Wang Shuo

Wang Shuo’s works have drawn much attention from critics, causing many controversies and debates. As we all know ,there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Critics hold different views on Wang Shuo and his hooligan literature. You can see some bones of contentions through the brief debate below.

bones of contentions:

Fight with fake sublimity VS Lost in nihilism

Deep irony VS Blasphemous joke

Civilian consciousness VS Privileged class mentality

Deep sorrow VS shallow happiness

A: I think Wang Shuo’s works especially those called “hooligan literature” are quite special and valuable. Wang Shuo intentionally keeps away from the kind of literature that seems to stand higher than the real life and always try to educate people with their fickle “truth”. He uses a variety of ironic parodies in his works to tear up the mask of fake sublimity, which may contains ideology ,some backward conventions and those self-righteous intellectuals.

B: Sorry to say that I can’t agree with you. Actually The protagonists in Wang Shuo’s works called “palying master” not only try to overturn the fake sublimity but also deny the value of culture, morality and life, which leads to nihilism . Therefore these cynics have no ideal or spiritual pursuit, take nothing serious and just live in void every day. And another thing I should stress is that those brilliant ironies you appreciate are just blasphemous jokes by which those hooligans show their cleverness so they are not as meaningful and profound as you think.

A:You seem to have much misunderstanding on the “palying master”. Of course they have their own pursuit. As we can see in the works, they try to do something special to change their life and social status ,for example, the three protagonists in palying master form the three-T company to earn money and serve the public . Besides, as civilians, it’s quite brave for them to have the idea of resisting authority. Nihilism and hooliganism are just their means to fight against hypocrisy and ideology oppression.

B:Civilians? For my part, they have nothing to do with this word. Wang Shuo and his protagonists all grew up in military compounds in Beijing . Their family background once gave them privileges and superiority complex, which also enables them to go through a carefree juvenile time in the Cultural Revolution. As the finish of the Cultural Revolution, they don’t have the privilege any more ,which makes them feel a strong sense of loss. They are not willing to be ordinary people but they don’t have the ability to lift their social status. Therefore they revolt with blasphemous jokes and distinctive lifestyle. They look down upon the civilians from the bottom of their hearts according to the idea of strata ,which is learned from their former life experience. So as I put it ,they are just hooligans who think highly of themselves and favor the leveled society, which has passed away.

A: Well, I agree that the former life experience have great influence on them. But you always look at them with your prejudice. As critics we need to come closer to understand these characters. Yeah, just as you’ve said ,they go through their juvenile time in military compounds in the Cultural Revolution. At that time , they were told that “you are the successor of socialism, the master of the nation in future”. But suddenly everything changed . With the new social orders formed by the reform, they became nobody and have to enter a present where they are completely lost, recasting themselves in a new and unknown mold. They have to unlearn what they were taught throughout their youth, reinventing their own moral principles and narratives. It is so natural for them to have nostalgia for the life in the past and feel uncomfortable, frustrated ,and even deeply resented to the present. In my view, they are just poor people who linger about the border of the past and the present and they take advantage of hooliganism to express their discontent and to conceal their sorrow. It is through those paradoxical scenarios that Wang Shuo reveals the depth of individual disillusionment and alienation. And that ‘s why I think Wang Shuo’s works have social significance and literature depth. --Yuki (talk) 09:39, 4 June 2016 (UTC)