Text | Ling Hu Boguang
There is a very interesting news recently, I believe many people should have seen it. That is Liu Cixin on the United Nations, to be precise, Liu Cixin participated in the first event of the United Nations Chinese Day - Science Fiction Literature and Sustainable Future Exchange Conference in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.
At this event, Liu Cixin and other guests discussed the relationship between science fiction literature and future sustainable development.
And also broke out several Chinese science fiction fans concerned about the question, that is, the host urged Liu Cixin to change, when will the new book of Da Liu come out?
Liu Cixin's answer is probably that technology is developing too fast now, and ideas are easily outdated and difficult to innovate. I'm still thinking of ideas, and I can write them correctly.
There are also some questions asked at the event, so I will not repeat them. I don't know if you have found it, Da Liu's status in China is really rising, not only in the field of science fiction literature, but also in the world of Chinese literature. It seems that as long as from science fiction, science and technology and many activities related to society, Liu Cixin is not only in China, but has gone international and become a representative.
Many people may find it strange that we often see this kind of remarks in our domestic style, which probably means that I can't watch "The Three-Body Problem" at all, or I feel that way after watching it. Or what "dark forest" theory is not scientific, to what social Darwinism three views are too dark, and so on.
Anyway, in a thousand words, "The Three-Body Problem" is not a world masterpiece? Even if the influence of world famous books is so great?
Is "The Three-Body Problem" already a world masterpiece? We know it by looking at Jin Yong's martial arts
How many celebrities praised by "The Three-Body Problem" around the world, what former US President Obama urged, and which celebrity recommended these are not mentioned, everyone is familiar with it. In fact, before "The Three-Body Problem" won the Hugo Award, it was already very popular in China.
The Hugo Award just made "The Three-Body Problem" out of the circle, a world-class out of the circle, and many celebrities also read this book during this period.
Take the example of Guo Degang mentioned by the author, "You just knock me down and can't sell tickets" Yes, the question is how many more tickets can Guo Degang sell? Just like Peking Opera.
As for whether "The Three-Body Problem" is a world masterpiece, literature itself has the character of the times, and it is necessary to repeatedly compare the classics of hundreds of years ago with modern people, and also compare the various methods, expressions, and moods of different authors - in fact, this is not too scientific.
For example, I always feel that in addition to comparing "The Three-Body Problem" to foreign masterpieces, many people often compare "The Three-Body Problem" to Jin Yong martial arts, a science fiction, a martial arts, how to compare this.
Of course, if you have to compare, "The Three-Body Problem", like Jin Yong's martial arts novels, belongs to popular literature, that is, popular novels. and the so-called serious literature are also two fields of things, and when it comes to serious literature, coupled with world famous books, some people think that popular literature is inherently a grade lower than serious literature.
In fact, what about popular literature and popular works, is modern society a strong dissemination of film and television works or a strong literary work? Don't take the path of popularization, so that everyone goes to the pile of old papers to gnaw books like a doctor?
For another example, the works of various scientific disciplines are already very rich, and there are many theories and practices, so why do you need popular science writers? In fact, the ancient Chinese example is very illustrative: the four books and five classics are very good, but the general public still reads the three-character classic and the hundred dialects.
The endogenous needs of modern society have spawned science fiction literature, so before the advent of the 21st century, Chinese society has not reached this stage, and no matter how hard science fiction writers try, their social needs are not great. Therefore, science fiction literature is a work that can only break out after the development of society reaches a certain stage.
Just like the martial arts novels in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the early years, Jin Yong's martial arts novels in the early years were forbidden to teenagers in China and were considered bad works, and students at that time did not dare to openly say that they would bring Jin Yong's books to school to read, so what now? At least it can't be said that teenagers are forbidden to read Jin Yong's books.
Jin Yong's martial arts itself has also become a classic, and this pinnacle status of Chinese popular literature has been recognized.
As for whether Jin Yong's martial arts is a world famous book, it is a little worse at present. Jin Yongdu has been dead for a few years, and Jin Yong's martial arts legacy has been around for more than half a century, and he did not run at the peak of Chinese popular literature, but the world's famous books, because of the particularity of the theme of martial arts, it cannot be called.
Obama urged change, the world's elites admired? Is "The Three-Body Problem" a world masterpiece?
Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" and Jin Yong martial arts are the opposite, Liu Cixin is still alive, "Three-Body 3" was first published in 2010, even if it is calculated from the first part to 2023, it has not exceeded 20 years, and the time is still very short. But "The Three-Body Problem" is precisely spreading in the world, which can be described as the pinnacle of modern Chinese literature.
Different genres have different "great" standards, if from the perspective of Chinese science fiction and Chinese popular literature, "The Three-Body Problem" is undoubtedly the first literary masterpiece that can stand monument in the history of Chinese literature so far, even if it is placed in the global scope, it is among the head circles, and the world masterpiece is well deserved.
But from the perspective of serious literature, the text and structure of "The Three-Body Problem", which many people complain about, are relatively poor. To be honest, it is all vernacular writing, lacking the seasoning of words, which can be regarded as a thesis novel.
The works of Mo Yan, Yu Hua and Chen Zhongzhong's generation of serious writers, it is very interesting to read words, a very ordinary thing, they can set kitKat angles and sensational words, write in a heartfelt way and so on.
So is "The Three-Body Problem" a world masterpiece?
I think if you ask like this, it already shows that "The Three-Body Problem" has the qualifications to be a world famous book, otherwise everyone would not mention it. This is just like Jin Yong's martial arts novels, Jin Yong's martial arts novels were also very good, and even there were open classes in universities to talk about Jin Yong's martial arts.
Why does "The Three-Body Problem" have the qualifications to enter the house in the hearts of readers? And people seem to be starting to agree.
First, "The Three-Body Problem" as a science fiction literature has lofty intentions and is the pinnacle of Chinese science fiction literature, even if it is derived in the world, Liu Cixin is at least similar to the European and American science fiction triumvirate represented by Asimov, although Liu Cixin has been influenced by them.
If the long epic poems of Western science fiction giants such as Asimov are world masterpieces, then what does it matter if Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" is a world masterpiece? Right, don't double standard to be human.
Second, the real success of "The Three-Body Problem" has gone abroad and gone to the world, which is worthy of the popularity of "world masterpieces". In fact, among serious literature, writers such as Mo Yan and Chen Zhongzhong, even if they won the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed the path of cultural elites of various countries, and ordinary people around the world have seen very little.
"The Three-Body Problem" is truly to people around the world, and the idea, criticism and expression of the novel are recognized by audiences around the world, so he is qualified to win the famous book. Many people use the writing of the "three-body problem" to talk about things and how to do it. But for so long, have they produced a novel like "The Three-Body Problem" with intention, criticism, and thinking?
Is it of literary value, is it overrated? "The Three-Body Problem" is a world masterpiece
Literature is mostly a once-popular choice, and has a more enduring value than intellectual works. But literature has its own ideas to some extent, which determines how long it can still remind people of you. So, if the individual wants to define a literary masterpiece.
It must be a combination of popularity and ideology. It has never been popular, how to talk about famous. And the thinking is too shallow, it is nothing more than FMCG, fleeting.
Therefore, there are so many world literary works that win the Nobel Prize every year, but most of them cannot become world masterpieces, because they are too high and low, and it is difficult to popularize, but there must be people who are obsessed with the work who think that this is a famous book. But over time, it will be less popular than those that were once popular.
After all, there are newer popularity, newer award-winning works appear, and there is a bunch of slag in serious literature.
Looking at "The Three-Body Problem" from these two aspects, it goes without saying that it is already a degree worldwide; In terms of ideology, "The Three-Body Problem" has too many profound expressions, human history and civilization, human philosophy, cosmic sociology, etc., from macro to micro, from the birth of human beings to the end of the universe.
Therefore, I thought that "The Three-Body Problem" was a masterpiece of world literature, and there was nothing to doubt.
Finally, there is another point worth exploring, that is, this time Liu Cixin is the same at the United Nations, whether we hold "The Three-Body Problem" and Liu Cixin to such a height. In fact, the simplest sentence is that the real United Nations human elites think that Liu Cixin is worthy, and a group of keyboard-tapping people think that they are not worthy, what grade are you?
If you ask me about my opinion, China is less enthusiastic about celebrities like Liu Cixin than it is in the West. This is thanks to Chinese traditional culture, the status of novels and other literary artists has not reached the top, like we have leaders who also like "The Three-Body Problem", and it is rumored that the leader killed the movie version of "The Three-Body Problem".
But after all, Liu Cixin does not often gather in the top elites of the mainland and hold meetings, on the contrary, in the West, such as the US president, often receives pop superstars, this kind of literary master, film director, also has a high status.
Like the Western side for "The Lord of the Rings" Tolkien, and then to Asimov's propaganda are all science fiction Bible, like "Dune" is a hundred novels that mankind must read, and then to what knighthood medals are officially awarded, etc., Western countries' pursuit and propaganda of literary artists is a place worth learning from the mainland.
In this way, Liu Cixin's admission to the United Nations is well deserved, and his influence, I think, has just begun.