MCLC: Censorship and salesmanship at US book fair (13)

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Censorship and salesmanship at US book fair (13)
Lucas/Eric:
I think you can chalk this sturm und drang up to silly season (i.e. summertime). I for one perfectly understood what Eric was trying to say, and of course don't believe that all literature should serve the principles of free speech. I just wanted to correct what I think is one misperception: Having known Bei Dao for close to four decades, I can tell you that his founding of 今天雜誌 during the Democracy Wall Movement, his participation in the 星星畫派/Stars' art protest, and his early work: 幸福大街十三號, 歸來的陌生人, 在廢墟上, 歸來的陌生人, 旋律, 稿紙上的月亮, 交叉點, was extremely politically influential (if not "overtly political," whatever that means in the PRC context). Not to mention that he initiated the February 1989 artists/writers petition calling for political amnesty for Wei Jingsheng that was one of the opening salvoes of the spring 1989 protests. He's tried to avoid politics in the decades since, for obvious reasons, but he's a great illustration of the words that go back to Pericles: “Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." But I know Lucas knows this, I just think it's so easy to get this important history wrong if you weren't there/from the vantage point of this strange new millennium.
Scott Savitt <scottsavitt at gmail.com>
by denton.2 at osu.edu on June 24, 2015
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