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LIFE> Newsmaker
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Return of the Ruined Capital
By Yang Guang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-06 10:02 For Jia, the furor over Fei Du was like adding insult to injury. Even as he started writing the novel, the author was grappling with several personal problems - the sudden death of Lu Yao, a long-time literary friend and rival, the end of his marriage, and the onset of a serious case of hepatitis. Despite the crushing pressures, Jia battled on. At his worst, he turned to literature as a curative. "The controversy triggered by Fei Du made me more tolerant," Jia said in an interview with Wenhui Daily, "and that is why I could write White Nights (Bai Ye), Earth Gate (Tu Men), Old Gao Village (Gaolaozhuang), Remembering Wolves (Huainianlang) and Local Accent (Qin Qiang)." While Fei Du won the Prix Femina, a French literary award, in 1997, Qin Qiang earned him the seventh Mao Dun Literary Prize last year. Concerning the reprint, Jin Shikai, publicity director of Writers Publishing House, refused to answer questions on whether the ban on the book had been officially lifted and also on the number of reprint copies. Liu Fang, director of the chief editor's office, told China Daily: "The publishing house has only two points to make. First, Jia Pingwa is an outstanding writer. Second, the reprint of Fei Du follows the procedures and complies with the standards of authoritative requirements." The reprint seems to be largely the same as the 1993 edition. The most obvious change is that the small blank squares, used to denote the deleted characters, have been replaced by the more commonplace rows of dots. Lin Jinrong, editor in charge of the reprinted edition, said that Jia and the publishing house had jointly decided on the change. "Why the change? Well, no special reasons. Rows of dots are simply not that conspicuous," Lin answered hesitantly and refused to say more. Li Jingze, literary critic and editor-in-chief of the Beijing-based journal People's Literature, explained that blank squares were widely used in Ming and Qing erotic novels and indicated a taboo subject. The deliberate imitation of that rule in Fei Du actually made the taboo seem more obvious. Chen Xiaoming, literary critic and professor with Peking University, said: "The reprint of Fei Du reflects China's increasing progress and tolerance. Literary evaluation has finally shifted from a political and moral orientation to literary merits per se." On the replacement of blank squares with rows of dots, he said: "It might be a publishing strategy although rows of dots depart from the cultural tradition and deprive the text of its ironic effect, they are still better than nothing at all." Following news of Fei Du's reprint, Jia has declined most interview requests. He told the Xi'an Evening News on July 31 that, "I don't know what more to say other than 'thank you, readers. Thank you, the times'." Statistics from the Beijing Book Building shows that some 40 copies of Fei Du were picked up the first week it was put on shelves. Staff manning the rows housing Chinese contemporary novels said: "It is pretty good sales for serious novels. Only classics such as Fortress Besieged by Qian Zhongshu and Ordinary World by Lu Yao can match this. "Of course, it cannot compete with adolescent literature like Guo Jingming's works. Sales are not even close. Guo's books sold 70 to 80 copies a day at its peak."
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