Zhang Tianyi's sarcastic genius was even higher than Lu Xun's

●Chen Yankun

This year marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of fairy tale master Zhang Tianyi. A few days ago, the Yunnan People's Publishing House launched a new edition of "Da lin and Xiao Lin", which was hailed as the second milestone in the history of Chinese fairy tales after Ye Shengtao's "Scarecrow".

The protagonists of "Obayashi and Kobayashi" are twins of a pair of farmers. After the death of their parents, the brothers went out to earn a living. On the way, they were chased by monsters and had to flee in two directions, thus being separated. Obayashi longed for a comfortable life, with no worries about food and clothing; Kobayashi was sold to a capitalist who worked in a four-four-block factory day after day. Twin brothers from the same peasant family, their life circumstances have changed, each has experienced a different life.

"Da Lin and Xiao Lin" made the fairy tale king Zheng Yuanjie embark on the road of children's literature creation. Zheng Yuanjie once wrote in her blog: "'Da Lin and Xiao Lin' is one of the three books that have had the greatest impact on me. If I hadn't seen Obayashi and Kobayashi as a child, I wouldn't have made a living writing fairy tales today. He also said: "In my eyes, Zhang Tianyi is a greater fairy tale writer than Hans Christian Andersen. ”

Zhang Tianyi is a modern novelist and children's literature writer, who served as the editor-in-chief of People's Literature and won the National Children's Literature and Art Honorary Award. He is the author of the short story "Bao's Father and Son" and children's literature works "Da Lin and Xiao Lin", "The Story of Luo Wenying", "The Secret of Bao Hulu" and so on.

Zhang Tianyi's works are mostly in a mocking tone, the writing is lively and fresh, and the style is spicy. He believes that "art should be realistic and should reflect real life." Literary critic Xia Zhiqing praised Zhang Ailing, Zhang Tianyi, Qian Zhongshu, and Shen Congwen as the four masters of the "Golden Decade" in the History of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Novels, and commented on Zhang Tianyi: "He has actually become a part of the history of Chinese literature. In an interview, Xia Zhiqing even said, "Zhang Tianyi's ironic genius is higher than Lu Xun's." Wu Qing, the daughter of writer Bingxin, also revealed: "Zhang Tianyi is a writer who his mother respects very much. ”

Zhang Tianyi's son Zhang Zhang fondly recalled his father Zhang Tianyi, saying that he was very naughty when he was a child, and he still had a "childlike heart" when he grew up. "Zhang Tianyi was very naughty when he was a child, and his parents didn't care too much about his naughtiness, so until he grew up, he still had childishness. Of course, after growing into an adult, the childishness cannot climb the tree like a child and catch a cockroach and fight, and the childishness at this time is called 'childlike heart'. ”

Zhang Zhang said that his father was different from other writers. "He is a writer who is a little different from other writers, in addition to writing novels for adults, he also writes novels for children, and 'Obayashi and Kobayashi' is written for children."

Zhang Tianyi has his own set of methods for teaching children. Zhang Zhang recalled: "When I was a child, I often listened to my father tell me stories, that is, every night, after dinner, when I went out for a walk with him. He led me in his hand, talking as he walked, sometimes telling the story of Sun Wukong, sometimes improvising, such as 'Xiao Tie's story' - Xiao Tie is a girl, often I did something wrong, Xiao Tie also made the same mistake, my father told Xiao Tie how to correct the mistake, in fact, it is me. Now that I'm older, in retrospect, it's a great way to help kids in this way. ”