编者按：为了更好地进行中国文学海外传播工作，让中国作品在海外被发现（Discover）、被理解（Understand）、被传播（Express），中国文化译研网（CCTSS）邀请国内资深文学主编及文学评论家，精选出近两百部短中长篇小说，形成第一期《中国当代文学作品指南》（简称“指南”），从更具权威性、价值性的角度出发，更好地向世界展示中国当代文学精品，传播中国书香。

春读书，兴味长，磨其砚，笔花香。现将“指南”中的精品文学作品以一日一推的方式向读者呈现，让我们不负春日好时光。

阎真丨《沧浪之水》

推荐理由

《沧浪之水》在《当代》2001年4月刊登，获《当代》年度文学奖一等奖，人民文学出版社2001年10月出版。

时下的中国，反腐成为文学反映现实生活的主题之一，《沧浪之水》是一部官场小说但又超出一般意义上的官场小说，它更具有对于人生和信仰的深思，一方面小说对于官本位有所批判，另一方面，小说深入探讨了知识分子在看清真相之后仍然在真实中迷失了自我，于是作者进一步追问。作者阎真，将一个最终走向仕途、无法回头的知识分子之心一点点解剖，这场面是真实可怕的。悲剧就是把美好的东西毁灭给人看，在小说结尾，“我”把父亲遗留下的《中国历代文化名人素描》付之一炬，或许正意味着传统君子道德的崩塌。

“世界变化了，现代社会的多元主义、相对主义都在解构单纯的信仰。”这是阎真的思考，陶渊明“不为五斗米折腰”的气节曾经无比高大，然而当他饥寒交迫时，只怕也会为一顿饭无着落而愁煞。阎真质疑，传统的知识分子专注于君子小人之辩，可市场经济只区分强者弱者，功利成为惟一的标准，无孔不入的市场规则，是纯粹的精神力量能抗拒的吗？文学评论家李敬泽说，《沧浪之水》是一部令人惊骇的小说，生活以无以抗拒的合法性、合理性和真实性逼迫之每一个人，我们在把自己交给生活的时候，是否找到了一块坚实的立足之地？

小说在叙事上畅快淋漓，第一人称的视角带给人更多的反思，仿佛将读者置入真实的情境来做出选择。也正是如此，我们很难简单地、宣泄式地对官场的腐败做出谴责。这样的官场小说，没有了嬉笑怒骂，没有乌纱帽打掉之后的现形，更多的是对于我们的信仰和根基的深思。

Reviews

Featured in Dangdai Bimonthly for its Apr. 2001 edition, Dark Blue Water won the Magazine’s annual Literature Grand Prix. It was published by People’s Literature Press in Sept. 2001.

In contemporary China, anti-corruption has become a major theme in literature depicting real life situations. Dark Blue Water is a novel about officialdom but beyond that, it embodies a reflection on life and beliefs. Throughout the novel, we see a critical evaluation of bureaucratic thought as well as commentary on the fact that intellectuals lose their sense of self even after discovering the truth that surrounds them, a topic that the author goes into deeper inquiry on. The author Yan Zhen exposes little by little the heart of an intellectual who finally embarks on the road of officialdom with no turning back. But such exposure is too real to be pleasant and the essence of tragedy lies in the destruction of the good as well as the process by which that happens. And by the end of the novel, the narrator burns their father’s copy of Outlines on Past Chinese Cultural Celebrities, signifying the broad moral collapse of traditional gentlemen.

Yan Zhen reflected that “The world is changing, and its pluralism and relativism are deconstructing pure beliefs.” The famous poet Tao Yuanming once said he possessed high moral integrity for he “would not make curtsies for the salary of five bushels of rice”. However, were he to suffer cold and hunger, he might be deeply worried over when and where his next meal would come as well. Yan Zhen challenges that traditional intellectuals are too preoccupied with the differences between gentlemen and villains. Meanwhile, our pandering to markets has only come to distinguish the strong from the weak, with utilitarianism being the sole criteria for distinction. Can one truly withstand the pervasive force of market rules, doing so on willpower alone? The literary critic Li Jingze remarked that Dark Blue Water is truly shocking, unveiling how life overwhelms us all with its legitimacy, rationality and reality, and later asked “But when we give ourselves up to it, can we find solid land to exist on?”

This novel’s narration is both free-flowing and eloquent; its first person narrative offers much food for thought, positioning the reader so that they feel they are there making the choices. And for this very reason, it is hard for us to condemn the corruption of officialdom in a simple and straightforward manner.

Unlike other novels about Chinese officialdom, this story is removed of caricature, ridicule, and ugly conclusion of one’s title. It instead delves deep into our beliefs and backgrounds, like finding a new world at the bottom of the ocean.

作家简介

Author Profile

阎真，1957年生，湖南长沙人，当代作家，中南大学文学院教授。

1973年，阎真高中毕业，当时由于家庭出身不好，没有机会推荐上大学，自此后的七年间他到社会上四处打零工，直到 1979年他参加了《湘江文艺》举办的文学竞赛，无意间改变了他的人生方向。1980年，阎真被北大中文系录取。1988年，阎真和许多知识分子一样，踏上了异国的土地——加拿大，但是在众多“海漂”盼望的“绿卡”变成现实的时候，阎真放弃机会，对于中国文化的依恋使他回国，继续在高校教书，并进行文学创作。

他的主要作品有短篇小说《菊妹子》、中篇小说《佳佳呀，佳佳》、长篇小说《沧浪之水》《曾在天涯》（海外版名《白雪红尘》）《因为女人》《活着之上》等，理论著作《百年文学与后现代主义》和数十篇文艺理论学术论文以及随笔《精神的重迭》《无人见证的牺牲》等，还出版有《阎真文集》五卷，作品被翻译成多国文字发表。《沧浪之水》曾获《当代》2001年度文学大奖，《活着之上》获得首届路遥文学奖。

Yan Zhen, born in 1957, is a native of Changsha, Hunan Province. He is a contemporary Chinese writer and a professor in the College of Literature, Central South University.

For about seven years following his high school graduation in 1973, Yan Zhen did various odd jobs because he could not get himself recommended into university owing to his questionable family background. So it was not until 1979 that he could take his life in a new direction, having taken part in a literature contest held by Xiangjiang Art and Literature Magazine. A year later, he was admitted to the Chinese Department of Peking University. In 1988, like many other Chinese intellectuals, Yan Zhen went abroad to Canada. However, when he finally got his coveted “green card” – really, his status as a permanent resident – he gave it up and returned to his native land out of an attachment to Chinese culture. He continues to teach in university and engage in literary creation.

His major works include the short story Sister Chrysanthemum, the novella Jiajia, the Girl, the novels Dark Blue Water, Because of Women, White Snow and Red Earth, and Above Living, theoretical works like One Hundred Years of Literature and Postmodernism, essays like The Overlapping of Spirit and Unwitnessed Sacrifice, as well as dozens of academic articles on the theory of art and literature. He has also published five volumes of A Collection of Yan Zhen’s Literary Works. Dark Blue Water won the 2001 Dangdai Bimonthly Literature Grand Prix and Above Living was awarded the 1st Lu Yao Literature Prize. His works have been translated into many languages.

中文梗概

Synopsis

父亲在我出生那年因替同事讲了几句公道话被划为右派，因此他还被赶出了县中医院，带着我来到一个小山村，当了一个乡村医生。我考取北京中医学院那年，他看了我的录取通知书，吼了一声苍天有眼就一头栽在地上。1985年，我研究生毕业回到省里，在卫生厅办公室工作。此后我就开始了与同事丁小槐斗心眼的“生涯”，但是每次都是我吃亏。厅里要整顿省内的中药市场。我和丁小槐去吴山地区调查，那里假药泛滥，可那是马厅长的家乡。回来后我把情况向药政处做了汇报，可丁小槐却对处长说材料不准确。我把事情告诉了厅里的老办事员晏之鹤时，他却劝我学聪明点。

厅里花三十万买了一部进口轿车。在一次支部民主生活会上，我把购买小车的细账算了，但是没提到任何人。等马厅长离开会场后大家都批评我，连平时关系最好的小莫都说我的不是。不久以后我就被调离省厅办公室，到中医学会去了。女朋友知道这个消息，也断然与我分手。在中医学会一呆就是四五年，在这期间，我同市五院的护士董柳结婚、生子，完成了人生的一个必要程序。这时，丁小槐已经提了办公室副主任，搬出筒子楼住套间去了。

儿子三岁该上幼儿园了，本想让他进省政府幼儿园。我想尽了办法进不去，可丁小槐的儿子进去了。最后还是董柳的妹夫想了办法，儿子才进去了。我叹息自己无能。

按卫生部的统一部署，省卫生厅里抽人去湖区搞血吸虫调查，我也去了。在马厅长的授意下，调查组在选址抽样方面均做了精心安排，结论是发病率略有下降。我知道数据不可靠，但因位卑言轻无法说出口。回到家里后，我写了真实情况想匿名寄到北京去，却被董柳阻止。

这一切都让我感到绝望，急得心里发痛。

后来，马厅长的孙女到省人民医院输液，几个护士都因太紧张走了针。马厅长夫人听说董柳技术好，就连夜派车接来，一针就打中了。厅长夫人留她在病房陪了几天后，主动提出把她调到省人民医院。多年的愿望一下子实现，董柳哭了。

中医研究院原院长舒少华准备揭发马厅长，已经有五十多个人签名，他希望我签名，我把事情跟晏之鹤说了。晏之鹤建议我当晚向马厅长汇报，我经过痛苦的选择后去了马厅长家，把事情说了。马厅长布置我去做几件事，我连夜就做了。第二天舒少华的阵线就崩溃了，签名的人纷纷找到马厅长表示忏悔。马厅长安排我报副高职称，又参加博士考试，都通过了。年底厅里下了文，调我到医政处当副处长，房子也搬套间了。

一年间，老婆调动了，房子有了，职称有了，位子有了，工资涨了，博士读了，说话也管用了，真像做梦一样。后来，由马厅长提名，我被任命为副厅长，分管中医研究院。

终于有一天马厅长对我说他想推荐我做厅长。时机成熟后，我建议让马厅长离任后出国考察，顺便看看在洛杉矶读博士的儿子。其实是为了摆脱他的“垂帘听政”。在父亲坟前，我苦苦思索为何原本的意念、理想，都在不知不觉间随波逐流走上了另一路。答案是那里有虚拟的尊严和真实的利益，我就是因此放弃了准则信念，成为了一个被迫的虚无主义者。

终于，我跪倒在父亲坟前，把他遗留下的《中国历代文化名人素描》付之一炬。

The same year I was born, my father was labeled a rightist for defending a colleague who was wrongly treated, finding himself expelled from the Central County Hospital. He took me to a small mountain village and became a village doctor. The year I was admitted to Beijing Chinese Medicine College, he fell to the ground and died instantly after reading my letter of admission and crying out “Heaven has eyes.” In 1985, I returned to my province after earning my post-graduate’s and got a position in the Health Department office. From then on, I started a “career of rivalry” with my colleague Ding Xiaohuai, but I was always the one outmatched each time. To rectify the market of Chinese medicine in the province, the Department sent Ding Xiaohuai and me to Wushan for investigation. The area was inundated with counterfeit goods but it was the hometown of Director Ma. After returning, I reported the situation to the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, but Ding Xiaohuai told the chief that the information is inaccurate. When I revealed it to Yan Zhihe, a senior clerk in the department, he advised me to act smarter.

The department bought an imported car for 300,000 yuan. In democratic life meeting hosted by the party branch, I gave a detailed account of the transaction but referenced nobody. And as soon as Director Ma left, everybody started to criticize me, even my closest friend Xiao Mo. Not long after, I was transferred out of the department office to the Chinese Medicine Association. My girlfriend broke up with me immediately after hearing about this.

I was at the Chinese Medicine Association for no less than four or five years, during which I married and had a son with Dong Liu, a nurse from No. 5 City Hospital. This was a part of life necessary for me to go through. At this time, Ding Xiaohuai had been promoted to the position of vice director, moving from their run-down house to an apartment.

By the time my son was three years old, I had tried every possible means of getting him into the provincial government kindergarten, failing each time. But somehow, Ding Xiaohuai managed to get his son in without any trouble. My son did finally get in however, but the credit went to Dong Liu’s brother-in-law, making me feel shameful and incompetent.

In accordance with the Health Ministry’s unified deployment, the provincial health department assigned a team to investigate schistosomiasis cases in the lake area, me being one of the members. As suggested by Director Ma, the investigation team deliberately arranged sampling sites and concluded that spread of the disease was on the decline. However, I can clearly see that the data is unreliable, yet am unable to comment on the matter given my humble position. Upon returning home, I write a letter containing the truth, hoping to send it anonymously to Beijing, but Dong Liu stops me. This filled me with despair, my heart aching in anxiety.

Later on, Director Ma’s granddaughter came to the hospital for a transfusion. Several on-duty nurses found themselves too nervous to perform the task properly, so when Ma’s wife learned that Dong Liu is gifted in this area, she sent for Dong Liu without delay, the job getting done both neatly and efficiently. Mrs. Ma had Dong stay in the ward for a few days and offered to transfer her to the provincial People’s Hospital. Dong Liu cries, her dream for many years being realized overnight.

Shu Shaohua, former director of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute intended to disclose Director Ma’s dirty deeds and had already got over 50 signatures in support, and now wanted me to sign. I confided my situation in Yan Zhihe, who suggested that I tell this to Director Ma that very evening. After a painful choice, I went to Ma’s home and told him everything. Director Ma assigned me a few things which I completed overnight, bringing about Shu Shaohua’s downfall the following day. Each one of his signatories then visited Director Ma in repentance. Director Ma prompted me to apply for an associate senior professional title and take the PhD entrance exam. All the tests I took were green-lighted through and by the end of the year the health department had approved my transfer to the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, where I would assume the position of vice director. My family also moved into an apartment.

My wife was transferred with a year after that, my place of residence improved, and my professional title and official position were secured. My salary grew and I received my doctoral degree. People followed my orders for once – it’s all like a dream. After some time, nominated by Director Ma, I was appointed vice director in charge of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute.

One day, Director Ma told me he would like to have me be his successor. I thought “At long last, my time has come!” and eagerly awaited my opportunity to suggest he go on an academic tour after leaving his post, sweetening the suggestion by saying he could visit his son who is doing PhD studies in Los Angeles. But the truth is, I wanted to remove his last bit of behind-the-scenes control while he was away.

Standing in front of my father’s tomb, I searched myself for why my original ideas and ideals have been pushed so far down this other road, and how they’ve been pushed so imperceptibly. And the answer I reached was that false esteem and tangible benefits are what lied there. It was for these very things that I renounced my principles and was forced into nihilism.

Eventually, I kneel in front of my father’s tomb and pull out a book he gave me long ago – Outlines on Past Chinese Cultural Celebrities. Then I set it aflame.