Yuan Zhesheng’s personal honors

In 1994, he won the short story championship of the 17th "Times Literary Award" with "Farewell"; in 1998, he won the short story review of the 20th "United Daily News Literary Award" with "Room without Window" Award; in 1999, he won the 22nd "Times Literature Award" short story championship for "The Scholar's Watch"; in 2002, he won the 33rd Wu Zhuoliu Literary Award for his novella "Monkey".

The novels published by Yuan Zhesheng include "Sheep Standing on the Tree", "Lonely Game", "The Scholar's Watch", "Ni Yada" series, "Monkey", "Luohan Pond", etc.

Yuan Zhisheng, only 39 years old, known as the "stern-faced comedian" in Taiwan's literary world, hanged himself in Taipei on April 6. He left ten works in his short life, and was good at expressing his thoughts on society from the perspective of teenagers and children, including the impermanence of the adult world, the falseness of society and the alienation of interpersonal relationships. He chose to end his life by committing suicide, which caused a strong shock in Taiwan's literary world and triggered people's thinking about the literary creation environment.

Yuan Zhesheng, a well-known Taiwanese writer and editor-in-chief of the men's magazine "FHM", hanged himself in the back of his office in Taipei on April 6.

He left ten works in his short life. His first collection of novels, "The Sheep Still on the Tree" (Guanyin Mountain), published nine years ago, recorded his writing trajectory for eight years. Literary critic Wang Dewei, in a review of "Uneasy Light and Shadow in Life", believed that the "Most of the works in the book describe insignificant scenes in life, and the narratives strive to be bland, but like the sheep resting on the tree, it seems to be at ease, but there is something slightly wrong... Although the writing style is light, it always makes people feel sad. Feelings of regret." He also praised: "In recent years, Taiwanese novels have exaggerated love and exaggerated political sentiments to the point where it is not surprising that there are very few authors like Yuan Zhesheng who silently observe the details of the world and the twists and turns of human affairs. . But I also want to emphasize that Yuan's style has its origins. He reminds me of the approaches of Ye Shaojun, Fei Ming, Shen Congwen and others in the May Fourth tradition. In Taiwanese literature, Zheng Qingwen wrote "Penglai Zhiyi". Song Zelai also made similar attempts during the period. Of course, behind this are the European tradition of lyrical realism and the artistic conception of Japanese Kawabata Yasunari's novels."

Five years ago, another collection of novels was published. "The Game of Loneliness" (United Literature) was published. Mei Jialing, a professor at the Chinese Department of National Taiwan University, commented in a book review of "When Loneliness Becomes a Game": "Yuan Zhesheng has opened up another aspect of lonely writing" and "despite the author's painstaking efforts, I frequently use writing to summon my colleagues and explore the possible exit of life, but the world is different from me, and the lament that I can’t find a close friend is still hidden or revealed, becoming the only faint echo after the writing is completed.”

In 2000, the novel collection "The Scholar's Watch" (United Literature) was published. In his review of "The Winged Car of Time Chasing Behind", book critic Li Xixue compared Yuan Zhesheng to the seventeenth-century British metaphysical poet Marvell, who described time as Comparing it to a winged carriage, it is said to be flying as fast as flying, chasing behind everyone, so lovers should enjoy themselves in time, and don't wait until the boy's head turns gray. Li believes that although Yuan is not as romantic as Marvell, he is more interesting than Marvell. He also believes that Yuan Zhesheng is developing his own "poetics of time" and "the time in his writing is a balance between constant and change."

After Yuan Zhesheng joined the "FHM Men's Gang" magazine as the chief editor, his writing style was Pi Changes, from 2001 to March 2003, *** launched four Ni Yada series: "Ni Yada 1-It's really disdainful!" ", "Ni Yada Blushed", "Ni Yada's Fun Summer Vacation", "Ni Yada Black and White" (Aquarius Culture) created the virtual boy Ni Yada. This set of works has been published in the Mainland, and readers in both places have responded enthusiastically.

In September last year, Yuan Zhesheng’s last two novel collections, "Monkey" and "Arhat Pond" (Aquarius Culture), were published. "Monkey" included his 2002 novel of the same name, "Monkey", which won the Wu Zhuoliu Literary Award. , the latter is his recent work. Also included in the collection are "School Begins," which won the National Student Literature Award in 1978, and "Room Without Window," which won the Jury Prize for the United Press Literary Award in 1998.

Yuan Zhesheng is tall, but his shoulders are a little awkward. He wears glasses and has always smoked a pipe in his hand in recent years. Born on February 9, 1965, he has a typical Aquarius character. He is afraid of being cold and loves to joke. On the one hand, he likes to maintain his own shyness and mysterious inner world.

After graduating from the Department of English at the Chinese Culture University, he obtained a master's degree from the Institute of Western Languages ??at Tamkang University. But strangely, people who knew him rarely heard him speak English, and he rarely quoted Western literature in his novels. Instead, a lot of local dialects are used in allusions or English. The text is not ornamental, and the structure is restrained and simple. The story likes to leave blank space. The blank space is considered to be often enlightening and profound in the plain.

He once served as editor of a newspaper supplement, and later served as editor-in-chief of the men's magazine "FHM". Yuan Zhesheng, who was good at short stories, was good friends with the young novelist Huang Guojun, who also committed suicide last year, and they had held a new book launch event together.

Although Yuan Zhesheng's works often deal with the theme of death, he is recognized as cheerful and optimistic, and likes to tell jokes. When his health, marriage, finances and work status do not appear to be major problems to the outside world, Choosing to end his life by suicide left the literary world stunned and confused.

The media has speculated on the reasons for the young novelist's suicide based on the confidential suicide note. It may be that he was in debt, that he was under too much pressure from work, or that he was suffering from hereditary neurosis. For many years, it has not been confirmed by family members.

The death of Yuan Zhesheng has caused widespread self-blame and regret in the literary circle. Many writers who were close friends with Yuan Zhesheng are very upset that they did not see that their friend was in trouble and failed to lend a helping hand in time. Yuan Zhesheng's emotions.

When Yuan Zhe was alive, he once lamented that the literary creation environment in Taiwan was not good. In addition to being unable to provide literary writers with a safe and financially secure life for writing, there were not many publishing opportunities and channels, and the visibility of literary books was also too low. Low. A few book review media favor translated books, lack support for local creators, and are too harsh.

After taking over as the editor-in-chief of the men's magazine "FHM", Yuan Zhesheng's work pressure doubled, and his time for literary creation was squeezed. He was also used to showing others a happy face and did not easily reveal his inner feelings to others. , so his friends in the literary world only see him happy and have no way of understanding his subtlety and depression. This of course also exposes the superficial, general and superficial side of interpersonal relationships in Taiwan's literary circles.

Recently, Taiwan’s cultural media space and channels of expression have gradually been tightened and eliminated. While young writers are working hard to earn a living, it is unknown to the outside world whether they are lamenting the decline of literature, but from the successive writers It seems that the Taiwanese literary community should take a good look at the suicide incident. Is there any oppression, barriers, and outdated stereotypes within the circle that are difficult to break through and are too taboo to be considered humane to outsiders? Those in power who care about Taiwanese culture should also take a closer look at the environment for literary creation. What is wrong with the environment that makes young novelists so desperate? (