Mysterious for evermore

Edgar Allan Poe is credited with inventing mystery fiction, and his own death is still a subject of intense speculation. Matthew Pearl investigates one of the most peculiar puzzles in literary history.

Only four mourners attended his funeral in Baltimore, along with an Episcopal minister, the gravedigger and the sexton. The minister, a distant relation of the deceased, decided not to deliver a sermon to such a small gathering. The grave itself sat unmarked for 25 years. As if fate itself conspired to accentuate the void in the death of Edgar Allan Poe, 15 years after the burial, a train derailed into a quarry and destroyed the stone that was finally being constructed for the grave. The tablet read Hic Tandem Felicis Conduntur, “Here At Last He Is Happy”.

Edgar Poe (the “Allan” was not yet commonly in use) had had a troubled life by the time he died at 40, though a blanket assertion of unhappiness is facile. As a young man, Poe had rebelled against his foster father and jumped headlong into the literary world. He produced some 70 diverse short tales and around the same number of poems, as well as a lesser-known novel and an uncompleted play, and challenged the larger writing community with his harsh, explosive literary criticism. His professional decisions brought him a fair amount of scorn and continual financial hardship, but also considerable personal fulfilment.

Poe was not an icon at the time of his death in 1849. He could disappear without a trace, and he had. At the end of September that year, Poe had been lecturing in Richmond, Virginia to raise money for his new literary magazine, The Stylus. From Richmond, he intended to go to Philadelphia and then home to New York, where he would travel south with his aunt Maria Clemm. Instead, he ended up on an extended stay in Baltimore. The official record loses sight of him for five days before he turns up, incapacitated, inside an inn called Ryan’s.We came close to knowing more. Neilson Poe, a cousin from Baltimore, visited the hospital where Edgar was brought from Ryan’s, but doctors told him the patient was too fragile to be seen. Immediately after Edgar died, Neilson investigated his recent whereabouts, lamenting that he could find no answers. A few weeks later, however, Neilson wrote a letter to Poe’s first (and least friendly) biographer claiming he had come into possession of information about Poe’s death known only to him, and planned to write it all down in a “deliberate communication”. Neilson never wrote another word on the subject.

Today, the story of Poe’s death is a subject of intense fascination. Downtown Baltimore has signs leading tourists to Poe’s burial place. Fresh flowers can be found at the foot of the memorial obelisk built in 1875. Where there was once no gravestone, there are now two: one to mark the original spot of his grave and the other, the obelisk, where the body was later moved to. Every year, Poe’s birthday brings a gathering at the cemetery, which is covered by the national press. By contrast, few Bostonians know where Poe’s birthplace is in Boston, or even that it is in Boston. Poe’s biography may be said, in a sense, to begin with his death rather than his birth.

This was my initial Poe experience, too. The paperback edition of Poe’s tales and poems I read when I was at school said he was found in shocking condition in the gutter (there was no gutter involved in Poe’s actual death, but the gutter tale is at least as old as 1850). The questions over Poe’s fate make his writing more intriguing, his mysteriousness more mysterious. When I began researching the subject, someone asked me if Poe had orchestrated his death to keep us guessing.

This idea has been poed before. Baudelaire called his favourite American poet’s death “an almost suicide” as if Poe plotted death, and unfounded rumours of suicide circulated in America until fairly late in the 19th century. One of Poe’s correspondents, a young doctor named George Eveleth, wondered whether Poe pretended to die as a hoax on his readers.

From early in his career, Poe was seen as excessively morbid and sacrilegious – or, at least, unreligious – about death. Posthumously, when Poe became widely popular, his writing was turned into what contemporaries who bemoaned his lack of moral interests would have never imagined: schoolroom material. There is a telling cartoon I found in a thick archival file of miscellanies. It depicts a housewife asking her friend whether she agreed that Poe’s tales were weird, and her friend responding, “Yes, but they don’t hold a candle to some of those my husband tells me when he comes home late.” Poe had been tamed, marketed, domesticated. A line of cigars was named after him early in the 20th century, with the truly bizarre tag, “Banish Your Cares by Smoking a Fragrant Poe Cigar”.

The countervailing pressure to maintain Poe’s darker mystique has remained strong, and that mystique is driven by his death story. In 1899, a female spiritualist claimed that Poe’s ghost dictated a poem to her revealing the truth about his demise. Poe, whose ghost turns out to be a rather bad poet, confesses openly to the drunken debauch that contemporary newspapers blamed for the death: “Oh! Was all my lifelong error crowded in that night of terror?”

Theorists and scholars have used the blank spots in the record of his death narrative to suggest that Poe was the victim, not an agent in his demise – a victim, specifically, of political corruption, robbery, government conspiracy or the enraged relative of a woman he courted. Each has its evidence and its proponents. One of the exhibits at the Poe museum in Richmond features spinning plastic cubes with different theories for the causes of his death printed on each side. Conclusive causes are regularly offered up and just as reliably knocked down, for a true conclusion would threaten the operative mythos of the Poe story.

The Poe museum’s cubes become appropriate symbols for the state of scholarship about Poe’s death. Today, all the theories are considered more or less equally valid and hence interchangeable. This was part of what attracted me to the subject: a need to understand the obstinate stasis of it all. When deciding to work on a novel of historical fiction with Poe’s death at its core, I faced a difficult question: was the story of Poe’s death rooted in history, or in his fiction?

The quieter mysteries in the record of his death suit Poe better than most of the bizarre conspiracies that have been proposed. For instance, the geographic map of his final days leaves him floating almost arbitrarily from one city to another. Poe lived as an adult in Boston, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. The last stage of his life reflects the same sense of the ground shifting uncontrollably under his feet.

Poe’s final extended stopover in Baltimore, though probably a last-minute idea, is not as peculiar as it appears. At the time of his death, he was living in New York with his aunt, and had travelled to Richmond to raise money. However, as usual, he came up far short of his expectations. It would stand to reason that Poe might try to do more to bolster The Stylus before returning home. He had once been part of Baltimore’s literary community and had retained contacts.

When he was discovered at Ryan’s inn in “great distress” (as a witness described him), Poe invoked his acquaintance with Dr Joseph Snodgrass. Snodgrass, wo lived nearby, was immediately fetched to assist, ultimately agreeing to a decision by Poe’s former cousin by marriage, Henry Herring, to send Poe to the hospital. Knowing as we do that he would soon die, it has been easiest to interpret Poe’s call for Snodgrass as a plea for help. But a closer look at the documentary materials suggests that Poe could well have been seeking out Snodgrass, who was an editor, in connection with his new literary venture. In fact, the other person that we know Poe sought while in Baltimore was a man named Nathan C Brooks, also an editor and, interestingly, Snodgrass’s former partner in a short-lived magazine.

In Philadelphia, there was a concrete financial boost awaiting Poe. A piano manufacturer named John Loud offered him $100 to spend a few days in Philadelphia editing his wife’s poems. Poe found the offer irresistible. Considering that Poe earned only $275 for all of 1849, $100 was an enormous sum. It has never been clear whether or not Poe visited Philadelphia in his final weeks. There is tension between the strong incentive for Poe to travel to Philadelphia, and a timeline that apparently traps Poe in Baltimore. In a “memo” that surfaced in the mid-20th century, an acquaintance named Thomas Lane made the (unverifiable) claim that Poe was, in fact, present in Philadelphia in the days before he was found in Baltimore.

More can be coaxed from Neilson Poe than it first appears. Though no evidence exists that Neilson wrote further of what he knew about his cousin’s fate, this should not lead us to assume he did not tell other people. My initial instinct was that he would pass his knowledge on to his daughter Amelia Poe, who became involved with the legacy of her late relative Edgar. In fact, Neilson instead sat down with a friend named Coale who was collecting information for an article about Edgar in Harper’s magazine in 1871, and shared some information to be used “gingerly and sensibly”.

Among other titbits recorded in a document by Coale, Neilson claimed that Edgar did go to Philadelphia in those final days, or rather tried to. His explanation of events, that Poe was incapacitated by “a single drink” on his way to Philadelphia and was put on a train back to Baltimore, is vague and may be fleshed out with other known details. The travelogue is more significant. It makes far more sense that Poe tried to go to Philadelphia, and failed, than that he did not try at all.

One of the most surprising discoveries I made in my research allowed me to support Neilson’s claim that Poe never reached Philadelphia, and discredits Lane’s claim about Poe having stayed in Philadelphia. Poe, who lost his mother when he was a child, was notoriously dependent on the attention of his aunt Maria Clemm, who was also his former mother-in-law (Poe’s 13-year-old wife was his first cousin, a fact not particularly noteworthy for the time and place).

While travelling, Poe wrote to her often and demanded she do the same. In fact, he pleaded that Clemm send a letter to Philadelphia so that it would be waiting for him as soon as he arrived there to meet the Louds. In a twist that has been left unexplained for a century and a half, Poe instructed Clemm to address that letter to a pseudonym, “EST Grey, Esquire”, and not to sign the letter.

For the first half of the 19th century in America, individuals picked up their post at the post office rather than receiving it in their homes. When a letter was not picked up, the post office advertised in the newspaper with names of those who had letters. On October 3, 1849 – the same day Poe was discovered in Ryan’s inn – the Philadelphia Public Ledger listed a letter for one “Grey, ESF.” This is clearly Maria Clemm’s letter to Poe (the “T” must have been corrupted somehere along the way into an “F”).

When I unearthed this newspaper listing, it meant not only finding a new Poe artefact, but also a revelation. It exposed fresh evidence that Poe had not reached Philadelphia, since the letter he was so anxious for had wasted away at the post office. This was probably the last letter written to Poe in his lifetime.

It may be an odd suggestion from a novelist, but the challenge of refreshing our understanding of Poe’s death is to resist the temptations of narrative. The challenge is so acute in this case because of Poe’s literary impact. Though his immediate contemporaries appreciated him only grudgingly, his writing has transformed our consciousness.

Poe is credited with inventing mystery fiction with his story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1941). The result was not only a new and marketable genre. It was also a storytelling paradigm in which a baffling plot is pieced together in one fell swoop at the very end – revealing a plot that was there all along but which we (the readers) had been too blind to see. This structure of plot revelation instilled us with a sense of closure: anything unknown, we tend to believe, is only in a transitional stage and, sooner or later, will be fully revealed. The fact that this is almost never the case never weakens our expectations.

For The Poe Shadow, my novel tackling Poe’s death, the most authentic path seemed to me one that would present new primary evidence and raw information (including the “Grey, ESF” listing, as well as the first explanation of why Poe used the peculiar alias for that letter), but at the same time to allow the big narratives strung around Poe’s death to come from the characters’ mouths – that is, from fallible sources – rather than be forcibly imposed as authoritative.

On his deathbed, Poe, according to his attending physician, cried out repeatedly for Reynolds. Was Reynolds someone he knew? Was he trying to give us a clue into the cause of his condition? Was he saying something else altogether? Maybe, maybe and maybe. For each question, there are raw facts and competing narratives to tie the facts together. Imagination is required, but it must be led by the facts rather than the other way around.

Among the archived papers and correspondence of the 20th-century Poe scholar Thomas Mabbott, I came across a letter with an amusing request that I always think back to: “I am writing a paper on Edgar Allan Poe for school and I am trying to prove that Poe was insane and that this insanity aided in his writing of such great works of literature.” Not unlike the student manipulating Poe’s life in order to explain his writing, we often want to turn the key moments of a great author’s life into narrative to fit our literary instincts.

Poe’s death stands alongside Christopher Marlowe’s murder as one of the peculiar and impenetrable mysteries in literary history. Unlike Marlowe, who was actually a spy, Poe’s life was, for the most part, excessively normal, despite an element or two that may be read – or misread – as dark and Romantic. We may put pressure on Poe’s death story to compensate for his ordinariness when the latter does not suit our needs. Yet death may be the point at which ordinariness embraces even a literary icon: the time when narrative control is finally out of his, and our, hands.

  • ‘The Poe Shadow’ by Matthew Pearl is published later this month by Harvill Secker at £12.99
  • 广东省监狱当局对王炳章实施非人道待遇

    广东省监狱当局对王炳章实施非人道待遇 

    刘泰

     

    【2006年5月27日狱委讯】根据与王金环的谈话记录整理/因为王炳章是特殊犯人,其家属探监与其它犯人不同。 需要第一天先去广州,到广东省监狱管理局办理探监手续,然后第二天再去广东省韶关市北江监狱探视,手续是如此之繁琐复杂。

    王炳章的姐姐王金环在四月份收到广东省北江监狱会见通知书,其母子俩人于五月十五号去广州,到广东省监狱管理局办理探监手续,然而出乎意料之外,负责此次接待的谢先生说: 现在家属不可以探望王炳章,原因是王炳章在狱中绝食,并且有严重违反监狱的规章制度。 对王炳章实行惩罚三个月,在这三个月当中不准家属探视,更不准与家人通信。

    王炳章的姐姐王金环母子俩人一再要求监狱管理局的谢先生,根据她们的具体情况给予照顾:

    一、她的父亲刚去世一个多月;

    二、她的母亲因心脏病入院,还住在医院中;

    三、她本人年岁已大,又路途遥远地从加拿大来到中国,身体状况不好。

    她们还建议:监狱当局,如果让她们能去会见王炳章,她们可配合监狱当局做王炳章的工作,还建议监狱当局把对王炳章的惩罚延长一周。 她儿子还说: 如果她们见不到王炳章,她们回去便无法向他姥姥(王炳章的母亲)交待等等……

    苦口婆心都无法说服监狱管理局对她们的同情,拒绝她们的请求,袪除而归。 

    (来源:博讯)

     

    孙文广教授遭到公安骚扰

    今天下午公安到孙文广教授家拍照录像,带走电脑,并且对他进行讯问笔录。

    今天下午大约5点半钟,我在院子里散步。一位朋友说:下午公安来了一群人,汽车停在37号楼前,问我可知道什么。我说,我什么也不知道。我住27号楼,和 37号楼平行,中间隔了一个大花园。我估计孙文广出事了,因此,我立刻回家,给孙文广打电话,连打几次,都没有人接。我更怀疑是出事了,因为这个时候他不会长时间离开家。我估计他的夫人大约也一起走了。

    直到将近7点钟,电话终于打通,情况果真如此。据他说,下午他正在午睡,闯进来了十几个公安,据称是济南市公安局历城区分局的人员,声言要检查电脑。孙文广要他们出示搜查证。他们说有工作证就行,于是,出示了工作证。他们在房间里反复拍照录像,然后把孙文广和他的两台电脑一起带到山东大学公安处办公室,围绕他在网上发表的文章对他进行讯问笔录。前后大约3小时。完毕之后,继续留下电脑,据说要进行检查之后归还,把他用汽车送回家。

    他刚刚到家,我就去了电话。原来他的夫人并没有带走,大概是公安把电话线拔出来了。

    此事实在出乎意料,因为孙文广教授在文革中因为反革命罪住了8年监狱。平反出狱后,孙文广教授并不气馁,仍然不屈不扰地为中国的民主改革事业,不断地写作,在海外网站发表建言献策,是网络上极为活跃的知名作家。他写的文章都发表在网上,不遮不掩。他先后在香港出版了《狱中上书》《百年祸国》,还有一本书《呼唤自由》也即将出版。他是国际笔会独立中文笔会会员。

    2月14日,国务院新闻办公室网络局副局长刘正荣在北京向全世界庄严地宣布:中国公民可自由使用国际互联网,中国与境外的信息沟通是顺畅的。到目前为止,中国没有任何人仅仅因在互联网发表言论而被捕。

    刘正荣说,中国网民的言论十分活跃,内容涉及方方面面,其中包括政治性很强的内容。至于在互联网上的哪些行为要承担刑事责任,《全国人大常委会关于维护互联网安全的决定》里做了明确的表述。

    现在对孙文广采取的上述措施,请问刘正荣,作何解释?中国政府说话算数吗?这是为了欺世盗名吗?中国政府什么时候才能做到言而有信呢?难道我们生活在中国的人就这么可悲吗?难道只要不“捕”就可以任意地侵犯吗?难道底线就在一个“捕”字上头吗?

    这是一起侵犯人权的事件,希望引起广泛的关注。我们要求立刻给孙文广教授送还电脑。对于这一侵犯人权的事件,公安要作出负责的交代。

    (2006-5-26于山东大学附中)


     

    一周海外动态–05.26

      ●美国脱口秀名主持奥普拉·温弗瑞将出新书,称出版交易额将超越克林顿新书,创非小说类图书纪录。

      ●去年在约旦出版受阻后,萨达姆第二本小说《魔鬼之舞》近期在日本上架。

      ●普利策得主斯塔茨希夫撰写的《富兰克林:法国与美国的诞生》一书获得了第二届乔治·华盛顿奖。

      ●《指环王》作者J. R.托尔金在一战中使用过的左轮手枪将在伦敦帝国战争博物馆展出。

      ●投入三亿英镑整修的伦敦北部地标“园屋剧院”将于6月1日重新开放,该剧院曾承办过“大门”和“平克·弗洛伊德”

      乐队的演出。

      ●英国一画廊允许世界各地艺术家在其网站上展示自己作品,目前已有1700多名艺术家参与。

      ●洛杉矶盖特博物馆馆长称将尽力把该馆收集的部分珍贵的古希腊艺术品归还给希腊。

      ●大英博物馆向电视游戏节目敞开大门,决赛场将设在马克思当年学习过的阅览室。

    《十月》:为新时期文学局面破冰

    创刊人讲叙《十月》创刊的前前后后,披露《高山下的花环》发表细节

    时过境迁,如今的张守仁回忆起20年前创办《十月》的情形,心情仍然非常激动。

      ◇人物名片

      张守仁 1933年9月出生于上海崇明岛,1961年毕业于中国人民大学新闻系。从1961年起供职于《北京晚报》副刊部,1977年参与了《十月》杂志的创刊和组建,并一直在该杂志工作。曾任编辑部副主任、副主编,编审。

      ◇杂志档案

      《十月》杂志1978年在崇文门外东兴隆街51号创刊,创刊时为季刊。1980年获得刊号并正式改为双月刊。到1981年,该刊物的发行量已达60万份。

    创刊初期的《十月》杂志,问世之初便带动了文学刊物热的兴起。

      茅盾为创刊号写发刊词

      严格说来,《十月》的创办人是三个:王世敏、我和章仲锷。我们是从1972年起陆续聚集在一起的,原因是“文革”期间,出版社已经不存在了,因为要写北京市劳动模范,就把一些人聚到一起,包括后来成为名家的陈建功、陈祖芬、理由等,我也是其中一个。当时成立了一个北京人民出版社。从沈阳调过来的王世敏担任了出版社文艺室主任,我和章仲锷就是一般的编辑,后来,我们还把刘心武也调了过来,这时他已经发表了《班主任》。

      1977年7月份,王世敏、我和章仲锷到济南参加山东文联举办的一个会,山东省委领导做报告。因为夏天很热,我们三个人不愿意听这种很枯燥的报告,就到南郊宾馆外面的花园里聊天。大家就说,国家形势有了很大的变化,文艺形势也会转变,我们应该有所作为,不知道是谁最先提出应该办一个大型文学刊物,大家都表示赞成并开始想刊名。先后想出的名字有“东方”、“东风”、“首都文学”等。后来,王世敏提出“十月”,我们都表示赞同。回来以后,王世敏就调了几个人做筹备工作。

      当时仅有的文学刊物只有《人民文学》、《解放军文艺》、《北京文艺》等月刊,没有一家大刊物。我们首先面对的问题是没有刊号,大家就决定以书代刊(《十月》是季刊,到1980年有了刊号,才改为了正式的双月刊)。经过整整一年的筹备,《十月》终于在1978年8月份创刊了。我们用的是“文艺丛书”的名义出版,但是从外观上来说是杂志的样子。杂志社请一个书法家写了刊名,请茅盾为创刊号写了发刊词。在小说方面刊登了陆柱国的《吐尔逊的故事》、刘心武写的冲破当时禁区的《爱情的位置》、郑万隆的《铁石老汉》。

      一炮打响带动文学刊物热

      第一期出来以后,影响很大,北京文艺圈的人奔走相告,新华社发了通稿。《爱情的位置》在电台广播之后,作者收到了5000封来信。半年之后,《收获》复刊,1979年秋,《当代》创刊。当时那些月刊一期就十几万字,所以发一个中篇就了不得了,而我们一期就发三四个。从“五四”以来,还从来没有刊物这样做。

      可以说,《十月》引发了中篇小说的第一个高潮。同时,我们抓紧时机,召开了一个中篇小说座谈会,把很多作家都请来参加,推动中篇小说这个题材的发展。我们把很多人介绍到中国作协的文学讲习所。像江西的文联主席兼作协主席陈世旭,他的第一个短篇小说《小镇上的将军》就是在《十月》发表的,我们就推荐他到文学讲习所。当时,蒋子龙、王安忆等近40人,都是文学讲习所第一期的,我们的关系非常好。

      当时的《十月》非常光彩,《人民文学》的一位副主编和我很熟,由于我们刊发了大量的好作品,他很吃惊,问我说,守仁,你们这个刊物是怎么办的?有时,我到内蒙古鄂尔多斯、四川峨眉山出差,都能看到我们的《十月》。当时,我们的杂志在国外的发行量就有2000份。我到中国驻苏联大使馆去,发现那里有三份。

      我们最得意的一件事情是,当时几乎每一家刊物都要和我们交换,因为办得太出色了,刊物发表的作品被改编成电影、电视剧的非常多,我们也首创了出版社办文学刊物的模式。

      约到《高山下的花环》

      1982年4月,济南部队歌舞团创作员李存葆来京参加总政召开的军事题材文学创作座谈会,我也参加了。会议期间,大会组织与会作家乘车到河北高碑店去看当地驻军战士打靶演习。在大巴车上,李存葆和我坐在一起,我向他约稿。李存葆向我讲了三个题材,其中一个就是《高山下的花环》(以下简称《花环》),围绕着一个边防连队战前、战中、战后的生活,反映了当时社会上、军队内部存在的种种尖锐矛盾。我听了他的三个题材,对《花环》最感兴趣。于是把自己的家庭地址抄给存葆,邀请他到家里长谈。在交谈中,李存葆讲了在前线的所见所闻;还讲了后来在《花环》中详细描写的三个细节(军长因为在战前有领导把儿子撤向后方而甩帽骂娘、梁三喜留下了血染的账单、两发没有发出的臭弹)。我听了认为这三个精彩的细节内涵丰富。我想,对这三个细节加以开掘、延伸、纠结、交错,将会给这部小说展示一个广阔的社会背景。我建议他放开手脚去写,冲破清规戒律,跨越好人好事的写作水平,把严酷的战争真相、鲜活的战士心灵,淋漓尽致地展现在读者面前。

      会议结束后,李存葆留在北京参加了《解放军文艺》社举办的小说读书班。他边读边构思,给未来的小说列了个人物表,就躲在文艺社图书楼里写起来。他从1982年5月20日动手写作《花环》,因为人物和情节已经烂熟于心,所以写作比较顺利,到6月19日就完成了初稿。并于7月18日改写、誊抄完毕。当天傍晚,李存葆拿了一大摞原稿送到我家里,希望我尽快处理。当晚我连夜阅读。翻完最后一页稿子,如同淘金者终于觅到了大金块那样,我判定这是一部难得的突破之作,这是一部我早就盼望的好稿,这是一部能给《十月》带来巨大荣誉的力作。

      清晨,我带着这部稿子到了杂志社。当我详细介绍了《花环》的情节并宣读了我的审读报告后,整个编辑部立即行动起来,互相传阅,只花了两天时间,就全都看了一遍。

      一致决定把它作为重点稿放在头条推出。1982年8月10日,我躲在家里编《高山下的花环》。

      《花环》发表内幕

      稿子编完,我们这里一个搞评论的同志,就说这个作品这么尖锐,要给作协党组书记冯牧看一下。冯牧读完,认为这是一部难得的好稿,但由于他处在文艺工作领导岗位上,觉得有些地方过于尖锐,提出了几条意见,建议作者做点删改。对于文学前辈冯牧的忧虑,我和存葆都能理解。存葆感到为难,问我怎么办。

      我于是想了一个办法,把编好的稿子复印一份。存葆和我在复印稿上做了些删改,送给冯牧同志。冯牧看了删改稿把评论文章写了出来,送给编辑部。但当我发稿时,发的仍是没有删改的原稿。(此事我一直隐瞒着他)此事只有我和存葆知道,我不敢告诉出版社的领导。因为当时我已经打听到,当李存葆在《解放军文艺》社图书楼上写出了初稿时,文艺社小说组的同志和文艺社的领导曾拿去看过,都因为作品太尖锐而未敢表态。于是我在发稿时叮嘱编务,此稿的校样不要传出去,要严格控制。我最担心的是校样传到了某些胆小的领导手里,他们下令撤稿,使这篇作品中途夭折,不能和读者见面。冯牧的评论稿是1982年8月30日写出的。我们拿到评论稿后,于9月初把全部稿子送到车公庄新华印刷厂排字、印刷。

      接着发生了一件怪事。此稿发往新华印刷厂不到十天,就有北影一位姓张的导演找到我家里,提出来北影要把这部作品改编成电影。我感到纳闷,那期刊物要到11月初才出版,我作为责任编辑,还未拿到初校,那位导演是怎么知道作品内容的呢?后来经过调查,才知道新华印刷厂的工人们排字时,因受了作品内容的感染,提前偷偷多印了校样,带回家里给亲友们传阅。校样又经过复印,于是此稿在社会上不胫而走,迅速传开。那位导演看到的就是工人偷印的校样。有关领导听到风声后要看校样,我说校样只有一份,并对编辑部的人说,校样不能给任何人。

      刊物刚刚出版,我就陆续听到来自各处的消息:贺敬之在北京和平宾馆报告文学座谈会上说,《十月》发表的《高山下的花环》,是一部突破性的作品;《文艺报》副主编唐因称赞《花环》是解放30年来第一部写军队内部矛盾的优秀之作;南京召开的当代文学研究会第三次学术讨论会上,称《花环》是爆炸性的作品……

      《高山下的花环》,还被改编成电影、电视、歌剧、话剧等,有的改编者通过我找李存葆,我把李存葆的联系方式告诉谢晋之后,他每两个小时给李存葆拍一个电报,要求自己来拍。两年后,我又向李存葆约了《山中,那十九座坟茔》,但消息被走漏了,解放军文艺社《昆仑》杂志的编辑追到烟台,要求把稿子给他们。李存葆把这一情况通过电话告诉了我。我考虑他是军人,今后长期在部队工作,就同意了。

      这些虽然是二十多年前的事情了,但回想起来我和当时《十月》杂志同事们一起工作的情形,心情仍然很激动。

      口述:张守仁(曾参与创办《十月》杂志)

      ■记者手记

      一本文学杂志的兴起,直接取决于它所发表的作品。

      《十月》在上世纪80年代的文学刊物中如日中天,主要原因在于,它最大程度地表达了时代的呼声并顺应了读者对文艺作品的诉求。当时最有影响的文学双月刊号称“四大名旦”:《当代》为正旦,《收获》为老旦,《花城》是花旦,《十月》是刀马旦。

      所谓刀马旦,实际上是说发表的作品相对比较尖锐———事实正是如此,《十月》发表的《飞天》、《春雪》、《公开的情书》、《晚霞消失的时候》等作品,都引起过争论。按照创刊人之一章仲锷的说法,“其中《飞天》可说是第一篇触及高级领导腐败特权丑恶行径的小说,震动很大……”引起争论的前提乃是揭示问题和矛盾,而争论则会引发关注。从事后的结果来看,从作品的发表,到引起争论,然后引发读者的关注,三种过程形成了一种良性互动,它直接推动了文学创作的繁荣,同时也激发了读者的热情。

      说到今天文学创作和文学刊物的现状,张守仁不胜唏嘘。作为一个资深的文学编辑,他对个中原因有着自己的看法。尽管没有明言,但他的看法显然与蔡恒平的说法“文学的需求会越来越少”明显不同。

    方方:汉字词的背后

       我们每天都使用着汉字词。我们说它,写它,用它议事,用它抒情,用它辩论,用它叫喊。我们的欢乐、痛苦、悲哀、激昂都依托着它得以表达,得以宣泄。依靠着它,我们将这人间的生活制造得轰轰烈烈,龙飞凤舞。但是,有多少词语,我们日用而不知其来路何在,源起何故,因何人而更新,为何事而创制。当我们灵活而有力地运用它们时,我们真的很少想过这世界唯一延续了几千年的古老汉字是怎样穿越时光遂道,绵延不绝,直到今天仍散发着它的无尽魅力。在它的背后,又是什么样的能量支撑着它的繁衍更新,它的充足饱满,它的日臻完美,以致世上所有的古文字都悄然死去,惟独它仍然充满着强大的生命活力。对这一切,我常常懵然不去细想,直到新近读了冯天瑜先生的《新语探源》(中华书局2004年版)。
        这真是一本开智的书,它说的正是汉字词背后的故事。
       《新语探源》的副标题是“中西日文化互动与近代汉字术语生成”。但我们看到书内所涉及的内容,却并非只是这些。透过汉语新词的产生,我们看到的是整个汉字文化成长的过程中,历史事件和文化思想这些有力的手掌是怎样操纵着它的流变和它的扩容。
        汉文字从五千年前的大汶口起始到三千年前的甲骨文逐渐成型,之后两千多年来,汉文字一直以其独立的姿态成长并活跃于这个世界。它在向四周幅射自己的同时,更重要的是它也借取各种外来词汇补充自己。《新语探源》为我们陈述了汉字文化吸收外来语汇最主要的三个历史时期:汉唐时期借词于中亚西亚,晋唐宋借词于印度,近现代则借词于欧美和日本。冯先生为我们勾勒了汉字词得以繁衍的清晰脉线,但其论述却并没有停留在语汇的表层去对之作纯粹语言学的专业解说,而是将语汇的成长植于一个巨大的文化背景之下。透过如此背景,我们看到在历史流程和异文化互动之中,是什么样的事件什么样的人,出于什么样的目的,经历了什么样的过程,付出什么样的代价,使得汉字词渐次演变,日趋丰富;也看到汉字语汇是以怎样的姿态接受外来词汇,使之充实自己,又以怎样的方式修正外来词汇,使之适应自己;更看到通过历史的更替、精英的打造,文化的促进、思想的形成,那些新的词语是怎样醒目地凸现在我们的社会生活的画卷之上。
        当葡萄、胭脂、琥珀、琵琶、胡桃诸如此类词语走进我们的生活并成为日常用语时,它的背景乃是张骞两度出使西域,丝绸之路的畅通。自东方国和西方国有了这条固定的往来通道后,大量西域器物词汇涌入中国,变成我们的日常用物,而与之同来的新词自然而然融入于我们的生活。当眼光、刹那、翻译诸类,成为我们的俗语,宿命、悲观、境界、真理以及唯心、真实诸类,变成我们的观念,它的身后乃是南亚佛教的传入。这是比前一次更有影响力的借取。冯先生为此而说:“佛教入华后,与本土的儒家、道家相连,经历了由依附、冲突到交融互摄的过程,最后形成两大果实:中国化的佛教(天台宗、华严宗、禅宗等)和吸收到佛学成分的新儒学——宋明理学,二者构成中国中古至近古文化的主体,并深刻影响近现代。”与西域词语随器物而入只停留在汉语表面所不同的是,佛教词语的进入却通过文化思想渗透到汉语的深处,它的回响是在世人的内心。于是它便撒遍在汉语的各个层面,落地开花。
        该书最主要最详细的部分则是近现代借词于欧美和日本的过程。明末清初西洋传教士进入中国,为了让中国人能够接受他们的基督教,他们借助学术、教育、科学,试图以影响中国人的生活来影响中国人的宗教,上帝、几何、地球等新词便随着这新的宗教以及它的附属物,进入汉语。及至鸦片战争后,西学东渐更带来大量新语。使用汉字的日本,一向输入汉字词,而明治维新后则以其创制的对译西语的汉字词输往中国。经赴东洋学习的中国人推介,来自日本的新语,密集地在中国报纸和图书中呈现。其浩荡之势,甚至改变了汉语书面表达形式。汉语由文言文而白话文,正是在这个期间始见分晓。语言的革命并非无端地自革自命,它最终是依附着社会的革命之上。冯先生专门挑出一些重要的人文术语,如科学、民主、自由、革命、共和、小说等,列举大量史实,对其如何从汉字旧名演为汉字新名,从而成为新文化之关键词的过程,进行逐个研究论证,梳理其轨迹,厘清其概念,令人读之顿有恍然大悟之感。
        拉动一个新词,便拉动一连串的人事历史。汉字词的背后,呈现出的其实是一部沉甸甸的、起伏跌宕的民族发展史、文化交流史以及思想成长史。我想,《新语探源》要对我们说的或许正是这个。

    方方:书   病

       读书之人常患有怪癖,古时尤甚。象囊萤照读、凿壁偷光、红袖添香、范进中举之类的故事,早已是脍炙人口。照我看,这多少都有点儿病态。当然古人们除了读书,也没多少别的事好干。而想要有事干,也只有读书。哪象今人,不看电影就看电视,不看电视就去舞厅歌舞一番抑或找几个人围桌搓它麻将一夜,不读书或少读书,绝误不了做官、赚钱、以及堂而皇之出专著(只要有钱买书号,什么书又不能出呢?用自己的手自己的权给自己出书开条子批钱,那还不只是小事一桩?至于书出后有无人买又有何担心头?有权在手,分摊给各部门消化还不是轻而易举?)。故而古之时代大多的读书人只会读书,别无它长。拿了他的书本他便是个傻瓜。为此古书中有许多关于读书人的形容。嗜书成癖,沉溺于书中,不问他事者谓“书淫”;满腹经纶的饱学之士者谓“书厨”;好广读书而不解其意者谓“书簏”;书读得太多以致钻牛角尖无以致用者谓“书痴”;读书读得一脸木然,双目呆滞谓“书呆子”。这样的人在现如今实用主义哲学泛滥的生活中已委实不多见了。人人都学会了用两副脑筋。理解书本为一副,理解现实为一副。唉,有时很难说清古人那样更好还是今人这样更好。细想来,恐怕也都是各有所短。
        只是古之传统也不是可以轻易地在我们这个几千年皆以读书为乐的大国一下子消失得一干二净的。古人云:“温柔敦厚,诗教也。疏通知远,书教也。”这话自然也还有少许的人铭记在心,为此患有“书病”的人总还能见到几个。比方有人“收藏贾平凹”或“收藏苏童”,有人走到每一城市都去“淘”书店,有人勒紧裤带四处买书(只买不看),有人只买价格高的精装书籍(当墙面装饰),当然也会有人见人便谈新近读得如何如何好书,只谈得两眼突出尚不罢休。不过照我看,这些也还都只能算是凡人所好。
        而我的一个同学却对书却有着与众不同的别一种热爱。他除了疯狂地尽他的钱购买书之外,所采用的待书方式是每购一本新书便另寻纸张包装起来。纸并不是随随便便的纸,必须是外观漂亮,质地精良的纸张。并且尽可能使包装纸图案的情调与书的内容相谐调。徜若书本身就是精装的,那么我的同学是绝不甘于原装放上书架的,他会专门为之做一个极为精致的包装套,那套子四角的坚硬和笔直真不是专业水平可以比得下去。象“大百科”、鲁迅全集、二十五史这样的硬壳书,你在他的书架上根本一眼看不到,因为它们全都淹没在了同学精心挑选的色彩绚丽的包装纸中。为此要在同学的书架上找到一本你想要看的书根本就不是件容易的事。但同学自己却可以根椐包书纸的图案准确取出他之所需。
         我曾为所有的书籍装帧设计师抱打不平,我说这些书面书脊原本也都是艺术品,都象你这样又何必搞装帧设计?同学回答得很绝,他说我包装起来就是为了让我自己干干净净地去欣赏它们。话倒是说得不错,只是很难想象他在看书之时拆开书皮欣赏封面、看完之后又将书重新包好的情状。更让人不可思议的是他将这种爱好延及到盒装磁带上。他的每一盒磁带都用质地厚实的花纸做上了包装套。套纸图案的情调也是得和音乐大致一致。同学对此所作的解释是,塑料带盒靠在一起相互之间摩擦使盒面变毛很不好看。我百思不得其解,这样包装起来未必就好看了?我想大约没有一个人能弄清他的哪一个纸盒装着哪一种类型的音乐。
        最有趣的是我一直以为象同学这样的人世界上大概独他一份。不料几月前同学大聚会,偶尔得知居然还另有一个同学也如他一模一样:不仅包装自己买到的每一本书,而且也为每一个磁带盒做上纸套。这真让我惊讶无比,患这等严重书病的人居然还能成双!真可谓世界之大,无奇不有。

    刘晓波:太黑了—-杀人无罪 维权有罪

    据香港《明报》5月24日报道:震惊中外的广东汕尾东洲血案发生半年后,广东省当局终于对制造血案的责任官员作出了处理:汕尾市委副书记、政法委书记刘金生党内严重警告处分;汕尾市副市长、市公安局局长李敏党内警告处分;汕尾市建设局局长陈辉南(2002年6月至2005年5月任红海湾开发区党工委书记、管委会主任)党内警告处分;汕尾市公安局党委副书记、副局长吴声党内严重警告、撤销市公安局副局长职务处分。另外,对红海湾开发区、东洲街道相关责任人也进行了责任追究。

    作为一直关注“东洲血案”的公民,我看到对涉案官员的如此责任追究,第一感觉就是为广东当局的极端堕落而震惊,居然在这么重大的血案上公开地官官相护,相关责任官员只受到行政处罚,还自以为是践行责任政治的“问责”,脸皮真够厚!

    然而,等再看到另一则信息维权村民受到审判的消息,我不由得脱口而出:“太黑了!杀人无罪,维权有罪。”

    据自由亚洲电台5月24日报道:在汕尾众多官员受到行政处分的同时,至少有六名参与维权的被捕村民在5月24日被判三至七年徒刑,其中,林汉儒五年,黄希俊五年,黄希让七年。

    这么黑的血案处理绝对不敢公开,对维权村民的审判全部秘密进行,包括此前追捕、拘留、逮捕、起诉、审判,外界很难知情。审判当日,亲属、记者、公众都不能进入法庭,而当局居然后脸皮声称是公开的审理。

    半年前,据路透社、美联社、法新社、BBC、美国之音、自由亚洲电台、法国国际广播电台、台湾中央社、香港等多家国际权威媒体报道,2005年12月6日,广东汕尾市红海湾东洲乡发生严重的流血事件,当局出动上千名警察和武警进行镇压,镇压者在试图冲散一千多示威者的过程中释放催泪弹并且开枪射击,造成村民死伤。至少有10人被打死,很多村民受伤、失踪,当局并抓捕数百位村民。

    当时境外媒体大都用“小六四”来形容汕尾屠杀。BBC报道称:“如果事件属实,又造成这么多人死亡,将是1989年北京天安门广场镇压以来,最血腥的一次。”国内六四难属、自由知识分子和维权人士联名发表《关于广东汕尾市东洲血案的声明》,美国国务院也表示关注。

    然而,这场由广东地方官权制造的备受境内外瞩目的“小六四”,最后的处理结果居然是“杀人无罪而维权有罪!”涉案官权只受到行政处罚,受罚最重的汕尾市公安局党委副书记、副局长吴声党,也不过是撤职处分;而维权村民却受到刑事处罚,轻则三年、中则五年、重则七年。

    官方对东洲血案的处理,再次凸现中共政权对民众权利和生命的蔑视。。半年前,汕尾血案发生后,中共政权先是全面封锁信息,继而是单方面发布误导性信心,称“现场指挥员处置失当,造成误死误伤”,并把主要责任栽赃到维权村民身上;接着是官权单方面用金钱为镇压杀人标价,给每位遇难者家属20万元人民币的救济,用强迫的办法让难属签字画押。遇难者江光革的妻子袁秀丽对记者说:这笔钱,官方不叫“补偿”或“赔偿”,而叫“救济”。

    用金钱购买难属们沉默的伎俩,今年在六四死者周国聪的难属身上再次使用,用七万元“困难补助”购买难属的“立据保证息诉”。这样的“封口费”,是更冷酷更卑鄙的谋杀。

    到目前为止,围绕着汕尾血案,中共广东官权起码犯下了四重罪恶:第一重是开枪镇压徒手村民,犯下了杀人罪。

    第二重黑箱封锁血案真相,继续犯下掩盖杀人罪的罪恶。

    第三重是用恐吓和金钱谋杀难属们要求伸冤和合理补偿的权利,犯下用金钱贿买难属沉默的罪恶。

    第四重是践踏司法公正的罪恶,杀人者无罪而维权者有罪。

    前不久,中共政权成功当选改革后的联合国人权理事会成员,联合国秘书长安南访问北京在演讲中敦促中国政府改善人权,德国总理默克尔访问北京会见了农民维权的代表。然而,汕尾血案的善后处理证明,无论是中共的自我标榜,还是重量级国际领袖的敦促,都无法改变现政权的独裁本性:敌视民意和践踏人权,蔑视生命和野蛮嗜血,黑箱操作和撒谎成性,不择手段和狡猾阴险……这些恶德恶政已经渗入骨髓。

    记住血染的2005年12月6日,正如记住血染的1989年6月4日!

    2006年5月26日于北京家中 首发博讯

    邹洪复:人民为什么不敢花钱?

     据新华社北京1月15日电(记者董素玉 聂焱)来自央行的最新数据显示:截至05年12月,人民币居民储蓄存款余额已经突破14万亿元,创造了历史新高。同时,另一组经济数据却在连年下降,近5年我国居民最终消费率持续走低。多次看到报道说全国人民存在银行里的钱越来越多,可人民为什么不敢花钱?
    
     在我看来,一是人民币居民储蓄存款余额的那14万亿元并不全是普通人民的,目前情况是人民普遍收入还是不高,积攒不了几个钱,钱少了自然就不敢花或许多人民手里并无多少余钱可花。二是医疗、学生上学和住房是压在人民头上新的三座大山。三是人民对未来有迷茫情绪且缺少信任感,而趋于求稳和保守。
    
     记得有位朋友讲,相比起来,住房倒是无所谓,并不是最重要的,钱多住大一点,钱少住小一点,也可以临时租着住,只要有地方住就不心急。可人一但生病,没钱可就麻烦了,现在的医疗费太高,他说他那次有了急病去医院,医院说不先交上足够治疗那病的押金就不给治疗,多亏他存了几万,家人飞快从银行里提出来,医院才给动的手术和治疗,如果钱再晚到半个小时,自己就没命了,那可真是一手交钱,一手给命啊!他说从那次他才更体会到了钱的重要性,他说存钱那简直就是存命啊!
    
     我还听了一个故事,一位农村60岁左右的老大爷,家里很穷,他两个儿子家也很穷。有那么两天,他追着本村的木匠给他打棺材,人家木匠正在忙于给别人家做家具,他就蹲在那里有说有笑地等,催促木匠赶紧给他打棺材,就在他忙忙活活帮木匠给他打好棺材,喝完完工酒的当天凌晨,那位老大爷就去世了。村人说是他知道阎王爷要叫他去了,才打的棺材。而更多明白他的村人说,是老头知道自己生病,快不行了,怕去住院,医疗费高,会连累了自己那两个穷儿子,所以才急着为自己准备后事。
    
     养活一个大学生需要一个家庭多少年的收入?据广州日报3月12日报导,南昌大学甘筱青等教授指出,全国高校生均学费已经从1995年800元左右上涨到了2004年的5000元左右,进入新校区的学生的学费则在6000元左右;加上食、衣、住、行等费用,平均每个大学生4年大学需要4万元左右。据调查,有25.5%的学生因为家庭负担不了上大学的费用,因此而不愿再升入大学。中国年城镇居民2004年平均纯收入是9422元,而农民年平均纯收入仅有2936元。以此计算,供养一个大学生,需要一个城镇居民4.2年纯收入,需要一个农民13.6年纯收入,这还没有考虑吃饭、穿衣、医疗、养老等费用。中国高校收费标准已经逼近、在部分地区甚至超过广大普通居民的承受能力。以此推断,教育的支出已经成为人民的沉重负担,在今天已经是个不争的事实。
    
     而怎样才能让全国人民普遍收入高一些?怎样才能搬掉那压在人民头上新的三座大山?怎样才能让人民觉得前途光明,活得踏实?这似乎并不全是人民的事情,而更多的是政府的责任和义务。
    

    为什么腐败压不垮共产党?

      台湾的“台开”的股票内幕交易案随着检察机构的深入侦查,数名涉案人被刑拘,再发展到“第一家庭”的亲家赵玉柱和简水绵、女婿赵建铭及其胞弟赵建勋和弟媳程雅玲、5人均被“约请”到案说明。之前,阿扁还为此公开向全体人民道歉并表明了全力支持侦查行动的立场。日前,“驸马”赵建铭巳被戴上手铐正式押入看守所,看来巳是在劫难逃了!虽然最终能否将其定罪尚言之过早,但民进党的民望无疑已遭重挫,难怪乎民进党中有人哀叹“赵建铭成了压垮民进党的最后一根稻草”。
       
       遥想当年,参选的民进党在朱榕基总理面向全世界以有力的手势,佐以激昂、坚定的声调宣布“选择台独就意味着战争!”的警告声中,竟出人意表地战胜巳执政了数十年的国民党,首次走进了总统府。并在四年后政绩并不尽人意,大陆方面除部署了数百枚瞄准对岸的导弹的同时,又对台湾大打经济牌的形势下,仍然可以连任,没能被这些被外人视作很有份量的因素压垮。虽然说成功连任与选前一晚的枪击疑案也不无关系,但在此前,毕竟民进党的原支持者的立场是没有多少改变的。但这次原来持坚定支持民进党立场的选民开始大量流失了,而促成流失的主要原因仅仅就是这桩“第一亲家”传出的腐败丑闻!
       
       平心而论,台湾这位“驸马爷”敛财的金额和手法与中国大陆巳为人知的官场罪案相比,并未见有甚过人之处,甚至一个小小的县太爷或是银行支行的低级官员可以捞到的钱财都可能比他有过之而不及,改革开放以来仅逃亡的数千名贪官席卷而去的金额亦达到天文数字,政权依旧巍然不动。但是民进党却要被那“最后一根稻草”压垮了,而中共却似乎从不会被类似的腐败丑闻压垮,这两者中间有什么不同呢,难不成大陆人民就是喜欢执政党的腐败么?
       
       其实,只要不是揣着明白装糊涂的人,不难发现两者中最大的分别就在于执政党需不需要对党内发生的腐败负上責任,以及人民和非官方传媒有无言论自由、揭露腐败的权利!
       
       台湾“驸马爷”的腐败行为是由民间人士发现,由非官方传媒报道,其后再由司法部门受理。全台湾的人民还通过传媒对此案的全面跟踪报道,睁大了眼睛紧盯着民进党政权在处理过程中的一举一动。连中央电视4台的新闻女主持这些天以难以压抑的喜悦心情,声音微颤地报道该案的有关新闻和画面也都是从台湾媒体转录而来,还专门请了台湾的评论家评论此案及对民意的影响,很难想象此案如发生在大陆,会出现同样的过程和场面,更不要说涉案的是权力最大的“第一家庭”!
       
       由于此案曝光带来的负面效应,不消说阿扁的民望如高山飞瀑,一落千丈。整个民进党都不能因此幸免而置身事外,失去不少选民的支持,所以,党内对“第一亲家”的行为也是人神共愤,同声谴责。若非如此内外交迫,阿扁也不会在执政六周年前夕抛头露面向国人及其政党请罪,企望能挽回些民意。这里,大家应该看到了人民由于能行使他们手中的权利而给执政的政客带来的震慑力。
       
       反观中国大陆,似乎没有听说过哪一个贪官党员是由上述的途径和方式被揭发、被处置的,就算是个芝麻绿豆官也不可能。试想,没有得到党的同意,哪家传媒可以刊登普通人民揭露徇私违法的党员的丑行?哪一级检察机关敢受理人民举报官员的材料并予立案?这些机构都是属于党的,就算你去举报,你都是等于向党去举报它的党员,受不受理、曝不曝光就要视乎党的决定了。可以想象,如果民进党拥有共产党同样的权力,阿扁及其党的高层能否可以完全不顾个人亲情和党的利益,让这个几乎能致自己和党的政治生命于死地的案子尽快曝光并进入司法程序?但如果也能的话,那阿扁和他的民进党绝对符合三个代表精神、绝对已树立起社会主义的荣辱观了!因此,不认同阿扁具备如此高尚人格的人就必须承认这是民主制度、新闻言论自由、司法独立起了制约作用。
       
       看到这里,应该清楚笔者为什么说腐败压不垮共产党的原因了吧!因为在党对国家的绝对领导下,党没有腐败丑闻这一说,凡是百姓举报的贪污罪案而党从本身的大局着想,认为处理会有损形象、利益,或其党内同伙有意庇护的话,则全都石沉大海,无声无息。举报人还常常会遭到残酷的打击报复,轻则降职或者丢饭碗,重则被拘甚至有生命危险。若党因为政治需要,能拿出来公开惩办的罪案,对党来说则不但不是丑闻还会十分光彩。官方喉舌会为此大肆宣扬,因为党为老百姓揪出了混进党内的犯罪分子们,党和它的最高领导不仅无须承担让犯罪分子混进来并爬上高位的責任,人民还要对党感恩戴德,感谢它终于肯大义灭亲了。不管党内有多少贪官污吏、金额有多么惊人、职位有多么高,党都是光荣伟大的,都是犯罪分子自己辜负了党的教育,所以党永远不会因所谓腐败丑闻下台,也更没有第二个党来替代。
       
       不过,因为以上的原因,虽然表面看上去腐败压不垮共产党,但是由于这种绝对的权力所产生的绝对腐败将使国家和人民的利益不断被掠夺和受到破坏,而且无法制止,长此以往,终于会被腐败压垮的就是这个国家,中共元老口中的“腐败不除,将亡党亡国”指的就是这个意思吧!其实党可亡,国不可亡!如自己亡党不算,还一定要拖住这个国家一起亡,临死也不撒手,这能算是爱这个国家的表现吗?因此,如果中共从“台开股票案”中悟出点正面道理的话,不让普选至少能先让中国有新闻言论自由和司法独立,予人民真正拥有点监督、制约执政党的权力,而不是从此更加畏惧公众舆论的威力,变本加厉的压制新闻、言论自由。这一点,难道会比你们口口声声指責说要分裂国家的阿扁都不如吗?
       
       退一万步来说,分裂国家总比亡了国家好点儿吧?