Ye Wenling: My literary friends

I'm associated with literature, and if I started publishing that little novel at the age of 13, it would have been long and wordy, so I'll make a long story short.

Recalling carefully, on October 23, 2019, for the 70th anniversary of the founding of "People's Literature", I published an article entitled "Born of Learning by Writing the Tao", and wrote four congratulatory messages with a brush:

Seventy years with the country, endless life in the paper.

How many things are drizzled in pen and ink, beauty and beauty are always connected.

Ying Jun/Photography

After the establishment of the "Wenling Academy," there was an inscription by comrade Liu Feng, an old leader, "ShengShi Xingwen." At the beginning of "Pen Cultivation Music", several friends jointly wrote the following two sentences: "Work with people with liver and gallbladder, and read from the place where there is no word." Comrade Jidimaga inscribed: "The wind and clouds of the times are surging in the chest, and the bottom of the pen is left in the vicissitudes of the world." The four big characters behind the stone stele: "Dream Pen Shengxiang" were inscribed by Mr. Jiang Zilong, and the famous writers who wrote before and after were Wang Meng, Yuan Ying, Chen Shixu, and Wang Jucai... The late famous writer Zhang Xianliang and so on.

Mo Yan's inscription to congratulate me on the fiftieth anniversary of creation is very special; he first mentions my novel "Green Lantern"; the last two sentences are: "Looking back at my hometown, Truman is inlaid with jade rings." Especially this "inlay" word, used so wonderfully! Only Mo Yan could write it.

In the early 1980s, there was an old lady in Germany, Mrs. Sai, who invited more than a dozen famous writers to visit Germany. Invited were: Mala Qinfu, Cong Weixi, Wang Anyi, Zhang Wei, Zhang Chengzhi, Mo Yan and so on.

When visiting a farm (this farm is big, quiet and beautiful), Mo Yan said to me with great emotion: After I am old, if I can have such a farm, I will be satisfied... Therefore, Mo Yan and I had a very deep friendship very early on, and we didn't talk about anything when we met; he was also from head to toe from the past to the present, the way he spoke, in all aspects, never showed that he was very noble; he said many times: I am a child in the countryside, from childhood to the present, I love to listen to stories, tell stories, and tell good stories. It is his duty to write a good story.

Therefore, as a writer who writes novels, it is necessary to make up a good story, tell a good story, and write a good story.

Another good friend, I want to talk about: Wang Anyi.

Before I met An Yi, I first met her mother, Ru Zhijuan.

In the autumn of 1977, we met at the "National Symposium on Short Stories" in Beijing. The meeting was held in the name of "People's Literature" and attended by as many as forty or fifty people. A group photo was left after the meeting. From the perspective of the China Writers Association, this is an extremely precious photo, and their voices and smiles still make me remember them vividly. In the middle of the first row were Mao Dun, He Jingzhi, Liu Baiyu, Li Ji, Zhang Guangnian, Sha Ting, Zhou Libo, Wang Chaowen, and other elders of the Chinese Writers Association, all of whom I admired and admired.

After the meeting, Mao Gong wrote about his expectations and hopes for Chinese literature under the title of "I am a veteran". Presiding over this meeting was Mr. Zhang Guangnian (Guang Weiran), the editor-in-chief of People's Literature at that time.

The first time I walked into People's Literature was in late 1976. That year, I had the audacity to send a few novels to People's Literature, but I did not expect to receive a reply from the editor soon, letting me have time to go to their editorial office.

One day, when the flowers were like snow and snow, I stepped on the slush on the ground and walked into the building of "No. 52 Dongsi Hachijo"! Xu Yihe, the editor-in-chief of the novel group, saw me coming forward and called another editor, Wang Chaoyu, very kindly: "Come, come..." Just like that, they chatted with me and talked, and they were like a family.

Later, the editor-in-charge Tu Guangqun and Wang Chaoyan recommended the short story "Danmei" that I had written to Mr. Zhang Guangnian, the editor-in-chief.

Tu Guangqun, the leader of the novel group of "People's Literature", once told me: "Comrade Lightyear read the sample of "Danmei" that we gave him, and said to the editors excitedly: After reading this novel, my mood is very happy, I pushed the window, it just snowed outside, and a pure and clear air rushed in; this is so similar to the fresh breath brought to us by the novel... Listen, Comrade Lightyear is praising you in the language of a poet! ”

For me, a literary predecessor, a well-respected poet, literary critic, and lyricist of "The Yellow River Chorus" has not been able to encourage me, a newly emerging amateur author, with poetic language, and this warm and kind word is undoubtedly the most timely spring rain.

Therefore, Zhang Guangnian is the teacher who guided me to the road of literature!

Later, the works I published, at the age of 84, were personally seen, including my novel "No Dream Valley", which he read carefully and wrote in a diary style after reading.

He was very busy at work, and invited mr. Kong Luosun, a well-known literary critic, to visit me in the snow and wind, and wrote the preface to my first collection of novels, Figs.

At that time, I was working in Henan, was a worker in Zhengzhou Pen Factory, "three shifts", very tired, the factory is far from home, every day to get up early and dark, but I am very happy in my heart, after all, I have become a real worker! Soon after, I also became one of the first members of the Chinese Writers Association, and later Jiang Zilong and Chen Jiangong, I were called "workers' writers.". Interestingly, when Wang Anyi and I first met at her house, they called me "Auntie! "Unexpectedly, three years later, I, An Yi, Jiang Zilong, Jia Dashan, Chen Shixu... He became a classmate of the Fifth Literary Seminar. How wonderful life is.

Dashan is one of my best friends in the Wenshu Institute, he is a native of Zhengding, Hebei Province, and his articles are very well written! People are also very humorous, and his work "Taking the Scriptures" is his masterpiece; unfortunately, he died too early, and we all wept for him! General Secretary Xi also wrote a very touching article for him: "Remembering the Mountain"!

Since entering the training center, An Yi has always been particularly diligent, reading and writing articles every day, and publishing many good works... So, whenever I see these old friends' articles in the press, I will read them carefully. (Ye Wenling)