2002 Network Writing

Author: Yan Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: Same as last year, this year's selection also features the "Worldly Tales" as one of the most important sections. In these stories, the element of artistry is reduced to the lowest degree. They always begin suddenly and end inexplicably, as if "real" life itself is headless and aimless, stripped of all preliminaries, all branches and redundancies, going straight for the point—or simply having no point at all. Readers can completely compare the works in "Worldly Tales" with Chengdu. In a sense, these works can all be seen as variations, supplements, extensions, and expansions of Chengdu. In Zhi Gu (Paper Clips), Zhang Xu (Longing), and Xiao San Gen (Everyone Should Cherish Their Own Body), we can easily see the shadow of the protagonist Chen Chong from Chengdu. Even one could say that a new "typical character" is emerging on the internet—dressed in suits, working nine to five, squeezed by the "modern" atmosphere of commerce, calculation, and. Desire is the biggest driving force in their lives. They have no space or time for faith, their only faith being skepticism. They are a generation more suspicious than the Wang Shuo-style figures of the past, doubting everything in life, especially love. Therefore, in the protagonists of these works, there is a certain kind of hatred for women. In their eyes, women have become a symbol of the world's decline, and endless pursuit of sex has become the last means for men to take revenge on the world. But precisely at this point, the works in "Worldly Tales" diverge from Chengdu. In Chengdu, the author spends a great deal of space depicting how the protagonist's "hands are stained with the blood of virgins," no matter how much the author emphasizes the protagonist's loss and pain in the face of various betrayals, there is an undeniable pride of a modern "successful man" that cannot be suppressed. On the surface, Xiao San Gen in Everyone Should Cherish Their Own Body also moves between women, swimming like fish in water, and never tiring of it. However, behind the author's light veil and subtle irony, what is more deeply revealed is the mechanical, awkward, absurd, and ridiculous aspects of all these affairs and promiscuities. The author uses a unique style to uncover the new comedy in the boredom of life, showing us the surreal, strange, fragmented, and unreasonable moments in daily, worldly life, allowing us to maintain a precious distance from "real" life.