Gao Xingjian: Aesthetics and Creation By Gao Xingjian

today’s China and Russia the passion for ideology has been usurped by the worship of money, and this is precisely how history mocks people.

The writer does not need to be a warrior, or to see the purpose of literature as the criticism and reform of society. Writers will of course have their own ideas about politics, but they do not have to write these into their literature. If writers can clearly understand the true position of the writer in present society, they would best return to speaking in the voice of the frail individual, because this is the authentic voice of the individual devoid of any artifice. Without considering whether this voice can reach others, at least one will be able to say to oneself that one does have this need to listen to one’s own voice. This inner need is the primary impulse for writing, and it springs from perceptions that originate from a person’s real feelings and experiences.

That many limitations are imposed on the individual by society is of course not something that began today. The individual is always bound by social conditions within any collective, and for the individual to speak in a voice that is not drowned out by the chorus of the multitude or by the utterances of the authorities is inevitably a challenge, yet it is by challenging one’s reality that the individual’s own existence is affirmed. And this is precisely what literature needs to articulate, so in this sense literature is not a weapon of criticism but merely a testimony. The writer is a witness to the times in which he or she is located. The lifelike testimonies bequeathed to humankind by literature are more truthful than the histories written by political authorities. This is because successive political authorities edit and revise history according to their political needs, so that under each political authority the official history inevitably undergoes a face change. However, as soon as writers publish a work, amendment is not possible, so their undertaking on behalf of humankind is naturally much more reliable than official histories that are closely linked to the interests of national ruling authorities.

Literature is divorced from political authorities and popular tastes. Affected by popular tastes and fashions, the market is governed by the