Guangming Daily reporter Liu Jiangwei
"I've always wanted to write you this letter, but I can't write it for a long time." Every time I just typed the word 'Daddy' in front of the computer, tears poured out of my eyes and couldn't stop flowing. ”
Taking out the letter written to his father Peng Jingfeng before the Spring Festival, Peng Pigeon was in a trance. Those difficult moments experienced with my father, those days of accompanying my father to write, resurfaced in my mind like a tidal wave.
Qingming has arrived, and pear blossoms are in full bloom in the suburbs. "White pear blossoms are full of branches, what a beautiful pear grove!" Every season, Peng Pigeon will think of "Yilu Pear Blossom" written by his father Peng Jingfeng. This novel was first published in Guangming Daily at the end of 1977, and was later selected into the national junior high school language textbook, becoming a well-known literary masterpiece, and since then Peng Jingfeng has also bloomed in people's hearts like a pear blossom.
Fang Fei is still the same, things are not people. In the blink of an eye, my father had been gone for more than two years. "Dad, I miss you." Peng Pigeon wrote in the letter. She poured her endless thoughts into the end of her pen, hoping to connect this shore with the other shore in the form of a letter.
1, "Why is it so persistent, because literature is my life"
In Peng Gezi's eyes, his father is a person who races against time all the time.
In the 1950s, Peng Jingfeng became one of the pioneers of yunnan border military literature with his short stories "When Lusheng Blows" (based on the film "Lusheng Love Song") and the film script "Border Village Beacon". Since the 1980s, Peng Jingfeng has published as many as 30 literary works.
Peng Jingfeng has a writing plan every day. In his study, there was a table, more than two meters long and more than two meters wide, full of novels, reportage, prose essays and other works. Sometimes I write long novels in the morning and polish reportage in the afternoon; I write essays today and start writing short stories again tomorrow. As long as it is a literary creation, he will be full of vigor and tirelessness.
"In addition to the necessary writing style, my father rarely participated in social activities, and every day he plunged into the study to write. He had a heart attack and was afraid that one day he would suddenly not be able to write anymore, so he had to take back the time. Peng Pigeon thought that his father was a long-distance runner until the last moment of his life.
"I don't seem to have any other entertainment in my life, except to eat and sleep." Peng Jingfeng quipped before his death that when he was the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Kunming Military Region, his work was very busy, and he got up at 6 a.m. to write for two hours before going to work.
In 2017, Tie Ning (left), chairman of the China Writers Association, visited Peng Jingfeng. Profile picture
Military writers Xu Huaizhong and Peng Jingfeng are comrades-in-arms of the former Kunming Military Region's Cultural Department Creative Studio, and have always paid attention to each other's writing. Xu Huaizhong sighed when recalling: "In the early years, he was forced to delay too much time, it was nearly half a hundred years old, and the urgency of life suddenly emerged. With a wave of his hand, he got rid of the tired scars in his heart, eager to discover the beauty of life, to pick up the poetry of frontier social progress. ”
Because he did not understand computers, when Peng Jingfeng wrote, he first wrote a draft, typed and entered into the computer by Peng Pigeon, and then printed into a book and modified by Peng Jingfeng. This is repeated back and forth, and it is inefficient. At the age of 80, Peng Jingfeng learned the five-stroke input method and could enter some short articles by himself.
In his later years, Peng Jingfeng's writing schedule was still very full. After writing one, take a break, read and think, and then write the second and third articles... In the last years of his life, he also wrote 4 important works: the novel "The Sun Rises", the long essay "The First Entry into Wa Mountain", the literary autobiography "70 Years of Literature" and the autobiography "Peng Jingfeng".
"Why so persistent, because literature is my life. Literature has prolonged my life, made me evergreen, and I feel very happy and fulfilled. This is Peng Jingfeng's annotation of his lifelong literary creation process.
2. What is the true meaning of creation, his answer must be "life, or life"
If you ask Peng Jingfeng "what is the true meaning of creation", his answer must be "life, or life".
In the early 1950s, Peng Jingfeng worked as an editor in the monthly magazine "Literary and Art Life" of the former Yunnan Military Region. After staying for more than a year, Peng Jingfeng felt that there was no life here, and the works he wrote were also heard. Thinking about it, Peng Jingfeng decided to leave the military region and go to the border defense troops.
Peng Jingfeng often accompanied the troops in The Lahu and Wa villages of Bandong, Tudi, Taluo, and Banshuai. After the troops stationed ethnic working groups in some large tribes in Wa Mountain, he became a liaison officer. Most of the time, he walked alone on an off-the-beaten-path mountain road carrying a carbine and four grenades.
Gaoligong Mountain, Ailao Mountain, Wuliang Mountain, Meili Snow Mountain, and the peaks and peaks of the Wumeng Mountain System in northeast Yunnan all record his deep inner shock and endless reverie. The clouds of the sky, the thick fog and waterfalls, together with the simple language and songs of various nationalities, and the ancient and mysterious folk customs and customs, are all injected into his articles. Mr. Wang Zengqi also specially gave him a pair of couplets: "The mood is the same as the five willows, and the footprints are all over the three lines."
"Having such in-depth living conditions is very helpful for my writing. This is also incomparable to the temporary interviews of some later writers who temporarily went to Wa Shan for interviews. I also realized from this that life is extremely rich and colorful, and writers must not only actively participate in it, but also strengthen their understanding and think hard in their work, so that they can understand the peculiarities more comprehensively and deeply than ordinary people. Peng Jingfeng wrote in the article.
The film script "Bianzhai Beacon" was originally about the Wa people. However, at that time, the Wa people had not yet determined the boundaries, and literary and artistic works were not easy to present. Lin Yu, who worked with him, suggested that the story of the script be changed to Jingpo.
After changing the nation, the script will be overturned and restarted. Some people say that according to the original story framework and ideas, it is enough to change the nation. Peng Jingfeng resolutely refused: "Since we write about the Jingpo people, we must present the life of the Jingpo people in an authentic way." ”
In this way, the main creative team went deep into the Jingpo ethnic residential area to learn more about the customs and lifestyles of this ethnic group, and spent more than a month to finally achieve the script of this classic film.
"Creation is a long-term process of tempering your will, and the only thing that can support you to go to the end is not a false name, nor is it an identity, it is a life that others do not have and you are unique." Peng Jingfeng often used this to admonish students and also to warn himself.
3. "Present the real history to the reader"
Peng Jingfeng has always had a thought, writing out the major historical events in Yunnan and the southwest region.
At the age of 20, as a warrior to liberate the Great Southwest, Peng Jingfeng participated in the war that eliminated nearly one million enemies. He witnessed the tragedy of the war and the tragedy of the heroes who had passed away. However, he believes that the war should be written by old comrades of higher rank, such as Feng Mu, who was the president of the thirteen branches of Xinhua News Agency.
Over the years, many old comrades have grown old, Peng Jingfeng waited to be anxious, and finally decided to write it himself, and he was 71 years old at the time.
Peng Jingfeng still followed his own habits and retraced the battlefield involved in his work. He returned again and again, and set out again and again, meticulously interviewing those who witnessed historical events. "Material is not a problem, the point is that every time, every place, every detail, can not be ambiguous. Whether it was windy or raining that day had to be checked, and sometimes a number had to be checked for a day. He often said, "To present the real history to the reader, war cannot be imaginary." ”
As his writing unfolded, he found the project so vast that it far exceeded his imagination. There are 620 characters involved in the book. In order to make every plot and event have a source and be vividly described, he must verify and tirelessly inquire about modifications. Peng Gezi wondered at that time, why did a work write so many characters?
Peng Jingfeng told her that in that battle, many soldiers were sacrificed, including many young people, and they had not yet started a family. If I don't write them out, who will remember them. I want to express my condolences to them through my own modest efforts, which is also a comfort for their descendants.
In 2017, Peng Jingfeng returned to lancang river and Simon Wa mountain to reminisce about his work and battles when he was young. Profile picture
After 12 years, "Liberation of the Great Southwest" finally came out. During the creative process, he changed his manuscripts ten times, and the manuscript alone weighed 27 kilograms. Peng Gezi told reporters that in fact, there are more than ten drafts, and each time it is a revision of the whole book.
In 2010, this work won the Fifth Lu Xun Literature Award, and the award speech commented: "With a high sense of historical responsibility and full of passion, the author reproduced the magnificent picture of the People's Liberation Army marching into the southwest in a panoramic manner, integrating the war into national history, military history, and emotional history to lyrically, which is very valuable in the creation of contemporary Chinese reportage literature." ”
Tie Ning, chairman of the China Writers Association, sighed after seeing the work: "Thank you Elder Peng for artistically and faithfully recording the process of liberating the great southwest and making up for the lack of information during the war years." This has an unspoken significance for future generations to look back and remember that magnificent history. Now, the works have been placed in front of our eyes, touching our hearts and stirring our blood. ”
In the summer of 2018, Peng Jingfeng passed away forever, but his literary life still continues. He left behind many unpublished works, including poetry, essays, novels, etc. Peng Pigeon is speeding up the collation and publication. "I hope that future generations can feel a season of pear blossoms from his literary works." Peng Pigeon said.
Guangming Daily ( 2021-04-06 09 edition)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily