Unknowingly, I’ve already written so many blog posts—within less than half a year, and mostly in just this past month. Most of my blog posts are long, really long; quite a lot of them run to one or two thousand characters, and everyone says I’m “prolific.” Too bad the comments are really scarce—only 44 posts in total… Seeing Chong Ge’s piece with just six Chinese characters rack up more than eighty replies, sigh…
But then again, my blog really is rather boring. Unlike most blogs, which write diary entries, impressions, very everyday things, I spend whole posts writing out my thoughts; of course that would be dull.
It’s not that I don’t want to put up some light, casual writing, nor am I saying I’ve become so numb to life that I have nothing to write about. But I really have never been used to writing lyrical prose. I feel that emotions don’t need to be written down. Some feelings are so wonderful that once you write them out, they lose their flavor. If they must be written, then they should be written as poetry or prose; that way, when you look back on them later, you can still re-experience that poetic, wondrous feeling. Those beautiful feelings should be recorded in beautiful words. If you simply jot down the time, place, people, and events, you can still preserve a lovely memory for yourself, but that mood and atmosphere will be discounted. Some unhappy feelings—once they’ve passed, let them pass, so I don’t need to record them; and some happy feelings, on the one hand, tend to change flavor once they’re written down, while on the other hand I don’t need to record them either, because there will be new happy feelings in the future. A cool breeze, the swaying of leaves, or simply closing one’s eyes: happiness may come at any moment, so there’s no need to go out of one’s way to record it…
I’ve gone on at length, but really it’s just that I’m lazy, isn’t it? Since childhood I’ve never been able to write narrative essays. I remember that in the preparatory class, the teacher assigned a narrative essay on “Friend,” and I went on about what makes a true friend—that was still tolerable. Later, the assignment was to write “A Gift,” which of course meant we were supposed to write a narrative essay about a gift we had received or given. But when assigning it, the teacher failed to mention the limitation of the topic, so I went and analyzed the meaning and value of giving gifts. Thinking back now, the teacher must have been pretty FT back then……
In short, back then if I could replace a narrative essay with an argumentative one, I absolutely would not write narrative; if something could be analyzed and argued, I would not describe it or express it lyrically. Alas, old habits die hard. But I also know that not everything is worth our analyzing or discussing. There are many things that don’t require analysis, don’t require debate, don’t require rational thought—one only needs to quietly apprehend them. If someone with literary talent can turn those apprehensions into words, then of course that is best; if not, then so be it—close your eyes and say nothing, and that’s fine too.
December 29, 2005
Latest Comments
- Xiaohuhu
2005-12-29 21:05:23 [reply]
Hehe, the little one who loves to think～ - Shangling
2009-12-21
13:07:19 [reply]
In fact, for me, it’s a very interesting blog.
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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