From the beginning of his participation in the "12.9" movement in 1935, he almost doomed Wei Junyi's lifelong path.
She was an active participant in the "One-Two-Nine" movement. In the following decades, whether in the Bai District, in Yan'an, in the Liberated Areas, or on the front line; after the founding of New China, whether he was doing youth work, compiling "Chinese Youth" and "Literary and Art Studies," or in the People's Literature Publishing House, working for the revolution, for the literary cause, and for the great ideal, Wei Junyi was sincere, brave, conscientious, and working day and night, struggling and fighting.
Serious and honest
Around 1960, I met Wei Junyi. At that time, her short story "Song of the Moon and Night" was praised by Mr. Mao Dun, and the "Literature and Art Newspaper" published a review, she was the leader of the People's Literature Publishing House, she was a writer, and I was a young editor of the "Literature and Art Newspaper". In the "Cultural Revolution", we were in the May Seventh Cadre School of the Ministry of Culture in Xianning, Hubei Province, and the publishing house and the Chinese Writers Association to which I belonged were adjacent companies. She was in the fourteenth company, and I was in the fifth company. We met at that time, but there was no specific contact or understanding.
I have heard about her from Comrades Huang Qiuyun, a comrade-in-arms of Wei Junyi during the "12.9" Movement and co-editor of "Literary and Art Studies," and Long Shihui, an old editor of the People's Literature Publishing House. It was not until 1978, when I returned to my literary editing post from the Beijing Language and Culture Institute and transferred to the People's Literature Publishing House, that Comrade Junyi and I had a formal meeting, and I fully appreciated her unique style and personality.
At that time, she said to me bluntly: "You come to the literary publishing house, we are very welcome." But, when it comes, don't plan to go anywhere else. Beforehand, I said to Comrade Lightyear and Comrade Feng Mu: If you come here, you will let Xie Yongwang go to them. In the future, if you want to restore the "Literature and Art Newspaper", you don't want to move the nest anymore. Do a good job in the publishing house!" I later confirmed this meaning from Comrade Fumii. In the first formal conversation with Comrade Junyi, she was so frank and blunt and unusually serious, and when she first came into contact, people felt a little surprised and not very accustomed, but soon felt trembling and moving from the heart, which made me feel comrade Junyi's personality strength and sincere and straightforward true feelings. Since then, I have been doing editing work in the theoretical group of the Modern Literature Editing Room under the leadership of Comrade Junyi. She has repeatedly told us in her work that contemporary literary creation is a peony flower in literary publishing, which is a very important link in the prosperity and development of socialist literature in our country; organizing and publishing the creation of long novels is the top priority of our editorial work. Therefore, in the previous national literary awards such as the Mao Dun Literature Award and the Lu Xun Literature Award, the People's Literature Publishing House always occupies a very important position.
She became editor-in-chief (soon became president), but always directly reviewed the original manuscript, consulted with the editor in advance, and then exchanged views with the author, obtained the consent and understanding of the author, and even revised the manuscript to meet the publishing requirements. She believes that editors have no say if they don't read the original manuscript (especially novels and all new works); how do you write review opinions without understanding the status of the manuscript? How to judge whether it can be used? Therefore, the review opinions she often talks about, not only grasp the principles and policies, but also pay full attention to the quality of ideology and art, always have profound insights into the manuscript, and she is often pertinent to the original manuscript, and she has a good memory, and can grasp the key points and talk about the ideas for some characters, stories and even details in the novel. Therefore, her review opinions are often convinced by authors and editors.
Since 1983, I have been the deputy director of the editorial office, mainly dividing my work to read novel manuscripts. In the two years from 1984 to 1986, in the process of dealing with Chen Lide's new creation of "Under the City", Comrade Junxuan personally practiced and taught me by words and deeds, which had many enlightenments and lessons for me.
As early as 1964, Chen Lide was famous for his debut novel , Precursor " . At that time, he was just in his twenties, to depict the struggle life in the Northern Expedition during the Great Revolution, and it was obvious that his life experience and creative experience were lacking. With the patient and meticulous help of Wei Junyi, Yuan Liuzhuang and other editors, he made many important processing and revisions to the original manuscript, and his successful experience was firmly remembered. Nearly twenty years later, he wrote a sequel "Under the City", but during the retirement period of the old editor Yuan Liuzhuang, she wanted to hand over the original manuscript to the young editor, Chen Lide felt unfamiliar, and he was a little uneasy in his heart, he proposed to be able to invite Comrade Junyi to read the original manuscript, and repeatedly expressed his full gratitude and trust to Comrade Junyi. At that time, Comrade Junyi had already retreated to the second line. In order not to lose the sequel to this novel, which originally had a good influence, I conveyed the author's wish to Comrade Junyi. She began to have some prevarications, is it appropriate to look at the original manuscript of the work? I would like to stress again that she handled "Precursor", is more knowledgeable about the situation, and is familiar with the author, and now the author insists that you review the original manuscript so that he can change the novel. Comrade Junyi even agreed after a little thought.
In the summer of 1984, when peng Qinyang and I, a young editor, read the original manuscript of "Under the City", I was really hesitant in my heart: the original manuscript was rather chaotic, the handwriting was sloppy, it was difficult to read in some places, and there were more than 700,000 words. However, it had been agreed in advance with the author and Comrade Junyi, so we had to send the review opinions we wrote together with the original manuscript. It was the hot summer in Beijing, but Comrade Junyi quickly read more than 700,000 words in the midst of many affairs, asked us to exchange views in time, and arranged a time to invite the author Chen Lide to the courtyard of No. 11 Gongyuan West Street, where she lived, to discuss the reading opinions. We point out the gains and losses in the original manuscript bluntly. It is hoped that the author will grasp the main contradictions of historical events and the main plot of the development of the story and concentrate on ink, delete too many branches and events, grasp the main characters, and write them more realistically and more distinctively. Because Comrade Junyi, a senior editor, talked about it to the point, and also listed many problems in the original manuscript for a specific analysis to the point, Chen Lide felt suddenly enlightened. So he promised to take it back and revise and add and delete.
The author revised it for about ten months, and in June 1985 brought the second draft of "Under the Castle". The beginning of the revised draft was changed quite a bit, but soon it fell into the framework of the original idea and it was difficult to extricate itself, and it was too much to cherish its original pen and ink, so there were still many similar problems in the first draft. With the patient exchange of opinions and help from Wei Junyi and other editorial comrades, the author promised to change it again. Unfortunately, when the author revised the third draft in the late spring of 1986, we only reported verbally to Comrade Junyi once, and she suddenly fell ill at a meeting of the Chinese Writers Association to preside over the work of literary journals.
Comrade Junyi not only often grasped the ideological level and artistic quality of the manuscript, but also conscientiously implemented the principles and policies of the party and the state. At that time, after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was convened, in order to eliminate the poison and influence of the ultra-left ideological trend and to create a new situation in literary publishing, under the initiative and leadership of comrades Yan Wenjing, Wei Junyi, Tu An, and other comrades, the editors of the modern literary editing room concentrated for more than a month to re-read and discuss the more than thirty novels that had been accumulated and reserved in the past, promptly discarded the simplistic, formulaic, and generalized "cancer" of creation from the conceptual point of view, and selected several excellent works with solid life and fresh ideas. The rest are boldly discarded and returned to the author. In this way, on the one hand, the editors have sobered their minds, and on the other hand, they have also made literary publishing work strive to keep up with the pace of the times and make timely preparations for the prosperity and development of literature in the new period.
Keep up with the times
The first ten years of the new period were a period of rectification and social transformation, and literary publishing work naturally faced many new problems.
In 1979, the second issue of Harvest published Wei Xi's "Red Magnolia Under the Big Wall" and Feng Jicai's "The Wrong Way to Lay Flowers" (hereinafter referred to as "The Wrong Way"), which caused sharp differences of opinion and heated discussion in the society and my editorial office. "The Wrong Way" is a manuscript provided by the People's Literature Publishing House, and we are ready to publish a separate book. Therefore, under the presidency of Comrade Junyi, two discussions in the editorial department were held in July to let everyone speak freely and express their own views.
Some comrades who are deeply influenced by ultra-leftist thought believe that the above-mentioned works about the encounters of the "Cultural Revolution" and prison life are "exposed literature" and "scar literature", and even equivalent to the "concentration camp literature" and "thawing literature" of some foreign countries. Most comrades believe that the above-mentioned works have raised issues of common concern to hundreds of millions of people, reflected the common will and voice of hundreds of millions of people, and exposed the barbaric crimes of Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" in line with the spirit of the central authorities and the needs of the times today. Comrade Junyi personally presided over the meeting and made an enlightening and important speech. After the meeting, she assigned me to write a summary of the discussion to the publication work of the State Press and Publication Administration. At the same time, she concentrated on everyone's correct opinions and decided in a timely manner to publish several novels urgently needed by society, such as "The Wrong Way", which was quite popular with readers.
In Hunan, she brought Mo Yingfeng's "General Yin"; in the society, she enthusiastically supported the publication of Gu Hua's "Furong Town" and Li Guowen's "Spring in Winter"; and from the end of the "Cultural Revolution", she supported the editor to contact Wei Wei, who had not yet re-emerged to work, and contributed to the early publication of the novel "Dongfang", which he had been brewing for many years to reflect the full picture of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea—these four novels later won the first Mao Dun Literature Award at the same time.
In particular, wei Junyi and Zhang Jie and her first novel, Heavy Wings (hereinafter referred to as "Wings"), were published with twists and turns.
In 1978, Zhang Jie's debut novel "A Child from the Forest" was published in Beijing Literature and Art and won the National Outstanding Short Story Award that year. Wei Junyi is a judge. At the awarding meeting, they lived together. Wei Junyi learned about Zhang Jie's experience and pursuits from the conversation, and immediately encouraged her to write a novel for the People's Literature Publishing House. A year later, Zhang Jie wrote the country's first novel depicting the life of reform and opening up, "Wings", which was first published in "October" magazine, and was immediately praised and welcomed by the literary circles and the vast number of readers. After Reading It, Wei Junyi made some comments and personally revised it, and soon published the book in our company.
However, as soon as the book was published, some people openly jumped out to oppose it. The opponents are not in their personal capacity, but in the name of a first-level organization, and rising at a higher level, in the form of an authoritative document, or by making more than a hundred comments, or by listing more than fifty issues.
After reading it carefully with the relevant editors, Wei Junyi felt that although there were also desirable opinions, it was more exaggerated, distorted, incomprehensible, and untrue (in some places, the original text of the novel was not even understood). Therefore, the company wrote a report to the relevant leading departments in accordance with the documents and novels, and put forward our views. On the one hand, Wei Junyi also asked the responsible comrades of the Central Structural Reform Commission to read the works, which won full affirmation and support; on the other hand, he directly sought out Comrade Hu Qiaomu, who was in charge of the work on the ideological and cultural front of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and criticized the decision-makers who opposed the views in person with full facts and correct viewpoints, and finally won justice for "Wings." At the same time, he also asked Comrades Zhang Guangnian, secretary of the party leading group of the China Writers Association and a well-known critic of literary and art theory, to help Zhang Jie make four revisions repeatedly, which lasted for four or five years. At this time, the CPC Central Committee made the "Decision on the Reform of the Economic Structure," which fully explained and confirmed the novel's profound acumen and foresight in observing life, and finally completely eliminated the voices of criticism and accusations from certain people and departments, and was fully affirmed and highly praised by society, thus successfully winning the second Mao Dun Literature Award. Whenever Zhang Jie recalled this matter, she was always full of gratitude to Comrade Junyi. At a symposium, I once saw Zhang Jie in front of Comrade Junyi and many friends, and could not help but tearfully and excitedly tell: "Without Comrade Junyi, there would be no "Heavy Wings", and without Comrade Junyi, this novel would not have won such a special honor today. ”
Fighting in the midst of illness
On the afternoon of April 21, 1986, Comrade Junyi presided over the meeting in the Chinese Writers Association as the director of the Literary Journals Working Committee, and suddenly fell ill at the conference table.
At that time, she had already completed the formalities of leave. However, we still see her regularly in the office. She participated in the appraisal work for the thirty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Literature Publishing House and the "People's Literature Award", read many novels, and talked about many opinions; there were constantly her newly published novels and articles in the press; she published a new book, "Notes of an Old Editor," and a collection of essays, "Homeland Conditions," as well as a long novel, "Mother and Son"; she participated in the compilation and revision of the "History of the 12.9 Movement" and is busy with the final draft; she is also preparing to hold a national symposium on the work of literary periodicals; and she has to worry about her family and her children again...
She lay in her hospital bed at Union Hospital because of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, and many writers, publishers, editors, and readers across the country cared about her. To this end, I wrote an article "She is so tired!" at the request of Comrade Miao Junjie! The short article was published in the People's Daily on June 18. I tell you that after timely treatment, her illness has improved greatly, she has resumed her normal diet, and her paralyzed right side can be stretched and flexed. The doctor said: In some time, you can let her go to the ground.
Sure enough, as we expected, Comrade Junyi soon recovered basically and went home. When I came to see her at her house, she was practicing walking in the aisles with a four-wheeled trolley. According to the doctor's instructions and her own exercise plan, she always has to take a certain number of steps every day. After a while, she sat down at the table where she usually read and wrote, and said to me: I don't have any hands or feet now, and it is very difficult to write, and it is not as good as my little grandson's writing.
She is always worried about her work, she is worried about writing, and she can't let go of the many novels she has repeatedly conceived over the years.
During this period, she practiced walking and writing strongly, broke her right arm in 1987, suffered from cerebral thrombosis in 1989, and accidentally cracked her pelvis in 1991... She still wrote dozens of reminiscences, essays, and essays with a strong spirit and a rare will.
Once, wang Kasayun, an old colleague and editor of the company, visited her and chatted with her, and she emotionally talked about the long-form ideas that had been familiar to her chest for many years: preparing to write several continuous novels based on her own experience. Now that I am sick like this, it seems that this long-cherished wish cannot be realized. She said it with deep regret and some sentimental feelings. Wang Kasayun knew her very well and analyzed her writing plan at that time: those memories of history and nostalgia for friends are of course valuable to write, but many things are also experienced by others, and others may write them or can be interviewed by future generations, but the novels you have conceived for many years not only have your experiences and your emotions, but also contain your pursuits, your cultural accomplishment and artistic preparation, which no one can write for you. This is the most precious thing for you and for society. Then Wang Kasayun carefully calculated an account with her: Now you can write three or five hundred words a day, and it is a pity to write some prose and essays piecemeal. If you write down years of artistic ideas, a year or a little more, your novel will be born. Therefore, he strongly encouraged Wei Junyi to concentrate on completing his long-cherished wish to write a long novel. And proposed, let her write from the period of life in Yan'an that she most wanted to write about.
What is really admirable is that whenever Comrade Junyi recovers a little from a serious illness, as long as she can force herself to write, she insists on writing. After more than a year of hard work, he finally struggled to write "Lusha Road" in the summer of 1993, which was published by the People's Literature Publishing House. Although this novel is only more than 100,000 words, it is a work with unique ideological and artistic value, and is the precious crystallization of Wei Junyi's life and painstaking efforts. Through a female college student who travels from Beiping to Yan'an, the novel experiences the twists and turns of the "rescue" movement and the fate of her personal life in Yan'an in 1942, with sharp ideological contradictions and another choice of personal future and revolutionary development path. The work shows us some little-known pictures of life in Yan'an and the Liberated Areas, as well as the complexities and twists and turns in the revolutionary process, and shows Wei Junyi's new understanding and profound reflection on the revolutionary experiences and various encounters of that generation in the past few decades. For a disabled old man like Wei Junyi, who was seriously ill, it was really precious. We can only say: the real is sincere, the golden stone is open! How else can it be explained?!
The novel is complemented by her long memoir, Si Pain. It began to be written on the eve of the smashing of the "Gang of Four" until the early 1990s after a serious illness, and wrote for one or two decades, and finally was published by her relatives, The famous essayist Mu Hui, took it to the Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House and published it in May 1998. The memoirs recount the events experienced by this old revolutionary man who threw himself under the banner of the Communist Party from Yan'an to "rescue the runaways" to the "Cultural Revolution", with the intention of making people always remember the lessons of history and full of ardent expectations for the beautiful future of the country and the nation, thus showing the soul and profound reflection of an old Communist Party member who has been weeping blood for decades.
It is this kind of tenacious perseverance and tenacity for the revolution and for the ideal that supports her, and Wei Junyi is still struggling and fighting unceasingly in the face of serious illness!
September 8, 2001
P.S. The above text was written three or four months ago, after I went to see comrade Wei Junyi, an old revolutionary, an old writer, and an old leader, in the high-ranking cadre ward of Union Hospital. At that time, she was still struggling and struggling with the disease.
Just after the New Year of 2002, Comrade Junyi has been suffering from cerebral hemorrhage for sixteen years since April 1986 at a meeting of the Writers' Association, and has been bedridden for more than seven years due to heart failure, and finally left the new era and beautiful Land of China that she has long been attached to and in which she has long participated. She listened to the songs "Flowers in May", "Yellow River Chorus", "Ode to Yan'an", "Singing the Motherland" and other songs prepared for her by her daughter Yang Tuan, with light in her eyes, tears, and she wanted to speak, and left in a strong excitement and passion. It is true that as she said in her poem on the fiftieth anniversary of the "12.9" movement: "The flowers in May are still good, and the song will eventually be full of thoughts" - this is the brilliant and deep thinking life of a revolutionary old man!
On February 1, 2002, the diary was after the death of Comrade Wei Junyi.