Every work must first have a soul - to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of the people's writer Haoran

Yang Yuanxin

People's Writer Haoran

Haoran, a people's writer familiar to the people of the whole country, became famous in the 50s of the last century, began to become popular in the 60s, and by the 70s, he was already a household name. In the 1980s, he was once misunderstood and frustrated, but he always insisted on writing for the people, and the purpose of writing about the people remained unchanged, and with many works, especially the novel "Cangsheng", he rose again and became an evergreen tree in the literary world. After his death on February 20, 2008, his literary achievements were even more prominent. In 2018, his novel "Cangsheng" was rated as "40 Important Novels in the 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up", which was republished by Beijing United Publishing Company; In 2019, his novel "Sunny Days" was selected into the People's Literature Publishing House's "New China 70 Years and 70 Novels Collection"; In 2021, "Sunny Days" was included in the "Photocopy Library of The First Edition of the Red Classics" of writers publishing house (a full set of 60); In 2021, another of his novels, "Children of Xisha", was included in the "100 Red Classics" book series published by Beijing United Publishing Company; In 2021, his children's fiction anthology "Big Belly Grasshopper" was included in the "100 Classics of Chinese Children's Literature", his life deeds were included in the "Who's Who in the World" and "List of World Famous Writers", and he won the "Twentieth Century Achievement Award" of the World Celebrity Center in Cambridge, England; He was included in the "Classic Writers" of the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature and the Literature and Art Daily for special research.

I grew up reading his works and embarked on the road of literary creation, and his novels "Sunny Days", "Golden Light Avenue" and "Children of Xisha" are my pillow books, but also the model of my creation, the goal of catching up. In addition to his works, what I was really most influenced by was his personality and character. Influenced by his words and deeds, my outlook on life and creative outlook have been fixed on the right track, that is, insisting on breathing with the people, sharing a common destiny, and putting the writing of the people's joys and sorrows in the first place in creation, for decades, no matter whether it is rainy or snowy, it has never changed.

Why was I so affected by Haoran? This is both inevitable and accidental. It is inevitable because I am familiar with his works as I am with my own eyes. It was by chance, but it was because of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I walked with him and spent time with him day and night.

It was the early spring of 1985, and the Chinese Writers Association held the "Chunjiang PEN Club" in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, and dozens of old, middle-aged and young writers such as Junqing and Biye flew from the north and south of the great river. Jin Zhenlin, the host of the PEN club and then the director of the editorial department of "Little Stream", arranged Haoran and I in a group to go deep into Rudong County on the shores of the Yellow Sea to interview the seabed development that was in full swing there. In half a month, during the day, he led me to the countryside, into the peasant households, to obtain rich materials, and at night, gathered in the same room, under the same lamp, to analyze and refine the materials. From the very beginning, I secretly positioned this as a tuition-free art class, and I wanted to seize every second. So wherever I went with him, I would reverently and in detail record everything he said, everything he did.

We arrived in Rudong on the afternoon of March 25th. The next morning, Haoran pulled open his door, walked to my door, and said the first thing he said to me: "I haven't slept all night." Change to a new place, the better the conditions, the more sleep. If it is a kang bed in the north, it is still a good sleep. ”

As he spoke, he raised the inaugural issue of Canglang magazine in his hand and said to me: "Yuanxin, this work of yours (referring to the novella "Lake Water Blinking Charming Smiling Eyes" published in the inaugural issue of Canglang) looks at what is strung together, whether it is with your own emotional line, or with your own eyes to observe, the characters and details are connected like beads. It could have been modified to be better. ”

He handed me the Canglang and said, "I have made some marks on it and made some comments for your reference." ”

I took "Canglang" and looked at it, and it turned out that after he entered the room last night and closed the door, he read all of my novella of more than 60,000 words. I was touched inside. I perused his comments, the words were pearls, the words were precious, and it immediately opened my mind.

He said to me with great interest: "I found Gao Daquan and Zhang Blonde hair by the Ji Canal in the fifties; Xiao Changchun was found at the foot of Yanshan Mountain in the 1960s; In the 1970s, Luo Xiaoshan was found on the Great Wall Line (the prototype in the novel "Landscape and Water", which was later adapted into the movie "Flowers Blossom and Fall"); In the 1980s, I found Zhang Songlin in the Zilian Reclamation Ranch in the Donglingken District of Rudong County. I first wrote Zhang Songlin's reportage, which was expressed in the form of correspondence. The first letter: Introduction, telling me to come to Nantong. The first person I saw was Zhou Zhi, and I was a mystery to him. From his looks to his conversation, is it the Five-Seven Warrior, or what? So I went to visit, and every time I saw a person, I was told a story. ”

He said: "For Zhang Songlin's impression of this person, if I want to express it verbally, I can't even say a word, but I can write it." To write each work, you must first have a soul. The activity of literature is a spiritual activity, and we must find a way to stimulate it with something. This long novel that I use Zhang Songlin as the prototype, no more than 200,000 words, is called "Looking". The image of Zhang Songlin has gradually become active in my mind. ”

He paused and said, "I don't understand your creative habits. Through this PEN meeting, you make a summary yourself, carry forward the good things of the past; For the bad things, give up. After the road is smooth, it is written quickly, and it can be done with one character a day. The two things that make up my work are life and passion. Real life, arouse my passion, just have life is not enough, can not stimulate my feelings, just have feelings, no life can not be. To write Zhang Songlin, I now have feelings, but I still don't understand life, mainly because I don't understand the language of the place here, and it is a little more difficult to communicate. Every successful writer has his own uniqueness. Like He Shiguang's works, mainly artistic success, he ate Lu Xun's things thoroughly. Creating with this thing is loved by editors and readers alike. ”

I listened and wrote. A light rain began to pour down in the sky, merging with the sound of the tip of my pen on the paper.

The day's interview began. The Jeep drove into the Dongling Reclamation area, which is close to the Yellow Sea. Get out of the car, the wind whistles from the sea, and the wind and sand rise from the beach, making it difficult to open your eyes. Haoran had never seen such a position, and he was not used to shrinking his neck, but he still visited with great interest and asked questions to the employees of poultry farms and rice grass farms from time to time.

Next, we drove to Zhang Songlin's house, and Haoran seemed to have seen his relatives who had been separated for a long time, took his hand, asked long and short questions, and understood the situation. Originally, before he met Zhang Songlin, he was most worried about the language barrier and could not communicate feelings, but now he was relieved. He asked me to copy down the bibliography in Zhang Songlin's bookcase.

Visit the Xiaoyangkou Gate In Rudong County, walk into the botanical garden inside the institute, full of lush greenery, red, green and green, red fruits of heavenly bamboo, rhododendrons in full bloom, camellias in red, and gem flowers to attract people's eyes. Haoran asked me to write down the names of all the plants. Birds are chirping in the botanical garden, and the birds that are particularly loud are the foreign jays.

Haoran said to me: "Writing an article of 10,000 words, without 50,000 words of material, cannot be written." It is not advisable to write reportage by using a little artistic means, which can only cover up the lack of materials and will not have a touching effect. I used to take notes. What left an impression on my mind was all good stuff. Now that I am older, I can't rely on memory alone, and I must record it diligently. In my dealings with comrades in the countryside, under normal circumstances, I can dispel the estrangement and make him not feel that I am hateful. So I can get real material, and the reportage I write must be flesh and blood. ”

In the evening, I reviewed again what Haoran had said all the way. The sentence I remember most is: Every work must be written with a soul. I thought it was the most reasonable quote. In later creations, this sentence had a great influence on me and received good results. Therefore, Haoran is my mentor and irreversible person.

March 21, 2022 at 18195