The third book to introduce is "The Devil's Daughter" by Teacher Chen Xue.

This book was published in 1999. In 2021, United Literature will republish the book. I bought it for reading because of the enthusiastic introduction by Zhou Zhaofei, the editor-in-chief of United Literature. Sure enough, the level of shock was far beyond my imagination.

The novel is about the heroine Fang Tingting looking for a psychiatrist "I" to treat her long-term insomnia and intermittent deafness. In the process of psychotherapy, "I" discovered that the root cause of Tingting's disease came from being sexually abused by his father for a period of time when he was young. During the treatment, Tingting slowly discovered that in addition to being the victim, she was also the perpetrator.

Can you imagine that when this book about sexual assault, incest, and trauma was published in 1999, it didn't feel like a bomb?

The whole book is a dialogue between the doctor and Tingting's treatment process, interspersed with Tingting's letters, about those unbearable memories, about those feelings that cannot be spoken.

When I was reading the chapter on "I" meeting with Tingting, I naturally assumed the role of "I" as the therapist in the book. As a therapist, "I" naturally hoped that through the dialogue with Tingting, I could help her solve the insomnia in front of her, and I hoped to help her get out of this pain. But will the "me" approach really help her? "I" have this question:

I felt pain, her pain infected me strongly, and my own vulnerability and doubts were revealed. She was also a woman, but she had to endure so much suffering, such a smart and brave girl, desperately trying to confront the past , but used the wrong method, what about myself? Do I know what is the correct way? I don't know, I can't even really appreciate what she's going through? And as careful as I am, with the slightest inadvertent I could drive her mad and out of control beyond rescue. (page 162)

I understand that seeing a friend in pain, it's natural to make an opinion and hope he/she accepts it. But is it the right way? If he/she doesn't accept it, will I feel like he/she is giving up? Will it cause another injury? Tingting thought that being with different men was a way to forget the pain of the past; but these men mistakenly thought that they were saviors and pointed at Tingting's behavior. In this way, Tingting is pinched into a confused concept, life is more chaotic, and it can't help her. This is a reminder to me.

As for the part of Tingting's letters, it is fragmented and incoherent. Some of the content is its own denial, and some are fragmented memories. The reader is like a jigsaw puzzle, slowly piecing together her story, her pain, and how it affected her. From the beginning of the sexual assault, she felt that she had done something wrong, and gradually she did not understand how to resist, and even deleted this part from her memory. However, this memory is actually hidden in the black box and has not been deleted. It was not until she knew how to "let go of herself" and was willing to accept the "she" who was still in her childhood, that unbearable memory was recalled:

Today I'm going to start learning to cry, I'm going to cry for so much lost time, for my childhood that died early, for the innocence I deserved but died, and for my blinded self, my cry is like the chirping of insects , the tears won't flow, close my eyes I see the past me, the little girl inside me is like my own baby, her tender face, soft heart, little mouth that can't make a sound, I hug her tightly but She broke free from my embrace and shrank into the corner and she's been there for years and I think about how she struggled through those nights alone and how she always pretended to be brave and how happy and smart she used to be , she shouldn't be treated like this, "no one should treat a little girl like this," a voice told me, and I finally cried out. (pages 187, 188)

Teacher Chen Xue wrote in the postscript of the first edition that she originally planned to write a story about insomnia, because she was an insomniac, and then she suspected that she had depression, so she bought a lot of related books, from depression to bipolar disorder, and then schizophrenia, Back to traumatic memories. Later, because of her authorship, she received many stories from readers, and then she wrote her first long-length novel.

After a slow and long thirteen consultations, can Tingting get out of the haze? I'll leave it to you all to read.

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The authors of "Solo Dance", "Fang Siqi's Paradise of First Love", and "The Devil's Daughter" all expressed invariably that literature can be used as therapy, both for the writer and the reader.

Li Qinfeng's acceptance speech at the Akutagawa Prize has already expressed the influence of literature on her (for details, please refer to "Healing·Literature ( Part 1)"). In the postscript to "Solo Dance", she wrote:

...But if the reader has a similar, boundless loneliness, and also yearns for that gleam of redemption, then I sincerely hope that this novel can become a tiny, tiny little man looking for that gleam of light. Clues, such as the author, is lucky.

In the postscript of "Fang Siqi's Paradise of First Love", Lin Yihan and her psychiatrist have this dialogue:

"Do you remember why you wrote it in the first place?"
"In the beginning, I wrote it as if I had a physical need, because it was too painful and I had to vent it. It was like eating and drinking water when I was hungry. Later I wrote it as a habit. Now I don't even write about B, because I can only write about ugly things. matter."
"Writing a novel is just a habit?"
"When I met her later, my whole life changed. Melancholy is a mirror, anger is a window. It was she who pulled me away from my hallucinations and hallucinations, and accompanies me to see the scenery in front of the window. I am very grateful to her. Although the scenery is hell."
"So you have a choice?"
"Like what Ivan said in the novel? Can I pretend that no one in the world takes pleasure in raping little girls, and pretend that there are only macarons, pour-over coffee and imported stationery in the world? I'm not a choice, I can't pretend, I Can't do it."
"What scares you about writing this book?"
"I'm afraid of consuming any Fang Siqi. I don't want to hurt them. I don't want to be curious. Here's the thing: The scariest thing I've ever written is what actually happened. And all I can do is write. Girls are hurt. Girls are being hurt when readers read this conversation .And the villain is still hanging high on the sign. I hate myself for only writing."
"You know what? There's a code in your article. Only a girl in this situation can decipher that code. If only one person, one out of a thousand sees it, she's not alone anymore."( pages 250-252)

And Teacher Chen Xue's new preface to "The Devil's Daughter" also has this text:

Over the years I have often forgotten that I ever wrote this book, even though it was my first novel, and even though it was the beginning of my confirmation that I could write a novel, and that beginning and confirmation, followed by long forgotten. After this book was published in 1999, it went out of print very quickly. It was a book that almost never existed. For a long time I didn't even have this book in my hand, but I would always give a lecture or a forum. When I met someone on occasion, mentioned this book to me, I would meet a certain girl at the end of the speech, and shyly handed me a letter, and what was written in the letter was her personal experience, and she was also a traumatized person. My child was sexually assaulted by his family, and he had spent countless nights of helplessness. Those letters were densely written, and the small handwriting seemed to be easily blown away by the wind, "Thank you for letting me know that I am not the only one." These two sentences are almost always written in those letters... I have been writing novels for many years. The meaning of writing novels is not to treat myself, nor to find answers, but to re-understand life, including life, in an artistic way. It also includes understanding the good and evil in human nature, and the indistinguishable gray area between good and evil, and discernment, thinking and understanding are a long road, It's an endless book. (Pages 18-19, 21) [Note 1]

The words of the three of them reminded me of Jiang Xiaowei's response to Li Qinfeng's acceptance speech:

Literature is such a thing. Because of their innate sensitivity and insight, writers are better than ordinary people at peeling away the pain in their hearts and thinking about the pain. Through writing, let readers discover the truth that is not often seen in daily life. Throughout history, war, exile, separation, and loneliness are all eternal truths. After a writer presents the absurdity of reality through writing, it does not end there. A writer's writing is an individual's resistance to everything that seems inevitable. Therefore, each work can clearly see the author's transformation of the absurdity of cognition into the enthusiasm of life and the power of resistance. The brilliance of literature lies in the fact that writers are willing to be exiled by the mainstream world, indulge and dig by themselves, and even rediscover every tiny dawn in life, so writing about death is not only self-rescue, but also to explore every possibility of life. As a result, a writer who takes life seriously, every word in his works fully reveals their awe for life. It is just how rampant the power of darkness is in the real world, it is impossible to completely drown the dawn, let the author discover the twilight light with readers through the process of writing, which is probably the meaning of "the light of redemption"! [Note 2]

The four authors, Li Qinfeng, Lin Yihan, Chen Xue and Jiang Xiaowei, all pointed out that authors and readers can get treatment from literature and words. Living in unease, worry, and anger every day, how can you keep yourself that kind of empathy and a little sapling of hope for the future? Literature will be that nutrient. The reason why literary works can last in the world is that people from generation to generation can find resonance, comfort, redemption, and hope in them.

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"The Devil's Daughter"
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010909111

[Note 1] Pure Redemption [New Edition Preface] / Chen Xue
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4137373446367096&id=100002834447099

[Note 2] Talking about Li Qinfeng's "Akutagawa Award" acceptance speech - Literature can be the light of redemption
https://p-articles.com/works/2514.html