What is New Left-wing Literature?

New Left-wing Literature and Bottom Writing

(2006-05- 19 06:49:37)

Liu Jiming

In recent years, the emergence of a number of novels, such as There, has been called the "revival" of left-wing literature by some people, which has attracted more and more attention and almost become a hot spot. However, both theory and creation are complicated, such as the ups and downs of China's left-wing literature as a historical concept in the twentieth century and its relationship with foreign left-wing political and cultural thoughts; As a literary phenomenon that once had a wide influence, has it formed a creative trend of thought that can be called "new left-wing literature"? And so on, all show that it contains meaningful space worthy of further exploration.

An important artistic source of left-wing literature is undoubtedly realism, even critical realism. Pursuing social equality, resisting class oppression and emphasizing people's nature and realistic critical stance are its main characteristics. An important spiritual source of left-wing literature is proletarian revolutionary literature, or it can also be called socialist literature and people's literature. This tradition first spread from the former Soviet Union to China, gradually became a climate in the 1930s, and gradually became a very powerful literary trend of thought after the 1940s. In the 1950s and 1960s after the founding of New China, the so-called socialist realism and revolutionary realism became the mainstream, and left-wing literature basically lost its criticism. So left-wing literature, as a trend of thought, disappeared in this period. But now it seems that even socialist realism and revolutionary realism are not without merit. Classic works such as Gorky's Mother and Liu Qing's History of Entrepreneurship contain the idealistic spirit of "creating reality" and are still cherished qualities in literary creation. In fact, as some critics have pointed out, realism should not only be regarded as a creative method, but also have an attitude and position to understand the world. It should not only mercilessly expose and criticize the darkness of reality, but also show an ideal value and humanistic feelings such as social equality and justice.

It is in this sense that I think the revival of left-wing literature provides us with a more effective way to describe the present China society. But can left-wing literature only express formal reality? This is really worth discussing. For example, French futurist Apollinaire and Mayakovski of the former Soviet Union criticized the dark side of capitalism and even socialism in many of their works, and many modernist artists, such as Picasso, the representative figure of cubism, and Marquez, the magical realism, all had distinct left-wing tendencies. In the past two years, many left-wing and "bottom-level" literary works have indeed used the so-called realism and many modernist artistic factors. For example, Chen Yingsong's Shennongjia series of novels, such as Rabies and the recent Taiping Dog, are full of magical realism. Another example is the recent novels of Han Shaogong and Li Rui, two important writers in the literary world in the new period. Although they can be classified as "bottom narrative" in terms of their realistic criticism, they are hardly typical realistic works. On the contrary, they show a strong formal meaning, and are not so nervous in the emotional direction, but maintain their consistent characteristics of calmness and rationality, without the problems of exaggeration and sensationalism that are common in ordinary low-level novels.

The complex artistic factors in left-wing literature or bottom narrative are obviously related to the influence of avant-garde literature and modernism movement which originated in the middle and late 1980s. But this cannot be a reason to deny its existence value, but it just proves that in today's context, the new left-wing literature presents richer characteristics and possibilities than the traditional left-wing literature and realistic literature in the past.

It should be said that this artistic change is also in line with the complexity of the current social form. At present, whether we talk about left-wing literature or bottom-level writing, we may not be able to simply analyze it with an either-or class method. Although class conflicts continue to exist, even in today's China, the composition of class components is far more complicated and subtle than in the past. The interest games between different classes are both antagonistic and overlapping, and people's attitudes towards the same social problems and things are not as distinct as in the past. For example, in the recent debate on reform, it is difficult to determine who is really opposed to reform. Even those who have become "victims" of reform still have some hope for reform. The only difference is what kind of reform is needed, or whether the reform can bring benefits to all members of society. In this context, the social foundation of revolutionary impulse has been shattered by the tide of globalization, and it is difficult to form a holistic force. This is the internal reason why Chen Xiaoming said that "Left-wing literature not only has no pure revolutionary theme, but also the teleology of revolution is still a mystery without an answer".

When we discuss the new left-wing literature and the underlying writing, it is necessary to emphasize its independence; In other words, it has gained some moral advantages and "political correctness". A sense of distance is an important prerequisite for literary writing and ideological expression. Without a sense of distance, any free expression may be destroyed or even completely lost. Literati should be more capable of seeing those hidden and distant things than politicians. A pure writer and intellectual, whether standing on the left or the right, had better not quarrel endlessly for their respective positions and identities, but should stand on a higher level and raise various questions and appeals to all political practices and human life.

However, most intellectuals and writers in China today are short-sighted, and generally show a lack of ideals and passion. This is, of course, the spiritual sequela caused by the special "historical burden" of the China Revolution. Maurice meissner, an American scholar, said: "Great social revolution is always driven by utopian vision of a perfect social order in the future, but once the revolution is over, this brilliant utopian vision will disappear." Regarding utopia, Weber once pointed out that "people must fight for the impossible again and again, otherwise they can't realize the possibility." Karl Mannheim also said: "If Utopia is abandoned, mankind will lose the desire to shape history and thus lose the desire to understand history." These words seem to be directed at China's intellectual and literary circles, because China's intellectuals and writers, under the control of a sense of disillusionment, completely abandoned all idealistic behaviors and remarks as evidence of failure.

In this sense, the emergence of new left-wing literature and bottom-level writing has provided new possibilities for contemporary literature in China.