青銅時代

时代三部曲 #3

by Wang Xiaobo, 王小波

才子佳人、夜半私奔、千里尋情、開創偉業 關於唐朝，就是愛情、愛情、愛情， 皇帝愛宮女、公公愛媳婦、節度使愛妓女…… （還說什麼盛世，其實從來不幹正經事） 穿梭古今、顛覆歷史、抱腹笑倒的翻案小說！ 青銅時代》是王小波「時代三部曲」之三。 這是以中國古代唐朝為背景的三部作品構成的長篇小說，分別是以薛嵩為主角的〈萬壽寺〉、以李靖和紅拂為主角的〈紅拂夜奔〉和以王仙客為主角的〈尋找無雙〉。這組作品的主人翁，是古代的知識分子和傳奇人物。他們作為一群追求個性、熱愛自由、想按自己的價值觀念精神信條生活的人，充滿了強烈的創造欲望和人道需要，但被當時的權力鬥爭控制和扭曲了心態與行狀、竟將智慧和愛情演變為滑稽鬧劇。 作者在這部長篇中，借助才子佳人、夜半私奔、千里尋情、開創偉業等風華絕代的唐朝祕傳故事，將今人的愛情與唐人傳奇相拼貼，使唐人傳奇現代化，在其中貫注現代情趣，並通過對似水流年的追述，讓歷史與藝術相融合，最終確立了對生命終極價值的體認，引出了一種由敘事者隨心所欲地穿行於古今中外的對話體敘述方式。 〈萬壽寺〉中，王小波的材料僅僅是一個短小的紅線盜盒的故事，他卻將其解構成了無限種的可能性，將一條線的時間拆為一張時間交錯的網，猶如波赫士筆下著名的《歧路花園》一般，交錯糾結形成故事的兩條主線：想有一番成就而買官從政的浪漫青年薛嵩和失憶的故事締造者王二。薛嵩買了湘西節度使的官，但還沒有實現抱負生活卻先越變越糟；王二恢復了記憶卻發現有記憶的世界如此無趣，最後成為一句絕望的呐喊：一切都在無可避免地走向庸俗。 〈紅拂夜奔〉可說是王小波最富想像力的作品。李衛公與紅拂的故事被徹底顛覆，呈現給讀者的是一個天馬行空、無所不能的李靖和一個浪漫率性追求自由的紅拂。文武雙全的李衛公神通廣大無所不能，為了自由他可以將整個洛陽城耍得團團轉，卻為唐太宗所欺騙建長安城，最終作繭自縛困死了自己；紅拂為了追求自由放棄優異生活追隨李靖，卻一同跌入了權力為他們設下的陷阱，最後連自殺也得需要領導的批准；還有青年研究員王二，實現了生命的抱負，證出了費爾馬定理後卻成了領導的玩物……知識分子自取滅亡，笑到最後的永遠只是權力。

Genres: Chinese Literature, Literature, China

600 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Wang Xiaobo (Chinese: 王小波) was a Chinese writer who became famous after his death.

Wang Xiaobo on paper-republic.org.

Wang was born in an intellectual family in Beijing in 1952. He was sent to a farm in Yunnan province as an "intellectual youth" at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1968. In 1971, he was sent to the countryside of Shandong province, and became a teacher. In 1972, he was allowed to return to Beijing, and he got a job as a working in a local factory. He met Li Yinhe in 1977, who was working as an editor for "Guangming Daily", and she later became his wife. He was accepted by Renmin University of China in 1978 where he studied economics and trade and got his Bachelor's Degree. He received his Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1988. After he returned to China, he began to teach at Peking University and Renmin University of China. He quit his job as a college lecturer in 1992, and became a freelance writer. On April 11, 1997 he died suddenly of heart disease at his apartment.

Reviews

[Zhijing Jin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wang Xiaobo's books are very highly rated. In his series of novels that reflects the political situations, including the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, he depicts different contexts of history, ancient, 1900s, future, but makes a call that authoritarianism will cause all kinds of harms to society. In this book, he composes three stories in the context of ancient China.

1) In the preface and the story, the escape of Lady Hongfu 红拂夜奔, my main takeaway is that due to the political pressure, talents
- are not cultivated enough to do more creative things, and their mindsets get interfered with other ideology that they are forced to pick up
- cannot write what they want, and their publications cannot be rewarded or spread
- do not have the time because they are forced to do other things.

In terms of good thought exercise, I really like how sad but real this story is. It forms a sharp contrast between the story of Leonardo da Vinci [My Review] and the story of the General Li Jing who has no way to go when he was a creative scientist, due to the political system. It also reminds me of the points Xiaobo makes in The Silent Majority (沉默的大多数) about the suppressed intellectuals (with literally no way to do science, art, or even honestly voice out their opinion) in China from 1949.

Some tips:
- Due to political pressure, many of the best writers are doing translation. So read the translated literature to see their writing, e.g., 王道乾, 查良铮, and do not fully follow what is famous because the reward system is inverse.

2) The other story, the Longevity Template (万寿寺), is more of an artistic play of story. It brings the reader to a journey of a story inside a story inside a story, with many possible branches explored with a depth-first search. The many possible developments and ends of the story also feel like many parallel worlds. It conveys to me a beauty similar to that of the movies Inception, and Memento. It is a beauty that is almost a visual art, or, more precisely, the beauty of geometry.

3) The final story, Searching for my fiancé whose name is the Incomparable (寻找无双), is a bit too complicated. There are some deeply hidden metaphors, and the inspiration to real world things is not very easy to grasp. But still great work!

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Below is a poem made for Xiaobo's death:
今天早晨，我为自己
冲了一杯浓浓的咖啡
破天荒地没有加糖
似乎我早有正确的预感
为小波的死准备了悼词
面对你信中的悼亡诗
我满口苦涩
我怀疑自己的眼睛
看到的
是我熟悉的字迹
还是一座陌生的坟墓