MCLC: stirring essay by Murong Xuecun (9)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Jacqueline and Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: stirring essay by Murong Xuecun (9)
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Didn't get to read the essay or speech at first, before the discussion.
Now I've written a blog entry:

http://erguotou.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/murong-xuecun-5/

Or

 http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_68d1119901017l7r.html
 

Martin

 
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I like Murong Xuecun's recent essay (or speech) The Water in Autumn And
The Unending Sky very much. He quotes Lu Xun, very aptly. All the
quotations are apt, within the text, of course. This kind of essay very
easily gets misunderstood as a mere pamphlet. It is a pamphlet. It is
meant as a very sharp critique. But just like Lu Xun's non-fiction pieces,
this one is also meant to be read and listened to very carefully.
The Republican era in the decades before 1949 was roundly condemned for
its society and government by many writers. Its downfall was expected, and
there was so much contempt, in retrospective, that it seemed the new era
after 1949 had to be something better, simply because the war and the
state of China before had been such disasters. The Chinese writers and
commentators of the Late Qing and Republican eras very often understood
themselves as patriots, especially in their most acerbic writings. Lu Xun
is the most famous example.

I'm not interested in whether Murong Xuecun could write as well or could
become as famous as some Republican writers. He is one among many present
writers who are publicly critical of the PRC government. Many of the most
critical ones are mostly or permanently abroad. I don't know if Murong
Xuecun can continue to live mostly in China. He is certainly more
consequent than Han Han, for example. I don't know what exactly has driven
Murong Xuecun to non-fiction. Seems it has been a gradual process.

The present state and the more or less contemporary history of the PRC
have been described and inscribed very starkly by many writers ever since
the late 1970s, basically by almost everybody in the world of letters,
whether or not they still go through the motions of hand-copying Mao's
totalitarian directives in 2012, as some of the most famous have done.

The Republican era was roundly condemned, in fiction and non-fiction. On
the other hand, some people see it as an era of freedom, in retrospect.
Both could be justified, it seems. Liu Zhenyun, who could be seen as just
another member of the establishment and as a non-serious TV- and popular
movie-collaborator, is actually very eager to mention the famine of around
1960 in his works. Remember 1942, Liu's non-fiction story from 1992, has
just been filmed. The story is about remembering a local famine that
occurred in 1942. It was a terrible year around the globe. The Holocaust
in Europe was coming into full swing. War was raging in many places. Total
war was going to be proclaimed. 1942 is a year that has received a lot of
historical attention. But the context of Chiang Kaishek's and his
government's decisions about the famine in Henan is not very widely
discussed. Liu Zhenyun manages to combine the Republican era and the PRC
in a piece of stunning critique of both. The PRC part is mostly implied,
but it works. I don't know how or if this works in the film as well.
Anyway the film, wherever it will be shown, will make some people want to
dig out the text.

Liu Zhenyun, Murong Xuecun and Yu Hua have something in common in their
tone. They are very close to the common people, aside from some stylistic
differences. Yu Hua has only recently become well known for his
non-fiction, which is not published in the PRC, but available on the
internet. Maybe Murong Xuecun will turn to fiction again, and maybe he
will continue to live in Mainland China. Doesn't look like it at the
moment, but it seems more feasible than, say, Liao Yiwu returning to China.

Murong Xuecun, Liu Zhenyun and Yu Hua are very conversational in their
non-fiction. These pieces are written for popular appeal. They could be
seen as very patriotic, in a way. Many very popular works in other
languages are patriotic, like Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Non-fiction in
Chinese won't become quite as world-famous, but it has come a long way in
the last few years.

Murong Xuecun's text is a speech held in Hong Kong. There is a lot of
classical Chinese at the end, although it is still very clear. The fragile
heart sounds very 19th century to a Western reader. To me, at least. But
so what? It's not Wordsworth or Blake or one of the Shelleys, but it's
going in that direction. There have always been many kinds of writing at
one particular time.