On April 20th, the 25th edition of the series of literary activities "Face to Face with Literature in the World Capital of Literature" sponsored by Xishanqiao Street, Yuhuatai District, Nanjing and Nanjing Zhiyitang Cultural Tourism Company was held in Xishanqiao Street, Nanjing, and Xia Jianyong, the winner of the first Lu Xun Literature Award, was a guest in the first study to share his 50 years of creative experience. The event was presided over by Li Huizhao, a professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of Yangzhou University.
Look back at the creative experience
"50 is the best time for a writer"
Xia Jianyong began his literary creation in 1973, and his representative works include "The Glory of Oblivion", "The Legend of the Grand Canal" and "Song History Trilogy" - "Twelve Years of Shaoxing", "The Fourth Autumn of Qingli", "Tokyo Dream Record", etc.
Since the 80s of the last century, he has written many short stories and dramas with rural themes, during which he has won the "Yuhua" Literature Award twice and the Jiangsu Province Excellent Script Award. In the early '90s, he began to shift his focus to historical and cultural essays.
Many readers know Xia Jianyong from "The Glory of Annihilation". This 250,000-word collection of cultural essays has been published in 1996 and has distributed 75,000 copies within a year and a half, and won the first Lu Xun Literature Award "National Outstanding Prose Award". So far, 10 different editions of "The Splendor of Oblivion" have been printed. "The book was influenced by Yu Qiuyu's "Cultural Journey". Xia Jianyong said frankly: "When I first read "Cultural Journey", I had a kind of admiration, and I felt that I could write it even if I worked hard. In the process of learning to write, I gradually found my favorite style."
Looking back on his years of creation, Xia Jianyong's work that he is still relatively satisfied with is "The Legend of the Grand Canal". "The old Tongyang River, north of my hometown, is a tributary of the Grand Canal and has a history of more than 2,000 years. I grew up by this river and have a special affection for canals. Xia Jianyong said that the north of this river is the Lixiahe area, and the south is the high sandy land area, and the scenery and people in the north and south of the river are completely different. How to write a wonderful canal with a history of more than 2,000 years, he has spent a lot of thought. "A single idea is not flexible enough. Xia Jianyong chose to present the time and space chapters in a staggered manner, and calmly incorporated the magnificent and complex content just right.
"The Legend of the Grand Canal" was written when Xia Jianyong was about 50 years old, and in his opinion, 50 years old should be the best age for a writer. At this age, the body is still healthy, and the writer has gone through many years of literary training, and his life experience and literary experience tend to be full. Xia Jianyong said with a smile that he often encourages his friends who love writing, and the period before the age of 50 is the best time for a writer to learn, accumulate and sharpen.
When "The Legend of the Grand Canal" came out, some essayists commented that the book made people see the sense of strength of a 50-year-old man, and described this 250,000-word work as "rich and gorgeous".
Restore history and write big prose
"Be real at both ends, and rely on imagination in the middle"
Since 2010, Xia Jianyong has focused on the history of the Song Dynasty, deeply cultivated the history of the Song Dynasty for more than ten years, and completed the "Song History Trilogy" that spans the two Song Dynasty. The trilogy takes the 12th year of Gaozong Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, the 4th year of Renzong Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu of Zhenzong in the Northern Song Dynasty as narrative nodes, and enters the historical cross-section from the meaningful historical events such as the killing of Yue Fei, the new policy of Qingli, and the Dongfeng of Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty.
How to restore history in his works? Xia Jianyong pays attention to "the truth at both ends and the imagination in the middle", that is, on the basis of the truth of large historical events, people, environment, and small life and cultural details, the imagination is expanded.
For example, a banquet described at the beginning of "Tokyo Dreams". Xia Jianyong said that this banquet did happen in the winter of the fourth year of Jingde, and although the details such as the emperor's gift of wine and flowers did not necessarily happen at this banquet, it was a real etiquette at that time. History is about "what is", and literature is about "what should be". "I will carefully study the big environment and small details, and boldly imagine on the basis of being as real as possible at both ends. ”
"Imagination is so important to a writer. Xia Jianyong also talked about the problem of imagination in "The Fourth Autumn of Qingli", and wrote in the book: "Imagination is more important than memory, which is the minimum capital of a writer." It would be sad if a writer's imagination was like a poor purse (if he had money). ”
In Xia Jianyong's view, imagination is actually creating something out of nothing, but the "nothing" here is not the "nothing" of the water without a source, but the "nothing" of Lao Tzu's so-called "everything in the world is born from being, and some are born from nothing", which is a kind of spiritual origin that produces "being".
"Handmade" writing
Slow kung fu has its own fine quality
Xia Jianyong still writes by "handmade". The materials need to be consulted and transcribed one by one, and the text must be written out one by one.
He told his readers that when he writes historical essays, he must start by reading books and researching materials. Read each book at least twice, the first time marking the information that you think is useful, and the second time marking the "very good" material in a notebook, and thinking about where they should be placed in the text. When I was actually creating, every time I started a specific chapter, I read all the notes and marked out the things that were useful for the chapter, "It's very tedious, and it takes many times more effort from others, but I think it's very worthwhile." ”
"I'm ashamed that I don't write very well. When you actually put pen to paper, you should also put a piece of straw paper next to it. Xia Jianyong said that when he wrote, he first straightened out on the scratch paper and then copied it to the finished draft, and found that something was inappropriate and rewrote and recopied, and a manuscript was copied at least three times. The process of copying sometimes produces better ideas, which makes people "very happy". "I use the most primitive operation, hoping that the quality of the things produced is a little better, and that is enough. He said.
Xia Jianyong has lived in Jiangyin for a long time to write. He had the opportunity to be transferred to the province to engage in professional creation, but after thinking about it repeatedly, he still didn't go. "In the history of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign literature, there are many writers who have lived in small towns all their lives and still wrote immortal works that have been handed down to the world. Xia Jianyong was glad that he was able to settle down in a small place and slowly wrote some works that he was quite satisfied with. "There is too much information in a big place, and when there is a lot of information, people's hearts will inevitably be impetuous, and they will always be anxious when they see what works others have written and what awards they have won. Xia Jianyong felt that he should not be in a hurry when writing. Slow polishing behind closed doors, and you can always write good things.
Jiangnan Times reporter Zhang Yaqian