Gao gives his is ideas on Language, Literature and the Choice of Writer which cna be understood form his The Case for Literature are as follows :
Literature and Metaphysics (lecture , 1991):
The use of Chinese language is political issue, social
pressures leading to psychological self- restrictions and the issue of language
itself.
Gao Xingjian wrote the novel Soul mountain to show that there
was space for greater creativity.
The transfer of western linguistic and theoretical writings
into Chine language writings resulted in a rigid translation genre.
He advocates writing in the living language and thinks that
an appropriate use of vocabulary
word-formation and syntax of some
dialects enrich the modern Chinese.
He was impressed by Feng
Menglong and Jin Shengtan in use of language.
He also thinks that the written words must have auditory
appeal and used tape recorder to elicit direst perception of language. He
searches for the modern form of language to express his perceptions. Language is a spontaneous entity and its basic nature of language is greater than politics
, ideology, rules of philosophy, ethics or social customs.
He refers to stream of consciousness technique as a ‘flow of language’ and soul mountain is
along soliloquy in which pronouns keep changing . this leads to same subject
being endowed with different angles of perception.
Chinese language is more adept in describing psychological
activities than western languages. By not indicating tense , it merges past,
present and future are inseparable and reality and imagination , memory and
thought are integrated within he process of narration.
In the Chinese language , the subject is often omitted and
the verb is not inflected according to the pronoun facilitating an easy change in narrative angle.
Western languages are more analytical .
Gao Xingjian has tried to embody the pure spirit of Daoism
and Chan Buddhism in modern Chinese language. To him, “using tradition to
attack people and denigrating tradition both are reprehensible.” (94) he respects Chinese writers like Pu Songling, Shi Nai’an,
Cao Xueqin, and Liu E and also modern writers like Tolstoy, Chekhov, Proust,
Kafka, Joyce and French nouveau roman writings.
On Soul Mountain , he writes that “it uses pronouns in stead
of characters , psychological perceptions in stead of plot , and changing
emotions to modulate the plot.” (94)
The primary structure of the book
involves the first-person pronoun “I’
and the second person pronoun “You”, in which the former is travelling in aa real world while the latter,
born of the former , is magical journey of imagination . Later “she” is born of
“you” and later still the disintegration of “she” leads to the mergence of “he”, who is the transformation of “I”. (96)
This structure has allowed the novelist to observe the
psychological levels of language since “human awareness of language begins with
the emergence of pronouns.
It breaks free form concepts such as plots and
characters and resembles a travel diary and a soliloquy and a fiction though and is a fiction by virtue of their ( critics’)
negating it.” (96)
Gao has tried to use a variety of narrative methods which he unifies by changing
pronouns. This is his understanding of language as a continuous flow. He changes narrative methods
gradually and in a limited manner to
avoid chaos and music helps him listen keenly to the rhythm of his inner mind.
He wanted to show a different culture through his novel Soul Mountain . he
refers to four different cultures – Orthodox
feudal culture, Daoism tracing its origins to primitive Shamanism and reformed Buddhism , folk culture and a purely Eastern based spirit expressed in nature-based
philosophies of Laozi and Zhuangzi and the metaphysics of the Wei and inn
dynasties and Chan Buddhism. He says that the culture of the novel is of the
latter three forms .Gao Xinjiang has
preferred “to go on a spiritual journey
to reveal the aspects of Chinese culture that had been concealed by
bureaucratic Orthodox culture.”(99)
Heis inspiration has been that of Yangtze
Basin culture rather than the Yellow river basin culture . he also refers to
Xia culture . to him, the flourishing of culture does not inseparably linked
with political authority . He is not for the
importation of the Western culture or searching for roots . “ It is simply a matter of how I understand
these roots, including how I understand myself.” (103)
Gao Xingjian is a modern Chenese writer who believes in no
isms and allows people a choice to live a mode of life suitable for them and
fleeing form political persecution .He says, “ For me, history remains an
engulfing fog , and this self of mine makes me equally anxious.” (103)
In “The Necessity of Loneliness’’ ( Speech, 2002), the writer
says it is unique to humans, stems from self-love leading to self-pity or
conceitedness or even impetuosity. It
has to be examines with an internal as well as an external eye. The third eye,
known as consciousness or wisdom . it
is an aesthetic judgement but also can become a drive for achievement. It
encourages maturity and necessary for adults. It gives space for others and
perquisite for freedom of reflection. It
is stillness amidst din of the clamorous world of mass media. It is necessary
to listen to the voice of one’s own
heart and self-establishment and to
achieve things.
The writer says that
‘’ life is a state of perpetual
fleeing, from political oppression or from others. One must also flee from
one’s self , because once the self has been awakened it is this that one cannot
flee; tis is the tragedy of modern man.” (124) he does not accept slavishness to a faction and the independence
of the write is more important and he does not aspire to return to his home land
under tyranny. The impossibility of
fleeing from oneself can be observed in the Greek tragedy and Shakespearean
tragedy . Gao Xinjian wanted his play Fleeing ( written after Tiananmen
square massacre in 1989) to be performed not in realistic or naturalistic
style. This play led to his alienation
and break from the Chinese Communist
party and even the from democratic movement to an extent. The actor had to
maintain certain distance from character to be able to get into and out of it
occasionally. While Brecht’s theatre shows alienation between the audience and
the play , Gao wants alienation between the actor and the character.
‘Literature is inherently man’s affirmation of his own self-worth, and that this is validated during the process of writing.” Its impact if any has been felt after the work is finishes and beyond the control of the writer.
Gao refers to the fact how the 20th century has proved oppressive and many writers suffered persecution and death in the hands of political power and during the communist regime after 1949, fleeing also has not been an option to the writer.
. To him, literature is the voice of the individual and a writer is a normal person but more sensitive but not the spokesman or representative of people or embodiment of righteousness. His voice is weak but authentic. he thinks that ideology united with power dooms literature and the writer. he thinks participation in politics must be left to the choice of the writer.
Not much is known about the authors of Chinese classics such as Journey to the West, Water margin, Jin Ping Mei and Dream of the Red Mansions remain anonymous and Kafka and Pessoa wrote without seeing their books coming into light. Literature is the final crystallization of civilization, complex , probing into an individual and linking him with world, communicative across cultures and its eternal spiritual value lines in the shared time between the writer and the reader.
Gao Xingjian considers that literature “transcends ideologies, national boundaries and racial consciousness in the same way that the individual’s basic existence transcends this or that ism.” (36) he sees literature as universal, restrictions on it are external, aesthetic judgments containing subjective have recognizable universal standards he is not for fashionable or market oriented literature .
Gao supports “cold literature‘‘. From this perspective the writer is a simple man but not super man or a spokesman of the masses or a criminal or an enemy of he people. The authorities manufacture enemies of writers to divert the attention of the people. The relation between the reader and the writer is spiritual and does not depend on social interaction and beyond “the gratification of material desires.”(38) and its survival relies on the writer’s “willingness to endure loneliness.’ (39)‘ the writer cannot fill the role of creator or a prophet
Gao Xingjian, the Nobel prize winner states that the present century is not immune to catastrophes as memories are not carries in genes , humanity will not always move in progressive direction. Science and technology has not made mankind more civilized.
To hIm, the important thing for a writer is to live in the present ,understanding oneself being a witness and to search for truth and the dilemmas of human existence remained despite the era of no isms . tis search for truth has made the Greek tragedy and Shakespeare relevant even today. Literature removes false illusions and understands mundane things form heights in a broader perspective.
Language of literature is not for games of the intellect but to express emotions and experiences but to expand the expressive capacity and fiction and drams have nor come to end. A writer gains knowledge through direct and indirect means.
Gao also says that literature is not a commodity and nonutilitarian function is fundamental to it. The means of the craft of the writer is using language to challenge society through his works..
On one hand, Gao wants the writer to bother about the present and on the other hand, he state that the writer writes out of inner need . a writer is neither a hero nor a zero. He is against glorification of historical laws and for individual voices and choices.
Gao means that the contemporary writer has to strike a balance between addressing the needs of the present and writing out of joy derived form the craft of writing without being trapped by power politics and conformism.
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