Opinion / Raymond Zhou
Posthumous fame attracts followers
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-14 06:50
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Wang Xiaobo.
As in a Mark Twain tale, Wang's death occurred at exactly the point when
his writing career was poised for liftoff. It is ironic that in his
lifetime he had difficulty getting his books published, while, since his
death, copies have been flying off the shelves. Even collections of his
unfinished manuscripts and private letters are snatched up by avid
readers.
Wang Xiaobo (1952-97) was no ordinary writer. He worked outside the
system and thought out of the box, so to speak. He was a champion of free
thought in a culture where sticking to dogma is not only the norm but a
life-preserving necessity.
Unlike his contemporaries who wrote as a profession, Wang Xiaobo did not
graduate from a school of humanities or liberal arts, did not belong to
any writers' association and, in the last five years of his life, was not
employed. He was an outsider and did not have a coterie of literary
peers. He once said: "I know there's a clique somewhere, but I don't know
where it is."
He majored in mathematics at school and taught accounting for a while. He
was never taken seriously by those inside the system, and they still
cannot bring themselves to face the fact that great writers can exist out
of their circles. But a few of them were able to admit that Wang was in a
league of his own.
Wang's writing can be clearly divided into two categories: essays and
fiction. The novels The Time Trilogy - The Golden Age, The Silver Age and
The Bronze Age - caused a sensation when published shortly after his
death. Mostly based on his life experiences and philosophies but often
using ancient settings, the stories depicted his inner worlds, including
his sexual fantasies. He cited Marguerite Duras as his main source of
inspiration.
Most people know him as an essayist, though. Wang was heavily influenced
by Bertrand Russell, advocating rational and scientific thinking and
battling against mind imprisonment. He imbued his articles with such
wisdom. But what makes his writing click with a generation of Chinese
readers was his touch of Mark Twain-style humor and satire.
In one of his essays, he wrote about a pig that refused to join the herd.
It has since come to symbolize independence and non-conformity - an icon
of what Wang Xiaobo stood for.
After his death, Wang was elevated to a status very few Chinese writers
have ever achieved. He has become an intellectual that is popular with a
wide swath of the population not for any publicity stunts but for his
mind-liberating thoughts.
But on his way to superstardom, something funny happened something of a
reminder of what Mozart went through shortly after his death. Legions of
his fans not only hailed his writing, but started to idolize him.
According to his widow, Li Yinhe, the famous sexologist, there are people
who use "Wang Xiaobo" as a code.
When you browse the Internet and read how people talk about him, you'll
get a sense that Wang Xiaobo was not just this brilliant thinker and
writer who opened a new vista for the mind's eye, but an omnipotent god.
He is now also portrayed as a romantic lover. And people trek to his
workplace in Yunnan Province, where he toiled as a "youth sent down for
re-education", to get a taste of his greatness.
In a sense, Wang Xiaobo as an icon has more to do with selling books than
campaigning for his ideas. Yes, he was a worthy successor to Lu Xun, but
mind you, Lu Xun the symbol was detached from Lu Xun the man and the
writer and used, to a great extent, for political purposes. A true
admirer of Wang Xiaobo should have an independent mind, more than
anything else.
Email: raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 04/14/2007 page4)
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