Qilu Evening News • Qilu one-point reporter Liu Yuhan
The 30th National Book Fair is being held in Jinan, and the famous writer Liang Xiaosheng's new work "My Growing Pains" was officially released during this period. "As long as a family loves each other, difficulties will always be overcome. And as long as we are deeply grateful for the help of others, there will be more enthusiastic people willing to help us – this is what my history of growing up from childhood to adolescence proves. In the new work, Liang Xiaosheng systematically presented his young growth experience in a documentary manner for the first time, and he wanted to convey such a life cognition to young readers.
On the 15th, Liang Xiaosheng accepted an exclusive interview with the reporter of Qilu Evening News and Qilu OnePoint. Still working hard in his 70s, Liang Xiaosheng admits that writing is a chore. He compares himself to an old carpenter and says his writing career has come to an end. "Clean the workshop, as soon as the door is closed and locked, it's over."
Civilian spirit, youthful ambition
From becoming a representative figure of "Zhiqing Literature" in his early days to winning the 10th Mao Dun Literature Award in 2019 with his novel "The World of Man", Liang Xiaosheng is a writer with a wealth of writing. This time, his new work, "My Growing Pains", is an autobiographical coming-of-age novel created for young readers. In a documentary manner, the book describes Liang Xiaosheng's growth process from the second and third grades of primary school to junior high school, and many of the characters are the prototypes of the characters in "The World of Man".
The author of the "Mao Prize" writes a book for teenagers, and some experts say that this is a "small book for everyone". In recent years, Liang Xiaosheng has paid close attention to the education of young people, paying special attention to the edutainment function of children's books. Liang Xiaosheng sees "My Growing Pains" as a bridge book that children in the fourth and fifth grades of primary school can read on their own. With this in mind, the words he uses are as simple as possible, clear and intimate. At the same time, he said that adults can also read the book, "for example, my contemporaries or the next generation, through reading such books can recall their own life experiences." Memories are not about complaining, but about re-introspecting the lives we've experienced, what we've gained from them. The main thing conveyed in the book is the value of family and friendship. ”
Liang Xiaosheng wrote this book at the invitation of Shandong Education Publishing House. Previously, he had written about his father, mother, brother, and even letters to his brother and sister in different prose works. In this book, he uses the real names of all the characters that appear. The protagonist of the book, "Liang Shaosheng", is liang Xiaosheng's original name. Neighbors Chen Da Niang, teachers, classmates, etc., are also real names and surnames. The reason for this, Liang Xiaosheng said, "I have come all my life as a writer, there are some good people who have helped me, and the best way I want to express my gratitude to them is to write their names in my words and print them into a book, and keep my feelings in a book." ”
It is called "trouble", but it is actually "suffering". The layers of hardships experienced by the characters in "My Growing Pains" make people choke up and be sad to watch, and Wadang, an associate professor at the Faculty of Letters at Ludong University, regards the book as a "juvenile version of "Alive". He commented that "My Growing Troubles" has the Chinese style of "The Past of Seongnam", the desolate and rough of northern China in "The Legend of Hulan River", the historical solemnity of "Lu Gang Yan Zhi", and the youthful radiance of "Fanghua". "It writes about suffering, confronts suffering, is not sensational, is not pretentious, believes in the light of humanity and is full of hope. The book has a civilian spirit and youthful spirit, which is rarely seen in contemporary literature. ”
Descendants of "Breaking into Kanto" are upright
Liang Xiaosheng, born in 1949, was a contemporary of New China, and his youth was in the 1950s and 1960s. The living environment of that era is far from today's teenagers, but Liang Xiaosheng believes that readers can still find common connections in this book. "Everyone has their own ground, and even my personal experience is not necessarily the same as that of my contemporaries. But as Tolstoy said, happy families are similar, unhappy families have their own misfortunes. At this point, I think the content of the book can resonate with some growing teenagers. ”
Through news reports, Liang Xiaosheng saw that the growth of many children today is still not easy, even more serious than the difficulties faced by their youth. "There are a lot of children in remote mountainous areas, and it's not easy for them to go to school. Their parents work outside the home, and it is not easy for children to keep learning. There are 1.4 billion people in our country, and that kind of life experience is reflected in even if it is reflected in one in a thousand people, it is a big group. So although this book is written about itself, it is also to encourage these children and pay tribute to them. ”
After living in the northeast for decades, Liang Xiaosheng did not reveal the accent of the Northeast dialect during the conversation, but instead said "easy" to "yongyi" several times, which made people hear the tail of the Shandong dialect. Liang Xiaosheng, whose ancestral home is Rongcheng, Shandong, said he was probably the descendant of the youngest "kanto" in history. "In the midst of the waves of migrants who were driven north from Jiaodong by the famine, there was a 12-year-old boy in rags, who later became my father." Liang Xiaosheng once mentioned his father in this article. At home, when my father said "we" as "smashed", he could hear the pride in it.
Liang Xiaosheng is not sure whether he has the personality genes of Shandong people, but gangzhi is his father's unique personality label. In Liang Xiaosheng's memory, no matter what kind of difficulties his father encountered in life, he rarely opened his mouth to ask for help. Even if he could apply for subsidies from his unit because of his living difficulties, he never made a request in this regard. Liang Xiaosheng remembers that when the neighbors talked about their father, they would say that the big brother of the Liang family was "opening the door on the roof and digging a well in the house." "Just say that if there is any difficulty, try not to ask others, if there is no door, open one on the roof, and if there is no water, fight on the spot."
His father's straight son flowed through his blood to Liang Xiaosheng's body. He said that in his life, he had never asked anyone for help for his own affairs. "Sometimes I write letters to leaders, all for the hardships of others, and some for people I don't know. When I wrote these letters, I had no psychological barriers, because I was not for myself or my relatives and friends, so I wrote very bluntly. ”
Life is "boring" Desk cultivation
Starting from the publication of "This Is a Magical Land" in 1982, Liang Xiaosheng has been writing in the Chinese literary scene for nearly 40 years and is a veritable evergreen. Some people have counted that the various literary works he published have added up to 20 million words. When it comes to the reasons for maintaining high-yield writing and strong creativity, Liang Xiaosheng instead said that this is because of his "lack of interest".
Not fond of gathering, not socializing, not surfing the Internet, Liang Xiaosheng believes that he is not interesting in life, but it is precisely in this way that he has left enough time for his writing. "Everyone's time is about the same, and there are so many things in life that can bring us pleasure now. If you are very willing to go out and play, like to play mahjong, surf the Internet, and are keen to communicate in the circle of friends, you still don't have time. I don't have any of these hobbies, and I have to do something meaningful for the rest of the time. I wrote something that could be printed in a book, and people thought it was worth seeing, which turned the day into a meaning. ”
Liang Xiaosheng worked in three units, the Beijing Film Studio, the Children's Film Studio and the Beijing Language and Culture University, all of which did not require daily shifts. "It should be very 'Versailles' and it is also very lucky. This allows me time to read and write what I like. Because I always felt that after I experienced some things in my life, I had the desire to write it out and show it to people. ”
In 2017, Liang Xiaosheng published his novel "The World of Man". The first, middle and lower volumes total 1.15 million words, and Liang Xiaosheng was handwritten word by word on more than 3,600 pages of manuscript paper. "By the end of the writing, I didn't listen to the call." Since then, Liang Xiaosheng has continued to work hard, and published two works last year and this year, "My Life and Me" and "My Growing Pains". Sitting at a desk and writing by hand for five or six hours a day is not an easy task for a lean young man who is in his prime, let alone an old man who is in his prime. Liang Xiaosheng said that at his current age, writing is really a very difficult thing. "It's not just a drain on effort, sometimes it's a direct physical attrition." But the unremitting cultivation in front of the desk made Liang Xiaosheng have the joy of harvest. "You can write two thousand words a day, twenty thousand words in ten days, and sixty thousand words a month."
In 2019, Liang Xiaosheng won the Mao Dun Literature Award for his novel "The World of Man", and looking back at this award after two years, Liang Xiaosheng said that neither then nor now, the "Mao Award" has not had a substantial impact on himself. "I still write according to my own literary philosophy after winning the award, and I am still writing without the award." And to be honest, by the age of 70, writing has nothing to do with winning awards, nor with how much money it is, and it still has nothing to do with the market. Now my main consideration is, what is literature? What should literature look like for different groups? "Under the guidance of this concept, Liang Xiaosheng feels that his writing is picking up the gaps." I want to see what kind of works are missing in the children's book market, and I will silently make up for it. ”
Liang Xiaosheng said that now he is in the finishing work of writing. "I often talk to my colleagues and editors at the publishing house that this may be the final end of the relationship between our editors and authors, and I may not have the energy in the future." After writing most of his life, Liang Xiaosheng felt like an old carpenter now. "I did a lot of carpentry work all my life, and finally when it was time to close, he had to clean up his workshop. Look at the work is not finished, there is still a piece of material over there, I hope that after all this is done, the workshop will be cleaned, and as soon as the door is closed and locked, it will be over. ”
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