Since the 80s, Sun Ganlu has successively published experimental works such as "Visiting Dreams", "Messenger Letter", "Asking Women to Guess Riddles", and "I Am a Young Wine Altar" as a pioneer writer, these early novels were likened by Wang Hongtu, a professor of the Department of Chinese at Fudan University, to "poems with very strong dreamy colors", and his new work "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" as a realistic red narrative work, is significantly different from his early avant-garde works. How did this transition take shape, how did it move from the inner imagination to the delicate writing of external concrete historical events, and what impact did such writing have on the reader?
On April 23, World Book Day, the Liberal Arts Library of Fudan University was full of readers. Famous writer Sun Ganlu opened the 12th Fudan University Reading Festival in 2024 for "Reading Shanghai", and had a dialogue with Professor Wang Hongtu, which was moderated by Chen Yinchi, director of Fudan University Library and professor of the Department of Chinese.
The transformation of the avant-garde, the desire to return to the historical scene
Returning to the historical scene and reproducing the story of Shanghai in that era is Sun Ganlu's wish to create "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". The story takes place around the Lunar New Year in 1933, more than 91 years ago. "The art form of the work is related to the subject it depicts, and when I write about serious red subjects, realism comes naturally. From the founding of the Party in 1921 to the transfer of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to the transfer of Shanghai to the Ruijin Soviet District in 1933, the history of the novel constitutes the background of the novel. ”
In addition to the requirements of the subject matter, Sun Ganlu's own experience and changes in concepts have also contributed to the "transformation" of this work. "In the 80s, when I was 20 years old, I couldn't understand the state of mind of a 60-year-old. Just as he didn't remember when he read Tolstoy's works when he was young, it resonates strongly when he rereads it now. The fantasy and unfettered youth made Sun Ganlu naturally have the desire to constantly break through and try. And today's Sun Ganlu is also constantly absorbing more vivid experiences and feeling the expression of different ages.
Nevertheless, the perception of reality and history is a thread that echoes each other before and after the "transformation". Sun Ganlu believes: "From the perspective of that time, reform literature, reflective literature, and educated youth literature were not only reflections on history, but they were not satisfied with this; In short, I think they are all re-understanding history and reality from a different new perspective. ”
The "real" of imaginary arrivals is sometimes more real than historical material
Realism is not a competition of materials, but both imagination and historical materials. How to deal with historical materials and how to balance the relationship between imagination and historical facts are the core issues of Sun Ganlu's belief in the creation of historical novels. "It is naturally prudent to write works related to history, but it is impossible to 'restore' history completely, and the memoirs or oral accounts of many of the parties involved are not completely reliable, and their positions and psychological states may change the meaning of things. Sun Ganlu has created a kind of historical space in literature, that is, "big things are true, small things are not informal", respecting major historical facts, reasonably reproducing historical fields, and at the same time using fiction and imagination to highlight certain choices at specific moments. "Historical material doesn't necessarily show up in fiction, but you have to know it. There are many different readers, and you don't know which detail will work on the reader. ”
"Sometimes the 'real' of imaginary arrival is more real than historical material. An unsigned letter, a list of those who died on April 4, 1933, and an excerpt from an interview are the three appendices at the end of A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains. Sun Ganlu recalled that the appendix seemed to strengthen the realism of the story, and many readers were very moved when they read this, they exclaimed that "it turns out that this thing is true", but Sun Ganlu revealed the "answer" on the spot, "In fact, from the title of the book to the last full stop of the appendix, it is all fictional". All the details of the novel are establishing the right to speak, and the reader gradually builds trust in the novel in the process of reading, and this trust also rises to the top at the end of the text.
Sun Ganlu is good at picking out the glorious moments of human nature from the long history, just as he has always believed that "the study of literature and the study of people are connected, and external events make people perceive, imagine and reason, so in my opinion, people can say the unspeakable words in a special environment is the most charming and dramatic moment." Sun Ganlu's rich treatment of sound has often attracted attention, and he said that the sound at a certain moment reflects the author's observation of human nature, and such observation may have a natural relationship with sound, but the focus is not necessarily on the description of sound, the emphasis on the tone and frustration, but the recognition of human nature. Perhaps the 19th-century Russian revolutionary democratic poet Nekrasov's poem "They say the storm is coming, I can't help but smile" is one of the countless examples of this.
Mao Jian, a professor of the Department of Chinese at East China Normal University, recently mentioned at Sinan Bookstore that "this year is probably the year of 'a thousand miles of rivers and mountains'", and "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is being adapted from novel texts to various literary and artistic works ...... radio dramas, TV dramas, and movies, and this active practice has also made it a vivid case of contemporary literature.
Text: Sun Yanyang (Intern)
Photo: Organizer Sun Yanyang (intern)
Editor: Li Ting