Zhang Xianliang I know

In 2001, Zhang Xianliang wrote an inscription and Wang Meng observed. (Visual China/Photo)

When I met Zhang Xianliang, he had become famous, but he had not yet become famous. His masterpieces "Half of a Man is a Woman" and "Green Tree" have not yet been published.

It was the early 1980s, and I was at a literary conference with him, and the two of us shared a room, when the culture was simple, and later famous people like him had to travel to live in suites.

The two of us saw each other as we always did because he had a "Shanghai complex". He said that he lived in Shanghai when he was a child, his family was very prosperous, and he still remembers those old bungalow cafes and the flowers and greenery of the Ten Mile Ocean Farm, although short, but buried in his heart. I said that I have always lived in Shanghai, and even after experiencing the movement of going up to the mountains and going to the countryside, I am one of the few people who stay in Shanghai. He sighed deeply: You are lucky.

He said that he was essentially a "Shanghai Xiaokai", but he had lived in the Great Northwest Wasteland all his life, and now that he was famous, he could have returned to the big city, but he was used to life in the Great Northwest and did not want to go back. That was his destiny.

That night he spoke incessantly about his life, and it was almost dawn. He said, the first time we met, I told you so much, including the privacy I never talked about, because when I saw you, I touched the "Shanghai" complex in my heart, which was my "original sin". I've wanted to forget about it for years, but it's rooted in my heart.

Later, when he came to Shanghai, I especially introduced the Shanghai female writer Cheng Naishan to meet him, and we talked about old Shanghai together. Xianliang said, I like Naishan's old Shanghai too much, and I also like the Shanghai femininity of Naishan, he joked that it is a pity that we met too late, and I also joked that Naishan's husband is my friend, you don't have to regret it. He laughed triumphantly. Every time he talked about women he always laughed so happily. He later wrote to me and said, "If I were a free man, I would fly to Shanghai to find Naishan to dance." ”

His works occupy a unique place in the literature of the new period. He was the first writer of the new period to vividly depict sexual topics such as sexual psychological hunger and thirst of men and women, and some people derogated him to "sexual literature", but literary critics believe that he is fundamentally different from the subsequent "sexual literature", and his works contain profound ideological connotations and social significance. In my opinion, none of the writers who later wrote about sex in his works can be compared with him, including the equally famous writer Jia Pingwo's "Waste Capital", although Pingwo is also an old friend of mine, I like his works and respect his special place in the history of contemporary Chinese literature.

As far as I know, the literary ideas of the sages are deeply influenced by Russian critical realism, which is actually very traditional, and there are obvious traces of Russian literature.

Most of the protagonists of Xianliang's masterpieces of fiction have had a process of devastation and repression, and they all have a background of living on a labor camp like himself, with the exception of one work, the novel "Sholblak" published in Wenhui Monthly tells a pure love story of an ordinary man and two women, which is very touching. The novel is a little longer than the average short story and a little shorter than the novella. I finished reading the manuscript in one sitting and was so excited that I immediately called him. He laughed: I said I would give you the best novel!

"Shorebrak" won the National Award for Outstanding Short Story that year, which I did not expect.

Wenhui Monthly had a great influence on The Chinese cultural community in the 1980s, because it was a very special magazine, it spanned the fields of literature, art, history and culture, and gathered the most influential writers and scholars in each field.

The editors of the magazine were demanding because each section only published one or two pieces of work, such as novels, one per issue. The 1980s were the most influential years for fiction, and the competition for novels by magazine editors across the country was unimaginable. Wenhui Monthly, which only publishes one novel per issue, was able to win the National Excellent Novel Award in a row and enter the list of famous novel publications, which was also difficult to imagine at that time.

"Shorebrak" is the other side of the sage. Unfortunately, general articles commenting on Zhang Xianliang's literary achievements rarely mention it, focusing only on his "Half of Men are Women" and "Green Trees".

Later, the novel was adapted into a movie, and the director was my old friend and director Bao Qicheng. When he read the novel, he immediately called me and said that he wanted to make a movie and hoped that I would facilitate it. He was still a young director at the time, starting his directing career as an assistant director for Tang Xiaodan's "Reconnaissance of Crossing the River". For the first time, he wanted to direct independently, and he wanted me to support him, because Hyun-jong was a big writer and would be very picky. I got it done with one phone call and got their cooperation. It was also the first time I had a relationship with a movie.

During the filming of this movie, Xianliang and Bao Dao invited me to Ningxia many times, but I was unable to make the trip for various reasons. At that time, the sense of enterprise was too strong, did not know how to steal leisure, how many opportunities I could not go to see the Great Northwest of Xianliang's life, now think about it is a little regretful.

Xiao Guanhong