"Studies on Western Modernist Literature" by Chen Kun - Chen Kun Publishing House: Pacific Press, Paris

Preface to the Reprint

This reprinted book is a collection of articles I wrote between 1979 and 1980 and was published in 1981. Many major events happened in China during those years. The "Cultural Revolution" had ended, and the new direction was reform and opening up.

I was invited to Harvard University in 1981. Soon after, the "Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign" was launched in China. I heard that my name was also on the list of people to be criticized. My problem was this book. Later, the drama director Chen Yong visited the United States, and I went to see her. It happened that Zhang Ying, the wife of Zhang Wenjin, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, also went to see Chen Yong that day. Zhang Ying had been Zhou Enlai's secretary for a long time. I took this opportunity to talk with her on the beach in New London, Connecticut for more than two hours. I emphasized that the slogan at the time was "liberate the mind" and talked about this book and the criticism I received. She asked in detail and said that she would report to the leader. I don't know who the leader she was talking about is.

Soon after, I heard that the "anti-spiritual pollution campaign" was stopped by Hu Yaobang. After the book was published, the reaction at home and abroad was quite strong. Some readers probably felt like they had suddenly breathed a breath of fresh air. In the field of literature and thought, I chose some topics that I often criticized harshly but were quite ignorant. For example, I raised questions such as what is Western modernist literature and American contemporary literature, what is human consciousness, how to understand some general characteristics of Western culture and the capitalist system, and whether Marx's ideas on alienation and the historical role of evil should be seriously reconsidered. I also raised some views on the most thoughtful ideas in some Western modern literary works that need to be understood but are not fully praised.

The damage to our language is a big problem. The language and thinking patterns that are often used for ignorance and prejudice have become our daily language and written language. Without the simplified pattern, we cannot speak. I pay attention to avoiding these formulaic traps of language and thinking, and strive to speak in a language that can better organize and express my feelings and understanding. I hope to make a thoughtful understanding through direct contact with the real content. I also pay attention to absorbing and applying some of the brushwork accumulated in traditional Chinese writing over a long period of time, such as flexible entry, virtual and real conversion, positive and negative interweaving, echoing each other, hard connection, and some words must only be mentioned to the point and leave room for imagination, etc. The literary mind can carve dragons. Of course, this is just a wish, not a finished product.

Language is not an issue I can give advice on. My uncle Luo Jinan (Chen Xiaohang) said that language has been developing, but the foundation of the development of Chinese is ancient Chinese, especially pre-Qin ancient Chinese. If you offer a basic course, you should focus on learning the key points.

"Zuo Zhuan", part of "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", plus other selected texts such as excerpts from "A New Account of Tales of the World", should be studied in all subjects in middle school and university. If you memorize some books, in three generations, the Chinese language will improve.

That era is an era that needs some review, and many joys and sorrows are worth reviewing. I think reprinting this book may be helpful in understanding what we have experienced and what path we have taken.

Chen Kun

August 19, 2023