In brief, we should destroy literature and yet reward writers -- reward them for ceasing to be writers, for having nothing to do with literature.Qian's ambiguous satire of "the will to get ahead in the world" has its funny moments, though he ignores the industry of mainstream entertainments, and so misses out on such Wildean wit as his piercing of memoir:
...I dislike modern memoirs. They are generally written by people who have either entirely lost their memories, or have never done anything worth remembering; which, however, is, no doubt, the true explanation of their popularity, as the English public always feels perfectly at its ease when a mediocrity is talking to it.Still, Qian's most devastating point is that only writers may serve as the opposite of servants, and so those of us possessed of the will to get ahead are also forced to serve.
Readings of Interest Mentioned:
- Tao Kan said we should use cow dung as fuel to save wood (Jinshu 66)
- Wang Ziyou commented on the usefulness of bamboo (Shishuo xinyu, Rendan)
- Cao Pi: "Literary men disparage one another; it has always been that way."
- Gautier, Les Grotesques
- The poetry of Alexander Pope
- Yang Xiong regretted being a writer ; Wuzipian
- "In Browning's ideal world..."
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