Butterfly can't fly over

Author: Huang Wen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Longing for love but rejecting attachment, a talented and agile woman who rivals Shi Kang. In the bars of Beijing's night, I often feel that in every lingering melody, there are groups of dark spirits dancing. These spirits belong to Beijing's streets and alleys, and they are also connected to places beyond Beijing. Destined, when Beijing is illuminated like a stage by lights, the spirits descend onto the stage—Huang Wen is one of them. She often wanders in these bars, perhaps she has been wandering for a long time. Listening to her scattered and bewildered voice, those desires and demands, those pains and joys, those restless and confused monologues about herself and her former friends, it's like listening to the sound of autumn leaves being swept away by the wind. Those voices rustle through time, through Beijing's dust and fog, as if trying to tell you, if you don’t listen, those voices will stubbornly disturb you, demanding your attention. That is the voice of hope for understanding.
Huang Wen brings her unique experiences to her writing: the experience of being a model on a T-stage; her obsession with the night; her sensitivity to the body; her extreme thirst for security; yet she cannot erase the emptiness and confusion in her eyes. In her novels, there is only subversion, no way out to be found; only pain, no comfort; only memories, no future. This is an extremely realistic record, tinged with a touch of urgency and immaturity; but it is real. These vivid words, condensed from the darkness, from a gorgeous body, always touch the memories in unexpected places within the heart; and with their internal force, they compel one to confront the inner existence they keep avoiding. Her words are filled with a postmodern sensory atmosphere—collage, fragmentation, no central focus, and a disdain for grand narrative structures. Like an over-the-top fashion show with excessive colors and dazzling displays; behind all of this, if you peel away layer after layer of wrapping, you can reach the core: the inner writing that has always been covered. In one love story after another, seemingly without reason, there lies Huang Wen’s extraordinary talent for intuition. She always observes her actions with a detached gaze; whether she has loved or not, she never allows it to obscure her profound judgment about love and the people she encounters.