Tan Chee Lay 陈志锐 (b. 1973)
1. BIOGRAPHY
2. CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
3. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
4. SELECTED POEMS
这个世界适合我们 [This World Suits Us]
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
诗的变形记——浅谈陈志锐诗创作中的情怀与文化现象 [The Metamorphosis of Poetry: Examining Sentimentality and Cultural Phenomena in the Poetry of Tan Chee Lay]
Written by Aw Seow Pooi
Translated by Jonathan Chan
Dated 27 Nov 2023
导论
陈志锐是学者作家，亦是新华的著名诗人之一。鉴于篇幅有限，无法把陈的的作品逐一分析。笔者从诗人众多的诗集里，挑选了其青年时期的《陈志锐诗选》（陈志锐1999）、《造剑地》（陈志锐2002）；以新加坡地理出发的《狮城地标诗学》（以下简称《地标》，陈志锐2017），和最新以组诗完成的《长夏之诗》（以下简称《长夏》，陈志锐2022）来探讨诗人创作中的情怀与文化现象。
一、造剑地里的热血青年
早期的诗人的作品反应了他对待生活的某种理解和感受外界的不安，而诗就充当了一种沟通。我们能够从诗人的早期诗集《陈志锐诗选》和《造剑地》里挖掘此类佳作。〈这个世界适合我们〉“因为修路工人头上仍有鸟雀啼唱高亢为生计而忙／因为机车烟雾下仍有氧气清气豪气浩然正气／因为霓虹灯光外仍有星光月光日光普照佛光……因为这世界除了我们的我们……／／因为与其要世界适应／我们不如去造一个我们适应的／世界”（陈志锐1999: 15） 诗人从日常生活中领悟了人生哲理，更采用了排比手法，使得整首作品的节奏感鲜明，也加强了“创造与适应世界”的效果。
我们再看诗人在〈造剑地〉里写 “他在满是血迹的剑刃上／铸上仁德的名字／掩去了残忍的别号／而造剑地竟是／消失了的／故乡”（陈志锐2002: 64）。诗人挥笔如舞剑，年青的热血与梦想在“造剑地”里打造了无招胜有招之诗句。结尾，“许多苦痛与狰狞正要撕裂彩虹……而他已悄悄／将／剑／还／鞘”（陈志锐2002: 64）句末的“他”懂得得点到即止而非倾盆狂泻，是诗人待己待诗的本质和领悟。诗人说：“遗留一个不断有梦想成铅的出版动机，宛如造剑之后要经年累月反复练剑舞剑再造剑的无限追求。”（陈志锐2002: 78）这是诗人为日后的创作埋下了伏笔，通过文字把记忆与岛国形象化，传达出美好的憧憬。
二、记忆与土地的形式实验
”记忆（memory）经常和叙述（narrative）与故事（story）有紧密联系， 记忆的形构与再现，因而对 “文化认同”和 “国族认同”的确立与巩固十分重要” （廖炳惠2003: 162）。陈志锐的采取叙事的方式展开，利用诗来见证其岛国与生命。
陈志锐抒写早期南洋社会生活时，有意识地展现南洋独特的社会风貌。他也透过地方习俗、语言、物产，表现了在地人们生活的多样性与丰富性。我们可以在陈的《地标》中的〈牛车水I〉“我们用福建话买／你们用潮州话卖／还是吃到一盘声色俱佳的／地道海南鸡饭”（陈志锐2017: 5）。新加坡的多元文化与诗人利用不同籍贯方言穿插在本土食物上，让彼此建立在不尽相同却又熟悉的关系。〈百胜楼II〉“唱走了新谣／唱走了书店／连记忆也是／二手的／终于让新一代／忘却了不吉利的外号／书城……” （陈志锐2017: 35）。百胜楼（Bras Basah Complex）即是“书城”，介于“书”和“输”的谐音备受争议，才另取了“百胜”。书城是狮城艺术音乐与书籍的发源地，更是当时80年代的新谣与书展活动的场所。诗人写出了历史文化命运的变迁，更表达了其对旧物伤逝的情怀。
诗人回顾过往的同时，也看见了岛国不断迈向前的步调，所以有了〈榴梿壳〉（陈志锐2017: 40）这首诗。榴梿壳即是新加坡滨海艺术中心（Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, Singapore）。诗中以赤道的水果之王来借喻本土的文化艺术，逐渐萌芽发展成长，而“壳”的坚硬正是维护梦想的基地。
作品让读者有切近诗人童年的现场感、亲历性，也体验诗人成长过程中对于观照生活的穿透力与概括性。从“往昔” 与经历 “当下” 两个层面，拓展了时间、空间与地域情感和认同。
三、诗与时代的回应
《长夏》是陈志锐在《地标》后，皆文字从岛屿中再出发的一部诗集。《长夏》是诗人编织成一组组的长诗来完成的作品，从地理空间、文化文学历史里穿梭；字里行间承载了人物记忆和时光。
笔者在这里要探讨的是诗人如何以诗来回应时代作品与作者。
〈信笺五札：解梦——致戏剧家郭宝崑〉：“您相信／所有越狱的梦／都根植在一棵怪老树身上／树干即使疏离，枝叶碰触，根须沟通／殊途同归的自由／就是梦的深度和高度” 、 “没有您的舞台，我们如何死守遥远的台词／幕后，梦在棺材内辗转”。（陈志锐2022: 51-54）郭宝崑曾在内安法令下遭逮捕，遭政治囚禁。此后，有关他对社会批判性的作品也跟着销声匿迹。诗人借由梦、舞台、棺材来解读郭把艺术、思想与对社会的批判性或关注，融合新旧文化搬上舞台演习生活。
另外，在《长夏》诗集里也可以看见诗人以诗回应已故的知名作家，英培安。
〈信笺五札：以石投石——致英培安先生〉： “是的，石头说话／因为每一个或深沉或拔高的如石之字都／记住了时间记住了岁月的季节／记住了…／记住了一个诗人的永恒身份证／记住了 越来越沉默的／忘记” （陈志锐2022: 64-68），陈志锐回应英培安的诗集《石头》（英培安2020），也同样利用了石头来记念他。从文字、岁月、永恒的身份，记住那顽固如石头坚定英培安。接着，“坚持如草根的生命力／即使无根亦要拔弦／画室里，画与被画都是日常，都是生活／像你这样一个男子／当叫男子汉矣／／自此黄昏没了颜色／而石头／却已成了大山”（陈志锐2022: 64-68）这一段是当诗人听闻英培安噩耗后而写的。这里没有夸张的比喻与修饰，而是把英对写作的执着和情感融入诗歌里。尤其在最后，“石头变成了大山”，让英的形象立体地耸立在读者眼前。英在年轻的时候，曾有笔名为孔大山，志锐也巧妙地把其转化入诗的结尾。
诗人在写给两名已故作家的诗里，也把他们部分的著作名化为意象，达到互文的效果。譬如：郭宝崑的剧作〈傻姑娘与怪老树〉、〈棺材太大洞太小〉（柯思仁2005: 135-150, 79-86）；英培安的作品《画室》（英培安2011）、《无根的弦》（英培安1988）等等。无疑的，把两者对于新加坡文艺与文化界的贡献呈现出来，也让读者了解郭和英是新加坡的共同文化符号。
四、小结
杨牧曾言：“语言形式固然不可或无，但在语言形式后，诗人突出了他们隐约共同的神话系统，象征，和寓言。”（杨牧2001: 22）陈志锐早期的《陈志锐诗选》到目前最新的《长夏》，展现他对个人、外界、土地的不同情感反应，以诗透过地方语言、习俗来解读新加坡与他国的色彩；从方言介入街道地名、把历史转化为风景。写诗是一种生命力的表现，诗人写出了在不同时代与人和社会的体验，以及更多的让社会学习尊重和欣赏多元的声音。
注：郭宝崑（1939—2002），是新加坡戏剧界的先驱，也是一名导演、文化评论家及公共知识分子。郭曾获颁新加坡文化与卓越奖，其经典著作包括《棺材太大洞太小》、《㗝呸店》、《傻姑娘与怪老树》、《郑和的后代》等。
英培安（1947—2021），是新加坡最具代表性的当代华文作家之一, 也是新加坡文化奖与东南亚作家奖得主。他所涉猎的文体有多种类，已出版著作有30种，有的作品已被翻译成多种语言。长篇小说《画室》于2013年被改编成舞台剧，作为该年新加坡国际艺术节的开幕演出。《石头》与《黄昏的颜色》是英培安生前最后出版的诗集与小说。
参考资料
陈志锐《陈志锐诗选》（新加坡：新加坡文艺协会，1999）
陈志锐《造剑地》（新加坡：光触媒，2002）
陈志锐《狮城地标诗学》（新加坡：城市书房，2017）
陈志锐《长夏之诗》（台北：时报文化出版企业股份有限公司，2022）
廖炳惠编著《关键词200：文学与批评研究的通用词汇编》（台北：麦田出版，2003）
英培安《石头》（新加坡：城市书房，2020）
柯思仁《郭宝崑全集第二卷：华文戏剧（1980年代）》（新加坡：八方文化创作室，2005）
英培安《画室》（新加坡：城市书房，2011）
英培安《无根的弦》（新加坡：草根书室，1988）
见杨牧《隐喻与实现》（台北：洪范书店有限公司，2001）
Introduction
Tan Chee Lay is a writer, scholar, and one of the best-known poets in Singaporean Sinophone literature. This essay will discuss a selection of Tam’s works, namely《陈志锐诗选》 [The Selected Poems of Tan Chee Lay] (1999), 《造剑地》[Where Swords are Forged] (2002), 《狮城地标诗学》 [Landmark Poetics of the Lion City] (2017), as well as his most recent collection《长夏之诗》[Poems of the Long Summer] (2022), with particular attention to sentimentality and cultural phenomena.
A Hot-Blooded Youth when Swords were Forged
Tan’s early poetry reflects his understanding and approach to his life as well as the unease he felt toward the broader world, with his poems functioning as a form of communication. Among Tan’s early collections, namely The Selected Poems of Tan Chee Lay and Where Swords are Forged, we can find some of his most masterful work. Take the poem <这个世界适合我们> [“This World Suits Us”] for example:
因为修路工人头上仍有鸟雀啼唱高亢为生计而忙
因为机车烟雾下仍有氧气清气豪气浩然正气
因为霓虹灯光外仍有星光月光日光普照佛光[…]
因为这世界除了我们的我们
[…]
因为与其要世界适应
我们不如去造一个我们适应的
世界[Because above the road builders birds still crow and sing as they struggle to make a living
Because beneath the car fumes there is oxygen, clean air, a breath of heroism, and a vast breath of righteousness
Because beyond the neon lights there is still light of the stars, the moon, the sun, and the light of the Buddha[…]
Because in this world there is nothing else but we who belong to ourselves
[…]
Because instead of having the world adapt to us
We should create the kind of world
To which we must adapt]
Tan draws on philosophical principles realised throughout his daily living, while also utilising prose techniques, allowing for the creation of a clear sense of rhythm. This strengthens the effect of the poem creating “the kind of world / To which we must adapt” (Tan, The Selected Poems of Tan Chee Lay, 1999).
In the eponymous poem <造剑地> [“Where Swords are Forged”], Tan writes:
他在满是血迹的剑刃上
铸上仁德的名字
掩去了残忍的别号
而造剑地竟是
消失了的
故乡[On the blade covered in bloodstains
He inscribes the names of benevolence and virtue
While submerging the alias of cruelty
And the place where the sword is forged
Is the hometown
That has vanished]
Tan wields his poet like a sword, with his hot blood of youth and dream of the place “Where Swords are Forged”, allowing him to craft lines that are adroit and skilful. In the end,
许多苦痛与狰狞正要撕裂彩虹……而他已悄悄
将
剑
还
鞘[Just as much suffering and malevolence was about to be inflicted, that would lacerate a rainbow, he quietly
Returned
The sword
To
Its sheath. ]
The “he” described knows when to bring himself to a pause rather than unleashing his power in a frenzy, which is also the essence of Tan’s treatment of himself and his poetry. Tan has written that
遗留一个不断有梦想成铅的出版动机，宛如造剑之后要经年累月反复练剑舞剑再造剑的无限追求。
[to leave a legacy of an unbreakable dream to be in print as a motive behind my publishing, is akin to the boundless desire to forge a sword, train unrelentingly in the art of wielding it in swordsmanship, and forge a sword again.]
This is Tan’s way of laying the foundations for his later work, where through his writing he takes the memory and images of his island nation and conveys them through a vision of beauty.
Formal Experimentation of Memory and Land
Memory is often closely related to narratives and stories; thus, the construction and reproduction of “memory often have a significant impact on ‘cultural identity’ and ‘national identity’ ” (200 Keywords, 2003). Tan Chee Lay takes a narrative approach, using poetry to bear witness to his island nation Singapore and his life.
When Tan writes about lives in the “Nanyang” in earlier periods of history, he intentionally depicts its unique social landscape. He also describes the diversity and richness of people’s lives in Singapore through local customs, languages, and products. This can be seen in the poem <牛车水I> [“Chinatown I”] in his collection Landmark Poetics of the Lion City:
我们用福建话买
你们用潮州话卖
还是吃到一盘声色俱佳的
地道海南鸡饭[We use Hokkien to buy
You use Teochew to sell
We still eat a plate of sound and colour
Authentic Hainanese chicken rice]
Singapore’s multiculturalism, as well as Tan’s insertion of dialects of different origins into descriptions of local food, allows for the creation of mutual differences yet close relations. The poem <百胜楼II> [“Bras Basah II”] features the following lines:
唱走了新谣
唱走了书店
连记忆也是
二手的
终于让新一代
忘却了不吉利的外号
书城……[Singing the Xinyao songs away
Singing the bookstores away
Even memories are also
Second-hand
Finally, allowing the new generation
To forget the inauspicious nicknames
This city of books......]
Bras Basah Complex is this “city of books”, yet because of the controversial similarity in pronunciation between “book” and “losing” in Chinese, it is referred to instead by its former name. This city of books was the source of Singapore’s art, music, and books, as well as a centre of Xinyao and book fairs in the 1980s. Tan writes of the changing fates of history and culture, while also describing his sentiments toward the loss of old places.
Just as Tan looks toward the past, he also witnesses an island nation constantly moving forward. This explains his writing of the poem <榴梿壳> [“Durian Shell”] (Tan, Landmark Poetics of the Lion City, 2017). This durian shell refers to Singapore’s Esplanade. The poem uses the durian, the king of fruits, as a metaphor for local arts and culture, which continues to develop and grow gradually. This hardness of this “shell” forms the foundation for upholding these dreams.
Landmark Poetics of the Lion City provides readers with a sense of immediacy and proximity toward Tan’s childhood, while also allowing them to experience the penetrating and broad observations made by Tan about his life in the process of growing up. From “past” to “present”, the collection expands a sense of his emotions and identity across time, space, and locality.
Responses of Poetry and Time
Poems of the Long Summer was written after Landmark Poetics of the Lion City, a collection that also takes Singapore as its starting point. Poems of the Long Summer is Tan’s attempt to weave long poems into a complete work, crossing geographical space and cultural and literary history. Tan’s words carry the memory of Chinese characters and time. What I want to do is explore how Tan responds to the work and the writers of his time.
In his poem “Five Notes on the Letterhead: Interpreting Dreams——To the Dramatist Kuo Pao Kun” (信笺五札：解梦——致戏剧家郭宝崑), Tan writes:
您相信
所有越狱的梦
都根植在一棵怪老树身上
树干即使疏离，枝叶碰触，根须沟通
殊途同归的自由
就是梦的深度和高度[…]
没有您的舞台，我们如何死守遥远的台词
幕后，梦在棺材内辗转[You believe that
All the dreams of a prison break
Are rooted in a funny old tree
Even though the trunk is distant, the branches and leaves touch, the roots communicate
The freedom of taking different paths
Is the depth and the height of a dream[…]
Without your stage, how can we hold on to distant lines
Behind the curtains, dreams roll around in a coffin]
Kuo Pao Kun was detained without trial under the Internal Security Act and imprisoned for his political activities. This led to his work that was critical of society vanishing without a trace. Tan uses the images of dreams, a stage, and a coffin to interpret Kuo’s dramatic work, thinking, and social critiques and concerns, with the fusion of old and new cultures coming to life on stage.
In addition, Poems of the Long Summer also allows us to read Tan’s response in poetry to another late, renowned writer, Yeng Pway Ngon. In his poem <信笺五札：以石投石——致英培安先生> [“Five Notes on the Letterhead: Throwing Stones at Stones——To Mr Yeng Pway Ngon”], Tan writes:
是的，石头说话
因为每一个或深沉或拔高的如石之字都
记住了时间记住了岁月的季节
记住了…
记住了一个诗人的永恒身份证
记住了 越来越沉默的
忘记[Yes, the stones speak
Because for every word that is deep or drawn out like a stone
They remember the time, the seasons of the years
They remember…
They remember the poet’s eternal identity
They remember the increasing silence
Of forgetting]
Tan responds to Yeng’s poetry collection Stone (2020), while also using the image of stones to memorialise him. The images of words, seasons, and an eternal identity allow Tan’s speaker to remember how Yeng was as stubborn and firm as a stone. He continues:
坚持如草根的生命力
即使无根亦要拔弦
画室里，画与被画都是日常，都是生活
像你这样一个男子
当叫男子汉矣
自此黄昏没了颜色
而石头
却已成了大山[Persistence is like the vitality of roots
Even without roots, you still have to pluck a string
In the studio, painting and being painted are all daily occurrences, all part of your life
Like the kind of man you are
A man who should be called a man
Since then, the dusk has lost its colour
And this stone
Has already become a mountain]
Tan’s poem was written after he had heard the sad news of Yeng’s passing. Here, there are no exaggerated metaphors or embellishments, but Tan includes Yeng’s dedication and emotions toward his writing in his poem. This is especially so in the final lines where “this stone / Has already become a mountain” (Tan, Poems of the Long Summer, 2022) This image allows Yeng to loom over the reader in three dimensions. When Yeng was young, he also used the pen name Kong Dashan, or Mountain Kong, which Tan is also able to cleverly transform and include in the poem’s conclusion.
In the poems Tan addresses to these two writers, he turns some of the names of their works into images, creating an intertextual effect. For example, Kuo Pao Kun’s plays The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree (1987) and The Coffin Is Too Big For The Hole (1984), and Yeng Pway Ngon’s novel Art Studio (2011) and poetry collection Rootless Strings (1974). It is undeniable that by presenting the artistic and literary contributions of these two figures to Singapore, they also allow readers to understand that Kuo and Yeng are common cultural symbols of Singapore.
Conclusion
The Taiwanese poet Yang Mu once said that “While linguistic forms are certainly not contingent, behind these forms, poets reveal vague yet shared mythological systems, symbols, and allegories” (Yang, Metaphor and Configuration, 2001). From Tan’s earliest collection The Selected Poems of Tan Chee Lay to his most recent work the Poems of the Long Summer, these reveal his different responses to people, the world, and the land. Through poetry, Tan uses local languages and customs to interpret the colours of Singapore and other countries. From dialects, he describes street names and transforms history into landscapes. Writing poetry is an expression of vitality. Tan has written about his experiences with different people and society across times, as well as allowing readers to learn respect and appreciate a diversity of voices.
Works cited
200 Keywords: Glossary of Literary and Cultural Studies. Edited by Liao Ping Hui. Taipei, Taiwan. Rye Field Publishing Co. 2003.
The Complete Works of Kuo Pao Kun (Volume Two): Plays in Chinese (2). Edited by Quah Sy Ren. Global Publishing. 2005.
Tan, Chee Lay. Landmark Poetics of the Lion City. Singapore. City Book Room. 2017.
Tan, Chee Lay. Poems of the Long Summer. Taipei, Taiwan. China Times Publishing Co. 2022.
Tan, Chee Lay. The Selected Poems of Tan Chee Lay. Singapore. Singapore Literature Society. 1999.
Tan, Chee Lay. Where Swords are Forged. Singapore. Firstfruits. 2002.
Yang, Mu. Metaphor and Configuration: Collected Essays in Literary Criticism. Taipei, Taiwan. Hung-fan Bookstore, Ltd. 2001.
Yeng Pway Ngon. Rootless Strings. Singapore. Grassroots Book Room. 1988.
Yeng, Pway Ngon. Stone. Singapore. City Book Room. 2020.
Yeng Pway Ngon. Studio. Singapore. City Book Room. 2011.
