Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Literature and Art Zhu Shaojie Correspondent Sun Xudong Xu Qitu/Guangzhou Federation of Social Sciences Provided
"Leaving home is still the body of a teenager, and returning is already the body of serving the country." On September 2, the remains of 109 martyrs of the Korean Chinese Volunteer Army and 1226 related relics returned to the motherland, and after more than 70 years of absence from the motherland, the heroes finally returned to their homeland.
On September 4, Xie Youshun, professor of the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University, gave a lecture at the Xueeryou Bookstore, interpreting the famous military writer Wang Shuzeng's "Korean War" from the perspective of literary writing and historical truth, once again drawing people's attention back to the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea 71 years ago. This is one of the lectures in the 11th Guangzhou Academic Quarter "Revisiting Red Classics" sponsored by the Guangzhou Federation of Social Sciences. (For more news, please pay attention to Yangcheng Pie pai.ycwb.com)
Literature is living history
The war that broke out in 1950 was the first large-scale international local war after World War II, and was called the "founding war" of New China. The Korean War is a documentary literary work that tells the war in detail. In the lecture, Professor Xie sorted out the beginning and end of the Korean War for readers from three aspects: the collection and application of historical materials, the analysis of specific historical events, and the description of historical figures.
Xie Youshun mentioned that the richness of historical materials related to the Korean War is the basis for literary creation, and in China, the research of the famous scholar Shen Zhihua has brought breakthroughs and turns to the academic research of the Korean War. "Literature is living history, it makes history come alive, let us know how people of an era live, how to communicate, how to express feelings." Xie Youshun expressed the role of literature in historical reproduction in this way.
Different from historical fiction, the fictional space of documentary literature is relatively limited, especially the serious themes of war. Professor Xie believes that in the book "Korean War", there is not only a record of real history, but also a reasonable literary imagination of the author, which realizes the balance between literature and authenticity, so that the book has flesh and blood and readability, which can not only truly restore history, but also vividly show the emotional scene, which is different from historical works.
Reliving history is about caring for the present
After three years of hard fighting, the Korean War ended with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. On the surface, the Korean War was a draw, but for the new China at that time, due to the disparity in strength between the two warring sides, this was actually a "victory" in another sense. It has brought long-term peace and stability to China's external environment, as Marshal Peng Dehuai once said: "Gone are the days when Western invaders could occupy a country for hundreds of years with just a few cannons on the eastern coast."
In recent years, more and more film and television works have also taken materials from the Korean War. On the same day as the lecture, the Korean War-themed film "Chosin Lake" announced that it will be scheduled for September 30, which will once again bring the audience back to the tragedy and tragedy of the "Patriotic War" 71 years ago. "Film is the art of image, although all aspects have considerations for the language of the lens, but in general, Chinese films' understanding of history and grasp of war are still at a relatively shallow level." Xie Youshun said.
Finally, for the reading of red classic books, Xie Youshun believes: "Revisiting history is to care for the present, and this kind of education is especially important for young people." But the ways can be diverse, and someone needs to guide, interpret and inspire to create an atmosphere of reading. ”
【Interview】
Restoring historical truth is the value of this book
Yangcheng Evening News: History provides material for literature, and literature makes history more vivid. How to evaluate the balance between the literary and historical authenticity of the Korean War? How to balance the literary nature of creation with the historical authenticity?
Xie Youshun: Because Wang Shuzeng's "Korean War" book is a kind of documentary literature, it is not a historical fiction, so the rights or freedoms given to writers in historical fiction are limited, at such a time, our requirements for its historical truth will be very high, which is different from writing a "Kangxi Emperor" and writing a "Taiping Princess", although they are also true in history, but you can play your imagination and arrange the ethical relations, emotional relations, social relations or various stories in the book. That is such a serious topic as the Korean War, such a recent historical fact, I don't think it necessarily gives writers such a big space for fiction.
So the first one I think is to restore the historical truth as much as possible, which is the meaning and value of the existence of this book, otherwise don't write the Korean War, you can write a novel with the Korean War as the background, you have to call the Korean War these 4 words, its first requirement is to effectively restore the historical truth. From this point of view, I think Wang Shuzeng still did a lot of desk work on the Korean War, such as a large number of such memoirs, a large number of interviews with the parties, including his archival materials, including Japan, South Korea, North Korea, the Soviet Union, China, the United States, these participants, some of their material writers have read as much as possible, and sorted out a context.
From a narrative point of view, it is also more literary. Although it has a chronological context, it also has highlighted the key points, including focusing on important figures such as Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai, and MacArthur, and he also writes about some minor characters, such as a soldier, a regimental commander, and even an unknown communications soldier, which makes the book relatively readable.
Yangcheng Evening News: Some of the results of Korean War research have not yet been disseminated in the public domain, and even some issues are still controversial. What standards do novelists adopt for these aspects of writing?
Xie Youshun: Literature should absorb new historical materials as much as possible, because these historical materials are powerful circumstantial evidence, supporting some historical decisions and historical truths at that time. On the one hand, I think that some historical mysteries may be silent in history forever, how the parties think, and what kind of considerations are behind them, which is not entirely something that our descendants can analyze.
So, in fact, the material that everyone has mastered, the things he analyzes are very limited. On the other hand, we still have some information that has not been declassified, especially some information involving our senior leaders in China that has not yet been completely declassified. So around such a complex war, I think there are still a lot of articles to do.
Because of our special relationship with North Korea, it is difficult for us to discuss the Korean War completely freely now, and we also have to take into account the feelings of our neighbors, which is also a sensitive point. We have to consider that our two countries are fighting jointly, and there are a lot of subtle things to discuss. Another example is the discussion about whether to start the Korean War, and such issues involve diplomacy between countries, and the space for writers to create is limited.
Yangcheng Evening News: Including the upcoming "Chosin Lake", in recent years, there have been more and more literary and artistic works around the Korean War, how to evaluate?
Xie Youshun: Film is the art of image, it has its considerations, but I think the whole film's understanding of history and the grasp of war are still at a relatively shallow level, especially the current film team, their overall level is not high, and it is impossible for them to grasp the world well.
Like the movie "King Kong River", many people were sacrificed to protect a bridge, this bridge may be an important lifeline, but what appears in the movie is a small bridge, is it necessary to spend so many people to protect the small bridge? In fact the bridge to be protected is definitely a bridge that can be passed through tanks, through heavy tanks. If what you protect is a small bridge, and the transportation can't be crossed, what is the bridge protection for? So at a glance, you know that the director is very layman, and when doing the location, you should find a really strong bridge that can take on the main artery, rather than making a small bridge for the sake of good scenery, which cannot withstand questioning.
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