Shen Yanbing read "Dog Official" two months later, he went to Wuhan at the beginning of the year to work as an instructor at a military academy, and in April he became the editor-in-chief of the "Republic of China Daily" in Hankou. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info When Zhou Hexuan wrote this novel, Shen Yanbing was blocked on the way from Wuhan to Nanchang, and immediately heard the news of the failure of the Nanchang uprising, he lost contact with the party organization.

In early September, Shen Yanbing returned to Shanghai and wrote a novel called "Disillusionment", officially under the pen name "Mao Dun".

"Fiction Monthly", Editor-in-Chief's Office.

After Ye Shengtao saw Shen Yanbing, he was immediately shocked: "Brother Yanbing, why did you come back at this time?" Red parties are being caught everywhere in Shanghai! ”

Shen Yanbing smiled bitterly: "As long as there are no traitors betrayed, who knows my identity?" To be honest, I have lost touch with the organization, and even I can't prove that I am a party member. ”

Ye Shengtao calmed down a little: "That's good, that's good, you have to keep a low profile recently." ”

Shen Yanbing asked, "What about Brother Xidi (Zheng Zhenduo)?" ”

"You don't know?" Ye Shengtao asked rhetorically.

"I just returned to Shanghai and don't know anything," Shen Yanbing took out his novel, "I'm here to submit this time, and I meet old friends by the way." ”

Ye Shengtao said: "Zhenduo has gone to France, and now I am the editor-in-chief of "Novel Monthly". You know, he used to translate the lyrics of The Internationale. A few months ago, he wrote another letter accusing the Kuomintang of betraying the revolution, and as a result, he was wanted and had no choice but to take refuge abroad. ”

"Alas!"

Shen Yanbing let out a long sigh.

Ye Shengtao took the manuscript and asked, "What novel did you write?" ”

Shen Yanbing said: "I plan to write about my revolutionary experience. ”

"Are you crazy?" Ye Shengtao looked at him in surprise.

Shen Yanbing smiled: "Don't worry, I'm not that stupid." The plot has already been dealt with and will not anger the reactionaries. However, now that the situation is grim, I originally wanted to write the plot of the novel until this year, but it seems that I can only write about the May Day tragedy at most, and I can't mention the events of the past two years. ”

"If you know, it's good." Ye Shengtao said.

Shen Yanbing asked, "What are some good novels lately?" ”

Ye Shengtao took out a stack of manuscripts from the drawer, handed them to Shen Yanbing and said, "Read it for yourself." ”

Shen Yanbing flipped it over and said with a smile: "Yo, it's Zhou Hexuan's again, he's very prolific." ”

Ye Shengtao said: "You read "Dog Official" first, I will read your novel to see if there is anything that needs to be covered up again." ”

The two opened the manuscript of the novel and read it carefully, and after more than half an hour, they each finished reading the manuscript in their hands.

Shen Yanbing said with a smile: "This "Dog Official" reminds me of "Metamorphosis". ”

"What Metamorphosis?" Ye Shengtao asked.

Kafka was not well-known in China at this time, and even well-known writers and editors like Ye Shengtao had only heard Kafka's name and had no knowledge of his works.

The first person to introduce Kafka in the Republic of China was none other than Shen Yanbing, who wrote about Kafka four years ago, but did not pay any attention to it.

In fact, this is normal, Kafka's novels are too obscure, and what he wants to express in his novels is not at all interesting to readers in the Republic of China.

Shen Yanbing explained: "The Metamorphosis is a novel by Kafka, and the hero becomes a beetle. However, the two are only similar in form, and the difference is still very large. "Metamorphosis" uses expressionism, and the whole is full of obscure metaphors; And "Dog Official" is more popular and straightforward, just like a "Qingming Riverside Picture" in Chinese society. ”

Ye Shengtao laughed and said: ""Dog Official" is too straightforward, causing dissatisfaction among those reactionaries. Especially the protagonist is still from the revolutionary party, and those who are officials think they are satirizing themselves. ”

"Didn't get into any trouble, did you?" Shen Yanbing asked worriedly.

"There are some minor troubles, but no major troubles," Ye Shengtao said, "and someone suggested that the Nanjing Nationalist Government ban this book, and I hurriedly asked someone to call to clarify the facts." The protagonist of the novel is called Gu Wangzhi, but in fact, he is 'listening to it in vain', just for jokes, and it can't be true. There are also 'pot donations' and 'stove donations' mentioned in the book, which are both harsh taxes invented by Zhang Zongchang in Shandong, even if you want to satirize anyone, it is also satirizing Zhang Zongchang, and it has nothing to do with our revolutionary party in the south. ”

Shen Yanbing smiled and asked, "They believe it?" ”

"I don't care if he believes it or not, as long as he doesn't come to make trouble." Ye Shengtao said.

"Having said that, I'm afraid this novel still makes some dog officials uneasy." Shen Yanbing said.

Ye Shengtao said: "That's not it, I heard that a certain official in Zhejiang who likes to read novels, after watching two serialized "Dog Officials", ordered to kill all the dogs in the house, and took the wretched wife back home to recuperate. ”

"Hahahaha, it's a wonderful thing." Shen Yanbing laughed.

How sensational is "Dog Officer"?

Under normal circumstances, the works serialized in "Novel Monthly" are only loved by literary youth and progressive students. However, "Dog Official" was reprinted in several popular magazines, and the common people applauded when they saw it, and all the bad ass bureaucrats in the world turned into dogs and tasted the sins they had created.

In the novel review column of the supplement of "Declaration", this work is introduced as follows: ""Dog Official" gives readers an opportunity to deeply experience the cruelty of the society of the Republic of China, and also brings a literary word called 'alienation'. The shock it gives to the reader is not that people do bad things to become dogs, but through the perspective and mentality of dogs, the suffering of the people and social chaos are narrated without panic. Buddhism talks about karma, "Dog Official" is a living retribution of the present world, all the suffering suffered by Gu Wangzhi after becoming a dog, most of them are the cause and effect buried by himself, this book is full of Buddhist cause and effect. ”

In the 21st century, textbooks on the history of modern literature in Chinese universities have praised Zhou Hexuan's "The Divine Woman" and "The Dog Official" as "the pinnacle of the May Fourth New Literary Problem Novel" and "the final masterpiece of the New Literary Movement", and praised: "If you want to understand the social situation of China in the 20s of the 20th century, you can read The Divine Woman and The Dog Official." These two works, equivalent to two ukiyo-e prints in the early years of the Republic of China, directly and sharply expose the darkness of reality. They are not only the final works of the May Fourth New Literature, but also the beginning of the wave of magical realism in the world. ”

Márquez, a future Nobel laureate in literature, has repeatedly said in interviews that when he was still studying law at university, a friend lent him a collection of Mr. Zhou's translations, including "The Goddess" and "The Dog Official." Márquez told reporters: "I never knew that a novel could be written like this! If I can write like this, I can write it too. "It dawned on me that there was a world in literature besides the normal and pedantic descriptions I learned in secondary school textbooks." That's how my grandmother told stories, and she quietly told me bloody and horrific stories, as if he had seen them with his own eyes. It was my grandmother's method that I used to create One Hundred Years of Solitude. ”

The middle school students of New China hated Zhou Hexuan.

Since the 90s, excerpts from "The Goddess" and "Dog Official" have been compiled into junior high school and high school Chinese textbooks respectively, and the recitation is simply life-threatening to understand. The reading comprehension of the high school entrance examination and the college entrance examination is often tested, and it is the kind of excerpt that has not been studied, and the writers that students say they hate the most are Zhou Hexuan and Lu Xun, the former writes articles that are chattering, and the latter writes articles full of awkward words.