Wang Anyi: I think I am not the same as Zhang Ailing

When it comes to modern literature, we can't help but mention Zhang Ailing.

People regard me and Zhang Ailing as the same type of writer, probably because we are all realists, the theme is mostly to write the stories of the Shanghai citizen class, the same as women, especially after writing "Long Hate Song", Harvard Chinese literature professor Wang Dewei gave me a name, "Haipai Writing", thinking that my novel is explained to some extent, can be seen as Zhang Ailing's character after 1949. Since then, I have established an association with my predecessor Zhang Ailing, which should be regarded as a compliment to me.

In fact, I don't think I'm quite like her, and if she knew about her, I might not agree with my relationship with her. We are two generations of people, she was born in the last days, the scene is very desolate, my era may have many shortcomings, but in the new dynasty, the weather is always bright. It is precisely because of this difference that it arouses my interest in her, of course, I can not call Zhang Ailing a researcher, many experts, many articles talk about Zhang Ailing, it is inevitable to over-interpret, but at the same time she is really an unsolved mystery, attracting people's curiosity. Recently, I inadvertently re-read Zhang Ailing's "Nightmare of the Red Chamber" and suddenly felt that I still had something I wanted to say, so I had today's lecture.

—— Wang Anyi

Zhang Ailing promised herself the "essence of the country", and the more famous sentence was about the violin - "What I am most afraid of is the mute forest, the water flows like water, and everything that life is tightly grasped and loved flows." Hu Qin is much better, although it is also desolate, and when it comes, it is always like the northerners' 'the words are back again', far away, still back to the human world. This sentence actually has a subtlety, it seems that the dislike of the violin is because it reveals the truth of life and makes people fall into nothingness, while the huqin is to save the interest of life, a bit like the "Zen" of Chinese, neutralizing the extreme nature. Probably because of this,

Zhang Ailing often cites May Fourth as a joke, also in the same essay "On Music", is also the same famous, she wrote: "The large-scale symphony is naturally different, it is the mighty May Fourth Movement like a rush, everyone's voice has changed its voice, before and after the whistling left and right are their own voices, people as soon as they open their mouths are shocked by the depth and grandeur of their own voices..." She also said: "I am Chinese, like to be noisy and noisy, Chinese gongs and drums are not for reason, split heads and split their brains, I can tolerate some more noise, but the attack of the symphony is slow, and it takes a lot of time to arrange the big horn and the small trumpet piano Fan Dumb Lin one by one, and ambush them in all directions, one after another, so that I am afraid of a planned conspiracy. ”

This is very playful, and a little self-deprecating, it seems that she would rather be an unreasonable Chinese than accept the reasoning of Westerners, with a wave of rejection, and it seems to cover up, to cover up a certain sense of truth, because the words do not match the truth, do not conform to the pessimism that she has always thought that life is going downhill. She also has an essay, the title of which is meaningful: "Foreigners Watch Peking Opera and Others" - I am actually reluctant to go to the author's prose to find evidence, a novelist can best reflect the view of the world is the fictional text - the novel, the prose is close to self-confession, providing circumstantial evidence, and finally returning to the novel.

The title of this essay is "Foreigners Seeing", not "Zhang Looking", can this pair of foreigners' eyes be interpreted as enlightenment discoveries? It was Zhang Ailing who was unwilling to compromise with the may fourth new culture and used "foreigners" as a blindfold. "Foreigner" is also a less respectful title, slightly better than "Fanren". What do you see in the eyes of a foreigner? The most moving lyric in "Begonias" is "Wine is less than a thousand cups of confidants, and words are not speculative for half a sentence", a very common sentence, but in the situation of Begonias, "infinite desolation is added out of thin air"; xue Pinggui's selfishness in "Red-maned Horse" is still written as a good person, "The cuteness of Beijing opera is in this simple and subtle place"; in "Wu Peng", the wronged soul is imprisoned in the toilet, "Westerners absolutely cannot understand how such filthy and ridiculous things cannot be mentioned are mixed with the lofty tragic elements"; and "Empty City Plan" She "just wanted to shed tears", because she felt that Zhuge Liang might have a sense of "not being worth it" in his heart, so "in the noisy sky of the gong and drum, there was a slight sense of misery"... It is said that Westerners do not understand, but it is obvious that they are "foreigners seeing", and if there is no foreigner's eyes, these "conditions" are probably not available. Chinese entering the modern era, it is only when the long civilization has a desolate mood, and Zhang Ailing is in it, and she cannot be separated from its influence.

She also has an essay "Talking about Reading Books", which only talks about two parts, one is a Western novel, the other is a Republic of China novel, there is no mention of the May Fourth new novel, I feel that she crossed the May Fourth and directly obtained nourishment from the West. Apparently, she was disgusted with the inferiority of Western novels to symphony, as mentioned earlier, by Eugene O'Neill's Brown the Great God. In "Talking about Reading", she patiently recounted a number of Western novels, and mentioned a character Yu Dafu, which shows that she still reads new literary works, she mentions a Western concept commonly used by Yu Dafu, she translates it as "sentimental", she did not directly affirm or deny this concept, but as a measure, all the "Three Bottom Mendaar" is probably a popular novel, and "modern Western attitude of serious literature and art, at least in the purpose of avoiding 'Three Bottom Mendal'", I think it should mean sentimentalism.

It can be seen that Zhang Ailing pays great attention to and studies western literary concepts. Sometimes an author expresses himself and is controlled by a certain emotion, so we must be obedient. She talks about the "industry novel" in the United States, which should be a "genre novel", she really read a lot, and she knows their path quite well, thinking that it is "far inferior to China's social novel", but also admits that the trend is sinking. Here again mentioned the new literature and art, "the propaganda and educational nature of the satirical novels of the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic was inherited by the new literature and art", and it was also revealed to us that Zhang Ailing still pays attention to the new literature and art. I don't know if Zhang Ailing has read the Soviet novel "Doctor Zhivago", if I have read it, I guess she will like it, it means that when the old life is rotten, the pain of the new life is born, and finally comes to the era of peace, and the people in the chaotic world are like "sending people under the fence". In the old era, May Fourth was to be transformed by enlightenment, while Zhang Ailing thought that it was an inevitability of history, and not moving was going downhill, and moving was also going downhill. Her novel "The May Fourth Testament" can be said to have made this concept concrete and vivid.

This is a rather ironic novel, the theme is close to Lu Xun's "Wounded Death", which is about the incompleteness of the revolution, so that life has not progressed but has regressed. But the difference is that "Wounded Death" is full of regret and pain, while "May Fourth Testament" reveals humor from beginning to end, like a funny play. The story is about a pair of free love men and women, the woman's surname is Fan, the text is very Western-style called "Mies Fan", is a high school students, the representative of new women. The man is also very newly abbreviated as a word "Luo", Mr. Middle School Teacher, who is married.

Free men and women in the May Fourth period are always a little unequal when they carefully deliberate, women are often single, revolutionary love is often the first time in life, it is the first love; men have mostly completed the responsibilities assigned by the feudal family, married and even have children, Lu Xun does not also have a gift from his mother - Zhu Shi? In this way, the married Luo and Miesfan fell in love and were privately engaged for life.

On this day, Mr. Luo announced to his family that he and his wife were divorced, followed by separation and negotiation, which dragged on for several years. Misfan finally could not afford to wait, began to find another opportunity to marry, the object is a pawnshop, not an advanced man and woman, but the interaction has been infected with the current atmosphere, a bit of a new meaning, dating to eat Western food, engagement is also according to Western rules, send a diamond ring.

This incident stimulated Luo, and the divorce was originally "no turning back", only to continue to work hard, pay huge amounts of money as alimony, and agree to divorce. Is it a negative, or is it a little tired, married a very young and rich Miss Wang, and bought a bigger diamond for Miss Wang. Misfan's side of the matter is not very smooth, the pawnshop owner does not trust the new woman much, and heard that Misfan has had a boyfriend before, and the marriage is canceled. Luo and Misfan are in Hangzhou City together, it is inevitable to look up and not look down, and they can't stop the same way of the past, so coincidentally, they meet in the West Lake, the Dream of the Mandarin is relived, and the old feelings are rekindled. Luo went home and divorced Miss Wang, this time going to court, fighting a lawsuit, and then ruining the family in exchange for a divorce certificate. There are lovers who eventually become family members, and this pair of old friends has walked together in the end, and it is reasonable to say that they should live a happy life from now on. However, it backfired, and it was inevitable, and the days after marriage were like the Zheng family in "Flower Wither", which was very sloppy. The beauty of that year, Mies Fan, tasteless like the Meng Yanli of "Red Roses and White Roses", trivial like Dun Feng in "Mercy", and obedient has the style of Cao Qiqiao in "The Golden Lock".

Zhang Ailing seems to have no interest in marriage, her family is old or new, there is no happiness to speak of, the only exception is probably Fan Liuyuan and Bai Liusu of "Love in the City", "Thousands of people die, thousands of people suffer, followed by earth-shattering reforms..." Finally, it is a legend, in fact, she does not believe in miracles.

The newly built white house by the West Lake when Luo and Misfan got married soon became old, and the people inside were even older, and when they were vulnerable, they heard that Miss Wang was not yet married, so they had many people to match, not called "concubines", but "take her back". Then, the elders of the Luo family asked, "Since you brought the Wang family back, why didn't your first wife take it back?" Let people say you're unfair. As a result, Luo had three wives, and his friends teased very quickly: "At least you don't have to find another partner." Behind closed doors is a table of mahjong. At the end of the story, there is neither the sentimental "three bottom mendal", nor the seriousness of critical realism, about a little bit of "propaganda and educationality" transplanted from the republic of China satirical novel, where is the transplantation? She wouldn't agree that it was new literature because of stereotypes. Zhang Ailing is indeed an alternative in modern literature, and according to her opinion, she does not belong to May Fourth literature, but there is no doubt that she is a novelist under the influence of Western Enlightenment thought, and from this point of view, she is the same origin as May Fourth.

Zhang Ailing's novels are mostly written by small citizens, neither within the scope of intellectuals' thinking that there is enlightenment value, nor in the group of left-wing literary and artistic praises, it is a life that has been abandoned, but in Zhang Ailing, it is in the "thousands of people" who "die and thousands of people suffer", with the concept of equality of all living beings, is not it also the democratic scientific spirit of May Fourth? Zhang Ailing has her own opinion on this mediocre crowd, and in the essay "Her Own Article", she defends the novel "Serial Set"—Fu Lei criticizes it as "the vulgar comic atmosphere." She wrote: "As for the women who live in the concubines, their original status is always lower than that of men, but most of them have a pungent vitality." "It's interesting, it's not revolutionary, but it's alive.

Looking back at her "Love in the City", the white tassel is also a living one. She competed for Fan Liuyuan, betting on her life, and there was no turning back for every step she took. She went to Hong Kong with Fan Liuyuan, first in public opinion, and then in fact, became a "concubine woman", Fan Liu principle is both in advance and retreat, which is a bit like Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina", Anna and Florence live together, the former was expelled from the social circle, the latter is still living normally. So it is very tragic for the white tassel to take this step, and Zhang Ailing gives a background to the fall of Hong Kong, as if to give the image of the martyr. Cao Qiqiao in "The Golden Lock" is even more primitive and barbaric, and Zhang Ailing's barbarian is in the material civilization, and primitive alienation is a strong desire for destruction. Shen Congwen's primitiveness is between natural landscapes and rivers, harmonious and beautiful, but modern metropolises are primitive people's cages, bound to be terrible, and will also be regarded as "evil customs" by elegant gentlemen.

The above are my two tips on "Nightmare of the Red Chamber", which is related to knowing Zhang Ailing.

One point is her view of the world, the best time in the world is in children, it is best not to grow up, but it is very embarrassing not to grow up. It is also due to personal circumstances, living in a chaotic world, there is no sign of getting better, where is there a big garden?

The second point is her view of literature and art, no matter how Zhang Ailing withdraws from her relationship with May Fourth, or the people of the times. In particular, her distinction between popular and serious is evident in Western fictional thought.

This article is excerpted from "The Novel and Me", written by Wang An