China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Shen Jiequn
Yang Benfen is 82 years old, and in the past two years, she has quickly become a female writer known to many readers.
"I also feel strange that as soon as I lift the pen, the past days have rushed to the tip of the pen, rushing to be told. It was as if I had rushed with a pen and re-walked through a long life. ”
Born in 1940 in Xiangyin, Hunan Province, Yang Benfen was admitted to the Xiangyin Industrial School at the age of 17, and later entered the Jiangxi Gongda Branch, and was sent to the rural areas of Jiangxi before graduating. After decades of running for a living, he married and taught his children, and later retired from a car transportation company.
At the age of 80, she officially published her first book, "Autumn Garden", which tells the story of her mother; the following year, "Driftwood"; and earlier this year, she published her third book, "My Fragrance". Yang Benfen has always written about herself in simple and sincere words, about her family, about the ups and downs she has experienced in this life, the pains, and the warmth that she cherishes.
As the starting point for the creation of the novel, "Autumn Garden" was written in the kitchen of Yang Benfen's second daughter's home when she was in her 60s. At that time, she went to Nanjing to help her daughter with the children, and in the study she happened to read a copy of "Mother on the River" by Yefu.
"I cry while watching, I also have a mother, I want to write." A few days ago, in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the China Youth Daily and the China Youth Network, Yang Benfen said so.
"That year, my mother—qiuyuan in the book, whose real name is Liang Qiufang—died. I was overwhelmed by a huge sadness, and it was almost impossible for me to recover physically and mentally. I realized that if no one wrote down something, Mom's traces in this world would be quickly erased. ”
In the kitchen of about 4 square meters, sinks, stoves and refrigerators take up most of the space. Sitting on a low stool, with another slightly taller stool as a table, Yang Bephin began to write the story of her mother and the family on a stack of square manuscript paper.
Because he was afraid of forgetting some things, Yang Benfen seized the time to write. She said she would carry a plastic bag, a pen and a few notebooks, and write anytime, anywhere.
The daughter helped Yang Benfen convert the manuscript into an electronic version, posted it on the website, and attracted the attention of the publishing house, and eventually became 3 paper books. Today, Yang Benfen has a study of her own, a row of bookshelves that can hold five or six hundred books, and a large number of readers and fans who interact with her every day.
The foot pain deeply troubled Yang Benfen, but she still insisted on writing every day, and has now completed the manuscript of the fourth novel.
In the new book "My Fragrance", Yang Benfen writes the story of 60 years of marriage, writing about the pain and confusion, loneliness and struggle that no one knows. In the book, "Huicai", who is just in his youth, was treated coldly after marrying "Lu", and lamented again and again that "I can't imagine that you are not good to me" and did not get any sincere response. Even the companionship and care in the later years is only exchanged for the answer that the wife clearly states that she does not want to be together in the next life.
Yang Benfen believes that "courage to face the truth" is the biggest feature of her writing. "At my age, if I still write something hypocritical and empty, it has no value."
Benfin Yang
China Youth Daily: In "My Fragrance", you mentioned the successful experience of submitting articles for the first time when you were young, do you remember the scene at that time?
Yang Benfen: At that time, I wrote about idyllic scenery. I was playing with my daughter, who was only 1 year old, and I remember very clearly, seeing those tea pickers wrapped in turbans, carrying baskets on their backs, swaying back and forth between tea trees, even though I couldn't see her face, but I thought it was beautiful, so I wrote it down. I submitted an article to a magazine in my county, but I didn't expect to be hired. I'm happy, I haven't written anything before.
I didn't tell anyone about it at the time, because it was not easy for everyone to eat, and it was good to have a full stomach, and there was no leisure to talk about writing, culture, reading books—it was like an alternative person. I rarely tell people that I actually love literature, like to read novels, and like to write.
I was particularly happy that I received a few dollars for the submission. I remember when I went to collect the manuscript fee that day, my hand never left the right pocket, and I was afraid that it would disappear, and this thing was more precious to me than a few dollars.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network: What was the opportunity and motivation to start creating "Autumn Garden" in the kitchen more than a decade ago?
Yang Benfen: More than ten years ago, I saw a lot of books at my daughter's house, and then I saw Yefu's "Mother on the River". I cried as I watched. I also have a mom and I'm going to write about it too. The kitchen of that old house was small, but I didn't have much to ask for writing, I could write on the stove, I could write on two stools, one high and one low, and I could write at the dinner table. Anyway, I just need a plastic bag, a few books, and then a pen, write anytime, anywhere, or afraid of forgetting a lot of things.
I wrote a lot, a big bag of paper, a few pounds. At that time, I did not dare to show it to my daughter, because I did not know whether I had the ability to write it out, and my daughter Zhang Hong was very strict with the text requirements and selfless in the face. But then I showed her "Life and Death in the Countryside", and she jumped up and called out to her husband, "My mother can write novels!" The novel was later published in a magazine.
My daughter saw that I wrote "Autumn Garden" is OK, help me paste it on the Internet, I see a lot of people's messages, encouragement, recognition. That time was my happiest time, I had to get up at 3 o'clock in the night, afraid that others would leave a message, I didn't reply, sorry people.
China Youth Daily: The latest publication of "I Am Fragrant" tells about the dilemma of marriage, many readers admire your courage to tell and write, do you think you are a brave writer?
Ben-Finn Yang: I think I'm brave. At this age, if I write articles that are pieced together with hypocrisy, it doesn't make much sense. It is better to truly reflect some of the real problems in life, which is not shameful.
In fact, at the beginning, I did not plan to publish "I Am Fragrant", I thought "don't go out, don't go out, others will definitely be seated." But in the end, it was published, because I felt that whether it was young people in China or the older generation, there may be a lot of difficulties and confusions in marriage, which are worth thinking about, so I bravely wrote it.
In "I Am Fragrant," I want to write about a woman's emotional experience, there are no bad people in the marriage, both people are good people, but they don't get happiness in the end. Many readers who read this novel say that they "saw grandparents and saw mom and dad" (marriage), and they will feel the same way.
I don't want to write about fantasy, routine stuff. I write it down-to-earth, I treat it with sincerity, and others will treat your article sincerely.
China Youth Daily · China Youth Network: After writing, has the confusion been released and answered?
Yang Benfen: No, confusion is still confusion, this can never be changed.
China Youth Daily: Why do you have the idea of "rushing with a pen"?
Yang Benfen: To be honest, I have reached this age, and I don't know which day I will "hang up". These things are my own personal experience, once I started writing, I had the urge to write it out quickly, so I had a kind of idea of rushing with a pen.
Those things are too many, so deeply impressed, all embedded in my mind. As soon as I lifted the pen, I was able to write it in a hurry. For me, writing is not a necessary, clear mission, but rather the feeling that these characters are lingering in my head, pushing me to write them out.
China Youth Daily: Now in your home in Nanchang, you have your own study, what is the status of reading and writing every day?
Yang Benfen: After coming to Nanchang, I had my own study. Sitting in the study to read a book is a bit of enjoyment, the study has a row of bookshelves, but also can not put too many books, about five or six hundred.
I like to read Lu Yao's "Ordinary World" and Han Shaogong's "Maqiao Dictionary". I also read a lot of foreign novels, such as "Anna Karenina", "Smoke", "The Three Musketeers", "One Hundred Years of Solitude", "The Red and the Black" and so on.
When I write, I write intently. Usually I wake up at 6 o'clock every morning, plan and summarize what I want to write about today in my head, and start writing when I get up. But I can't write for long that my feet will hurt and I have to take a hot water bottle to apply. This day is also like a year, but I am trying to live.
Source: China Youth Daily client