Martin Walser in China: “It is far too late to influence me”
Author Walser: “Nothing but friendliness” (Photo: Haags Uitburo)
18 January 2010
No, Martin Walser is not fond of superlatives. “The best experience you’ve had?” is not a question to his taste. However, when it concerns the cuisine and friendliness of the Chinese, even Walser begins to gush. In Beijing, the poet from Lake Constance spoke with the Deutsch-Chinesisches Kulturnetz.
What have you been working on recently?
Walser: Unfortunately – or is it thank God – I always am working on a number of things at once. The past few weeks, I have mainly been occupied with a novel called Muttersohn, but at the same time I had to deal with Heinrich Heine for a publication and with China for the speech I will be holding here. Of all three of these occupations, I thought the one on China would be most difficult. Afterwards, when I wrote the speech, it was not difficult at all.
When and how did you first come into contact with China?
Perhaps – I could have said a thousand years ago, but I’d better say – 25 years ago a professor from Nanjing visited me, his name is Z-H-E-N-G. He translated one of my books, I think it was Runaway Horse. And a few years later, a Chinese lecturer from Konstanz came to visit me and brought me her translation of Marriage in Philippsburg. And last year when I was in Beijing another lady came and brought me another Marriage in Philippsburg, the second translation of this novel into Chinese.
In what way has your encounter with China influenced your work or life?
Well, I’m wondering what kind of profession I’d have to have in order to be able to say that China has influenced my life in such-and-such a way. I didn’t expect it, but it’s true, right now reading the novels of Mo Yan has really influenced me. It is far too late to influence me, but I have the feeling, sometimes when I’m working now, I think of Mo Yan. He has such an invigorating, encouraging style...
What was your best experience in China?
No, I cannot sort experiences by how good they are and “good” is hardly a word for my memories of experiences. I could only say: impressive. I find these kinds of superlatives unpleasant because they always remind me of sport results: the fastest, the highest, the farthest, the best, the most impressive. Of course, I could say something, but I am a writer and everything within me bristles at answering this question. I do not wish to qualify other impressions by making one single impression the most impressive of all. Those 14 days were brimful with impressions; I could count them, what tables we ate at and what panoramas we saw! Yet there is one minor superlative that I cannot avoid mentioning; the most astonishing thing was that my wife and I, we lived on the campus and this campus is a virtual labyrinth for anyone new to it. My wife and I, we are both not very good at finding our way about and we never returned to our quarters without problems; when we returned at night from the café on foot, we always had to ask directions of people. We were not even able to say exactly where it was we wanted to go, we had nothing written, but every night we were guided back to our quarters and always in the friendliest way. They weren’t always students, but, of course, they often were, and they accompanied us until we got there. And even outside the campus, when we asked the way, we encountered nothing but friendliness, nothing but obligingness and assistance. This kind of friendliness did make an impression on me, as I have been dependent upon assistance in a good many different countries, but have never experienced it the way I did in China. That was perhaps the most astonishing thing for me.
What was your most unpleasant experience in China?
None. What can I say? I’d like to oblige you but nothing unpleasant comes to mind.
Do you have a favourite Chinese food?
Of course not, because I like it all. Now, I might not criticize the question, but I must firmly refuse it. To choose one dish from this wealth of food insults the remainder. All Chinese cuisine is a superlative.
de-cn.net: To the portal for German-Chinese cultural exchange
What would you say is “typically Chinese”?
Friendliness is what impresses me the most. It seems to be an effortless friendliness that is not at all difficult for any particular Chinese person.
What cultural achievement from China impresses you the most?
Mo Yan. No question about it. The Garlic Ballads, The Republic of Wine, Red Sorghum – I’ve read these three novels and find them exceedingly good and strong. Yes, you can’t even fight it, can you? And all three novels read so well, they must be excellently translated.
Who in China would you like a swap a day with?
I will not say with the last Emperor of China. No, no, considering the style of what remains of him, I’d like most to swap a day with Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi is as close to me, for example, as Blaise Pascal, because he is a narrative philosopher, a poetic philosopher. And his pedagogical tendencies are not as excessively discernible as in the case of Confucius. He stays more to himself and doesn’t say “you should!” You want to be with him very quickly and for more than one day.
What habit or idea from China would you like to import to Germany?
Yesterday during a meal, I said to Professor Huang Liaoyu: “I am so sorry whenever I think that you have to eat in Germany.” All right, there is no way to transport this wealth, this culture. We certainly don’t eat badly at home; my wife comes from a family tradition of excellent cooks. Nonetheless, it is a tradition that is poorer than the tradition here is.
Martin Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee in 1927. His first novel, Marriage in Philippsburg, was published in 1957 and was awarded the Hermann Hesse Prize that same year. Martin Walser has received countless prizes and awards including the Federal Cross of Merit. At the same time he was and is repeatedly publicly criticized, for example for his speech for the awarding of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, which earned him the accusation of trying to draw a final stroke under German history.
Martin Walser was in Beijing from 13 until 20 December 2009 where his novel A Man in Love was awarded the prize for “Best Foreign Novel” (2009). The jury justified their choice with the “virtuosic linguistic artistry” of the novel, which affords “great reading pleasure and intellectual enjoyment.” This prize has been awarded every year since 2001 by the Chinese People's Literature Publishing House. The novel about the love between 73-year-old Goethe and Ulrike von Levetzow, 54 years his junior, was translated by Huang Liaoyu, Dean of the German Department at Beijing University.
Martin Walser was in Beijing from 13 until 20 December 2009 where his novel A Man in Love was awarded the prize for “Best Foreign Novel” (2009). The jury justified their choice with the “virtuosic linguistic artistry” of the novel, which affords “great reading pleasure and intellectual enjoyment.” This prize has been awarded every year since 2001 by the Chinese People's Literature Publishing House. The novel about the love between 73-year-old Goethe and Ulrike von Levetzow, 54 years his junior, was translated by Huang Liaoyu, Dean of the German Department at Beijing University.
