In my opinion, there is a "rift" between the two, and because of this, the novel collection "Russian Matryoshka Doll" shows the fun fashion and another kind of open place in the current young writing that has not yet been fully confronted.