Chapter 25 twenty four

Gramont's "Proust as I Know it" is a passage in the middle of "Grammond's Memoirs", never published, written in French, by John.Russell translated it into English and published it in the London Magazine.In this essay, Gramont recounts his first acquaintance with Proust in 1901; at the same time, he recalls the last phone call Proust made to him when he was dying.In addition, Gramont also mentioned the "Montesquieu and Proust" written by his sister Elisabeth in 1925.This is an important work, with a very fine analysis of the influence of the former on the young Proust.

Gramont wrote after Proust's death that his work became the inspiration for many new writers.Many writers, not lacking of famous ones, began to study Proust, analyzing his works down to the smallest detail Proust is such a giant. "Avant-Garde Literature" was able to translate this important memoir in its first issue, which should be considered a very appropriate choice. In addition, I also plan to translate a few letters of Joyce's letters, which together can give readers a better understanding of the two literary giants of the 20th century. (If the literary and art workers in Hong Kong are at a loss for writing such writers as "Poems in Praise of Love", it will never become a joke; but as a representative of Chinese writers in Hong Kong, they cannot be ignorant of one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. -James Joyce knows nothing, I think.)

(The biggest task of a writer in the revolutionary era should be to express the era, reflect the era, portray the inner heart of objects in this era, and make bold explorations of the spiritual world. The responsibility given to writers by the era and the environment is definitely not to sing love. Here It is a masterpiece published on the cover of "Poems in Praise of Love": Go to the woman and say to her: i want to live with you Kneel at her feet cause she is young And beautiful. Don't touch her when her eyes looking at you. ah!She is young and very beautiful, and her hands

in your hair, Don't be afraid of her now, oh, touch her well now! She has accepted you. If someone asks the literary and art workers here what they think of such a poem or such a poet, even if they are at a loss, it is by no means a shameful thing.I think. ) (James Joyce is unanimously recognized by serious critics as the most influential and outstanding writer in the twentieth century. It is an iron fact that no one can deny it. Many excellent writers such as Woolf, such as Hemingway, such as Faulkner, such as Passos, such as Thomas Woolf, etc., all accept his influence in their works. Joyce’s status in the history of world literature, if not compared to Picasso’s The status in the history of painting is higher, at least it should be regarded as equal. Let me ask: if a Chinese representative from Hong Kong who participated in an international painting conference has not even heard the name of Picasso, wouldn’t it be a big joke?)

(Assuming that the first topic discussed at the international painting conference is: tradition and modernity in painting, and the Chinese representatives in Hong Kong are at a loss for Picasso, what kind of ideas will the representatives express when the meeting officially opens? What about opinions?) (This is a question of eligibility.) (The representatives attended the meeting on behalf of the region of Hong Kong. If the representatives make a fool of themselves in front of representatives from other countries, all Hong Kong residents have the right to protest. The representatives represent the region of Hong Kong. Saying the wrong thing on an international occasion is equivalent to saying the wrong thing for all Hong Kong residents.)

(Assuming that this time it is an inter-port football match, when we are selecting representatives, we deliberately did not choose Yao Zhuoran, Huang Zhiqiang, Liu Tian, ​​Huang Wenwei and other players with outstanding football skills as representatives of Hong Kong for a certain relationship. I chose some people who specialize in playing small football to form a team and went to other places to compete. The result was a big defeat, which made Hong Kong people lose face. The team leader not only forbade others to point out the shortcomings; , Some of the rest of you are old players with decades of experience, some are young friends who have practiced hard, and they are still not players who do not play football, as some people criticize.)

(Alas! Don’t worry about these things. Hong Kong is a commercial society, and only fools care about such issues. I’m a fool! I’m a fool! I’m a fool!) The telephone in the living room rang, and I went to answer it, as if awakened from a dream. It was Mehman calling, asking if I had finished translating Gramon's article. I said: As soon as I started translating 500 characters, I was disturbed by some problems and couldn't calm down. The compositing room is in a hurry to sort out tomorrow. I'm afraid you'll be drunk again, so I'll call you to remind you. I'm not drunk, but I'd love to have a few drinks now.The reality is so ugly, I want to escape for a while.

No one can escape reality except death.We have more serious work to do and you can't start off negative. This evening, I was in such a mess that I couldn't translate any more. No, you have to translate the Gramon article and send it to the printing office tomorrow. I'm very upset. This is serious and positive work. You must control yourself and concentrate your fighting spirit. Home, there is no black and white in this society.We are all fools!Our "Avant-Garde Literature" lasts up to half a year!Homen, our "Avant-Garde Literature" can only last for half a year at most, no readers want to read such a magazine!Holmen, let me tell you frankly, no reader wants to read a magazine like this!

Homen said nothing. After a long time, I heard his question: What happened to you? I want to drink. you can't drink!You must recognize your responsibilities! I think it is a stupid thing for me to run a serious literary magazine or engage in serious literary creation here and now!Homen, I am discouraged!I advise you to rein in the precipice and return the five thousand yuan to your mother.We are willing to be fools, this is our own business; but we must not take advantage of your mother's kindness to make her a fool too!Homen, "Avant-Garde Literature" is destined to be a short-lived publication, I advise you to give up this idea!In Hong Kong, only those publications that rely on greenback subsidies can stand, but greenbacks also have a condition: they must sell antiques!The times are progressing, but Dong Xuan insists that others follow them to drive backwards!

Because of this, we must publish "Avant-Garde Literature"! No, no, I don't want to be a fool!I decided to write martial arts novels again!If a person can't even solve the minimum conditions for survival, how can there be any ideals?It took more than two hours to translate the 500-word article of Gramont; if two hours were used to write a martial arts novel, at least 3,000 words could be written.Wuxia novels have a commercial price, and if they are sold, I can continue to survive; but our magazines do not pay manuscript fees. What happened to you? Homen, I'm very tired, I want to rest early, I have something to say tomorrow.

After hanging up the phone, I hurried downstairs to buy a bottle of brandy. (This is a depressing time, I think. Every intellectual with a conscience feels suffocated.)