The following article is from The Paper Flipbook Party, written by Jin Yichen
Recently, the TV series "The Road of Life" has been a hit, some of which is based on Lu Yao's novella "Life". As Lu Yao's famous work more than forty years ago, this novella that has influenced countless people has once again been put on the screen and given a new era connotation.
"Life" Lu Yao, 1982, No. 3 "Harvest" (illustration by Hou Guomin)
"Life", and later "Ordinary World", are all precious treasures left by Lu Yao to the world in his short life of forty-two years. Under what chance was "Life" written, and what kind of beliefs and artistic views led him to continue to work hard, making him a spiritual teacher for generations of young people? In fact, whether it is the grasp of the theme or the object depicted, Lu Yao has formed his own set of art philosophy in practice, and this view of art is inseparable from his own growth experience.
Poster for the TV series "The Road of Life"
According to Lu Yao's own account, he was "born in December 1949 in a poor peasant family in the mountains of northern Shaanxi. He grew up in the countryside and completed elementary school, and later went to the county town to complete high school and junior high school. Teenagers spend most of their time in the countryside and county."
The most important part of Lu Yao's life experience in his youth was "such a long and complex process from the countryside to the city", so that along the way, life on Lu Yao "left a deep imprint" and deeply influenced his writing. In the context of the changes of the times, he has always paid special attention to the "intersection" of rural and urban areas. Before Life, some of Lu Yao's early poems and essays, including the novella "A Thrilling Scene" that made him famous in the literary world, were mostly set in the Loess Plateau.
Lu Yao's own upbringing has also become a rich source of material for him. He once said: "Several of the works I have written myself are the result of my own long-term spiritual experience. Lu Yao's difficult life not only gave young Lu Yao a valuable spiritual wealth, but also became a rich mine for his creative activities: Gao Garin went to the city to pull dung in "Life", and Sun Shaoan took the junior high school entrance examination in "Ordinary World" just to prove himself, these plots are derived from Lu Yao's personal experience.
Behind the scenes of Life
For Lu Yao, literary creation is a process of writing first and accumulating. Although "Life" only had more than 140,000 words and the writing of the first draft took a total of 20 days, Lu Yao "prepared for nearly two years" for it. Lu Yao first conceived "Life" in 1979 and began to write. But after the first draft was written, he himself was not satisfied, and directly tore it off, and even had to be erased from "memory." In 1980, Lu Yao wrote a second draft, but he still felt that he could not do it, and simply overturned the previous preset outline and all specific ideas, and only retained the original large outline. Lu Yao later reflected that at that time, "many character relationships have not yet been intertwined." Later, after two or three years of thinking and precipitation, the relationship between the twenty or so characters in "Life" was reconceived and arranged.
In the original version of the novel, Qiao Zhen was Liu Liben's only daughter, and Qiao Ying and Qiao Ling were both new characters added by Lu Yao after careful consideration. When we read "Life", it is not difficult to see that the eldest sister and the third sister have played their due roles as characters: Qiao Ying married into Gao Minglou's family and became a key link between Gao Liu's in-laws; And Qiao Ling is the intimate sister of the second sister, and the author often uses their private words to tactfully present Qiao Zhen's thoughts to the reader. More importantly, Qiao Ling, who reads, also has Qiao Zhen's hopes on her, and has become a representative of the struggle against traditional consciousness in the struggle with her father about going to high school.
Although Lu Yao has always had a seed called "Life" in his heart for several years, it still takes a timely rain to take root and germinate. The direct reason for Lu Yao's re-picking up of "Life" was an appointment from Wang Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Youth Publishing House. The two met for "A Thrilling Scene", Lu Yao's first novella that won the first National Excellent Novella Award, and Wang Weiling was a member of the jury.
After owing Wang Weiling a literary debt, Lu Yao lived in the Ganquan County Guest House in the summer of 1981 and once again sprinted to the finish line. When Lu Yao writes, he "likes to work hard and maintain the same passion from beginning to end", and the most afraid is that "the emotions in the writing process will be interrupted by unexpected interference", and he will feel that the place where he interrupted will "leave a scar, even if it is carefully repaired later, it is difficult to be the original appearance". But this kind of mercury writing naturally means a very high intensity of work, and the process of writing is like an ascetic practice for Lu Yao, and his mental state often enters a state of madness with the deepening of creation. In his essay "Morning Begins at Noon", he recalled:
"I remember working eighteen hours a day for nearly a month, unable to distinguish between day and night, my body was like a fire, my facial features were festering, my urine and urine were not smooth, and I walked in circles in the middle of the night in the guest house in Ganquan County in northern Shaanxi."
Seeing this scene, the director of the guest house at that time hurriedly reported to the county party committee, saying that the young man might be insane, and as a result, he was instructed by the county party committee that the man was writing a book, so don't alarm him. Bai Tuan, a friend who is also a writer, came to see Lu Yao and saw Lu Yao, who was creating in a mess:
"When I went to visit you one day, I saw that the small room was full of smoke, the dustpan behind the door was full of cigarette butts, and there were hard steamed buns thrown on the table, as well as a few twist flowers and a few shortbreads. Your hair is disheveled, the corners of your eyes are sticky red, and writing around the clock has made it difficult to lift your arms. ”
But the road was painful and happy, and later called this period "the best days of my life so far". Several years of brewing accumulated enough potential energy for the novel, coupled with Lu Yao's desperate style, he quickly finished the first draft of "Life", but choosing a strong and loud title became the last difficulty.
Lu Yao was straight to the point when he first conceived it, and gave the novel a very straightforward name, called "The Story of Gogarin", but then felt that it was inappropriate, wrote the first draft, and named the novel "The Music of Life".
During the invitation to Beijing to revise the manuscript, Lu Yao discussed the name of the novel with Wang Weiling again, and both felt that "The Music of Life" was not ideal, but they couldn't think of a better topic for a while, so they agreed to keep in touch with letters and discuss it later.
In the subsequent exchange of letters, Lu Yao proposed to call "What did you get?" , echoing Soviet writer Kochetov's What the hell do you want? 》。 But the title was opposed by writer Li Xiaoba and Beijing.
In the end, the writer Liu Qing once again became the compass on Lu Yao's literary road. There is a passage in Liu Qing's book "The History of Entrepreneurship", "Although the road of life is long, there are often only a few steps at the critical point, especially when people are young. At Wang Weiling's suggestion, Lu Yao finally intercepted the word "life" at the beginning and identified it as the name of the novel, which was later printed on the title page of "Life".
Three times the name, "Life" finally landed.
With Liu Qing
Liu Qing and Lu Yao are both from northern Shaanxi, and his masterpiece "History of Entrepreneurship" published in 1960 had a profound impact on Lu Yao. In literary creation, Liu Qing is Lu Yao's "godfather of literature". As early as when he was studying at Yan'an University, he admired Liu Qing very much, and read "History of Entrepreneurship" four times in the school library, and then read "Ordinary World" three times in preparation for "Ordinary World", and read it seven times before and after.
The first book cover of "The History of Entrepreneurship"
In "Morning Begins at Noon", Lu Yao commented on "Entrepreneurial History":
"Among the novels in modern and contemporary China, in addition to Ba Jin's "Torrent Trilogy", I pay more attention to Liu Qing's "History of Entrepreneurship". He was my fellow countryman and taught me directly while I was alive. Although "History of Entrepreneurship" has some limitations, it undoubtedly has a unique position in contemporary literature on the mainland. ”
When Liu Qing was seriously ill, Lu Yao was still an editor of Yanhe magazine, and he went to the hospital with He Shuyu, deputy editor of Yanhe, to visit Liu Qing in the hospital. In 1980 and 1983, Lu Yao published a feature "Liu Qing in Danger" and an essay "Liu Qing's Legacy" in "Yanhe". At the end of "Liu Qing in Danger", Lu Yao once paid tribute to Liu Qing:
"Oh, respected Comrade Liu Qing, in the face of you who are critically ill, we can't even say a word of comfort to you; You are weak enough to look like this, but you are stronger than any of us. Let all of us stand before your bed, and pay you a deep, but by no means the last respect, and believe that even the most ordinary laborer, who has received some useful instruction from your work and from your own tenacious enterprising spirit, will not answer the demands of life with a snoring! ”
Before starting the writing of the second part of "Ordinary World", Lu Yao went to Liu Qing's tomb to pay homage; After winning the Mao Dun Literature Award, Lu Yao came to Liu Qing's tomb to pay respects. In "Morning Begins at Noon", Lu Yao once again expressed his respect for Liu Qing:
"Frankly speaking, among the older generation of contemporary Chinese writers, I love two the most: the late Liu Qing and the living Qin Zhaoyang. I once called them my literary 'godfathers' in an article. I have been in contact with Liu Qing many times before her death. When the second part of "History of Entrepreneurship" was published in Yanhe, I was also his responsible editor. Every time I saw him, he gave me many unique insights. I have carefully studied his writings, his statements and his every move. He helped me improve the spiritual qualities necessary for a writer... To a large extent, the two works "Life" and "Ordinary World" are exactly the answers I handed over to Liu Qing and Qin Zhaoyang. ”
It can be seen that Liu Qing's influence on Lu Yao is not only in terms of specific writing style, he is Lu Yao's beacon, pointing out the direction for his night sailing ship. And Lu Yao's love for Liu Qing is also from the heart, so that in "Ordinary World", you can often feel the echo between the lines and "Entrepreneurial History", and the best way to pay tribute is to speak with works.
After "Life" became famous
The advent of "Life" soon brought popularity to Lu Yao. In the literary circle, a large number of review articles were published in newspapers and periodicals across the country in a short period of time, and more than thirty articles discussing Gao Garin alone, forming a small climax in the literary circles of Lu Yao's research; In society, "Life" has also been widely welcomed by readers. "Life", first published in Harvest magazine, launched a single edition in the second half of 1982, with an initial print run of 130,000 copies, which were quickly sold out; The second edition printed 125,000 copies, followed by another 7,200 copies a year later, which shows the level of popularity of readers. In 1984, the film of the same name adapted and shot by Xi'an Film Studio was released nationwide, causing a sensation in society again.
"Life" single edition, China Youth Publishing House, November 1982
But "people are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong", "Life" brought flowers and applause to Lu Yao, and also added many waves to his originally peaceful life. He recalled in "Morning Begins at Noon":
"Countless letters poured in from all over the country, and the content of the letters was varied. In addition to talking about my feelings after reading novels and various life problems and literary issues, many people also regarded me as a 'mentor' who mastered the mysteries of life, and asked me for advice: 'How should people live? 'Make me cry and laugh.' There were also some frustrated young people who had suffered setbacks, and stipulated that I must write letters to enlighten them a few months and days in advance, otherwise they would die to show me. ”
Among these snowflake readers' letters, there is also one from Mo Yan. At that time, Mo Yan was only a rising star in the literary world, serving in the army, and had just published his debut novel "Spring Night Rain Feifei" in 1981. After reading "Life", he wrote a long letter of 3,000 words to Lu Yao to discuss the fate of Gao Garin with Lu Yao.
In addition to letters from readers, Lu Yao also has to deal with requests for publications, interviews in various aspects, and adaptations from theater troupes, TV stations, and film studios. There are also relatives and friends who come to the door to ask for errands, asking him to help "intercede and arrange their children's work", and even some "literary ronin who travels around the world without bringing anything" to make way for them.
Lu Yao shared such an interesting story at the lecture of Xi'an Mining Institute:
"Sometimes I was asleep at three o'clock in the middle of the night, and suddenly an urgent telegram was sent, thinking that the old man in the family had died, and when I opened it, I realized that it was the TV station that was going to film something, and I was so angry that you couldn't sleep."
Although "not refusing flowers and the red carpet", Lu Yao is not satisfied with this state of floating in mid-air and "longs to re-enter a kind of heaviness". In order to end this "fiery square life" as soon as possible, he even considered embracing the fields again and returning home to help his father farm for a year, but he was afraid that it would be considered hype.
And as far as the work "Life" is concerned, Lu Yao is still not satisfied, he has greater ambitions. In his vision, "Life" should be larger in scale. Gao Garin went to the provincial capital to participate in the news training class, he wanted to include Gao Garin's daily life in the provincial capital, and Huang Yaping's character image would be fuller, but for various reasons it could not be realized. In a conversation with literary critic Wang Yu, Lu Yao once mentioned: "But as far as this work ("Life") is concerned, it is already very difficult to add something, and it is only necessary to remedy it in the future, mainly to understand life more deeply." To a certain extent, the regrets left in "Life" also pushed Lu Yao to continue to march towards "Ordinary World", and also paved the way for him to later complete such a masterpiece and win the "crown jewel of the Mao Dun Literature Award".
Poster for the adaptation of the film of the same name "Life" (1984).
The great tree of life is evergreen
Throughout Lu Yao's creative journey of more than 20 years, he has not been stunned by the great success brought by "Life" and "Ordinary World", and has always maintained a humble attitude. Lu Yao repeatedly emphasized the identity of writers as "ordinary laborers" on different occasions, while literary creation is a "manual labor", along the way it is necessary to overcome endless mental and physical difficulties and setbacks, and only by "dedicating like an ox and like the land" can the final work be completed.
In Lu Yao's mind, the highest position should be occupied by his readers, as well as the wider people behind the readers. For them, Lu Yao is always full of affection and awe. Positioning himself as the "son of the working people", he bluntly said:
"It was the barren and nutritious land and the humble and wise people that raised me. Without them, there would be no me, and no my work. They are the greatest, and it is not too much to put any laurels of honor on them ... Life is created by working people, and only by becoming one of them can you make your labor have some value. History tells us with countless facts: no one can succeed without the earth and its people. ”
In 1988, on the eve of the broadcast of "Ordinary World" on the Central People's Radio, Lu Yao was interviewed by Ye Yongmei, the editor of the "Long Series" program, and left a precious recording:
"Listener friends, no matter how many difficulties, pains, and even misfortunes we have in life, we still have reason to be proud of the land and the years in which we live... I personally believe that this world belongs to ordinary people, and the world of ordinary people is certainly an ordinary world, but it will always be a great world. I, as a laborer in this world, will always regard the world of ordinary people as a divine God of my creation. ”
At the award ceremony of the Mao Dun Literature Award, as a representative of the award-winning writers, he made a speech entitled "The Great Tree of Life". He argues:
"It is our duty not to write for ourselves or a few, but to wholeheartedly meet the spiritual needs of the broad masses of the people. The working people of all nationalities on the mainland have created a glorious history and a magnificent life, and have also nurtured writers and artists with her milk. The people are our mothers, and life is the source of art. The great tree of people's lives is evergreen, and the branches that inhabit it can't help but sing about it. Only without losing the feeling of ordinary workers can we grasp the mainstream of the socio-historical process and create truly valuable works of art. ”
In June 1991, Lu Yao mentioned in an exchange with teachers and students of Xi'an Mining Institute, "What a work is like should not only be evaluated by contemporary people, but also withstand the test of history." Now, more than forty years have passed since the publication of "Life", and more than ten years have passed since Lu Yao's death, if he has the knowledge, he will be pleased to see the "life fever" set off by "The Road of Life" today.