In the early 1980s, Ye Yonglie's long science fiction novel "Black Shadow" became a target of criticism in the "campaign to remove spiritual pollution". The situation of déjà vu made Ye Yonglie, who was not confused, determined not to write science fiction and do popular science anymore. After examination, he became one of the first professional writers of the Shanghai Writers Association. He once said that the transfer from the Shanghai Section to the Shanghai Writers Association marked his transition from "section" to "literature."
Ye Yonglie
From the initial writing of cultural celebrities, "and mostly sensitive cultural celebrities", to the later turn to documentary literature on major contemporary political themes in China, it became the main business of Ye Yonglie in the second half of his life- in addition to the interspersed travelogue "Looking at the World", and in the years before his death, he turned to pure literature and created the urban novel "Shanghai Trilogy". This "science and engineering man" from the Chemistry Department of Peking University adheres to the experimental spirit of "facts are the supreme court", breaks through the fog of history, and is committed to pursuing and restoring historical truths. Compared with Huanghuang's 28-volume, 14-million-word "Ye Yonglie's Complete Collection of Popular Science", he has created 15 million words of documentary literature in his lifetime.
Ye Yonglie once said that his life would be "frozen in that dense block of Chinese characters." On the afternoon of May 15, after the news of his death broke, Chinese contemporary art critic and curator Fei Dawei posted a tribute in the circle of friends. He forwarded the section "Fei Yulong Had a Nightmare" in the documentary "The Rise and Fall of the Gang of Four" with the caption "Thank you Mr. Ye Yonglie for letting my father continue to live in his writings." ”
The official website of the Chinese Biographical Literature Society was at the top position, and on the afternoon of the 15th, the surging news was forwarded in full text, "The famous writer Ye Yonglie died at the age of 80". Chen Jiazhong, a director of the society and a writer of reportage and biography, told The Paper that Ye Yonglie's rescue efforts to restore the historical truth are admirable. He was deeply impressed by the 1.82 million-word "Rise and Fall of the Gang of Four" in three volumes, "On this major historical topic, Ye Lao also published biographies of the members of the 'Gang of Four'. ”
Ye Yonglie once described himself as a "journalist of old news" and a "Shanghai writer based in Beijing." "This is certain, most of the witnesses of major historical events live in Beijing, and Ye Lao's visits to Beijing are generally living in the guest house of the Ministry of Public Security, he is dressed simply, and he always looks at him with a school bag in a hurry." Chen Jiazhong recalled that the biography circles are known as "South Leaf North Chen", "Chen Tingyi in the north, Ye Yonglie in the south, two teachers in the north and south of the Yangtze River." Chen Tingyi is a northerner, writing Jiang Song Kong Chen 'four families' always want to run to Shanghai, Ye Lao always came to Beijing to write celebrity biographies. ”
Wang Dao, a young writer who wrote "Four Sisters of the Zhang Family" (Zhang Yuanhe, Zhang Yunhe, Zhang Zhaohe, and Zhang Chonghe), who entered the field of contemporary Chinese documentary literature creation, shared a discovery of his own: After the news of Ye Yonglie's death came out, the post-80s and post-90s in the circle of friends were forwarding his early science fiction and popular science works. "In my group of 50s and 60s, people are recalling his celebrity biographies." In Wang Dao's view, Ye Yonglie is an insurmountable predecessor, "He is actually a journalist-type writer, very good at doing interviews, and good at questioning and cross-examining in dialogue with interviewees." His grasp of the themes and figures of Modern and Contemporary Chinese history is worth learning from all of us. Of course, there are risks in doing this, Ye Lao has done it for so many years, and the scale and proportion are very stable. ”
Like Wang Dao, Zhou Haibin, another young and middle-aged biographer in China, mentioned in an interview with The Paper that in October 2015, the symposium on the 30th anniversary of the founding of "Celebrity Biography" and the award ceremony of "Celebrity Biography" top ten outstanding writers were held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. At that time, among the "Top Ten Excellent Writers", in addition to the two of them, there were Yue Nan, the author of the trilogy of "South Crossing and North Return", and Gu Baozi, author of "Moments in the Red Wall". "That event was a reader vote, selected from 20 candidates. Three generations of old, middle and young people gathered together, and Elder Ye was everyone's respected leader. Unfortunately, he happened to be visiting relatives overseas that time, and he did not come. ”
Zhou Haibin believes that similar to Tang Degang, who can interview Hu Shi and Zhang Xueliang, Ye Yonglie is also a person who talks with the "life is scattered" generation in the transition era. In addition to the helplessness of the generation gap, the creative encounter of that year cannot be copied. "All are mastered first-hand information, Tang Degang is biased toward historical research, perhaps there are more annotations in a book than the master tells, and Ye Lao prefers to excavate and present the historical insider. Many of his (Ye Yonglie's) interviewees were parties who had personally experienced the events, and in the 80s, when the literature of searching for roots and scars became literary, and in that innocent era, people often told their experiences without reservation. I am now talking mostly with the children of the parties, who may have more practical concerns and interests. ”
In Zhou Haibin's view, the 2015 congress was a watershed moment in the creation of contemporary Chinese biographical literature, "it was a peak commemoration." Prior to this, many biographers were working full-time. After that, just like at that time, many media people left their jobs and turned to self-media or public relations. The group of writers began to diverge significantly, and everyone may still be creating, but they all have other 'side jobs'. Zhou Haibin, who worked in traditional media, recalled that around the 1990s and 2010, "not to mention that many daily newspapers and supplements of metropolis daily newspapers like to publish biographical literature." At that time, almost every province had a publication similar to the 'Literature and History Reference', and there were many publishing platforms. Ye Lao's interview recording was first valuable, and then published through serial selections, and then collected books, reprinted in one edition, and now the form of content production has completely changed. ”
Cover of Celebrity Biographies, Issue 10, 2017
Celebrity Biography was founded in 1985, and the current president, Chen Jie, was the editor responsible for docking Ye Yonglie's manuscript at that time. In 1987, he went to Shanghai for the first time to meet Ye Lao, when he was working on "The Biography of Chen Boda". His house was so small that he had no place to get down, and there was a small table on the balcony where he was writing. Later, I moved to Xujiahui, and the living conditions improved. He converted the pool on the balcony into an archive room, and behind the door was a cabinet full of pirated books of his work. Chen Jie recalled with the surging news that Ye Yonglie and "Celebrity Biographies" often moved around, and "Celebrity History Scene: Ye Yonglie" was also published by the organizer of the publication, Henan Literature and Art Publishing House. Elder Ye and his wife have lived several times before and after, and one birthday was spent in our editorial department. He also came to the tenth anniversary of the publication, the twentieth anniversary of the conference. He also made a speech at the 2005 conference, and he was a little excited that time, recalling the difficulty of his transition from science fiction literature. To write about those heavy characters, you have to knock on the door with the unit introduction letter, and then create it on the first-hand material, which is very hard to write. ”
Chen Si, the editor of the "Celebrity Biography" publication, posted a tribute in the circle of friends on the evening of the 15th, "From the first article to Mr. Ye in 2006 to the present, the exchange of emails with Mr. Ye has reached 150 times, and Mr. Ye has dedicated 80 blockbuster articles to the readers of my magazine... Speechless. "In an interview with The Paper, Chen Si recalled that the first contact with Ye Yonglie was to do a special topic about Peng Jiamu." Ye Lao is particularly kind to people, and will call the lady 'Miss'. He was probably the most computer-slick of the older writers, but the Pengam article was printed and sent to us. Since 2007, the journal has opened a column "Ye Yonglie Narration", "We are a monthly magazine, Ye Lao is so busy, never delayed a draft." ”
Chen Si introduced that Ye Yonglie's politeness and thoughtfulness are also reflected in "reasoning", "He is the best author I have ever cooperated with." Once, I submitted us a manuscript of Han Suyin, a character he had written about before, and that time he did an interview with Han Suyin's descendants, and wanted to add something. When Tongye Lao replied, I euphemistically stated that there was some duplication in the content... I actually went back to his seven manuscripts, and some of them really couldn't be sent, as long as I explained the reason, Elder Ye always politely expressed understanding. What impressed Chen Si was also Ye Yonglie's progress with the times, "The writing of that generation often bears the imprint of the times, and Ye Lao's writings are not disconnected from the times." His articles mostly use short sentences, and the words and sentences are obviously deliberated. In the text he does not easily express any point of view, he does not complain, nor does he condemn anything, of course he has his own attitude, always through the facts themselves. ”
Chen Si recalled that his cooperation with Ye Yonglie lasted until 2018, "In 2018, he had a long conversation with me, saying that he was too old, too tired to write biographies, and he had a dream of pure literary creation when he was young, and now he wants to realize it." It turned out that he never replied to every new year's day text message, and he never replied to the message on New Year's Day last year. Later, I heard that he had uremia, and his wife's health was not very good. "The "Taiwan Economic Promoter" Sun Yunxuan, published in the "Celebrity Biography", is a relatively recent article edited by Chen Si, Ye Yonglie, "Not long after receiving Ye Lao's e-mail, he called and said that because the computer could not type the word 'Xuan', it was a variant word to replace it with 'Xuan'. On this article, Ye Yonglie later repeatedly proposed revision suggestions through email.