Interview" The Summoning Technique of the Third Wave of Taiwan's Literary Explosion - Yang Kailin, Pan Yifan and Zhuang Ruilin Talk About "The Alphabet Club"

Author｜ Shen Mian (literary worker)
Photography｜ Wang Zhiyuan

➤The beginning of everything is "Accident and Coincidence"

How will the alphabet meet The Short Story? Yang Kailin, who is wearing a fisherman hat, said that at the beginning, they negotiated with Printing and Publishing about Alphabet Accounting, and the other party was very interested and willing to cooperate. Later, it happened that "Short Stories" was transferred to the printing and engraving hands, so the Alphabet Club borrowed the shape of "Short Stories" and started serialization. Yang Kailin showed a slightly mysterious smile, "It's actually a chance."

I asked Zhuang Ruilin, how does Acropolis Publishing connect with Alphabet Club? Zhuang Ruilin, whose eyes were shining brightly, thought for a moment, "Accidental." Specifically, what kind of accidental? In the six years since the establishment of the Acropolis, many books on non-literature, humanities and social sciences have been published. Facing the great changes in Taiwanese society, Zhuang Ruilin is particularly impressed. "I think that many of the current difficulties in Taiwan are related to the weakening of the spirit of literature and art."

In 2016, Zhuang Ruilin published the poetry collection "The Mysterious Season". Since Chen is obsessed with literature, she seriously wants to re-plan the relationship between the brand Acropolis and literature. Just at this time, Hu Shuwen, a member of the Alphabet Club, took the initiative to contact her. Zhuang Ruilin said: "In an instant, there is a feeling of wishing come true."

So how do reviewers switch to Alphabet plans? Pan Yifan, who was born in pure philosophy, has always maintained a natural and elegant smile. During her doctoral period, she was engaged in cross-disciplinary research on philosophy and literature, mainly discussing how literature intervenes in philosophy. Pan Yifan said, "Philosophy and literature have the same language, but philosophy is the way of thinking to solve problems and needs a consistent communication channel. However, Literature deals exclusively with unexpected situations and the possibility of disagreement."

The life of contemporary people is becoming more and more simplistic, the tone of speech is always similar, and most of them are surrounded by "works that can be generally understood" when entering a bookstore. Not overly unified, with the freedom and beauty of disagreement.

She talked about the experience of getting along with the members of the Alphabet Society, "There is a feeling of crying and killing God." The novelist's writings are mostly about the cruel and violent world state, but their people are very friendly. Pan Yifan said that after reading the novel, you will find that the novelist has a gentle heart and wants to change the world.

She compares the writing of the Alphabet Club with the concept of fashion: "The clothes that appear on the fashion show stage will not be available in the market at all. The point is not to sell those strange things. It is a concept, a possibility. display."

➤Literary Writer's Survival Reality Show

What is the difference between the alphabet and the current Taiwanese literature? Yang Kailin explained in a leisurely manner, first of all, most people think that literature is the history of literature, that is, when talking about literature, they are talking about the past of literature. Eileen Chang's Shanghai in the 1940s.

"But, what is the present of literature? What does literature look like in real life?" Yang Kailin asked fundamental doubts. And the letters will be a group of excellent writers who take literature as their career and are very poor. They were born to write literature, and they want to do literature all their lives. They are literature now, capable of making literature alive again.

Yang Kailin said: "The Alphabet Club is a survival reality show or augmented reality for literary writers - a group of people are thrown into extreme environments, confined spaces, with nothing but the will to survive." They are like "God and Ghost Authentication". Jason. Bowen, must manage to survive the siege on all sides. They are outcasts, amnesiacs, and their only craft is writing fiction—and writing fiction is their ability to survive.

Although Yang Kailin felt that Matt. Dimon's role isn't too good, but it's not inappropriate either. After all, Matt. Dimon also has another title for "Rescue Private Ryan", "Interstellar Effect", "Jedi Rescue" and other movies: "The most 'rescue' man in the world". Seriously speaking, don't you need someone to push you into the literature of the Jedi?

Yang Kailin went on to speak from the beginning, thinking that after the liberation, Taiwanese literature and the West had two important collisions. One is modernism. In the 1970s, Bai Xianyong, Wang Wenxing and others produced great shocks and innovations. The second is the post-modern impact in the 1990s, such as Zhang Dachun, Zhu Tianwen, Lin Yaode, etc., who all carried out novel experiments with various post-forms and structural renovations, which made Taiwanese literature have a leap forward. Yang Kailin likened it to the explosion of Latin American literature: "This is the explosion of Taiwanese literature."

Twenty years later, Yang Kailin thought it was time to meet the third collision between novel creation and thought. The wave of French thought in the second half of the 20th century was the third big explosion of human thought. "The concept of contemporary philosophy is to reopen. As Kafka said, every book should be an ice axe that splits the head."

He wants to combine the 26 philosophical concepts presented by the 26 letters with the novel, and arrange ingenious mechanisms, with all kinds of traps, mines and impossibility, so that the novelist can carry out the impossible tasks. In the case of a secret room, the escape route can still be opened. "Such a novel will be inspiring, not just a product. It's not like riding a roller coaster, nothing changes, but after reading it, it will make people completely different, no longer the original self." Yang Kailin said.

He believes that the classic novels that are still being read must be thoughtful, not just storytelling. His tone was firm and gentle, "And only by having a new perspective on the world and expressing our new relationship with the world can literature become a place of temptation. And novels can also make people enter a state of strangeness, and their heads are completely split. , and finally opens up the possibility of re-understanding the world.”

➤ Publishers must respond to authors with the spirit of experimentation

What is the appeal of Alphabet Club from a publishing standpoint? In Zhuang Ruilin's understanding, there have been many writers in history who have done dictionary-style creations, such as Flaubert, Milan. Kundera and others. What I can think of is Guo Xiaolu, Han Shaogong, or the American Alphabet Queen Su. Grafton's alphabet mystery novel. However, the Alphabet Club is clearly unique in writing about diverse and ambiguous literary communities based on the same novel title.

And she is particularly concerned about what is the meaning of a literary community like the Alphabet Society that lasts for five years? For her, when a group of creators gather, not only is the work attractive, but every aspect of participation is full of experimental possibilities. Zhuang Ruilin said, "It's not just printing and publishing what they have written, but the publishing house must respond to this community with the spirit of experimentation at every link."

Zhuang Ruilin described the Alphabet Club as "fatal attraction". Because they asked her to be more than a pure publisher, but must use a creative perspective to make the "Alphabet Club" book. She has to dig, review, and understand the meaning of the Alphabet Society in the past five years, not only the works, but also the respective literary lives of the creators, all of which are included in this publication. Therefore, in addition to each Alphabet book, she also designs Alphabet special issues, bookstore curation and other activities.

Zhuang Ruilin, who also lived in the post-modern explosion in college, wondered if it was possible to witness another literary explosion once she passed middle age? This is undoubtedly the biggest motivation for her and Acropolis Publishing to participate in the Alphabet Society's publishing project. When she asked, "What else can literature ask about life, times, and the world? Can we still ask questions and find out through literature?", she seemed to have a strong aura of light.

➤ "Borders of Tomorrow"-like literature of death and rebirth, death and rebirth

How does Pan Yifan view the value of the Alphabet Club, and how does the commentary move with the novel? She still had a smile on her face. "What attracts me to literature is that it has no final, eternal reboot."

She refers to the concept of a French thinker, saying that there are two kinds of literature: one is the bad work that cannot be read, but people read a lot; the other is the masterpiece that cannot be read. But really good things are never understood at first glance. That is, you seem to understand a little bit when you read it this time, and then you read it a little bit more next time, but it’s still incomplete, and you haven’t caught the complete picture.

"Literary masterpieces always force you to think, force you to enter the world created by the writer." So people will read it again and again. She believes: "The work is constantly changing, forever in a state of reopening, and cannot end. This is the core value of literature."

In addition, as a reviewer, she believes that "literary criticism is not for exposing the mystery of the work, not for destroying it, but to advance the creativity of the work." creation.

In the same way, the special issue of alphabets launched by Acropolis Publishing is also a way of re-flowing the creation, making the alphabet book return to its magical living state. She said with great confidence, "That's to make the alphabet come alive again." Isn't Cruise's "Borders of Tomorrow" also very similar?

Yes, once, once again, and living again and again, close to eternity.

➤The future of literature is here

In front of them, Yang Kailin, Pan Yifan, and Acropolis Publishing Zhuang Ruilin are like the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel behind the heroes of American comics. They come from different fields, but they also believe in literature and have the dignity of professional people. They worked hard behind the scenes to detonate literature, to push Alphabet Novelists to the limit, to create a literary movement of possibilities, to recreate the beginnings of the beginning, and to approach the future.

The first A of Alphabet Club is the future, and the last Z is zero. Never came to zero, started from zero, doesn't this order directly refer to the meaning of restarting literature? Yes, the future of literature is here, and it is now. ●( The original text was first published on the OPENBOOK official website on 2017-09-13)

Filming location provided: Treellage Life Cafe

Alphabet will AF (set of books)
Authors: Hu Shuwen, Chen Xue, Tong Weige, Huang Chongkai, Huang Jinshu, Luo Yijun, Yan Zhongxian / Author, Yang Kailin / Planning, Pan Yifan / Review Publishing: Acropolis Publishing

Letter LETTER: Luo Yijun Album <br class="smart">Author: Editorial Department/Planning of Acropolis Publishing
Publishing: Acropolis Publishing