Fire and Song: Modern Chinese Literature, Scholars, and War

Author: Zhang Quanzhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The lifestyle of scholars, their professional requirements, and the long-established personal qualities determine that they will live in two worlds; one is the real world, and the other is a world of scientific rationality or poetic imagination. However, military struggles are driven by immediate practical interests, often accompanied by intrigue and bloodshed. The internal order of military groups is also a complete hierarchy, which cannot tolerate the independence and freedom that intellectuals are passionate about. But what seems most unbearable for intellectuals is the destruction and squandering of life in military struggles. Thus, all this that scholars, after joining military groups, will inevitably fall into an inescapable spiritual dilemma.
Regarding the Anti-Japanese War, Shen Congwen also harbored a hidden expectation: he hoped that this war could purify the nation's soul and bring the nation and the country back to life. Just as "some fish can only grow when they swim against the current," "war makes the human soul coarse," this might be the beginning of a nation's rebirth. Shen Congwen has always regarded "life reconstruction" and "national reconstruction" as his creative mission, a mission that is both lofty and practical, both concrete and abstract. After the war broke out, Shen Congwen saw hope in the nation's performance in the war and seemed to feel that while war was destroying this nation, it was also bringing it back to life.