An Observation on Junior scholars

Junior scholars often hate each other just because their genders are different.

Those with penis think they are playing an unfair game that favors those without penis because many job vacancies make it explicitly that only people without penis can apply for the vacancies. Even if the vacancies are open to people with penis and without penis, they quite often state that 'other things being equal, a person without penis will be elected' (not erected!).

However, these policies do not make all people without penis happy. Some resent that with the embodiment of this type of policies, the academia is still full of penises, which is suffocating for these people without penis. Whenever these people without penis visit an institute that has more then 50% of its faculty with penis, they resent that 'See, a penis-dominant institute!' They are so busy to label the faculty with 'having penis' and 'not having penis' that they don't even care what sort of talents or great personalities lie behind those penises. Just like some misogynists, they don't really care what's in people without penis's brain--not having a penis is itself sufficient enough to tell whether one is suitable for a serious academic job.

寫絕了

上回去圖書館的導覽，去到最後負責導覽的亞裔職員問我有沒有什麼問題，因為在一樓大廳有看到莫言的書，我就問了我中文的書籍放在哪裡，可以到哪查閱。或許是因為只有我一個人去這個導覽，這位職員很熱心地帶我到目前因整修沒有對外開放密集書庫，告訴我哪裡有什麼，如果找不到，打分機給他他會幫我處理。我有點不好意思地跟他說我找不到金庸的小說，沒想到三兩下他就拉開正確的櫃子，讓我拿一本我到現在都還沒看過的鹿鼎記（另外一個還沒看過的是碧血劍，還沒看完的是倚天屠龍記）。

前陣子忙著讀文章，這幾天才想起手邊有本鹿鼎記可以起來翻一翻。我還記得以前跟瑞竹一起去上俠義文學時，老師講到金庸寫到了鹿鼎記以後就封筆是因為已經寫無可寫了。其實我當時是不能理解這樣的評語。韋小寶到底什麼本事，不是就一個耍嘴皮的人，為什麼寫到了鹿鼎記寫了韋小寶，就把武俠寫到絕處？

一看到韋小寶初遇茅十八的章節，這樣的疑惑就消失了。茅十八與天地會的幫眾約期比試，要較量武功，但他們多年苦練的功夫，比不上韋小寶撒石灰粉使人雙目失明。後面接續著的海大富、鰲拜等人，武功一個比一個還要高，但前者被毫無武功的韋小寶加重藥劑以致雙眼失明，後來也因此在與太后過招時受傷而死，後者則被韋小寶用計偷襲關入大牢，最後死在韋小寶從自家收刮而來的寶貴匕首之下。金庸這樣寫，習武的意義，好像徹底地消失了，似乎只有武林中那些講規矩、講道義，甚至有些冥頑不化的人才會認為拳腳上的真功夫有意義。這個武俠，還能怎麼寫下去呢？陳近南為了誓約而收了來路不明的韋小寶作為弟子，又令他當上青木堂香主，顯得迂，也讓人不禁想到，人生中確實有多少人僅只是基於機運而登上大位，其實沒半點本事，就如韋伯在學術作為一種志業中所說的，在學術圈，你總是會看到一些沒你有本事但是位階卻比你高的人。鹿鼎記將這些現實拉進來，把武功與武林門派的侷限赤裸裸地展現出，讀者和金庸都無法逃進虛構的meritocratic world裡面，忘記現實世界裡令人不快的事。寫的實在，也確實寫絕了。