My family and friends | Mr. Feng Deying's "Bitter Cauliflower" led me to the road of translation

The author of this article, Akbar Wulamu's "Two Letters from Teacher Wang Meng", was published in the 4th edition of The China Young Writers Daily on January 14, 2020. The picture shows Akbar Wulamu introducing the China Young Writers Daily to Wang Meng. (Courtesy of the author)

Author: Akbar Wulamu

When I learned the news of the death of the famous writer Mr. Feng Deying, my heart was a little heavy.

Mr. Feng Deying is a serious realist writer with an important influence on the history of contemporary Chinese literature. Representative works include "Bitter Cauliflower", "Mountain Chrysanthemum", "Spring Flower", "Three Flowers" series, as well as "Blood-Stained Land" and "Clear Sky". "Bitter Cauliflower" is a 300,000-word novel written by Mr. Feng Deying in the mid-1950s, which is a literary work with revolutionary historical themes that was adapted to the screen in 1965. The novel revolves around the eight female figures that appear in the book, and by telling the stories of women in that particular historical period, forming a set of female figures, and thus reflecting the cruelty, complexity and arduousness of the class struggle in the revolutionary historical period.

I have never met Mr. Feng Deying, nor have I had any contact, but I am all too familiar with his works, especially "Bitter Cauliflower", and I have an inextricable connection with this work.

In 1965, the Minzu Publishing House wanted to publish the Uyghur edition of Bitter Cauliflower, so the publishing house gave this task to my father and asked him to complete it within half a year. At that time, the work of my father's unit was very busy, and the translation work could only be done outside of work. When my father finished translating the first half of "Bitter Cauliflower", he was worried that he would not be able to complete the task on time, so he asked my brother and I to help him translate some of it for the first time.

At that time, not to mention the translation of works, I had not even read a complete novel, as if I had only read my father's translation of "Gao Yubao" intermittently, because our primary school Chinese textbook had "Gao Yubao". When my brother and I were overwhelmed, my father encouraged us and said, "Children, please read this work in its entirety, get in touch with literature, and then try it and practice it." It's also an opportunity for you to learn. I don't expect you to help me with it, you just translate the meaning, and then I'll modify, process, and refine. I mean for you to start contacting this industry from now on, when my father was a little older than you, he translated and published "Gao Yubao", and it was because of the translation and publication of "Gao Yubao" that he was transferred to work at the Minzu Publishing House..."

With my father's encouragement and curiosity to try it out, I picked up this "Bitter Cauliflower" and read it carefully. I was deeply attracted by the profound ideological spirit of the times, the true and vivid character image, the vivid artistic brushstroke description, and the strong and full regional nostalgia atmosphere of this work. This work is known as the Chinese version of Gorky's "Mother", and has also been compiled into primary school language textbooks, made into movies, TV series, adapted into dramas, commentaries, Lu operas and other dramas, and in 2019, it was also selected into the 70 years of New China's 70 novel classics, which has indeed affected the hearts of generations. Mr. Mo Yan, a famous writer, once commented on "Bitter Cauliflower": "I think that in the novels of the seventeen years before the Cultural Revolution, the most successful and least pedantic depiction of love was "Bitter Cauliflower". ”

I can still remember the names of many of the characters in the work, led by my mother: Juanzi, Feng Deqiang, Feng Degang, Xiuzi, Feng Renyi, Jiang Yongquan, etc. After I read the work carefully, I really started to write. At first, I was curious and funny, but then I was a little serious. My father began to give me two chapters and two chapters for my brother. As I translated, I asked my father what he didn't understand or didn't understand, mainly how many of the words were spoken in Uyghur, and so on. At that time, I had just graduated from elementary school and my knowledge was short-sighted. What I feel most difficult is the lack of vocabulary, the lack of literary language, the inability to express it in the language of literature, only in a few simple words. Still, I literally finished translating it in over a month. After reading it, my father was more satisfied and said to me: "It's not bad, keep working hard!" Listening to his father's praise, I really felt a little sense of accomplishment, and secretly resolved to become a translator in the future.

Later, with the hard work of my father and our participation, the translation of this "Bitter Cauliflower" was completed, and the translation was handed over to the publishing house by my father. Unfortunately, later, the translation of "Bitter Cauliflower" translated by my father was lost, lost, could not be found, and finally failed to publish, which became a lifelong regret for my father and us. This unopened "Bitter Cauliflower" has become a real Bitter Cauliflower in our hearts... Maybe it was with this experience that I later became a literary translator. This "Bitter Cauliflower" became the cornerstone of my growth. I would like to thank my father for nurturing me since childhood, and also for this "Bitter Cauliflower" for leading me to the road of translation.

Editor-in-Charge: Hengwen only

Source: China Youth Daily client