Searching for the Coast of Belonging in Alienation —— Guelner's Literary World

At Stockholm local time 10, 13:00 (Beijing time 19:00), the Swedish Academy awarded the 202 10 Nobel Prize in Literature to the Tanzanian writer Abdul Lasak Guelner with the following words: "In view of his understanding of colonialism and refugees in the cultural gap between China and the mainland,

I think that after receiving this news, most people have doubts in their hearts. Who's Guelner? Why did he get the Nobel Prize in Literature? To tell the truth, the writer Guelner was puzzled when he won the prize. But after reading some works by Mr. Guelner, I finally got the answer.

When it comes to Africa, people always think of the words wildness, nature, poverty and violence. The life-and-death competition among cheetahs, lions and zebras on the prairie, the endless struggle among various violent and barbaric organizations in poor cities, and the backward life of tribal villagers in isolated villages … these stereotypes make Africa synonymous with backward civilization, so that no one will associate this land with elegant literature at all. However, Africa also has a bright and pure land, Zanzibar Island, where this year's Nobel Prize in Literature winner Guelner was born.

Zanzibar Island, born in Guelner, is located between the African continent and Madagascar, and its geographical position is very advantageous. Historically, there have been various forces on this beautiful black and pink island once occupied by Arabs. Left a deep Islamic cultural color on this land. Swahili civilization has also been established in the mainland, which has laid the brand of African nation for this land. In modern times, the flag of British colonization was planted on this land, followed by the western culture exhaled by industrial steam engines ... It can be said that Zanzibar Island is not only a transit point for Eurasian goods, but also a crossroads of Eurasian culture. Guelner, who grew up in this cultural environment, was inevitably influenced by various cultures.

? When Guelner was born, Zanzibar was still under British rule, and Guelner received a good western education. When I was young in Guelner, the British left this land that did not belong to them in the vigorous wave of national liberation in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The colonists were driven away, and our days of suffering were over. "Then what?" This kind of torture haunts everyone in Zanzibar's mind, and it also makes Guelner have the initial literary thinking: "Where are we going?"

? When the Tanzanian people welcomed their new life with full attitude, they were surprised to find that there was nothing to escape. Although the gunboats of the British Empire will never appear on the coastline, we still speak English and drink black tea, nourished by British culture, but there is nothing we can do. So is there any other way? People in Africa look back helplessly and see uncivilized compatriots in their own tribe who still maintain a barbaric lifestyle, but they close their eyes painfully and have no clue. "So, who are we?" People of insight in Africa are thinking about this problem, including young Guelner.

Even if they set foot in a foreign land and feel the nourishment of foreign languages, they are still inspired by national culture in everyone's heart. However, what they face in life and even survival is still the western concept and culture. Who do we belong to? Thomas Sankara carried out great political practice on this issue with unswerving spirit, and Guelner also searched for the answers he understood in writing again and again.

? In Guelner's view, at the end of exploration, there is nothing after all, and everything is broken alienation. Guelner's works reflect the deep powerlessness after the fruitless pursuit of identity. For example, in a cage, Hamid will never cross a swamp full of insects. He is afraid of the dark, because the people in the dark are completely different from him. Hamid, however, can't get rid of the darkness and can only wander in the cage. With the appearance of Mansay, he finally had a transitional passage between himself and the darkness. The appearance of the girl Rujiya stimulated his desire instinct, and her appearance prompted him to question Mansay, which was a game with darkness. Because his subconscious wants to fight the darkness; He tried to face the darkness because he realized the possibility of crossing the darkness in the game. Lucia walked into the night when they met for the first time, but he saw the light, and the girl fell into darkness after all, and the chess pieces also fell into darkness. Everything is nothing.

? This reminds me of the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's "Golden Pavilion Temple", which is also powerless, empty and desperate. But the difference is that Guelner's novels are just a kind of weakness and emptiness in identity cognition, and the tragic taste in Guelner's novels is related to colonialism. The helplessness in "Golden Pavilion Temple" is a sense of powerlessness after disillusionment, with a classical tragic aesthetic feeling. Their artistic expression is completely different.

Guelner is a writer who immigrated to England. As an immigrant, many immigration issues are discussed in his novels. Identity and cultural identity run through Guelner's thinking on immigration. As an immigrant, where is my home? Where do I really belong? Guelner's novel The Seaside (which should be more appropriately translated as the coast) focuses on this issue. In his view, the coast lies between the inland and the ocean, and it does not belong to the inland or the ocean. Both refugees and immigrants belong to the coast where there is a gap between the ocean and the mainland. They don't know which side they belong to, but they are quite wary and even hostile to either side. In the novel, Saleh, as an old Muslim from Zanzibar, is usually arrogant, but for his own safety, he can only forge a visa in the name of the enemy and seek asylum from the British government. After coming to England, Saleh tried to recall everything, while Latif, who was also an immigrant, tried to forget everything. Guelner has no intention of judging their behavior from a moral point of view. Their image is just a microcosm of immigrants. As an immigrant or even an ordinary person, how should we face our own national culture and western culture? Guelner created a special tension in his novels. The choice of the two narrators dispels the path and direction of the plot of the novel, and also dispels the authority and self-awareness of the narrator. This leaves readers room for their own thinking.

Schopenhauer once talked about a classic philosophical theory in Sideline and Addendum: the plight of porcupines. There is a porcupine in Africa. In cold days, porcupines have to snuggle up to each other to keep warm. When porcupines want to get close to each other to keep warm, their thorns will reluctantly stab each other. In the human world, there is always a gap between people, and people can never understand others or even themselves. Whether this theory is correct or not, we can substitute this theory into different cultures and nations, and we will find it is true. Different cultures will never understand each other, and there will never be real tolerance between different nationalities. Guelner's novels just want to express this point. This sense of alienation.

Some people attribute the theme of Guelner's novels to thinking about colonialism, which really provides a way of thinking. Born in the former colony and influenced by the suzerain, Guelner's novels are inevitably influenced by colonial culture, but more often, he still thinks from the perspective of refugees themselves and his own nation. However, Guelner is not a nationalist, and he has a feeling of * * * for refugees. Not only because of ethnic ties, but also because of a humanitarian feeling, he embarked on the road of literature and wrote one work after another reflecting the refugee immigrant group.

Today, Guelner is still writing and thinking about the future of immigrants and the country. This road may have no end, but Guelner is still striding forward on this road. Recently, Belarus and Poland have also caused a series of disputes because of the refugee problem. Whether refugees or immigrants, to onlookers, it is nothing more than some pictures taken on TV news or cold words and pictures in newspaper publications. But they are also living people, and they face all unknown fears. But there are also writers like Guelner who speak for them, show their mental journey and explore their feelings. This is commendable. I think, if Nobel Prize in Literature's favor for Guelner can make more people pay attention to the problems of immigrants and refugees and do something for them, can it make them not be broken and alienated and find a true sense of belonging?

I hope so.