NEW LITERARY MOVEMENT Its Tendency and Future: Fading Vogue of the Unintelligible (II)

Back towards the classics

回归古典

Recently， however， the popularity of foreignisation has betrayed signs of waning. It is true that novelty easily wins the hand of fashion， but fashion is fickle and ever ready to divorce， and the commonsense of a people never fails to render a timely verdict. Among the most popular and distinguished new writers， indeed， there are few whose writings are unintelligible or thoroughly un-Chinese. Wiser foreignised authors have begun to abandon their cheap， paper-flower stuff and set forth on the road to the valley of dancing blooms. One recently published pei hua magazine which has won immediate popularity， is called “Lun Yu” （The Confucian Analects）， a name that would have been stigmatised as “feudal” a couple of years ago.

然而，西化的热度近来有所减弱。诚然，新奇的东西很容易赢得时尚的青睐，但时尚变化无常，随时都有可能被抛弃，而民族意识总会审时度势，及时做出判断。事实上，在最受欢迎和最杰出的新作家中，很少有人的作品晦涩难懂或完全没有中国特色。更明智的西化作家已经开始放弃廉价纸花般的文字，踏上通往繁花山谷的道路。最近有本名为《论语》的白话文杂志一出版就赢得了读者的喜爱——这个杂志名若放在几年前可能会背上“封建”的骂名。

We must not， however， draw the hasty conclusion that all this signifies the disappearance of foreign influence in the literary style of pei hua. On the contrary many foreign touches continue to be in vogue. Punctuation marks and the system of paragraphing—which of course do not belong to the essence of the Chinese language—are not only currently used in all pei hua writings but also applied to newly edited old literary works. Both in poetry and the drama， the western influence remains dominant. The tide of blind imitation has been gradually ebbing， leaving behind it some lifeless shells on the beach. The subtle and slow process of selective absorption is working on the style of pei hua.

但我们绝不能草率地得出结论，认为这一切就意味着白话文丝毫不受外国影响了。相反，许多外国元素仍继续流行。标点符号和段落系统本不属于汉语，但现在不仅所有的白话作品使用，重新编辑的旧文学作品也在使用。无论是对诗歌还是戏剧，西方的影响仍占主导地位。盲目模仿的浪潮已逐渐退去，海滩上留下了一些毫无生气的贝壳。这种微妙而缓慢的选择性吸收过程在一点点影响白话文的风格。

Change in thought

思想的转变

The New Literary Movement has also brought a great change in thought. In his essay， “The Chinese Renaissance，” Dr. Hu Shih aptly describes the change in the first five or six years. “The movement，” he observes， “is no longer confined to the literary reforms. Once the momentum is started， its scope gradually extends till it now includes all shades of radicalism， all forms of faddism， and all kinds of ‘experiments in the new life.’ In the field of literature， realism， naturalism， symbolism， and neo-romanticism all find enthusiastic advocates... In the writings of the younger generation， it is true， there is a great deal of cheap iconoclasm and blind faddism. All that is inevitable.”

和其他事物一样，人类思想也会不断发展。通常来说，思想的变化并不奇怪。但是，在中国的新文学运动中，我们看到了方方面面惊人的变化。它既复杂又迅速，令人眼花缭乱。试图详细列举各种新思想流派的人，最终会发现自己身陷迷宫。或许唯一能做的就是描述变化的主要趋势。

Human thought evolves as anything else. The change in thought is not surprising， in the ordinary way. But， in the New Literary Movement of China we see a change altogether amazing. It is at once complex and rapid. It dazzles. He that tries to enumerate in detail all the different schools of new thought， will in the end find himself in a maze. The only possible thing to do is to describe the main trend of change.

和其他事物一样，人类思想也会不断发展。通常来说，思想的变化并不奇怪。但是，在中国的新文学运动中，我们看到了方方面面惊人的变化。它既复杂又迅速，令人眼花缭乱。试图详细列举各种新思想流派的人，最终会发现自己身陷迷宫。或许唯一能做的就是描述变化的主要趋势。

In the early years， the main activity of the New Literary Movement apparently was concerned with wresting the sceptre from the classical literature. The clamour of the struggle was so deafening that new schools of “-isms，” though growing as rapidly， to use a popular Chinese expression， as bamboo-shoots do after spring rain， were hardly heard of. By the time that pei hua had emerged victorious， three schools had risen into prominence and thrown their shadow over the rest.

早些年，新文学运动的主要活动显然是从古典文学手中夺取权杖。斗争的喧嚣震耳欲聋，以致新的“主义”流派虽如雨后春笋般发展迅速，但却鲜少有人听闻。等到白话文获胜之时，已有三个流派崭露头角，让其他流派相形见绌。

The first of the trio may be called the Decadent School of which the representative authors are Kuo Mê-Jo and Yu Ta-Fu. Kuo’s works such as “Pagoda” and “Drifting” reflect a profound influence of the West， especially that of Goethe. Yu， on the other hand， shrouds his characters in a thick mist of grey—“Sinking Low，” as one of his novels is entitled. His stories are more or less those of a broken heart linked to a slender purse. The younger generation， in whose bosom modern education has inspired discontent with the old system of society， family， and marriage， readily accept the philosophy of life as revealed in “Drifting” and “Sinking Low.” More and more Decadents rose to write of their Sorrows à la Young Werther， and， for a time， the show windows of the Foochow Road bookshops presented a picture of gloom. Within the last four or five years， however， the popularity of the Decadents has been sinking low in spite of the fact that conditions in China have not been better than that of twelve years ago when the Decadents made their appearance.

第一个可称为颓废派，代表作家是郭沫若和郁达夫。郭沫若的《塔》《漂流三部曲》等作品深受西方尤其是歌德的影响。郁达夫笔下的人物则笼罩在一层厚厚的灰色迷雾中——正如他一部小说的名字“沉沦”所表达的。他的故事或多或少都描述了捉襟见肘之境引发的内心苦闷。现代教育激发了年轻一代对旧的社会、家庭和婚姻制度的不满，他们很快便接受了《漂流三部曲》和《沉沦》所揭示的人生哲学。越来越多的颓废派开始创作他们自己的《少年维特之烦恼》——一时间，福州路书店的橱窗里呈现出一派阴郁的景象。然而，最近四五年，尽管中国的情况并不比十二年前颓废派刚出现时好，这一派的声望却日渐低落。