Today (February 7) afternoon, the China Writers Network released a simple message: "The famous writer Zhang Jie died of illness in the United States on January 21, 2022. This news was quickly forwarded in the circle of friends, most of the author's circle of friends are writers and people in the publishing industry, under the message forwarded by the author, some comments: "I also went to her house to send the manuscript fee"; some commented "I have been emailing with her, we are responsible for the copyright of her works"; some comments: "I know her, very personal". Some friends who are not engaged in the field of culture also commented: "Is it Zhang Jie, the writer who wrote "The Person Who Hurt Me The Most In the World"? I cried when I read it. ”
Indeed, whether we know her personally or not, her works are included in the Chinese textbooks of our post-80s generation when they are studying in middle school, which is a literary imprint engraved in early life and will never be forgotten under any circumstances.
Zhang Jie was born in Beijing in 1937, 7 years ago, Zhang Jie came to Beijing to hold a painting exhibition, the author conducted an interview with her, when she was 77 years old, physically ill, she had begun to consider the aftermath, she said that she found a lawyer to make a will, the will read" After I die, do not hold a memorial service, do not publish commemorative articles, do not commemorate me." From these few words we can see that she is indeed different, full of personality, she is straightforward, enthusiastic, sincere, in her own words is "colorful", perhaps her blunt words have made her say something offensive, but it is indeed part of her unique personality charm.
Zhang Jie has been living in the United States on the other side of the ocean, and because of physical reasons, the chance of returning to China is becoming less and less. Tie Ning once said that Zhang Jie is like a "lone man" walking the world, we don't know if her last years were lonely, but she at least left quietly as she wished (even released the news more than half a month after her death). Li Jingze once said that others are afraid of being forgotten, but Zhang Jie is not willing to be remembered. But there were always many people who remembered her.
Although Zhang Jie does not like to be interviewed, once you sincerely talk to her, she can always answer questions seriously, have questions to answer, have something to say, never go around the bend, and do not say polite words. The contact with her made me feel that if both sides of the communication can be extremely honest, there will be no discomfort or misunderstanding. I remember that the author listened to the mentor Xu Hong teacher told a story, a meeting between the rest, she went to the balcony to breathe, found that there is a very temperamental lady next to the also looking at the distance, the two chatted for a while, suddenly felt that they hated each other, and since then they have become close friends who have nothing to talk about, this lady is the writer Zhang Jie. So from this point of view, many people who have a sense of sympathy whether they know or through their works will not forget Zhang Jie.
The message released on the China Writers Network finally wrote a sentence like this: "Love cannot be forgotten, and Zhang Jie's works and demeanor have long existed in the hearts of her readers." The author thinks that in the long essay "The Person Who Hurt Me the Most in the World Has Gone", Zhang Jie's nostalgia for her deceased mother has made generations of readers feel empathy, and the gentleness, emotion, fragility, and heartbreak in her words let us see ourselves when our loved ones left. May Zhang Jie at this moment be reunited with her mother in another world.
Zhang Jie is an important representative writer of Chinese literature in the new era, and joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1979. His works such as "Heavy Wings", "Wordless", "Love, Cannot Be Forgotten", "Emerald", "Child from the Forest" and so on have a wide influence. He has won the second and sixth Mao Dun Literature Awards, and has won the National Outstanding Novella Award and the National Outstanding Short Story Award for many times. Some of his works have been translated into many languages and have won the Order of the Italian Knights and the German, Austrian, Dutch and other multi-national literary awards.
Tie Ning, chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and chairman of the China Writers Association, and Zhang Hongsen, secretary of the party leading group and vice chairman of the China Writers Association, respectively expressed deep condolences for Zhang Jie's death and expressed deep condolences to Zhang Jie's relatives. In its condolence telegram, the Chinese Writers Association expressed its high respect for Zhang Jie's outstanding contributions to contemporary Chinese literature.
Here's what I reported from my 2014 interview with Jie Zhang:
Zhang Jie, 77, the only chinese writer to win the Mao Dun Literature Prize twice, recently held her solo oil painting exhibition at the Museum of Modern Literature in Beijing. This was her first oil painting exhibition in Beijing, but she said it was her "farewell performance" – "Zhang Jie said goodbye!" ”
Zhang Jie said that she has no hobbies, is also very "boring", can not play mahjong, can not karaoke, does not like to participate in dinner, only likes to draw. "Now I'm worried that soon, I'll be so old that I can't move my limbs, and I can't paint naturally, so what should I do?" Death is not terrible, what is terrible is life without content. ”
I have always been reluctant to be remembered
On the day of the exhibition on October 22, Tie Ning, chairman of the China Writers Association, took Zhang Jie's hand and sat down, and many writers and Zhang Jie's friends came to cheer her up. In the face of her friends, Zhang Jie sighed a lot. "A lot of people say the word forever, but I know now that there is no such thing as forever. The back wave of the Yangtze River pushes the front wave. I have been looking forward to a formal occasion to explain my heart, today my mother's family, many friends of the Beijing Writers Association have also come, I can just show my heart. Although Zhang Jie's hair is half white and she coughs from time to time, she is refreshed and thinks clearly, "Today is the opening of my exhibition, and it is indeed my farewell performance." ”
"The last thing I'm going to say is that I've got a lawyer to make a will. Inside my will, I wrote: No memorial service after my death, no commemorative articles, no articles that remember me, and no memorials to me. Zhang Jie's words surprised the friends present. Many people are afraid of being forgotten, but Zhang Jie has always been reluctant to be remembered. Li Jingze, deputy editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", said that Zhang Jie nodded vigorously after listening.
"Many people think that I am a particularly 'colorful' person, seven or eight years ago, I still scolded some things, but now that I am light and light, I hope to only remember the good, forget the bad, and leave the love, warmth and concern of my friends." 」 Zhang Jie said that now she is grateful for her fate, even if others scold her, it does not matter, after a lifetime of groping and physically and mentally exhausted, it has become light and breezy.
Tie Ning reacquainted himself with Zhang Jie on the canvas
Zhang Jie spends most of her time abroad, and during her time in New York, she spends a lot of time painting. Regarding oil painting as her second profession, she humorously calls herself "two knives".
In her self-description for the exhibition, Zhang Jie explained her experience of learning to paint this way: "A doctor's accidental suggestion, I began to paint in 2006. Like writing a novel, it is also self-talk (painting), never learned, for the first time I don't even know how to get a paintbrush, only a cavity of love. Zhang Jie said that she has a twist of the strands, to identify, like the things, a road to the black, "I don't know how many so-called paintings were torn, in order to take out such a little thing to hand over." ”
She sought out professional painters to learn oil painting. Li Jingze said that a few years ago, when Zhang Jie first began to learn to paint, he saw her first one or two paintings, like children's paintings, "Over the years, she has been silently painting, painting better and better." Li Jingze did not appreciate these oil paintings as paintings, but as works after Zhang Jie's "No Words".
Li Jingze understands very well why Zhang Jie chose to paint oil painting instead of Chinese painting, and he interpreted her choice for Zhang Jie in the article he wrote for Zhang Jie's painting exhibition: "Of course, it is difficult to imagine a Zhang Jie who carries a brush to paint a few bamboos and paints a few landscapes, and the oil painting has light, Zhang Jie can't stand not having light." Her paintings have no door, no sect, no roots, no origin, and some are just light. ”
Tie Ning wrote in the article that in the past two winters, when Zhang Jie returned to Beijing from the United States to stay, he visited her apartment. Tie Ning saw that Zhang Jie's home was full of canvases and paints, and the walls of the room were full of her paintings, while Zhang Jie at this time was "free and calm." Tie Ning said that he was touched by Zhang Jie's paintings and re-acquainted himself with Zhang Jie in the canvas, "Zhang Jie is like a 'lone man' walking in the world", Tie Ning believes that Zhang Jie is more thorough and more determined.
Zhang Jie and Tie Ning at the scene of the exhibition
Zhang Jie's paintings have no name but only pinyin signatures
The tall poet Nishikawa stood in the corner of the exhibition hall, quietly looking at Zhang Jie, who was surrounded by everyone. At the opening ceremony, Nishikawa did not speak or take a group photo, and came and went quietly. Xichuan and many people have noticed that Zhang Jie's paintings have no names, only the pinyin signature and date of "zhangjie". Nishikawa used to be a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, and of course, what is more related to the exhibition is that he has known Zhang Jie since he was a child. Nishikawa and Zhang Jie's daughter Tang Di were classmates from elementary school to high school, and this relationship made Nishikawa meet Zhang Jie as a teenager.
Zhang Jie's paintings
In his essay "Landscape Without An Inner Heart Is Not a Landscape", written for Zhang Jie's painting exhibition, Nishikawa commented on Zhang Jie's paintings: "It is not uncommon for writers and poets to paint, because they are amateurs, so I am never demanding. However, after seeing some of Teacher Zhang Jie's paintings, I was quite surprised. What surprised Xichuan was a sentence that Zhang Jie had inadvertently said, which has affected him to this day: Don't think that the life of others, the life of a distant place is life, your here and now is life.
At the scene of the exhibition, writer Xu Zechen seized the opportunity to make an appointment with Zhang Jie. In recent years, Zhang Jie has published several short stories in the "People's Literature" magazine, and Xu Zechen pulled Zhang Jie and said: "Teacher Zhang Jie, don't forget to write that short story. ”
Zhang Jie only stayed for 20 days when she returned to China this time, and she was leaving on November 7, in addition to running a painting exhibition, there were many friends to see. Nishikawa said he did not know whether Zhang Jie would give direct advice to others, to himself and to society as he did in the 1980s, but a short but compact afternoon may show that Zhang Jie in her later years is still so direct, enthusiastic and sincere.
Sketch now:
Zhang Jie's self-award winning works like "Food Stalls"
Young readers surrounded her to sign autographs, a young female writer said that she liked Zhang Jie's well-known award-winning work "Love Cannot Be Forgotten" in her early years, but Zhang Jie laughed and said, I have deleted it, what kind of work is it! Among the writers in China, Zhang Jie was probably the first to delete many of his well-known award-winning works and even famous works from his collection of essays, only because he thought that his literary nature was not enough.
"I deleted it all in the anthology!" It is better not to have it than to abuse it. "The Child from the Forest", "The Conditions Are Not Ripe", "Who Lives Better", that is not a novel. Zhang Jie spoke quickly, "I still say that most readers in China read stories, not literature, which has something to do with the history of our novels." Zhang Jie said that Borges read less people, and Márquez read more people, "Márquez has become a food stall!" My [winning pieces] are also food stalls! ”
Sad for the words of his friend Zhang Xianliang when he left
When asked about Zhang Jie's recent creations, she bluntly said that several essays she wrote were rejected, "This is the second time I have been rejected." She was also chilling when she was working on a novel: "When Xianliang died, how could she write about him like that!" I'm so sad! Zhang Jie is only a year younger than Zhang Xianliang, and she is indignant for her old friend.
Tie Ning put his arm around Zhang Jie's shoulder and couldn't help but remind, "You said those words!" Zhang Jie chatted with friends, and Li Jingze wrote a "Small Note on Zhang Jie's Painting Exhibition" before the exhibition, in which he said, "Zhang Jie is old, she never hides anything about this, and her friends do not hide anything about her." At the exhibition, he said, "From the interaction with Zhang Jie, I found that she is not old." Zhang Jie and her friends drank all the red wine, and then talked to a few foreign friends in fluent English, walked over to say goodbye to their old friends, and said, "I am a two-hundred-and-five!" "Laugh like a child.