Jiang Zilong recently took a photo. Profile photo
On the day of meeting with reporters, Jiang Zilong was particularly busy. A salon about reading awaited him, followed by a lecture for college students on the theme "Culture." Despite this, he received the reporter warmly: "I have ordered a copy of Guangming Daily, and I am your reader. Guangming Daily has been studying some knowledge very seriously, and has not followed the trend to fry 'hot words', which is very valuable. At the moment of media transformation, I hope that Guangming Daily will persist and give light to paper media. ”
In front of Jiang Zilong, he could not see the criticism, stubbornness and cynicism in the "legend". He was warm, gracious, willing to listen, thoughtful, and sincere. Long-term concern for a rapidly changing society, jiang Zilong, who is now 78 years old, still maintains the state of creation.
In addition to writing novels, Jiang Zilong also devoted himself to the writing of essays and essays. The essay is a style of needle and ugly, flaunting beauty and goodness, paying attention to the clear point of view, short and sharp, bayonet seeing blood, this crisp and clean, right and wrong style, and Jiang Zilong's personality simply has a natural fit. Urbanization of the countryside, industrial development of the city, environmental pollution and protection... These are the subjects of his essays.
"I'm getting older, and my vigor is gone. Before I was 60, I wanted to write and I was able to write it soon. Nowadays, novels, especially long novels, are written less, but when they see some phenomena and information, they often have a lot of feelings and thoughts in their minds, so they write more prose and essays. ”
When it comes to long stories, Jiang Zilong has some pressure, but he feels that he must still write long stories when engaging in literary creation. Jiang Zilong's novels mostly involve reality, he said: "The original face of life is the best novel."
At the end of 2018, among the hundred reform pioneers commended by the Party Central Committee and the State Council at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, Jiang Zilong was the only surviving writer.
Jiang Zilong's famous work is an industrial theme novel, which is still given to him by life.
In the autumn of 1975, the Daqing Conference of the First Ministry of Machinery Industry of the People's Republic of China was held in Tianjin Hotel, tianjin heavy machinery factory is a large factory affiliated to the first machine department, and Jiang Zilong participated in the meeting as the acting section chief of the factory. It was at this venue that the director of the editorial department of "People's Literature" approached Jiang Zilong and hoped that he could write a novel for "People's Literature". Jiang Zilong was infected by the deeds of some advanced figures at the conference, so he wrote it day and night in the hotel where the meeting was held, and the short story "A Day at the Director of mechanical and electrical engineering" was born.
Huo Dadao, the protagonist of the novel "A Day at the Director of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering", is based on Feng Wenbin, director of the Tianjin Heavy Machinery Factory where Jiang Zilong works, and a deputy director of the Nanjing Automobile Factory that Jiang Zilong learned about during the meeting. Jiang Zilong used literary techniques to rub the personalities and deeds of the two archetypal characters into Huo Daodao, who vigorously "grasped production". Reading this novel again now, the desire of factory workers to develop production is revealed everywhere in the novel, which truly reflects the state of production and life of people at that time.
In 1979, Jiang Zilong published a short story in People's Literature, "The Story of The Appointment of Qiao Factory Director". The three words "Jiang Zilong" have since been imprinted on the annals of contemporary literature.
"The Record of Qiao Factory Director's Appointment" tells the story of after the "Cultural Revolution", the production of a heavy-duty motor factory stopped, people's hearts were confused, and the old cadre Qiao Guangpu took the initiative to clean up the mess and carry out drastic reforms, thus reversing the passive situation of the factory. The novel shaped the glorious image of the reformer Qiao Guangpu and is considered to be the pioneering work of "reform literature". At that time, Jiang Zilong only took three days to write this masterpiece. But the character of "Director Qiao" has been described hundreds of times in Jiang Zilong's heart. Later, on different occasions, Jiang Zilong was evaluated as the founder of "reform literature". Whenever this happens, the straightforward Jiang Zilong often says: "In fact, I still don't understand the concept of 'reform literature', and it is impossible for writers to create literary works according to the definition of 'reform'." And only when the 'reform' drastically changes people's way of life can writers have the passion to integrate fictional characters and stories into the real melody of life. ”
Jiang Zilong has always believed that real life is always greater than literature and art, and the creation of realistic themes in the literary world of any period cannot be absent, and literary works can only exist if they conform to the reality of life.
Looking back at Jiang Zilong's literary career, almost every one of his works will cause one or even several controversies in society. After experiencing too many ups and downs, Jiang Zilong's literary creation has matured in such a hammering and grinding. He sighed: "Grinding is always the most positive, walking through such a long and bumpy literary road, looking back at it is like a long trip, a person who has traveled far away returns, there will always be a story to tell, so I wrote it down again." There is still right and wrong, and there are still storms, and writing has become a means of maintaining human dignity. ”
Jiang Zilong firmly positioned his literary concept on the two words "real": real world, real difficulties, real characters, real feelings... Although truth is not always flattering, people cannot escape it, but can only face it and listen to it. Jiang Zilong said: "I believe that the heart of any reader can open to the truth. ”
(Reporters Liu Qian and Chen Jianqiang)