Her father, Yao Xueyu, died shortly after the Qingming Festival in 1999, and four years later, her mother followed her father, who had been with Her for nearly 70 years. Time flies, and it has been more than 20 years since my parents died.
Mr. and Mrs. Yao Xueyu
Winter to spring, and Qingming. During the Qingming Festival, in order to avoid the peak of tomb sweeping, my family and I would bring flowers and fruits two or three days in advance to Futian Cemetery in the western suburbs to make sacrifices and sweeps, one was to express deep thoughts for our parents, and at the same time to report to our parents what we had done in the past year to implement my father's last wishes. Whenever this happens, the sounds and smiles of my parents will reappear in front of my eyes. What a respectable and amiable people they are!
In 1929, at the age of 19, his father published his debut novel "Two Lonely Graves", and since then, his literary career has lasted for 70 years, and his representative work is the huge historical novel "Li Zicheng". When my father entered his twilight years, it can be said that he had achieved fame and success, and he should have quit writing to rest and raise his life. But his creative task is still heavy, and his mental pressure is not reduced, because the fourth and fifth volumes of "Li Zicheng" have not yet been finally completed, and there are still many long-brewed plans waiting for him to write. Therefore, he still gets up at three o'clock in the morning every day to work, and writes and reads for more than ten hours a day. Every day, hard work. Over the years, I have often come up with such images in my mind: an old man with sideburns like snow, a strong spirit, bright eyes, full of ambition, perennial lonely and persistently trekking on the bumpy literary road, striving to realize his pursuits and dreams, until the candle of life is extinguished. This is the literary life of my father.
In October 1990, the 80th birthday of his father, Hubei Province held the "Academic Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of Yao Xueyao's Literary Creation" to commemorate it. At the meeting, my father, with the title of "Eighty Shameful Words", expressed his testimonials in a Henan accent with confidence and a loud voice:
"Before I was eighty-five years old, the three-hundred-thousand-word "Li Zicheng" whole book delivered a complex and thrilling historical tragedy to the people of the mainland, and asked the broad masses of the people to accept it with a strict attitude. After four years, my arduous long march was not completed, and I still had to revise the whole book of "Li Zicheng" to be more responsible for future generations of readers. Since then, there have been major historical themes such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Penghu Reform Law, and the Xinhai Revolution that have been brewing in my mind for a long time. I will also be like an old horse, riding a heavy burden, taking advantage of the sunset and sunset, without whipping, and voluntarily continuing the long march on the arduous creative journey. The new literature of the Chinese nation needs to develop, the people need literature, and I cannot let go of my obligations. ”
In his later years, Yao Xueyu
These words of the octogenarian are not exaggerated in the slightest, they are completely heartfelt words, and they have been practiced hard for decades. But at the age of 87, a sudden stroke knocked my father down, and ambitions such as "The Tragedy of Tianjing" were disappointed, becoming an eternal regret.
His father's life was a life full of regrets - long stories such as "The Rural Trilogy", "Poplar Tree", and "Tragedy of Tianjing" were frustrated or died in the middle of the way for various reasons, and he often regretted this in his later years. But it also left a deep footprint on his creative path. In his youth, he accepted progressive ideas, established goals in life, and actively participated in the student movement, but was later arrested by the Kuomintang and expelled from the preparatory department of Heda University the following year. In the days of Wandering in Beiping, he soaked in the Beiping Library almost every day to read, ate dry food and drank boiled water at noon to fill his hunger, and only returned to the residence of the snail house when the bell rang and closed at night. In order to make a living, I also have to "climb the grid" at night to sell articles. My father said: "If you write more articles, you become a writer." But my dream of being a historian was dashed. "Living in poverty and hard work have caused him to suffer from tuberculosis, often coughing up blood, knowing that he can only live to be more than 30 years old, but still working hard." Then a miracle happened, and the tuberculosis was cured.
Yao Xueyu calligraphy
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, my father, Zang Kejia, Biye, Tian Tao, Sun Ling, and other old friends joined the "Literary Union" of the Five Theaters under the leadership of the Party, rushed to the front line of Eyu-Anhui, and wrote a large number of 2 million words of anti-war and salvation works such as current affairs commentary, field communications, reportage literature, and novels such as "Half a Car of Wheat Straw," "Niu Quande and Carrots," and "When Spring Blossoms." After liberation, he resigned from his well-paid university teaching position and returned to his hometown from Shanghai to specialize in creation. Under the circumstances of misclassifying the "rightist", he began to work hard to create "Li Zicheng". After struggling for many years under very difficult conditions, I finally gained the harvest - the first volume of "Li Zicheng" was published in 1963 and caused a warm response. Then, with more than thirty years of painstaking efforts, he basically completed the five-volume "Li Zicheng" before his death. Friends said: "It is often said that ten years to grind a sword, and "Li Zicheng" is forty years to grind a sword! It had exhausted Half of Yao Lao's life's efforts. ”
Sign an autograph for a Japanese writer.
In his father's creative career, there was both adversity and luck. Especially in the special historical environment of the 1960s and 1970s, Chairman Mao Zedong always paid great attention to and helped the creation of "Li Zicheng", and twice gave instructions so that his father and manuscripts, cards, and books could be protected and the creation could continue. After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", Comrade Deng Xiaoping also gave enthusiastic support and help to the creation of "Li Zicheng", and under his personal interrogation, solved the problems of his father's housing and assistants. He read the first and second volumes of "Li Zicheng" in a daily manner and praised: "The first volume of "Li Zicheng" is very wonderful, and it can be said that it is impeccable. The second volume is not as good as the first volume, but it is also wonderful and rare. I wonder how the third volume is written? ”
It is a rare phenomenon that a novel has received such attention, support and help from two generations of party and state leaders. It is precisely for this reason that the creation of "Li Zicheng" has survived the most difficult years, and there is a "Li Zicheng" in the hundred gardens of Chinese literature.
Similarly, the creation of "Li Zicheng" was also supported by a generation of people such as Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao, Wu Han, Xia Yan, Cao Yu, Hu Sheng, and Zhu Guangqian. In particular, Mr. Mao Dun, as early as 1938, he edited the "Literary and Art Front" in Hong Kong, published his father's short story "Poor Half a Car of Wheat Straw", and enthusiastically recommended it, making it a famous piece of anti-war literature. In his later years, Mr. Mao Dun carefully read the manuscript manuscripts of the first and second volumes of "Li Zicheng" with the help of a magnifying glass in the case of physical decline and extremely poor vision, wrote down the reading notes, and then made wonderful comments and suggestions unit by unit. Later, he wrote that "Li Zicheng" filled the gap in the long historical novel after "May Fourth", which is an encyclopedia of China's feudal society. From 1974 to 1980, before Mao Dun's death, the two discussed literary theory, novel aesthetics and creative techniques through frequent correspondence, which benefited his father a lot and was full of gratitude to Mr. Mao Dun, who was also a teacher and friend.
Yao Xueyu and Mao Dun
Wu Han is the first confidant of the first volume of Li Zicheng. In 1962, after reading a sample book for the first volume of Li Zicheng that the publishing house had given him for comments overnight, he immediately called the publishing house: "Li Zicheng was written very successfully, and I think its achievements exceeded those of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Soon after, my father came to Beijing from Wuhan to meet with Wu Han and talked freely for three hours, and Wu Han once again expressed his high praise for "Li Zicheng", firmly supported his historical views, and even said that if anyone criticizes after the book is published, you just have to write, and I will write and ink for you. Wu Han's clear attitude and enthusiasm relieved his father and the publisher of their concerns, and actually opened the "green light" for the publication of "Li Zicheng". After the end of the Cultural Revolution, my father expressed his deep gratitude for Wu Han's encouragement and help in his reminiscences, and deeply regretted his unfortunate encounter and premature death.
"Forgetting the past means betrayal." What was the old China, which used to be semi-feudal, semi-colonial, poor and weak? It is very distant and strange to today's young people. Fathers and fathers are different, they have personal experience and personal feelings, so they have a deeper understanding and feelings about the party and the country.
For example, a year before the fall of the Qing Dynasty, he was born in the remote countryside of the poor countryside of western Henan, and when he was 14 years old, he was "kidnapped" by bandits on the way back to Xinyang with his brother to study, and lived in the bandits' nest for a hundred days, which led him to write an autobiographical novel "Long Night" after the victory of the War of Resistance. It is the only long story after the "May Fourth" that reflects the life of the green forest, and truly reflects the scene in the early years of the Republic of China in which bandits ran rampant in the countryside and the people did not have a good life due to warlords and natural disasters and man-made disasters. In 1984, Chinese translator Li Zhihua introduced the translation of "The Long Night" to France, and his father was invited to visit France in the same year to attend the Marseille Rose Festival and the signing and sale of books by famous foreign writers. Because the novel truly reflects the history of old China in the 1920s and 1930s from one side, coupled with the beautiful brush characters and red seals signed and written by my father, reflecting the traditional Chinese culture, the two complement each other, so that many readers, including government officials, lined up to buy books and ask for signatures. Organizers say this is a phenomenon that has never been seen before. His father was therefore awarded the "Marseille Medal of Commemoration" by the Municipality of Marseille. At that time, French President Mitterrand wrote to his father congratulating him on the success of his visit to France.
I believe that it is the responsibility and obligation of children to be filial to their parents before they die, and to let the elderly live in peace in their old age. If the parents have unfinished business and wishes before they die, the children should also try their best to realize them. The combination of the two is more perfect. The children and descendants of some of the older generation of literati writers I know (such as Zang Kejia, Ding Ling, Ruan Zhangjing, Wang Yaping, Wu Zuguang, Wei Wei, BiYe, Xu Chi) have also done the same, and they have worked hard to organize and publish the works of their parents. After my father's death, in order to realize his unfulfilled wish and inherit his literary spirit, I have tried my best over the years, and I have also gained some gains - editing 22 volumes of "Yao Xueyu Book Series", donating 500,000 yuan in royalties for the fourth and fifth volumes of "Li Zicheng" in accordance with my father's will, the China Writers Association set up the "Yao Xueyao Long Historical Novel Award", participated in the construction of the Yao Xueyao Literature Museum and the Yao Xueyao Former Residence Memorial Hall in my hometown, and is currently cooperating with friends to compile 35 volumes of "The Complete Works of Yao Xueyao". I am now in my eighties, get up at four o'clock every morning, sit in front of the computer and start working, and for many years I dare not slacken off, trying to do more for my father for the rest of my life, less regrets. I think that the reason why the Chinese national culture has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years and has endured for a long time is inseparable from the inheritance and inheritance of the cause and spirit of the ancestors by future generations.
Writing this short essay on the eve of the Qingming Dynasty is not only a remembrance and commemoration of his parents, but also a remembrance and tribute to his literary predecessors.
Source: Beijing Daily | Author Yao Haitian
Editor: Wang Haiping Fu Yang
Process Editor: Dan Guo