At the new book launch of the Shanghai Book Fair, teacher Luo Xiang talked about his mission and said how to fight against the sense of nothingness, he said that he liked Wang Xiaobo's words very much: Like the flow of water is everything that a person has, and everything else is a moment of entertainment and misfortune.
This sentence comes from Wang Xiaobo's masterpiece "Golden Age". Not only Teacher Luo Xiang, in the hearts of many people who love books, "Golden Age" has a unique position. Even those who have not read it, I am afraid that on different occasions, they have encountered the famous phrase "I want to love, I want to eat, and I want to turn into a half-light and half-dark cloud in the sky in an instant."
When "Golden Age" first came out, because the writing, content and concept were too advanced, it was unanimously praised by many publishers, but it was rejected one after another. Even if there are editors who take the risk of pushing it out, few understand it.
1994 Edition of The Golden Age
But time verifies everything. With the gradual tolerance and broadening of the social atmosphere, it has not only been fully affirmed by the mainstream literary circles, but also has been opened and loved by a steady stream of new readers. And in 2021, a new version of the Golden Age is born!
2021 New Edition of Golden Age
The new edition includes three chapters of "Golden Age", "Thirty and Standing", and "Like the Year of Water Flow", corresponding to the twenty, thirty and forty years of the protagonist "Wang Er".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" >I</h1>
In the first chapter of the story, "The Golden Age", Wang Er, a 21-year-old young man in Beijing, is joining the team in the mountains of Yunnan. Because of the waist injury, he found the team doctor Chen Qingyang.
Chen Qingyang is a high-achieving student who graduated from Beijing Medical University, and her husband has been exiled here after he was imprisoned. She is young and beautiful, and of course she is regarded as a "broken shoe" by everyone, and there are always men who pretend to see a doctor and come to harass her. When she found out that Wang Er had really come to see the doctor, she had a glimmer of hope and asked him to prove her innocence.
Who knows, Wang Er put forward a "crooked reasoning": you simply can't prove that you are not a broken shoe, it is better to simply break the shoe with me. Chen Qingyang was very angry at first, but then he didn't know whether he really listened to it, or whether he used deviant ways to vent his disappointment in life, and he actually agreed to him.
The two had a relationship in the name of "Great Friendship". Later, because of their persecution, they fled into the mountains together, and even deepened the "great friendship" in the red land, in the cold rain and cold fog, and under the watchful eyes of buffalo.
A few months later, they came down the mountain, and what awaited them was endless criticism and confession. Wang Er wrote the "great friendship" into the confession materials in great detail, but the leader asked him to rewrite it over and over again. In the end, Chen Qingyang handed over a piece of material, and the leader looked red in the face, but let them go. The two eventually parted ways. But Wang Er always wondered what Chen Qingyang had written...
"The Golden Age" is about the state of people when they are young, full of "extravagant hopes" in their hearts, and longing for love and freedom. Although Chen Qingyang said that "people live in the world in order to endure destruction", and Wang Er's idea has changed from "they will always be fierce" to "life is a slow hammering process", they still formed a "great friendship" to fight against the absurd environment.
In the second chapter, "Thirty and Standing", people's extravagant expectations begin to disappear, and their pride turns to go with the flow. At the age of 32, Wang Er returned to Beijing and found that the melting pot of society can transform everyone, including himself.
Society demands that Wang Er "stand in his thirties", and he also strives to play a good citizen, a good teacher, and a good husband, but despite this, the "inferiority" in the depths of his soul still bubbles up from time to time, making him act differently.
Finally, Wang Er tortured himself: Do I have to pursue fame and profit in this world? What is the point of being a "decent person"?
In the third chapter, "Like the Year of Flowing Water", Wang Er was not confused and realized that only the flowing year like water could truly belong to him.
The past is vividly remembered, and the light and strange are strange: Mr. He who has a brain, Mr. Li who has a crazy and demonic marriage line, Mr. Liu who was starved to death by a stewed duck... He realized that the arrogance of his youth could also unfortunately lead to the path of "Silly X". Only the years like water flow are everything, and those who do not cherish it are like losing their souls.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="119" > II</h1>
"Golden Age" is interspersed with narratives, nested layers, and seemingly absurd stories, which combine Wang Xiaobo's unique black humor, poetry and wisdom. The tone of the book is sometimes playful—
Chen Qingyang said, I have always been a villain. The first time she asked me to prove her innocence, I rolled my eyes and started talking nonsense. The second time she asked me to prove that we were both innocent, I solemnly suggested to her that we have sex. So she decided that sooner or later she would slap me.
Sometimes beautiful and romantic like poetry——
When she went to look for me, there were golden flies flying in the woods. The wind blew from all directions, through the placket, and crawled onto the body. The place where I stayed was empty and empty. The hot sunlight was like tiny pieces of mica that fell from the zenith. Under a thin white coat, she was stripped naked. At that time, she also had a lot of extravagant expectations in her heart.
Sometimes and bluntly reflect on the living conditions of people-
In the spring a small grass grows, it has no purpose. When the wind rises a stallion is in heat, it has no purpose. Grass long horse estrus, not performance for anyone to see, this is the existence itself.
I want to do everything with the great sincerity of the grass and horses in heat, instead of performing in shame in front of people. In my opinion, people have lost their existence in order to perform.
Sometimes, it also reveals the author's own sense of mission -
This glory is to record our watery years and pass them on to future generations, no matter how miserable it may be, no matter who it offends.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="120" > III</h1>
Wang Xiaobo said that "The Golden Age" describes our lives, and there is nothing to show off about such a life, but because we live like this, there is nothing more precious than this.
There are many sexual depictions in the book, which were shocking at the time, but he did not shy away from it, "Sex is one of the themes of the Golden Age." I don't think it needs to be exaggerated or disguised, because it's a part of life. ”
In an interview, the other party specifically grasped this point and asked: Do you think that the sexual depiction in the novel has side effects? Don't need to guide the reader?
Wavelet replied that I don't feel there are side effects. First of all, all the sexual depictions in my novels are necessary for the story. Second, some people always see the reader too low and need to be taught how to be good and how to be bad. In fact, I feel that the level of readers is very high. When I write, I never feel that I can be a soul engineer, more like I am talking and communicating with the reader on an equal footing.
"When I write, I always recognize my readers as kind and frank friends"
Wang Xiaobo has an equal and modest attitude towards readers, but he does not hide his pride in "Golden Age", "Before writing "Golden Age", I never felt that I wrote well. It's my darling. ”
The story took him a great deal of effort, from the age of twenty to nearly forty, and revised many times, because when he read the old manuscript, almost every sentence made him ashamed. Only the final draft was different, without the slightest urge to revise, and reached the perfection in his mind.
In the process of writing the manuscript, there was also a hero - Xu Zhuoyun, a master of Taiwanese historiography.
While accompanying his wife Li Yinhe to the University of Pittsburgh, Wang Xiaobo met Xu Zhuoyun, a professor in the department of history, and studied under his disciples. Xu Qiuyun had read the first draft of "Golden Age" and admired Xiaobo's literary talent. Literature is not Xu Zhuoyun's professional field, but with a keen appreciation vision and profound cultural accumulation, he gave many suggestions to guide Xiaobo to streamline and refine words.
Xiao Bo changed all the way from the United States to Beijing, tempered for several years, and finally sent the final draft to the teacher satisfactorily.
Xu Shuyun read the final draft and recommended it to Taiwan's Lianhe Pao. The Golden Age lived up to expectations and immediately won the United Press Novella Award.
The 2021 edition of "Golden Age" is covered
This award made some people know about Wang Xiaobo, but more importantly, the prize money was very generous, higher than his salary for several years combined, giving him the confidence to write full-time from now on. Next, Wang Xiaobo resigned from the faculty of Chinese Min University and became a freelance writer, entering the most prolific period of his life.
It can be said that "Golden Age" is not only Wang Xiaobo's famous work and masterpiece, but also the starting point of the career path of a generation of literary masters.
Now, we have launched a new and upgraded "Golden Age", the inner text is based on Wang Xiaobo's final draft one by one survey, revised for many years of errors, and personally reviewed by Li Yinhe.
Well-known designers work on the binding design, accompanied by exquisite book tickets
In addition, two long articles by Xiaobo himself are also included, dissecting the voice of the heart and telling the love and beauty of this story thoroughly.
Everyone probably has their own golden age, with love and extravagance, hoping that they will always be fierce and will not be slowly hammered. And in Wavelet's text, this era will never fade.
Through this story, we can love, to live, and treat the life in front of us as if it were a hundred lifetimes!