(Prologue) "Ghost Talk" is a collection of essays about ghosts, totaling 36 pieces.
Essays are also called notes, so this is a collection of reading notes. The ancients loved to write notes, almost nothing was beyond their discussion: discussions about poetry were called "poetry talk," discussions about lyrics were called "lyric talk," discussions about fu (a type of rhymed prose) were called "fu talk," discussions about literature were called "literary talk," and discussions about parallel prose were called "parallel prose talk"... Following this format, essays discussing ghosts should be called "ghost talk."
Notes are not easy to write. In "Xu Yanzhou Poetry Talk," it says that poetry talk should be able to "discriminate sentence structure, encompass ancient and modern times, record great virtue, record unusual events, and correct errors." Not many words, but the requirements are not low. It's easy to say, but hard to do. Knowing my own shallowness, I dare not hold myself to such high standards for my "ghost talk." I only hope to use my pen as a substitute for my tongue, like idle chatter among three or five good friends, sharing with everyone the various interests I have gained from reading.
In the mid-1990s, due to a chance opportunity, I read a concentrated batch of ghost stories. Afterwards, I found them very interesting and casually wrote some things down, which later became the 5 "ghost talks" published in the 1999 issue of "Cultural and Historical Knowledge." The editorial department of the magazine has always hoped that I would continue writing for them, and I also had this idea, accumulating some materials. However, caught up in worldly affairs, time passed for many years, and this matter lingered in my heart but was never accomplished. In 2006, while staying in Seattle, with a year's leisure for reading, I organized old drafts and rewrote several pieces, placing them on my blog. They were all rough drafts. After returning to China, amidst the hustle and bustle, I repeatedly delayed, and finally at the end of 2008, I decided to take it up again, resulting in the 12 serialized pieces in the 2009 issue of "Cultural and Historical Knowledge." After barely managing to sustain it for a year, the editor really hoped I would continue writing, but I was troubled by other matters and could not keep up the momentum. Although she said that these manuscripts were "fun, strange, new, cool," and from the first piece onwards, there were readers who liked them. I thought that this might just be the encouragement of the editor and the partiality of some readers. Of course, hearing that after a busy year, I finally received some feedback, gave me no small amount of comfort inside.
Ten years apart, I published 17 articles in two installments in "Cultural and Historical Knowledge." I want to thank "Cultural and Historical Knowledge" here, especially Mr. Hu Youming and Ms. Hou Yanfen. These articles have now been entirely included in this little book, but all have been revised to varying degrees. Some chapters have been rewritten extensively and are unrecognizable. Those not published in "Cultural and Historical Knowledge" mostly appeared as drafts on my Sina blog before being included in this little book, where they were similarly heavily revised. Thank you, Mr. Zhao Yunshi of Guangxi Normal University Press, who enthusiastically solicited manuscripts when this book was still just a concept. Without him, this book would still be a pile of messy "drafts" on the blog.
Chinese people like to talk about ghosts, and they also like to hear ghost stories, whether they are scholar-officials or commoners. Few are not influenced by hearsay. After tea and dinner, under the melon sheds and plum trellises, the folk abound with fertile ground for ghost stories. Strange tales pass from mouth to ear, allowing the common people to pass the time in their mundane lives, add interest to life, and vent suppressed emotions. "The Master did not discuss anomalies, strength, disorder, or spirits." (The Analects of Confucius • Shu Er). Chinese scholars, claiming to pursue learning and understanding through reading, naturally also follow the teachings of the classics. But in fact, their interest in the world of ghosts and deities has not diminished. Curiosity is human nature. When Mr. Su Dongpo forced others to tell ghost stories, it was simply because he cherished the peculiar charm overflowing from ghost stories. Let's speak recklessly, let's listen recklessly; what an open-minded attitude! If there were no ghosts, even the optimistic Mr. Dongpo would probably feel lonely.
Ancient Chinese texts are vast like the sea, and stories about ghosts, along with casual talks involving ghosts, can be said to be countless. There are both rumors originating from the folk and strange tales from foreign lands, as well as a considerable part recorded by literati, either inspired by the scenery or carefully crafted with hidden meanings. Zhou Zuoren once said, "We like to know the appearance and life of ghosts, searching from documents and customs in various aspects, in order to understand a bit of human sentiment that is usually hard to know. In other words, the humanity within ghosts is worth noting, and conversely, the ghostly tricks within humans are also worth recognizing." With Zhou's erudition and leisure, "searching from documents and customs in various aspects" should not be empty words. As for me, I don't dare to harbor such extravagant hopes, but I also "feel that ghosts are quite interesting creatures, impossible to stop talking about," rashly attaching myself to the tails of previous sages to discuss this topic. As early as the 1930s, Li Jinfa published "Ghost Talk" in the "Lunyu" magazine, a series of serialized ghost stories, different from my intentions. However, looking at the title literally, the name of this book is merely borrowing wisdom from predecessors, slightly modified.
Not only does the ghost world contain human sentiment and reason, but it also contains human imagination. Writing ghost stories is a test of human imagination. On May 22, 2008, contemporary Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, visiting Beijing, delivered a speech at the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, saying: "The history of the novel is a history of human liberation: imagining ourselves in someone else's place, using imagination to free ourselves from our identity, thus we gain freedom." (Southern Weekend, May 29, 2008, D25 Edition) Humans use novels, through literary imagination, to free themselves from the constraints of self-identity and achieve the purpose of self-liberation. As a novelist, Pamuk highly evaluating the significance of the art of the novel is completely understandable. This passage talks about novels in a broad sense, but I think it fits strange tales particularly well. Anderson said that nationality/country is an "imagined community." In fact, ghosts, even humans, are also an "imagined community." Only, nationality/country is a grand narrative, while ghosts are trivial and baseless idle talk.
American scholar Edward Said said: "Without opposing sides and negative attributes, one cannot exist: like barbarians to the Greeks, Africans, Easterners to Europeans, etc. Conversely, too." (Culture and Imperialism, translated by Li Kun, page 69) In the eyes of humans, many attributes of ghosts are precisely negative, opposed to humans. In this sense, ghosts can be said to be the "other" of humans. Because of ghosts as a mirror, humans clarify their own cultural identity, establish their own cultural recognition, and even gain freedom that humans do not possess.
After dropping all sorts of academic jargon, it's just to show that this little book is not entirely without scholarly basis, not without a trace of academic thought. But when it comes to putting pen to paper, I don't want to be bound by so-called "academic norms." I hope the language is simple, the tone relaxed, each piece not too long, not deliberately obscure. No matter how lengthy the footnotes or endnotes, they will be eliminated without mercy. Where it is really necessary to indicate the source, it will be explained in the text, hoping for a more friendly reading "interface," at least not intimidating. I once wrote a long essay titled "Scholars Talking About Ghosts: Seeking Elegant Principles Amidst Vulgar Fun - Reading the Precious Collection of Luo Pin's 'Ghost Fun Picture' Poems and Essays from Nanhai Huo Family," which was over 20,000 words and had extensive notes, not of the same kind as the various pieces in this book, so I abandoned it.
To be honest, I quite like this book title. For more than ten years, this interesting title has occupied my mind, inducing and urging me. Now, I can finally put it down.
Thank you for picking it up and opening it.
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