"Some of the strange words in 'Family Change' are not written, white is not white, and when I see the most awkward places, I naturally have to stop and deliberate, and then I simply ignore the changes in the text, because what I urgently want to know is its characters, its actions, so that these strange words are somewhat ignored by me." Mr. Lin Haiyin commented.
The first edition of "Family Change" that I bought was held casually on the shelves of Jasmine's second-hand bookstore after I went to Kaohsiung with Yihua to attend Mr. Yu Guangzhong's farewell ceremony, and the label read "The first edition of the plaque ulcer is $210". The cheap price is secondary, mainly this first novel published by Wang Wenxing, which has been difficult to find for 44 years.
Mr. Wang Wenxing's first edition of "Family Change"
Wang Wenxing began writing "Family Changes" on June 18, 1966, which took seven years to complete until 1972, and then serialized in The First Volume of Chinese and Foreign Literature from September of the same year to February 1973. It was officially published by Huanyu Publishing House in April 1973, but the first edition of this book has long been extinct, and then the version printed by Hong Fan Bookstore in 1978 was widely circulated.
Because the textual construction of "Family Change" is different from the usual usage habits, Li Oufan said: "His language sometimes deliberately creates a distance ... You know at a glance that this is Wang Wenxing's language, and then, you will slowly and slowly let his language bring you into his own world, otherwise, this language will deliberately drive you out..." Because Wang Wenxing tried to innovate sentences, using English, Zhuyin, etc., to present a new language rhythm, not to follow the familiar routine. However, the text and sentences are too innovative, it is not easy to understand for a while, so I read the first edition, and I still have the eighth edition of Hong Fanyin at hand, when some sentences are still confused by repeated reading, I turn over the comparison and determine that it is the sentence text deliberately created by the author, or the mistake of the first edition of proofreading and typesetting, trying to follow his instructions to "read slowly" and understand Wang Wenxing's thinking language. Wang Wenxing said: "The success and failure of a writer are all in words. "He's succeeded.
Mr. Yu Guangzhong
The Fan family building written in Wang Wenxing's book is actually a Japanese wooden house in the beginning of Tong'an Street in Taipei where he lived when he was a child, but the author built a two-story wooden house in the novel to form a one-story bungalow. And "the house is so old that it reveals that the occupants have not decorated it for a long time: the color of the planks has turned dark." Later, in 2002, when students from the Urban and Rural Institute of National Taiwan University conducted a field survey, they found that this wooden house was originally a "Kishu-an" during the Japanese occupation period. Unfortunately, in 1996, an unnamed fire completely burned down the three floors of the original Kishu-an Main Building, and in 1998, the east annex was also destroyed by Zhu Rong, leaving only the house. Because "Kishu-an" has an extraordinary history, it was designated as a municipal monument in 2004, renovated and opened, and has since become a literary landmark, such as Mr. Yu Guangzhong's new poetry collection "Sun Roll Call" published here, and the 60th anniversary of genesis poetry magazine held here... The first time I met Mr. Wang Wenxing was here, he was also here, and he was also asked by me to sign the CD and book of his biographical film "They Write on the Island – Looking for the People Behind the Sea".
Mr. Bai Xianyong's "Taipei People" 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition
And on the afternoon of November 6, 2021, Mr. Bai Xianyong also held a symposium and book signing party for the 50th anniversary of the hardcover edition of "Taipeier" at Jizhou'an, Mr. Bai is 84 years old, his reputation is high, and he is naturally full of people. This short story was first published in 1971 by him and his brother Bai Xianjing, the "Morning Bell Publishing House", and luoyang paper was expensive for a while, becoming the best-selling book in the morning bell. On the title page of the book, Mr. Bai quotes Liu Yuxi's Wuyi Lane: "In the old days, Wang Xie Tang Qianyan flew into the homes of ordinary people. It reveals the main axis of the whole novel, and Ouyang Zi's preface makes it more clear, believing that the characters in the book have two major commonalities, one is that they are all born in Chinese mainland, away from home and young, living in Taiwan for more than ten or twenty years, either middle-aged or elderly; second, they all have an unforgettable past, and the burden of the past affects their lives.
Mr. Cao Ruiyuan's book "Dongshan A Handful of Green"
A few years ago, I watched Cao Ruiyuan's adaptation of Mr. Bai's "A Handful of Green", the love story is poignant, the unfortunate pain caused by the war, it is not something that can be calmed for a while, maybe because there is love in the heart, there is courage to live in that chaotic day. Today's Taipei and Mr. Bai's Taipei are exactly half a century apart, although the face is completely different, the peach blossom is not the same, the wooden Japanese house is in disrepair, wind and rain insect infestation, upside down demolition. Western-style detached bungalows have also become high-rise buildings with the development of the city. The Yin Mansion is no more, Yin Xueyan is old, only Bai Xianyong is not old. (Ye Guowei)