Shen Yanbing read "The Dog Officer" two months later. He went to Wuhan to work as a military academy instructor at the beginning of the year, and in April he served as the editor-in-chief of the "Republic of China Daily" in Hankou. When Zhou Hexuan was writing this novel, Shen Yanbing was blocked on the way from Wuhan to Nanchang.
After hearing the news of the failure of the Nanchang Uprising, he lost contact with the party organization.
In early September, Shen Yanbing returned to Shanghai and wrote a novel called "Disillusionment", officially taking the pen name "Mao Dun".
"Novel Monthly", Chief Editor's Office.
When Ye Shengtao saw Shen Yanbing, he was immediately shocked: "Brother Yan Bing, why are you back at this time? Red gang members are being arrested everywhere in Shanghai!"
Shen Yanbing smiled bitterly and said: "As long as there are no traitors to betray me, who will know my identity? To be honest, I have lost contact with the organization. Even I can't prove that I am a party member."
Ye Shengtao felt relieved a little: "That's good, that's good, I have to keep a low profile recently."
Shen Yanbing asked: "Where is brother Xidi (Zheng Zhenduo)?"
"You don't know?" Ye Shengtao asked.
"I just returned to Shanghai and I don't understand anything." Shen Yanbing took out his novel. "I'm here to submit a manuscript this time and meet old friends by the way."
Ye Shengtao said: "Zhenduo has hid in France, and now I am the editor-in-chief of "Novel Monthly". As you know, he has translated the lyrics of "The Internationale" before. A few months ago, he wrote another letter to curse
The Kuomintang rebelled against the revolution, and as a result, they were wanted and had no choice but to flee abroad."
"well!"
Shen Yanbing let out a long sigh.
Ye Shengtao took the manuscript and asked: "What novel did you write?"
Shen Yanbing said: "I plan to write about my revolutionary experience."
"Are you crazy?" Ye Shengtao looked at him in surprise.
Shen Yanbing smiled and said: "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid. The plot has been dealt with and it won't offend the reactionaries. But now the situation is serious. I originally wanted to write the plot of the novel until this year, but it seems that I can only write it until the May 30th Massacre at most.
, I can’t even mention what happened in the past two years.”
"It's good that you know." Ye Shengtao said.
Shen Yanbing asked: "What good novels have been published recently?"
Ye Shengtao took out a stack of manuscripts from the drawer, handed them to Shen Yanbing and said, "Read it yourself."
Shen Yanbing turned it over and said with a smile: "Oh, it belongs to Zhou Hexuan again. He is very productive."
Ye Shengtao said: "You read "The Dog Officer" first, and I will read your novel and see if there is anything that needs to be covered up."
The two of them opened the novel manuscript and read it carefully. After more than half an hour, they each finished reading the manuscript in their hands.
Shen Yanbing smiled and said: "This book "The Dog Official" reminds me of "The Metamorphosis"."
"What "Metamorphosis"?" Ye Shengtao asked.
Kafka was not well-known in China at this time. Even well-known writers and editors like Ye Shengtao had only heard of Kafka's name but had no understanding of his works.
The first person to introduce Kafka in the Republic of China was Shen Yanbing. He wrote an article about Kafka four years ago, but it did not attract any attention.
In fact, this is normal. Kafka's novels are too obscure and difficult to understand, and readers in the Republic of China were not interested at all in what he wanted to express in his novels.
Shen Yanbing explained: "The Metamorphosis is a novel by Kafka, in which the male protagonist turns into a beetle. However, the two are similar in form, and there are still big differences. The Metamorphosis uses expressionism,
The whole novel is full of obscure metaphors; while "The Dog Official" is more popular and straightforward, like a "Along the River During Qingming Festival" of Chinese society."
Ye Shengtao laughed loudly and said: ""The Dog Official" aroused the dissatisfaction of the reactionaries because it was too straightforward. Especially since the protagonist is from the Revolutionary Party, all those officials thought he was satirizing themselves."
"Didn't you cause any trouble?" Shen Yanbing asked worriedly.
"There were some minor troubles, but nothing major," said Ye Shengtao. "Someone suggested that the Nanjing National Government ban this book, so I quickly asked someone to call and clarify the facts. The protagonist of the novel is named Gu Wangzhi, which actually means 'If you tell me something, I will listen to it'
, it’s just for a joke and should not be taken seriously. There are also mentions of "pot donation" and "stove donation" in the book, which are exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes invented by Zhang Zongchang in Shandong. Even if you want to satirize anyone, you are also satirizing Zhang Zongchang, with us
The revolutionary party in the south doesn’t matter.”
Shen Yanbing smiled and asked, "Do they believe it?"
"I don't care whether he believes it or not, as long as he doesn't come to cause trouble." Ye Shengtao said.
"Having said that, I'm afraid this novel still makes some dog officials uneasy." Shen Yanbing said.
Ye Shengtao said: "That's not true. I heard that a certain official in Zhejiang who liked to read novels ordered all the dogs in his house to be killed and his wife to be divorced after reading two serials of "The Dog Official".
Take him home to rest in peace."
"Hahahaha, this is wonderful." Shen Yanbing laughed.
How sensational is "The Dog Officer"?
Under normal circumstances, the works serialized in "Novel Monthly" are only read by young people and progressive students. However, "The Dog Official" was reprinted by several popular magazines. The common people clapped their hands after reading it, and all the bad guys and bureaucrats in the world were transformed.
Become a dog and taste the evil they have done for yourself.
The novel review column in the supplement of "Shenbao" introduces this work: ""The Dog Official" gives readers an opportunity to deeply experience the cruelty of the society of the Republic of China, and also brings a word called 'alienation'. It shocks readers
, it is not that people will turn into dogs when they do bad things, but through the dog's perspective and mentality, it narrates the sufferings of the people and social chaos without any panic. Buddhism talks about karma, and "Dog Official" is a living version of the present world.
"Retribution, most of all the suffering Gu Wangzhi suffered after turning into a dog was caused by his own karma. This book is full of Buddhist karma."
In the 21st century, modern history textbooks in Chinese universities evaluated Zhou Hexuan's "The Goddess" and "The Dog Official" as "the pinnacle of the May Fourth New Issues novels" and "the final masterpiece of the new movement", and praised: "
If you want to understand the social outlook of China in the 1920s, you can read "The Goddess" and "The Dog Official". These two works are equivalent to two ukiyo-e paintings in the early years of the Republic of China, which directly and sharply expose the darkness of reality. They
It is not only the final work of the May Fourth Movement, but also the beginning of the world's magical realism wave."
Marquez, the future Nobel Prize winner, mentioned many times in interviews that when he was still studying law in college, a friend lent him a collection of Mr. Zhou's translation works, which included "The Goddess" and "The Dog".
"The Official" are two masterpieces. Marquez told reporters: "I never knew that novels could be written like this! If they can be written like this, I can write them too." He added, "I suddenly understood that in the works, in addition to
In addition to the normal and academic descriptions I learned in middle school textbooks, there is another world. This is how my grandmother told stories. She calmly told me bloody and creepy stories, vivid and eloquent, as if she was her
I saw it with my own eyes. I used my grandmother’s method to create One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
The middle school students in New China hated Zhou Hexuan deeply.
Since the 1990s, excerpts from "The Goddess" and "The Dog Official" have been included in junior high school and high school Chinese textbooks. It is almost life-threatening to recite and understand. The reading comprehension of the high school entrance examination and the college entrance examination is often passed, and it is
For excerpts that have not been learned before, students said that the writers they hate the most are Zhou Hexuan and Lu Xun. The former writes articles that are eloquent, and the latter writes articles full of awkward vocabulary.
