BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- "It writes about the deep-seated estrangement between father and son, which exists more in the soul. This is a comment from the hit novel "The Road to Father".
"The Road to Father" is a newly published work by the famous writer Ye Zhaoyan, which mainly tells the story of a father and son. The protagonist of the novel, Zhang Zuo, has been raised by his grandfather Wei Ren and his grandmother since childhood, and his relationship with his father Zhang Xiyi is relatively weak.
Cover of "The Road to Father". Courtesy of the publisher
As time passed, Zhang Zuo gradually got to know his father, and the connection became closer and closer. But there seems to be some kind of estrangement between father and son, "The road to his father is too long, Zhang Zuo found that he has never really approached Zhang Xiyi, and sometimes the closer he goes, the farther he feels." ”
From a more profound and grand category, the "road to the father" mentioned in the novel is not limited to the connection of blood, but also the identification and inheritance of the spiritual level.
In an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Network, Ye Zhaoyan admitted that "The Road to Father" is a novel he has always wanted to write, and the meaning he wants to say is simple, that is, he wants to pay tribute to the "father's generation".
In fact, from the "Night Berth Qinhuai" series in the early years to today's "Road to Father", Ye Zhaoyan always tries to be different from previous works when writing, and in his eyes, writing without freshness is not interesting.
For him, writing is simple, it's about making it try to get closer to the reader and be a little more interesting.
The following is a summary of the interview:
China News Network: You mentioned that writing "The Road to Fatherhood" stemmed from a naïve idea.
Ye Zhaoyan: In fact, everyone who writes a novel will always have a lot of ideas or ideas in their minds, and write them out and turn them into novels; if they don't have time to write, they will be more chicken ribs, and if they don't sound good, they will be garbage in the corners.
Writer Ye Zhaoyan. Courtesy of the publisher
"The Road to Father" is just one of many of my thoughts, and suddenly one day, the idea of writing it out is very strong, and finally after several twists and turns, there is today's novel, and the writing process is not very profound.
"The Road to Fatherhood" is different from my previous novels, and the plot in the book does have some from life experiences. For example, I wrote a story about the house, which is the problem that our family once encountered.
Similar details are more interesting to write in the novel, and also give the fictional work a more realistic side. Now I have forgotten about the original writing process, but when I look at this paragraph now, I still find it particularly interesting.
China News Network: "The Road to Father" is compact, small in length but large in time span, how did you conceive it?
Ye Zhaoyan: In terms of story advancement, as far as my personal feeling is concerned, the novella is not large, the narrative rhythm should be like a movie, and the novel is more like a TV series.
So, "The Road to Father" is a novella, and the story will be told in two hours. The stories and characters I envisioned should be solved in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 words.
I actually don't have a certain rule for the arrangement of the narrative context, just like playing a basketball game, a game is generally divided into four sections, and for this novel, I roughly arranged the structure in this way when I wrote it.
China News Network: What was the original intention of creating this novel?
Ye Zhaoyan: "The Road to Father" is a novel I have always wanted to write, and the meaning I want to say is simple, that is, I want to pay tribute to the "fathers". I once said that in the environment in which I grew up, my fathers were always high mountains and unattainable.
As for the characters in the novel, Zhang Zuo, Zhang Xiyi, Wei Ren, etc., I actually did not pay special attention to which character to write, and where to write is where. How to write a paragraph of text is beautiful, which should be the most careful place for writers.
I want to give a memory to people who have had similar life experiences to mine, and I hope they will become readers of this book. In addition, I also want younger readers to understand the life of their parents, which is the purpose of writing.
China News Network: Compared with the groups of characters in the book, such as Zhang Zuo and his grandfather Wei Ren, who are more spiritually connected, their relationship with their father Zhang Xiyi is somewhat estranged. What kind of thinking does this arrangement want to express?
Ye Zhaoyan: This work is "wanting to write some Chinese father and son" style.
After the publication of "The Road to Father", many people will mention the word "Chinese father and son" when talking about it. In my own words, I want to express how a son goes to his father, such a process.
Specific to the book, I just wrote about several different types of father-son relationships, and I feel that its existence has a certain rationality, that is, a realistic existence, and no father-son mode of getting along is the ideal "Chinese father-son". (End)
(China News Network)