Interview | Ma Boyong on "The Wind Rises in Longxi": All historical novels are written for contemporary readers

On the evening of May 7, the costume spy drama "Wind Rises longxi" directed by Lu Yang and starring Chen Kun and Bai Yu broadcast the finale. Based on Ma Boyong's novel of the same name, the drama is set in the Three Kingdoms era and tells the thrilling story of "little people" on the secret intelligence line in the turbulent times.

"Last night, I brushed four episodes of "The Wind Rises longxi" in one breath, and in a word, director Lu Yang filmed the kind of killing, oppressive and slightly melancholy spy war temperament in my mind." "'The Wind Rises longxi' has reached the eighth episode, the complex character relationship finally released most of the tension, and the story gradually entered a better state, such as drinking alcohol, more and more exciting." "(Mi Chong) This character is better than the original, because the original is a tool man at all..." The self-drama was broadcast, and the original author Ma Boyong was also chasing the drama, and from time to time shared his feelings with readers on Weibo.

Poster of "The Wind Rises longxi"

Before "The Wind Rises in Longxi", Ma Boyong had already made film and television adaptations of many works such as "Secrets of the Three Kingdoms", "Central Bureau of Antiques Bureau", and "Twelve Hours of Chang'an". But as far as the novel is concerned, "The Wind Rises longxi" written in 2004 has a special significance for him, which is not only his first novel, but also a starting point for him to "find other possibilities in the cracks of history", since then he has tried to add suspense and reasoning elements to the real historical background, writing the story of the "little people" behind the history books.

After the finale of "Wind Rises Longxi", Ma Boyong was interviewed by the surging news reporter on the original "Wind Rises Longxi". Looking back at this work 18 years ago, he admits that there are indeed many shortcomings, and now his writing has changed, but the emphasis on small people is what he has always insisted on, "I think my literary mission is to pick up the loess buried in the dust, re-pinch out the flesh and blood, and turn into a human form." ”

Ma Boyong

【Dialogue】

Adapting film and television is the same as writing prose, paying attention to scattered lines and not scattered

The Paper: There are many fans of the original work of "The Wind Rises in Longxi", do you pay attention to the feedback of the audience and readers? Have you seen some interesting reviews lately?

Ma Boyong: When I wrote "The Wind Rises in Longxi", my historical level was not very good, and many details were not taken into account. For example, I described Hanzhong as a place like the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi, which is seriously inconsistent with the actual situation. A reader in Hanzhong protested to me, saying that we are known here as Xiao Jiangnan, so it is not full of yellow earth. After I learned about it, I deliberately went to the field to investigate a circle, only to realize that I had made a mistake, and quickly made corrections when I republished it.

Mi Chong

The Paper: What are the things you like about the drama version of "Wind Rises in Longxi"? You said on Weibo that mi chong's character was "better than the original."

Ma Boyong: I was just a college student when I wrote "The Wind Rises in Longxi", so there are many shortcomings in it. Mi Chong is a tool man in the original work, has no emotions of his own, and is a machine that performs tasks. In the play, this character is sublimated, enriching the flesh and blood, making it a real character.

The Paper: As a novelist whose novels have been adapted into film and television works, how do you understand the relationship between film and television adaptations and original works? Will the broadcast of film and television dramas also give you a richer understanding of literary narrative?

Ma Boyong: I am a novelist, and it is my duty to complete the work, and as for the rest, it belongs to me who is fortunate to have it and lost my life. Film and television adaptation is a very professional field, not to write novels and make TV series, so we must fully respect professionals and give them full creative freedom.

The Paper: In your opinion, what are the criteria and keys for the success of literary adaptations of film and television?

Ma Boyong: Adapting film and television is the same as writing prose, paying attention to scattered lines and not dispersing. As long as you grasp the essence of the novel, in fact, others can be changed, and faithful to the original is not the only criterion for testing film and television dramas. For example, "Farewell to the Overlord" is a model of adaptation, which accurately distills the most charming characteristics of the original book and sublimates it.

Stills from "The Wind Rises longxi"

Almost all of Chinese have special feelings for the Three Kingdoms

The Paper: We also go back to the novel "The Wind Rises in Longxi", which is your long debut work, and the idea of "looking for other possibilities in the cracks of history" has also been continued in later works such as "Secrets of the Three Kingdoms", "The Twelve Hours of Chang'an", "Whale Riding in the Four Seas", "Two Capitals and Fifteen Days", and "Lychee of Chang'an". For you, "The Wind Rises longxi" can be said to be an important work, right? How did you come up with the idea of writing such a work? Is there any special origin?

Ma Boyong: This is early, it should have been in 2004, when I was studying at a university in New Zealand. Because there were no Chinese books in the library, I took a copy of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" with me, read it repeatedly, and knew more about that period of history. In 2004, I wanted to write my graduation thesis, and after writing the thesis, I wanted to transfer the pressure, so I wrote "The Wind Rises in Longxi". At that time, my idea was very pure, the story of the Three Kingdoms was familiar to everyone, and the story of espionage was familiar to everyone, but the story of the spy of the Three Kingdoms seemed to have been written by no one, so I started writing.

The Paper: After writing, which part is the most difficult to write and which part is the most enjoyable to write?

Ma Boyong: The most difficult part is to conceive the conspiracy, today to think of a seamless trap for the role here, tomorrow to conceive a wonderful way to break the game for the role over there, people are easy to schizophrenic, but this is also the most enjoyable part, after the conception is very fulfilling.

"The Wind Rises longxi" book shadow

The Paper: Many of your works are related to the Three Kingdoms period, and they tend to focus on small people — some of them real in history but not much, some of them are completely born of fiction, and then they enter from an entry point and then tell a wonderful story that attracts people's imagination. When did you start watching The Three Kingdoms story? When did you start to have your own imagination of the Three Kingdoms narrative?

Ma Boyong: Almost all of Chinese have special feelings for the Three Kingdoms. When I was a child, I listened to reviews, watched TV dramas, played the Three Kingdoms game, then read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, watched the Romance of the Three Kingdoms comics, and grew up to study the history of the Three Kingdoms, which ran through my entire growth process.

All historical novels are written for contemporary readers

The Paper: Why have you always had a soft spot for "little people"?

Ma Boyong: Big people are not easy to write, his image has been fixed, the information is very clear, it is difficult to play again. And to write these big people thoroughly, you have to have their vision and level, which is very difficult to achieve. On the contrary, small people are better to play, not to mention that history is composed of thousands of small people, and someone needs to set up a monument for them.

Stills from "The Wind Rises longxi"

The Paper: For The Wind Rises Longxi, you once said: "If you call me the biological parent of The Wind Rises Longxi, then its grandfather is Christian Jacques and its grandmother is F. Forsyth." His maternal grandfather was Luo Guanzhong and Chen Shou, and his maternal grandmother was Dan Brown. "Can you expand on their literary influence on you?" Have these effects continued to this day?

Ma Boyong: Everyone's writing starts with imitation, so every once in a while, I will follow a batch of people, depending entirely on whose book I've been reading recently. Absorbing the strengths of all the families and merging them into their own bones is the only way for literature, and it is not yet finished.

The Paper: Watching your novels reconstructing history will also be associated with the present. Like last year's new "Lychee of Chang'an", "The Wind Rises longxi" will make people think of "social animals", think of the dark side of survival, and the complexity of human nature. Do novels about history also carry your understanding of the present, of the real world?

Ma Boyong: The older a person is, the more realistic he is, because he has seen through or thought that he has seen through the laws of social operation. All history is contemporary history, and all historical novels are written for contemporary readers. So I want readers to be able to read interestingly and at the same time gain something.

Poster of "The Wind Rises longxi"

The Paper: This year has been 18 years since you wrote "The Wind Rises in Longxi". Looking back, how do you think your writing has changed? And what have been insisting?

Ma Boyong: The biggest change is the pursuit of details. In the past, I was not very particular, and when I wrote "The Wind Rises in Longxi", I even deliberately used the translation style, resulting in a sense of style separation. But now I pay close attention to these things, trying to be close to historical truth, because the truth itself comes with its own persuasiveness. What I have been insisting on is the emphasis on small people, and I think my literary mission is to pick up the loess buried in the dust, re-pinch out the flesh and blood, and turn it into human form.