Ouyang Wenbin, a century-old man in Shanghai's cultural publishing industry, died on March 19 at the age of 102. After crossing countless waves, she never left literary writing, and regarded fame and fortune as a slight.
Ouyang Wenbin Zhao Chao composed
In the more than twenty years of interaction with the elderly Ouyang Wenbin, I deeply feel that the older she gets, the more sober she is.
At that time, she was nearly eighty years old. The first question that comes to mind is to know one's life soberly. She said to me that she wanted to write some autobiography, and the title of the book was also thought of, which was called "All My Life in the Wind and Waves". At the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ouyang listened to Xu Teli's speech in Changsha, and specially asked her mother to accompany her to the eighth route army office to meet Elder Xu and ask him: "I am a female student, what can I do for the War of Resistance?" Elder Xu replied, "First of all, we must conscientiously study and arm our minds with revolutionary theory." It is also necessary to actively participate in the anti-Japanese rescue activities. There are many anti-Japanese groups in Changsha, and you can participate."
In this way, Ouyang joined the Esperanto Association led by the underground party, and participated in the Anti-Enemy Support Association and the Anti-Japanese Drama Society. After joining the party in 1938, at the branch meeting, I accidentally saw Xu Teli, and Xu Lao recognized her: "Little Ouyang, we are comrades now!" It was warm in her heart.
In addition, Ouyang also soberly realized that her life was helped by countless predecessors step by step. She said that my first literary guide was Zhang Tianyi. That year, she was admitted to the law department of the Republic of China College in Beiping and moved to Changsha, and Zhang Tianyi taught "literary and art study" in the department of Chinese, and Ouyang took this course and became Zhang Tianyi's auditor. She wrote an essay, "In the Library," in which she borrowed the mouth of a young man and complained. Zhang Tianyi spent half a day in the grass hut of Jiangxin Island, from composition to being a person, giving a lot of inspiration and guidance. Since then, she has never left literary writing in her life.
Later, she and the exiled students went to Guilin, a recruitment advertisement, introduced her to the Progressive Bookstore Xinzhi Guilin Branch, and because of the war, moved with the bookstore to Chongqing, renamed the Asian American Book Club, but because of the sale of Progressive books, the bookstore was closed by the agent, as the store manager, the small agent put her under house arrest in the store. In a hurry, Ouyang Told Feng Xuefeng. This shop was once the secret stronghold of the underground party leader Feng Xuefeng, and often held meetings here. Feng Xuefeng came to the bookstore with his good friend Han Shi truss that night, and Han looked at the small agent, showing the style of a high-ranking Kuomintang official, saying, "This is the bookstore opened by my sister, and if there is any problem, I will guarantee it." The agent had to leave in sorrow. Han Shijuan was a translator and critic who was in charge of book censorship and edited the magazine "Wenfeng", and after the liberation of Shanghai, he served as the editor-in-chief of Shanghai United Literature and Art Publishing House.
Ouyang Wenbin and Ye Shengtao (photo, 1983)
The Yamei Book Club has been exposed, and Ouyang and his employees have found their own way, and the future is uncertain. At the critical moment, it was Ye Shengtao and Fu Binran who extended a warm hand to her and invited her to work in "Middle School Student", and Ouyang grew all the way from a reader and author of "Middle School Student" to a proofreader and editor. Together with Ye Lao, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he returned to Shanghai, the founding place of "Middle School Students", and in the enlightened new village of Hongkou, engaged in many compilations of enlightened bookstores and "middle school students", and threw himself into the struggle of "anti-hunger, anti-persecution, and anti-civil war" to meet the liberation of Shanghai. It can be said that Ouyang has never left the editorial post in his life.
After the age of eighty, Ouyang soberly realized that he had a clear arrangement for his future affairs. Engaged in writing and editing all his life, the books at home are naturally indispensable, and they are donated or given away in batches. Her books, whoever needs to use it, are not stingy. I remember That Wang Anyi once said that in the sixties, she went to Huaibei to join the team to enter the house, and her mother wanted to send her books as gifts, and there was no suitable book at home, so Ouyang opened the bookcase and Ren RuZhijuan chose it. Ru Zhijuan found the Soviet female writer Vera Kate lingska's novel "Brave", which is the story of the Soviet government summoning young people to the Far East to build Komsomolsk, both the theme and the spirit of the novel correspond to Wang Anyi's situation at that time, of course, there is a difference between ideals and reality. And what books I need, Ouyang has not said a "no" word. She gave me a lot of books on literary history and told me that you write poetry, and in writing literary history, you must also pay attention to the vivid image of language, so that you can be readable. I will remember this for the rest of my life.
100-year-old Ouyang Wenbin (taken in January 2020)
In addition to the books, Ouyang donated all the manuscripts she kept when she edited "Me and enlightenment" to the Press and Publication Museum, which contained manuscripts by Ye Shengtao, Lü Shuxiang and other famous artists. Later, she found a stack of early work notebooks, how to deal with it? Asking for my opinion, I said that you are an old publisher, it is not easy to step into a hundred years, these are the work trajectories of the past, or give it to the publishing museum. She also has a lot of correspondence, after collation published the book "Book Jane Love", those original letters, is also a precious thing, Shanghai Library has a celebrity manuscript, is the best place to preserve the collection and use, she from the good as a stream, all donated to the above celebrity manuscript library.
As for the family's belongings, she had already clearly written documents, how the house was arranged, how the surplus money was distributed, and so on. Even after her death, she has a "three noes" will: no obituary, no memorial service, no farewell to the body. So, her death was quiet and did not bother her friends. Such an old qualified cultural publishing old man, a retired cadre who has braved countless waves, she has such a slight view of her own fame and fortune, personal gains and losses. She has never been a high official in her life, but she has always done important responsible work, shouldering the burden of work, and many times, she is alone. In Middle School Students, she was the only one who proofread each issue of the magazine. As an editor, she single-handedly handles all the letters from readers. Editing the monthly magazine "Translation", Dong Qiusi is the editor-in-chief, and all the editing and editing work is selected by her alone. In the decades after her retirement, she did not idle, worked tirelessly, and wrote and published the five-volume "Ouyang Wenbin Anthology".
The author and Ouyang Wenbin's last group photo (taken in autumn 2021)
Last year, Ouyang had a critical condition. After being admitted to the hospital for emergency treatment, I actually went home after staying for more than two months, and everyone was glad for it. I think, Ouyang Lao's life is really hard! I crept up to see her, and she said in surprise, how do you know I'm back. I don't tell her that I have nanny Aunt Fan's inside line which! I said come and eat with you. Aunt Fan said that there was no preparation of dishes, and I said that there were wontons and dumplings in the refrigerator. In this way, I accompanied Ouyang Lao, who was 102 years old, to meet for the last time, eat the last lunch, and take the last group photo.
At this moment, I was in tears and couldn't write anymore. stop. (Wei Yang)