The Surging News reporter Luo Xin
In August this year, the poet Hu Sang's book review collection "Starting with a Distraction" was published by the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House. This collection includes a book review written by Hussan between 2010 and 2018, involving famous Chinese and foreign writers such as Cimborska, Milan Kundera, Llosa, Trevor, Günte Glass, Russidi, Rilke, Pamuk, Alandati Roy and other famous Chinese and foreign writers. On the evening of November 5, Hu Sang and the young critic Li Weichang visited Sinan Bookstore and held a reading sharing meeting with readers on "Starting with a Distraction".
On the evening of November 5, Hu Sang (left) and young critic Li Weichang (right) visit Sinan Bookstore to hold a reading sharing session with readers on "Starting with a Distraction". Courtesy of the organizer
Reading begins with a shift and writing begins with a distraction
At the beginning of the event, Hu Sang said bluntly: "For book reviews or literary criticism, I have my own expectations. ”
He said that it is generally believed that literary criticism is a "second-class" labor in the face of literary creation, and it must first have original works before literary criticism can have its meaning. "In a way, I also admit that a lot of literary criticism is just reading the text. But true literary criticism, like Nabokov's Literary Lectures, is a system of creation in its own right. A true critic is also a writer. I write about literary criticism with a very important original intention — when I am confronted with the text, I am not captured by it, but in a trance I capture a certain point of it in a moment, and thus open myself up. ”
He was particularly obsessed with the term "distraction". The word describes both a state of criticism and a state of writing. It was first proposed by the German thinker Siegfried Krakauer in his film studies in the 1920s and 1930s, and later walter Benjamin used this concept in his famous Art of the Age of Technological Reproduction.
"When we watch a movie intently, we enter a state of so-called immersion or concentration, when we are absorbed by the work of art. But Benjamin says that we can also reach a state of 'distraction', in which we can not be absorbed by the work, but absorb the work. Husan said that full immersion in the work may not be satisfied, because there is no state of self at that time, or the self is suppressed by another soul, but in the moment of "distraction", we can desert, we can remember a period of experience, remember the lovely people we have met, "and my impulse to write was born at that moment." ”
"There are two very apt concepts in Husan's book, one is 'shift' and the other is 'distraction.'" Li Weichang said that the "offset" arises from reading, and it is reading that brings fresh characters, fresh experiences, and fresh feelings. But the difference between a writer and a reader is precisely that after the "shift," there is also "distraction," "reading begins with a shift, and writing begins with a distraction." A good writer can clearly present these two concepts. ”
Husan
Recognize yourself and then become a writer
Pamuk is often featured in Husan's articles.
"Unlike many poets, I also like to read novels, and Pamuk is one of my favorite novelists." Husan said, "I prefer his writer of temporal cohesion, he is deeply embedded in a space-time, but when he finally comes out, he is not a local writer, but a writer with universal significance." It was he who activated Istanbul with language. I haven't been to Istanbul, but because of his novels, I can feel that the city is a universe. ”
Hu Sang was born in a small village in Huzhou, where there were "no books" and a poor life, which made him want to escape at one point. But after leaving his hometown, he instead reconciled with his hometown. "Husan is my pen name. Pseudonyms are additions or spillovers of life. This approach is similar to writing. Writing begins with a distraction, self-forgetfulness, shifting, and constructing. ...... The pen name also has another meaning, I want to transform the life of the moment, not to escape. Because I have retained my surname, this is my connection with my relatives, my life, my hometown, and my land. ”
In his view, reading and writing are self-identification again and again, recognizing yourself clearly, and then becoming a writer, "You can't be all writers, you can only be yourself." ”
Hu Sang also specifically said that the writer in Pamuk's eyes has two levels, one is naïve, and the other is sentimental: the naïve person dedicates himself to the world, and he integrates into it; the sentimental person is drifting and wandering, as if he has always been misplaced with this place, and he cannot be integrated, he always wants to escape, but escape is impossible, because people always have to live in one place, not in Shanghai may be in Beijing, not in Beijing may be in Huzhou, it is impossible to really escape. "Pamuk made me understand that it is both involuntary and distracting, both love and hate, both living in the earth and living in a foreign land, which is the state of my writing pursuit."
Li Weichang said that in addition to "distraction", in addition to "Pamuk", there is also an important word in this book - "looking back". In "News from Ireland", Husan writes about William Trevor, and William Trevor looks back at Ireland and discovers a new Ireland. "Pamuk also has this process, they leave one place and go into another, look back at history, there is space, there is time, there is memory. Istanbul is very fortunate to have someone so obsessively looking back, fascinated by all the secrets of the city up and down. Of course, hussan is also like this. ”
There are also countless possibilities for encounters
At the scene of the event, several readers deeply recited the selected articles in Hu Sang's "Starting with a Distraction". Some readers said that one of the sentences, "In the end I received an invitation to a bright day," was very touching.
In August this year, poet, translator and scholar Hu Sang's book review collection "Starting with a Distraction" was published by the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.
Hu Sang was a university teacher, a doctor of philosophy, a literary critic, and a poet. "I basically write a poem a month because writing poetry also requires me to be 'distracted', but that 'distracted' state doesn't necessarily come at any time. I often write poetry at night, and at some point in the evening I am completely activated, forgetting the concept of philosophy, the troubles of daytime work. The so-called 'slash youth', I have a lot of slashes, there are many intersections where I move away, but we need to be brave enough to admit that everyone needs to express them. ”
Li Weichang said: "Hu Sang wrote this book "Starting with a Distraction" not just for readers. All good writers are selfish and self-serving, and there is a process of thinking in these articles. Hu Sang is different from Hu Sang when he wrote this book, what is important is that he established himself through this work, and these are just the paths that the writer has taken. Let's take a look at the road he has taken, and it is a good road. But his future will be broader. ”
Hu Sang admits that he still has many favorite books and writers that have not been written into "Starting with a Distraction". "I really like the writers I talk to my students in class, such as the ancient Greek writer Sophocle's Antigone, the Renaissance Dante and Shakespeare, nineteenth-century Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Dickens's Great Prospects, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, the twentieth century's The Great Gatsby, The Outsider, and Joyce's Ulysses, which I have never analyzed. There is also a book, which I rarely talk about because I am in the direction of foreign literature, that is, "Dream of the Red Chamber", and it is accompanied by "Jin Ping Mei", these two novels are my bedside books, constantly flipping, and there are countless possibilities of encounters in them. ”
He said that these characters in the book are far away from us, not only the distance of time, but also the distance of space and ability, "but every time I read, I seem to live a certain life." At that moment, no matter how hard it was to write a paper and how heavy life was, I seemed to be able to get some kind of happiness, and that's how I started my day. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Liu Wei