Zheng Zaihuan will hardly take the initiative to read books by contemporaries. "The more angry they are, the less I look at them."
"I'm afraid I'm envious, I'm afraid I'm jealous, I'm afraid of getting hurt. If I write badly but are more famous than I am, I am not convinced, and I am hurt; if I write better than I am and more famous than I am, I am even more hurt. It is better to wait for the time to pass and look at it, and everyone will finish their own business. I'm not a writer in the literary scene, I'm a writer in the life scene. What's going on in the literary scene, I'm not that concerned. ”
△ Young writer Zheng Zaihuan
"Don't say famous, it's difficult to publish a book"
In 2017, Zheng Zaihuan published his first book, "Zhumadian Sad Stories" (hereinafter referred to as "Zhumadian"), a publisher approached him, asked him if he had written anything else, wanted to "get them all out", he sorted out 250,000 words of the novels he had previously written, "like a brick, full of confidence, to use this thick book to bombard the contemporary literary world."
The time of signing the contract was out that year, hoping to take advantage of the popularity of "Zhumadian" to chase after it, but it dragged on for two years and failed to publish, seeing that the same age has produced several books, in this regard, he panicked, so he transferred the book manuscript to the Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, which is also quite bumpy - the first editor abandoned pure literature to engage in network literature, "ran to a more promising road", and the editor who took over later also left his job soon after.
After surviving three edits, the second book, Kill the Enemy All Night (hereinafter referred to as "Kill the Enemy") was published four years later. These four years were his ordeal period. "Obviously, some people are willing to come out, but they can't come out, and this ordeal is not enough for outsiders."
As a completely opposition person, he didn't have many channels for the outside world to see him, except to prove it with books. This also leads to his current "very well-behaved", as long as someone is willing to publish, willing to give him a book, he is particularly cooperative. "I wouldn't have been like this before, I used to be young and vigorous."
△ "Killing the Enemy All Night Tonight" by Zheng Zaihuan, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House
Many readers regard "Zhumadian" as Zheng Zaihuan's debut work, but in fact, "Kill the Enemy" and "Zhumadian" were written for about the same time, and he wrote it between the ages of 20 and 23. At that time, he did not work part-time, he wrote things at home, thinking of turning out to be a blockbuster. "As a result, I didn't shock people for three years."
"My ambitions are too big. When I first started writing, I watched Han Han and Guo Jingming, and my understanding of 'fame' was that of a best-selling author, and at least I had to sell 100,000 copies, at least I haven't reached it yet, it's still a very general state. ”
However, his works have sold better than most literary ones. "Killing the Enemy" was published, he accepted a new round of interviews, originally to promote the new book, the old book was also publicized out of stock, everyone went to buy, the previously printed 15,000 copies of "Zhumadian" has been out of stock, the second-hand books on the old book network are also called to one hundred and eighty yuan a book.
"What's your hurry, two new books are not enough to read?" This year, he also has a book "Discrete Always Before reunion", a collection of short and medium stories, which came out almost at the same time as "Killing the Enemy". Everyone said, "Huan Huan is too prolific", in fact, he is not so hardworking, but the two books just happen to be together.
"The first thing to write is to be famous, to make money, to be recognized by everyone, and to make everyone think that I am very powerful." Later, not to be famous, even it was difficult to publish a book, so I lowered my expectations to a very low level, and it would be good to be able to write what I wanted to write. ”
Between fiction and non-fiction
Among the post-90s writers, Zheng Zaihuan's experience is particularly special. Born in 1990, he did not even complete nine years of compulsory education, but this was not due to poor grades. His birth mother died early, he was brought up by his grandmother, and at the age of eleven, his father and stepmother had a second child, and he was brought back to act as a nanny, almost spending his adolescence in violence and abuse. His stepmother was reluctant to support him in his studies, and after finishing the first year of junior high school, he stopped going to school and went out to work with his relatives.
The first time I went was in Baigou Town, Hebei Province, which is a town specializing in the production of bags, the town is full of small workshops that make bags, and the main production tools are sewing machines. Because it is a small workshop, the workers I look for are teenagers who are not in school between the ages of 15 and 20. He worked in Baigou for two years, working from six or seven o'clock in the morning to eleven or twelve o'clock in the night, sometimes working overtime until one or two o'clock, or even all night, which was really very hard. "Every day when you get up, when you get up, the gas is bursting, so explosive that you want to destroy the world, but because you have been in this state of having to start for a long time, you can't send out fire and you must accept it." Once you accept it, you accept it every day, there is no room for anything else, and even later, you have become an accomplice, and you can't tolerate others not accepting it. ”
In the second year of working in Baigou Town, a new guy came, a Zhengzhou native, because they did not come from the same place as Zheng Zaihuan, and they were not so familiar. Sleeping in a chase bunk, the guy slept next to him, he was not used to the guy getting up every morning "look like he was going to die and live", because he himself was active no matter where he went to work, and he felt that he had to work quickly. "Of course, I later learned that it was stupid, and you couldn't finish working no matter how quickly you did." Once, as soon as the early bell rang, everyone was getting up, and the guy woke up very angry, pounded the bed, and woke him up. He had already practiced the kung fu of ringing the bell no matter how big it was, he could be confused and sleep for a while, but he was very angry and got up and strangled the boy's neck. "I just feel that everyone is angry in their hearts, why do you have a personality?" Why are you angry? I can't tolerate his expression. Then the boss came and pulled me away, and the boss even thought I was his advocate. ”
After leaving Baigou Town, Zheng Zaihuan went to Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, where there were many relatives, and felt that the whole village was inhabited by his relatives, who did small business or entered the factory to work. He had previously learned to step on a sewing machine in Baigou, and was introduced by relatives to a shoe factory to step on a sewing machine to make leather shoes.
It was a modern foreign trade shoe factory, when he first went, the main sewing machine workers from Hubei stopped work because of the low wages, and even encouraged people in other places to stop work, although there was no response, but just Hubei people stopped working, the factory has been semi-paralyzed, which makes him feel the "strength of unity".
"It's a good factory, and it gives me a good idea of the workers, the factory, and the relations of production." In the future, when he could not write in his twenties, he even thought of going back to the Yuyao factory to continue working. "Because I am more free, I can leave after doing the money I want to earn for the day."
The experiences of Baigou and Yuyao were written into the novel by Zheng Zaihuan and included in the novel collection "Kill the Enemy All Night Tonight". The story in the book, pasted on The past of Zheng Zaihuan's life, between fiction and non-fiction, depicts a kind of truth that is despised by the north, the vast and deep, the buildings, and the neon flowing colors.
△ Zheng Zaihuan
Never vassal
Although he has experienced the cruelty of life, what Zheng Zaihuan is reluctant to write is "bitter and vengeful, especially serious". His novels are funny and crying, and extremely funny.
In his view, literature is aesthetic, is a game, is born for happiness, just like his Henan compatriot Liu Zhenyun often said, literature is first and foremost a piece of music. "You have to let people see it, and then talk about intervening in society, or expressing awareness and opinions about society."
It is true that his original motivation for writing was because he read the youth literature written by Han Han and Guo Jingming, and wanted people to see different youths and different teenagers. There was indeed a desire to expose life. But as he wrote more and went deeper into his life, he found that it didn't matter. "I'm not a politician, I'm not a thinker, I can't make any social rules, I can only do some entertainment, but is there a point of view in this entertainment?" There must be, it's just that it's not dominant. I don't write for ideas, I write for fun. ”
Just as he wrote in the novel "Jukebox", the protagonist first listened to Internet songs, listened to Tu Honggang and Daolang, and then listened to Lennon, and Zheng Zaihuan's literary reading also had such a process of "upgrading". His literary initiation was the book of the ground stall, and he only read classic literature later. Even in the face of the classics, he never attached himself. For several years, even "One Hundred Years of Solitude" he thought it was badly written, and felt that Márquez was "showing off". But he still thinks that this narrowness is valuable, "at least you dare to point fingers at the classics, rather than dare not speak when you see the name."
The literary enlightenment received is not mainstream literature, and it will not be kidnapped by existing literary concepts. He was upset when his novels were relegated to vernacular literature according to the old system. "It's hard for us to urbanize, and everyone doesn't want to see things with rural themes anymore, which is a kind of rebellion against aesthetic activities." Literature and art have reached this stage, and who wants to see the fact that they are still writing about cattle, village chiefs and widows? ”
"I'm so afraid of getting mixed up with them, and people will think that I'm the kind of person who uses outdated techniques and writes outdated subjects." It's not fair to me, and it's not fair to the new rural generation of creators in other fields of contemporary art. Zheng Zaihuan said, "I write about the countryside naturally, it is a natural observation on my growth path, there are contemporary things, there are changes in the way of life that develops with the times, including new literary methods and literary techniques." ”
"All are the flowers of the motherland"
Many times, the media likes to portray Zheng Zaihuan's experience as an inspirational story of "the success of rural left-behind children counterattacking". Zheng Zaihuan felt that of course it was right to say so, because this group is very large, all of them are sending couriers or doing other things, everyone can see it every day, and there are not many people who can really speak in the media. But he also didn't feel like he could speak for them.
In his view, whether it is a counterattack or a success, in addition to the threshold brought by birth, there is also a problem of personal ability. If he did not engage in literature, he believed that he would not be worse. His early work outside the home is small, there are "mixed" quite good. The best one is to open a Taobao store. In the process of being a courier, he met some electrical wholesalers, and then started from scratch, and slowly started his own electrical wholesale business, making a lot of money. Seven or eight years ago, he went home for the New Year, drove a second-hand Mercedes, and then got better and better, and came home to drive a brand new BMW. There are about a dozen people in the village who are about the same age, all of whom have started Taobao shops with him, and they have also earned money, mercedes-benz, BMW to drive home. ”
"If he hadn't encountered the opportunity to open a Taobao store, I believe that he wouldn't be too bad at doing anything else." He was unruly from an early age, but he was able to make friends, he could maintain himself, but at the same time he could deal with people, which was an ability. ”
The new generation of people who work hard in the city will not put their positions so low as their parents did, and they will also have ambitions, thinking that through their own efforts, they may be more powerful and successful than the people in the city. "Like my other fa xiao, while learning to make peppery soup fried buns in Shenzhen, thinking of opening a small restaurant, while still brushing vibrato, kuaishou, commenting on those big Internet celebrities, analyzing what their model is, what are the advantages and shortcomings of this model." He has a certain understanding and cognition of popular culture, and feels that he can do it if he wants to do it. Society is a little flatter. ”
What caused this change? "One is the Network, and the other is the nine-year compulsory education. We are all flowers of the motherland. On the Internet, we can also see other people's lives, towns, big cities, foreign countries, can see, after watching it, I think this is also a person, this person is also struggling to find a way to live, they are not so mysterious and high-end. ”
He broke away from the circle of life of the children and lived a new life in Beijing that lived by literature, but Zheng Zaihuan did not think that the two lives were superior and inferior. "You can't think that you are superior to them by watching foreign movies, listening to foreign music, or watching niche literary and artistic things. They are not low in the aesthetics of life, but they have no leisure, no channels and interests to contact those things. If they touch those things, their sensitivity is no worse than yours, it's just that they haven't been exposed. It's lifestyle-determined. Their way of life is that they have not yet transitioned to that kind of literary life, but they are also living other literary and artistic life. ”
alive
According to the writer Cao Kou,Zheng Zaihuan's novel should become the best-selling story of this era, cruel, painful, but also extremely interesting, completely in line with the phenomenon and essence of this world.
Although Zheng Zaihuan's novels have not yet become "the best-selling stories of this era", he has always believed that literature can be, and should be, one of the most cattle commodities of this era. He must believe that literature must support himself well in order to devote himself to the attitude and length of professionalism of writing.
"You have to exchange your ideals for bread, so that you will sharpen your ideals and use the most genuine professional attitude to manage this ideal." 」
Wild writers like him are not very good at supporting themselves by writing alone. But the pressures of life are always there, depending on what kind of life you want. From his teenage years to earn a living, he is in a state of wandering, and his appeal is only to earn some money to maintain his life. For him, doing what he wants to do, without having to get up early and go dark like when he was in the factory, "it's already very good and very human." As for working and buying a house in Beijing, like a college student, finding a place in the city, this is not something he should consider.
He and his young children followed a life of part-time work, saving money, building a house or buying a house in the county seat, and then marrying and having children. "This is the life we deserve to live." And his fathers didn't expect these things from him, which made him a little harder than his hair boys: no one built him a house, and no one found him a daughter-in-law. He asked himself of only one thing: to live.
Those step-by-step lives, he did not have the ability to do, and even if he had the ability to do it, it was not the life he wanted in the first place. "What I thought at the beginning was, either there was a big realization or it was to live comfortably, and living comfortably was more important to me because I wasn't living comfortably as a child. Stepmother's family, living under control as a teenager, as it is now, uncontrolled, not nodding to people, is already very good. This kind of personality is determined by the environment. ”
As for success in the mundane sense, he has learned to make himself less expectant, "just have a faint hope hanging there." "Like before, I always rehearsed the Nobel Prize in my head, and I was confident to that end. Not anymore. Now it's coming, I can catch it; it's okay not to come. ”
Modern Express + reporter Chen Xi