Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
In the video conference, Yokogawa introduced the "People's Literature Book Club" in Japan.
Tamura translated the Japanese version of the novel "Man to Middle Age".
Ryosuke Kitamura's Introduction to Chinese Idioms. The illustrations in this article are provided by the interviewees
In front of the reporter was a densely written table with detailed information in Japanese, such as the time, place, number of attendees, title of the work, author, publication date, reporter, and content introduction. In the "Author" column, we can see the names of familiar Chinese writers, such as Wang Meng, Gao Xiaosheng, Shi Tiesheng, Su Tong, Guan Renshan, etc.
This is the newspaper of the "People's Literature Reading Club" in Japan. Soon after the resumption of people's literature in 1976, a group of Japanese readers interested in China spontaneously organized themselves and established a book club. In the past 45 years, the members of the "People's Literature" Book Club have been constantly changing, and what has brought everyone together has always been this literary journal from China.
On January 22, the "People's Literature" Reading Club held a commemorative activity to commemorate the 45th anniversary of its establishment in the form of a video conference, and invited representatives of the External Relations Department of the China Writers Association, the People's Literature Magazine and representatives of writers to participate. New and old friends gathered in the clouds because of Chinese literature, talking about their feelings and feelings, and enjoying themselves.
Meet for love
The 82-year-old Yokokawa has been teaching at Toyo University for a long time and is now an honorary professor at Chuo University in Japan. He remembers the situation when the book club was first established: "The book club was initiated by several faculty members of The Japan-Chung College in Japan, who hoped to learn about the latest situation in Chinese society by reading the newly republished People's Literature. ”
In the late 1980s, the form of activities of the book club was fixed, once a month, a short story and a novella were selected from an issue of "People's Literature" to read, and the two speakers first wrote an outline, introduced the story synopsis, published the after-reading feelings, and then discussed together, and scored from the difficulty and interest of the work, up to five stars. For example, Wang Xiaobo's short story "Pumpkin Tofu" published in People's Literature in 1995 was rated as four stars for readability and five stars for fun, reflecting the love of members for this work. Chi Zijian's novella "Clouds on the Grass" was also recognized by the members, who scored five stars for readability and four stars for fun. In addition, members sometimes temporarily add evaluation scales, such as Cai Jun's "Shufen with Pearl Earrings", which sets up a "nostalgia" indicator, and members hit four stars. "We are not professional researchers, but very pure readers. Many members' own work has nothing to do with literature, and they participate in this book club because they like literature and think that Chinese novels are good. Member Hiroko Higuchi said.
Naoko Iimura is an old member and has been participating in book clubs for 30 years. She studied in the Chinese Department in college, but because her work and literature had nothing to do with it, she was once strange to Chinese literature, "until I participated in the book club, I was exposed to Chinese literature again."
Since its inception, the "People's Literature" Reading Club has nearly 100 members at most, and among the existing dozen members, there are teachers, post office staff, doctors, and translators. The book club has no regulations such as charters, nor does it charge membership fees, "it can exist to this day, relying on the enthusiasm of members." Yokokawa said: "Everyone's common hobby is to read Chinese literature. It is a pleasure to understand the ever-changing China through People's Literature. ”
From amateur to professional
"I'm so happy to meet Hiroko Higuchi online!" She is the Japanese translator of my work Little Sisters. I think her translation is very rigorous, and she has repeatedly discussed with me some of the words and place names in the text through emails, and asked me for verification. At the video conference, writer Huang Yongmei said. "Little Sisters" is a novel published in the 10th issue of People's Literature in 2018, and after reading it, Higuchi Hiroko liked the work so much that she began to translate it, and finally published it in "Lights" (Japanese edition of "People's Literature").
As a member of the "People's Literature" Book Club, Higuchi Hiroko also transformed from an amateur reader to a mature translator in the process of reading. She studied in China, and in addition to Huang Yongmei's works, she has also translated Chen Danyan's "The Relics of Shanghai's Red Face" and Yao Emei's "Mother Lord" and other contemporary Chinese literary works.
"It's a wonderful fate. Hiroko Higuchi's translation makes Mawang Street, where I was born, appear in front of Japanese readers. She also found the place in the map. Huang Yongmei said.
In the "People's Literature" Reading Club, many members are also engaged in chinese literature translation. The late member Tamura began to translate Chen Rong's novella "Man to Middle Age", which was published by the Third Civilization Society in 1984 under the Japanese title "Female Doctors in Beijing - People to Middle Age".
Ryosuke Kitamura's Introduction to Chinese Idioms was published by the Wind Wing Society in 2012 and contains 852 words, and the 5 example sentences listed below each word are collected from People's Literature. Through their ingenuity, contemporary Chinese literature has spread in Japan in a variety of ways.
Don't look at the "People's Literature" Reading Club to flaunt "interest" and "amateur", the questions of members can be very professional. In the exchange session of the video conference, Four Chinese writers, Cai Jun, Shao Li, Pan Xiangli and Huang Yongmei, exchanged views with Japanese readers on their "Shufen with Pearl Earrings", "The Yellow River Story", "Lotus Ginger" and "Little Sisters". "This plot in the novel reflects the psychology of the hero and heroine who want to be close and mutually exclusive, am I right to say this?" "Does the protagonist have any meaning when he gives this name?" The enthusiasm and meticulousness of Japanese readers make writers feel that they have encountered an exotic acquaintance. Cai Jun said: "They will pay attention to the underlying psychology and logic of the characters in the novel, indicating that they can pay attention to what Hemingway said is the larger part of the iceberg below the water surface." Japanese readers are very serious and pay special attention to detail. ”
Witness the friendship between China and Japan
Over the past 45 years, the fate of the "People's Literature" Reading Club and the People's Literature Magazine has also become a witness to Sino-Japanese friendship.
Knowing that there was a group of enthusiastic readers in Japan who subscribed to "People's Literature" at their own expense and persistently insisted on reading it, in 2003 and 2004, Han Zuorong, then editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", and Li Jingze, deputy editor-in-chief, held discussions and exchanges with some members of the "People's Literature" reading club when they visited Japan. Since 2004, the magazine has been donating publications to key members of the book club.
November 3-9, 2008, was a period of impressive time for the old members of the book club. At the invitation of the China Writers Association, a group of 7 people from the "People's Literature" Reading Club, organized by the Japan-Chinese Exchange Association and headed by Tetsutsu Tsuji, came to China.
Akiko Takagi, a member of the delegation, still has a group photo with the editors at the People's Literature Magazine. She said: "We went to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Shanghai, met wang anyi, Liu Qingbang, Qiu Huadong and other writers who have been admired for a long time, visited the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, Lu Xun's Former Residence Museum, etc., and also visited Hangzhou's West Lake and Beijing's suburban Cuanxia Village." In Beijing, Takagi Jingzi donated the reading club activity materials to the People's Literature Magazine, and Ma Xuefeng, a member of the delegation, also gave Liu Qingbang her experience of reading Liu Qingbang's short stories such as "Happy Family" and "Going Home" to Liu Qingbang as a souvenir.
Yokokawa said: "People's Literature is our lifeblood, without it, there would be no reading club for us. If the work is not good, our activities cannot continue. What he said on behalf of the members of the reading club made Shi Zhanjun, secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association and editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", warm and worried: "With such a good reader, we are extremely touched and warm; we are also urged to do a good job in the publication and take the quality of the work as the 'lifeblood' of the publication." He said that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, and the "People's Literature" Reading Club has been held for 45 years, and the existence of the book club has contributed to the friendship between the Chinese and Japanese peoples, and also proved that no matter how the world changes, the literary exchanges between China and Japan will converge into a hot current. (Reporter Zhang Pengyu)
People's Daily Overseas Edition (February 18, 2022, 07th edition)