多年前,“素质教育”之风始起,一个作文比赛造就了一批被称为“萌芽系”的80后作家。郭敬明和韩寒、张悦然等人成为了最为大众热捧的标本式人物。而他们当中,郭敬明这个以写温婉、精致的青春小说见长,将文学与时尚、娱乐高调结合的“明星作家”最为人诟病。他出书、出唱片、拍写真、拍电影,毫不忌讳地把赚钱列入人生的重要目标当中,从而惹来功利、虚荣、自恋、自负的批评,但这却丝毫不影响粉丝们对他的追捧和热爱。更让人啧啧称奇的是,尽管不少文艺人士不断将其作品冠以“垃圾”之名,但郭氏产品的销量却屡屡攀升,甚至国内享有盛名的文学刊物《人民文学》、《收获》等也按捺不住,纷纷选登。
究竟这个“青春文学教主”缘何在“纷繁跌宕”的出版市场长盛不衰?“郭敬明现象”又何以愈演愈烈?我们不妨以“存在就是合理”的角度来思考一番。
Today, we meet China’s highest earning author for the past two years. In that time, he’s made a 1)staggering three-and-a-half million dollars. But his work has been attacked for being too commercial and 2)narcissistic, the very criticism targeted at China’s younger generation.
Reporter: Guo Jingming is a different kind of writer. For a start, he’s the man singing this love song, which he penned himself. This author is a celebrity, more of a pop idol than a writer. He poses for 3)pinups, drives a Cadillac and sometimes takes bodyguards to book signings to protect him from the 4)devotions of his young female fans. When asked about his runaway success, he paints himself as the voice of a generation.
Guo: (Through Translator) Before me, Chinese authors were pretty old. And today’s young people don’t understand life depicted by older authors. So they like my work because it’s by a writer their age, about stuff very close to their lives.
Reporter: In person, Guo is a 5’1” 5)androgynous sprite, sitting on a white fur couch in his office, his dyed chestnut locks tucked into a black Gucci cap, his white jeans cinched with a Hermes belt.
His latest book—his seventh—Tiny Times is 6)smattered with mentions of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Gucci. The book describes the lives and loves of four female university students—The Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City.
Guo says that going from the southwestern city of Chongqing to university in Shanghai and realizing he was poorer than the others was a formative experience.
Guo: (Through Translator) If you’re the poorest out of all your friends, you don’t have a sense of freedom. You think a lot about the pressures of life. China’s young people nowadays are divided quite obviously into different classes. Some people are very rich, some are average.
今天,我们要与过去两年中国收入最高的作家见面。那时,他赚了350万美元,这令人惊讶不已。但他的作品一直为人诟病,称其过于商业化和自恋,而这种批评直指中国的年轻一代。
记者:郭敬明是个与众不同的作家。刚刚开始的这一段,就是他自填自唱的情歌。这位作家是位名人——更像个流行偶像而不是作家。他为挂历海报摆姿势拍照,开一辆凯迪拉克,有时会在新书签售会上带上保镖以免受到狂热的年轻女粉丝的伤害。在谈到这种唾手可得的成功时,他将自己描述为一代人的声音。
郭:(通过翻译)可能在我之前,中国的作家都比较大年纪。今天的年轻人不明白那些年纪大的作家所描绘的生活。因此他们喜欢我的作品,因为这些作品的作者跟他们年龄相仿,而描述的东西也与他们的生活紧密相连。
记者:眼前的郭敬明,是个5尺1寸(约1.55米)、亦男亦女的“小精灵”,坐在他办公室一张白色皮沙发上,他那头染成栗子色的头发藏在黑色的古驰鸭舌帽里,白色的牛仔裤上系着一根爱马仕皮带。
他的新书——第七本——《小时代》或多或少地提及到路易·威登、迪奥和古驰。这本书描写的是四个女大学生的生活和爱情——是《时尚女魔头》和《欲望都市》的混合版。
郭敬明说,从西南城市重庆到上海上大学以及明白自己比其他人穷是一种成长体验。
郭:(通过翻译)一下子变成所有朋友群体里面可能最穷的一个人,你就没有一种自由的感觉。你会觉得很有生活压力。今天,中国的年轻人阶级分化很明显。有些人很有钱,有些则是很一般。
Reporter: Money is unashamedly king in Guo’s world. Betrayal of love for money is a theme of Tiny Times, which is 7)subtitled “Dirty Secrets Make Friends.” He says later novels in the five-part series will chart how materialism destroys idealism. But he admits he doesn’t write to educate or influence readers.
With his disregard for politics and his 8)headlong embrace of 9)commercialism, he’s the new face of the establishment. At just 23, he made news as the youngest-ever member of China’s Writers Association. He has a position at a state-run publishing house, and he runs his own 10)biweekly magazine, Top Novel, where he’s 11)serializing the sequel to Tiny Times.
Each magazine sells half a million copies. On top of that, he’s a judge for a talent contest for young writers, run with Penguin publishing house. Penguin’s general manager in Beijing, Jo Lusby, says his 12)preoccupations are typical of young authors.
Jo Lusby: It’s about me, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my school, my parents, my life, where am I going, where am I heading. It’s very personal. They’re not sitting down, tackling China. And to be honest, I think if they did, they probably wouldn’t be successful, because they don’t have the13)perspective.
Reporter: Quite simply, his is the first generation in Chinese history to have the luxury of selfishness. It’s a luxury Guo Jingming is capitalizing on in every sense of the word. He has no problem 14)commodifying himself. In fact, he’s determined to do just that. That is clear when he talks about his blog. He’s posted poetry and pictures of himself—sometimes bare-chested, sometimes snuggled up in bed, always looking soulful. But he’s 15)cutting back on blogging to build brand value.
记者:在郭敬明的世界里,金钱为王,这一点也不可耻。为钱出卖爱情是《小时代》的一个主题,这本书还有一个副标题“肮脏的秘密造就朋友”。他说这部共有5集的系列小说后面几本会揭示物质主义如何摧毁理想主义。但他承认,他的写作目的并不是教育或者影响读者。
因为他对政治漠不关心,一头扎进商业主义,这让他成为了体制里的新面孔。23岁时,他成为中国作协最年轻的会员,这一时成为了新闻。他在一家国营出版社任职,并且经营一本自己的半月刊《最小说》,他在这本小说里连载了《小时代》。
每本《最小说》都能卖出50万本。除此之外,他是一个挖掘年轻作家的才艺比赛的评判,这个比赛由企鹅出版社举办。企鹅出版社的北京总经理周海伦说,他的关注点在年轻作家当中十分典型。
周海伦:都是关于“我”,我的女友,我的男友,我的学校,我的父母,我的生活,我要去何处,我要去何方。非常个人的问题。他们不是坐下来,解决中国的问题。坦白地说,我想就算他们有那么做,他们也不可能成功,因为他们没有这样的眼界。
记者:很简单,他的一代是中国历史上第一代可以享受“自私”这种奢侈的一代。从任何一方面来说,郭敬明正在利用这种奢侈来获益。他要营销自己完全不存在问题。事实上,他就打算这么做。在谈到自己的博客时,这种意图很明显。他在上面贴上自己的照片和诗歌,照片里他时而赤裸上身,时而偎依在床上,看上去总是情深款款。但为了建立品牌价值,他已经减少了写博客。 
Guo: (Through Translator) I still publish my picture and writings in my magazine. That way, they translate into value. On my blog, they were free. In the magazines, they become product. I haven’t stopped building my brand. I just don’t want to give away product to consumers.
Reporter: He’s also branched out into film. He wrote the screenplay for The Promise, a big budget film which tanked at the box office. His 16)prolific output has led to rumors of ghostwriters, which he denies.
But he has been found guilty of 17)plagiarism. In 2004, a court found Guo Jingming’s novel Never Flowers in Never Land shared 12 major plot elements and 57 similarities with a book by an author called Zhuang Yu. He paid out $24,000 in damages, but wouldn’t apologize. Today, he refuses to talk about the case.
He’s determined to stick to the positive, a trait echoed in his work and his view of his country.
Guo: (Through Translator) I really like my country, and I’m honored to be Chinese. I don’t really criticize society. I want to display the beautiful and bright side of society. I may touch on the negative side, but that’s not my focus. I want to express what people cherish about society.
Reporter: Critics say he 18)epitomizes the blind narcissism of China’s youth. He doesn’t shy away from this, admitting all his characters are inspired by traits of his own personality.
The search for the ultimate 19)validation—love—runs through Tiny Times. But Guo Jingming smiles when asked about his own love life. “I don’t have time for that,” he says. “My priority is my career.”
郭:(通过翻译)我杂志上依然在登自己的照片,依然在登自己的文字作品。这样,它们就会转化为价值。放在我博客上的话,它们就都是免费的。在这些杂志里,它们转化成了产品。我不曾停止树立自己的品牌。我只是不想向消费者派送我的产品。
记者:他还拓展到电影领域。他为电影《无极》写了剧本——《无极》是一部大投资的电影,但是票房惨败。他作品的大量推出惹来了流言四起,认为他请枪手代写,但他否认了这一点。
不过,他曾被判剽窃罪成立。2004年,法院裁定郭敬明的小说《梦里花落知多少》与一名叫庄羽的作者写的一本书有12处主要情节相同,有57处一般情节和语句等相似。他付出了两万四千美元的赔偿金,但拒绝道歉。今天,他拒绝谈论此事。
他决心朝积极方面发展,这种显著特征反映在他作品及其对祖国看法上。
郭:(通过翻译)我很喜欢我的国家,我也为自己是中国人而感到光荣。我没有真的在批判社会。我想展示社会美好、光明的一面。我或者会触及消极的一面,但那不是我的关注点。我想表达人们所珍惜的关于这个社会的东西。
记者:有批评指,他是中国年轻人盲目自恋的缩影。他没有回避这一点,并承认他写的所有角色都是受他自己性格中的某些特点启发而来的。
对爱情的最终验证贯穿于整部《小时代》。但在问及他爱情生活方面的问题时,郭敬明却笑了起来。他说:“我没有时间谈恋爱。我现在最重视的是事业。”
翻译:未几
