Zhou Mason: Writers can't close their eyes before social contradictions

"The success of 'In the Name of the People' didn't put any pressure on me because I was a writer, and writers are always creating, always looking." Writer and screenwriter Zhou Meisen said in an interview with a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Network.

A few days ago, Zhou Mason's new novel "The People's Property" was published, which is another realistic theme work created by Zhou Mason after the 2 million copies of "The Name of the People" in 2017. He said bluntly: "This is the novel I want to write the most in my life." ”

At the time of the publication of the novel, the TV series "Breakout" adapted by him was launched, starring Jin Dong, Yan Ni, Huang Zhizhong, Chen Xiao, Qin Lan, etc., and Zhou Meisen served as the screenwriter.

"Breakout" is regarded as a companion piece to "The Name of the People", the story still takes place in "Jingzhou City, Handong Province", and the time is half a year after the anti-corruption storm of "The Name of the People", telling the story of the state-owned enterprise Jingzhou Zhongfu that occurred 80 days before the group's 80th anniversary. Jingzhou Zhongfu is facing a huge dilemma, with a huge loss of 1.5 billion yuan on the book, which includes both factors of market changes and corruption that cannot be ignored. An unexpected explosion exploded the bizarre disappearance of 500 million yuan of funds, gradually exposing various sharp and complex contradictions. Qi Ben'an, a cadre of state-owned enterprises, was ordered to unite the broad masses of cadres and masses, strengthen the building of party style and clean government, recover the lost state-owned assets, and lead the enterprises to successfully break through in the face of operational difficulties.

The content of the novel involves the reform of state-owned enterprises, the transformation of shantytowns, banking and insurance companies, private lending, etc., from history to reality, from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, from government executives to private people. Some of the descriptions of coal mines in the novel are derived from Zhou Meisen's early experience of working and living in coal mines.

"Writers are essentially unable to accept the repetition of industrial production and routines of TV dramas. So when I wrote Breakout, I knew that this was not a case-driven work. Zhou Mason said.

In Zhou Mason's view, what he wants to write is a "Qingming River Map" of the times.

Balzac once wrote a sentence under the portrait of Napoleon: "You conquer the world with your sword, and I will conquer the world with my pen!" This sentence deeply encouraged the young Zhou Mason. Since the publication of the novella "The Land of Sinking" in 1983, Zhou Meisen has devoted himself to creating novels and plays that reflect China's political and economic development and the wave of reform, such as "The Right Way on Earth", "The Past of the Republic", "The Supreme Interest", "Absolute Power", "The Ups and Downs of Our Lord", etc., which have established Zhou Meisen's realist creative style.

Zhou Mason said, "There must always be some writers who pay attention to real life and pay attention to the problems that the people are concerned about, and cannot pretend not to see." Despite many tribulations, as a writer in the era of reform and opening up, I have the responsibility and obligation. ”

China Youth Daily: When did "People's Property" start to be created?

Zhou Mason: During the filming of "In the Name of the People", this novel began to be created, which should be regarded as a very smooth one in my creation (career). Why? Because of the long accumulation time and decades of life accumulation, I found inspiration, so this novel was written in more than half a year. Creation is easy for me, like "Lin Manjiang", "Shi Hongxing" and "Qi Ben'an", these people have been in my mind for a long time, and it is very smooth to write.

China Youth Daily: Why did you think of creating a novel that focuses on the transformation of state-owned enterprises?

Zhou Mason: My parents, brothers and sisters are in state-owned enterprises, I grew up in this environment, as a writer, I have the responsibility and obligation to write out my history, which has always been a subject that I am very concerned about. The current environment makes it possible for me to tell an impression of my life experience, the story of this period, very deeply.

China Youth Daily: After the novel is filmed and televisionized, which actors' interpretations are more exciting?

Zhou Mason: "Shi Hongxing" Yan Ni's performance shocked me, and some audiences may not understand why "Shi Hongxing" performed like this. At that time, the candidate for this role, I asked by name to choose Yan Ni. Because the heroine I want to portray is not the kind of stereotypical, thousand-sided, cold, domineering "stereotyped" character, I need a heroine who is emotionally rich, has human fireworks, and can adapt to the plot. It turns out that Yan Ni was right to choose, and she successfully created a flesh-and-blood female executive image with distinctive characteristics.

The actors of this play as a whole are quite outstanding, such as Chen Xiao, who is not at all the handsome little student I remembered, and he performed all the vicissitudes of the human world; Huang Zhizhong is an actor I respect very much, in this play he plays a state-owned enterprise cadre full of tricks and wrists quite well; Jin Dong shows the complexity of Qi Ben'an, this character is not without weakness and hesitation, nor does he not think of retreating, but finally insists on his own principles to fight to the end.

China Youth Daily· China Youth Network: The story of "Jingzhou" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, is there a possibility of "Jingzhou Universe" in future creation?

Zhou Mason: I will not engage in any industrial production, this is the business of entrepreneurs, not my business. Writers always have their own literary territory, such as Gaomi written by Mo Yan, small town written by Faulkner, and Toon Tree Street written by Su Tong. "Jingzhou" is a fiction of mine, a literary territory of mine. I will put my old and new stories, one story after another, into this territory, and I will not recreate a place, I will not have the strength to invent another province.

China Youth Daily, China Youth Network: What key points should be grasped to create qualified realist works?

Zhou Mason: I think we must grasp the essence of this era, what is the essence of this era? On the one hand, we have created the most glorious page of history of the Chinese nation, but at the same time, we are also facing changes that have not occurred in a thousand years, and in such an era of rise, all kinds of social contradictions will be exposed, which is normal. There must be some writers who pay attention to real life and have the courage to face these contradictions, not to close their eyes in front of these contradictions, and not to pretend not to see. I think that truth is the life of the work. If the realistic themes have become a record of good people and good deeds, I believe that the people will not like it. (China Youth Daily, China Youth Network reporter Shen Jiequn)

Source: China Youth Daily