Nineties Literature Collection

Author: Lin Da-Zhong et al
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-01-01
Features: Shanghai Thoughts, Follow-up Records, Literati Are Not Free, Zhou Yang's Gaze, Kundera, Havel, and Us—Reflecting on the Late 1990s and Early 2000s, the Camps of Liberalism and New Left in the Literary World.
Excerpt: A Perfect Assumption Looking back at the 1930s, which historians named the "Red 1930s," might surprise many today. It was a decade of literature that criticized the system, with the slogan "Labor is Sacred." The poor but passionate Russian Red Guards, who offered no profit, somehow became people's hope and even influenced the intellectual and upper-class fashion of the time, whether through votes or armed uprisings. Left-wing organizations rapidly multiplied and grew stronger worldwide, with the prospect of state power seemingly within reach. Brecht, Arthur Rimbaud, Louis Aragon, Albert Camus, Frank Wedekind, Qu Qiubai, Pablo Neruda, Roman Rolland, and later Picasso and Sartre. In the resumes of numerous important intellectuals, records of joining the Communist Party or claiming to be socialists were common. In the 1960s, another global wave of leftism swept the world. China's Cultural Revolution, of course, and France's "May Red," which shook the nation, were just two examples. Littlebooks were waved by youth on the other side of the globe. When Nikita Khrushchev took power in the Soviet Union and turned leftward, the Black Movement and Student Movement across the Pacific echoed each other, with cannons firing at the White House. Not only were the widely sympathetic Vietnam and Cuba, but most newly liberated small nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, competing to adopt "socialism" and "nationalization" as the cure for their countries. Not only Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Yasser Arafat, but all rebellious leaders of the poor and suffering, became dazzling symbols of the times for young students worldwide, turning into idols and legends. These events are not distant from us.
Afterword: In the selection of the second volume, Mr. Wu Bin recommended from the Dushu magazine, while Mr. Chen Weiwei and Mr. Wang Jianjun recommended from the Fangfa magazine. I am grateful for their contributions. The rest of the work was completed together by my two young friends, Zhang Xin and Gao Yonghong. The first volume was independently undertaken by my brother, Hua Fan. The origin of this book is closely related to the establishment of the "Nineties Literary Collection" column on the "Zhongping Network," which needs to be specially noted. I look forward to criticism from all sides.