【Approaching the Writers】
Guangming Daily reporter Liu Ping'an
It is not so much that she is "late in life" as that "gold will shine sooner or later". After decades of silent cultivation, until 2014, her works such as "Ten Years of Shibetsu" gradually shined in the literary world, and then ushered in a period of blowout of masterpieces. After winning the Lu Xun Literature Award in 2018 with her novella "Uncle Li Hai", her new works such as "Penicillin" continue to bring surprises to the literary world. Some say her success has made grassroots creators see the light.
Yin Xueyun recently photographed Guangming Daily reporter Liu Ping'an photo /Guangming picture
Recently, the writer Mo Yan updated an article entitled "What books did I read when I was a child" on his public account. The childhood memories of reading shared in the article are impressive.
Mo Yan said that at that time, there was neither a movie nor a television, not even a radio, and in that cultural environment, watching "idle books" became the greatest pleasure; watching the first book,"Fengshen Yanyi", was a half-day reading right for classmates to pull for half a day. In the article, he also shared the influence of books such as "Song of Youth", "Breaking Dawn", "Three Lanes", "How Steel is Made" and other books brought to him because of his obsession with reading, his hair burned by fire and he did not know, the details of the book reading between brothers.
It seems that every famous writer or literature lover has a similar "bookworm" childhood. Yin Xueyun, chairman of the Tianjin Writers Association and writer, has also experienced the drifting of the book sea as a child.
"When we were children, we could see very limited books, and at that time, we didn't know what literature was, but we had an innate obsession with words, and as soon as we saw books, we thought of reading them quickly." Yin Xueyun said, "At that time, I read a lot of stories, but what I could really read and remember was limited, but it was just more talk to show off in front of my friends." As for the impact of massive reading on one's own creation and life direction, it may be more subtle. ”
Yin Xueyun was born in a remote village in Jixian County (now Jizhou District) in Tianjin, which seems to be quite a distance away from literature, but the experience of small villages and small towns has become her unique and labeled valuable wealth in literature.
The average person's memories of childhood are often fragmented and difficult to coherently put together. Yin Xueyun said that if no one asks, some memories are even difficult to activate. Because of the interview, Yin Xueyun once again returned to the depths of his memory and re-examined the imprint that he could put on the edge of literature in his childhood. Grandpa who loves to sing opera, can read the script, and can shout rammed trumpets; his father, who loves to listen to the radio, emphasizes education, and often puts "as long as I want to read, I will provide it wherever I read"; and my brothers and sisters who often bring books home, which is one of the few "family origins" that Yin Xueyun can think of.
Yin Xueyun likes stories and is always interested in her grandfather's books and her father's radio, but what attracts her more is the books that her brother and sister brought back from outside. Once my sister brought back a book that was said to be "inappropriate for children", hid it and did not show it to her, she fought with her sister, rummaged through boxes and cabinets, and finally turned out "Song of Youth" in an old cotton shoe. The smell of books could not cover the fragrance of the story, and Yin Xueyun secretly read it with relish. The brother brought back a book called "Boiling Mountains" from the city, because the day was going to take it away, the sister read it in the middle of the night, she read it in the middle of the night, and read the thick book in the middle of the night, "I don't know what I can remember, as long as I see the text, I want to see it in my eyes." In this way, reading one book after another, Yin Xueyun's childhood time was filled with words and stories, making her look different.
Yin Xueyun's creation probably began in elementary school. Every day she had to tell stories to her younger brother, coax him to sleep, she mixed the stories she heard and read together to tell them vividly, the stories were not enough, she made up the world, Zhang San in the book, Li Si, the hearsay, Wang Wu who suddenly popped out of her head, and together there was a new story. Such stories have brought his brother to sleep again and again, and also allowed Yin Xueyun to gain a fascinating sense of accomplishment from making up stories. After the school began to write, the teacher assigned an assignment, she often could not stop writing three, and wrote it "deviated" and made up the story.
People who are fascinated by words are also often curious about what is around them. It is hard to imagine a flower girl who would have a vision of the agricultural labor of the rural production team. Yin Xueyun, who had just graduated from high school, rushed to the rural production team with joy. "The corn was ripe, I had to break it down and carry it on my back to the car, and a girl who was three years older than me was tired and crying, and I was too tired to do it, but I gritted my teeth and persevered." Such an experience brings Yin Xueyun not only life experience, but more importantly, it forges Yin Xueyun's perseverance to never give up in the face of difficulties and troughs.
After working, Yin Xueyun went to many departments in Jixian County, and also went to the countryside to hang up his post, and finally stayed in the county cultural center. She spent decades looking at all kinds of people and listening to all kinds of things in a small political, economic, and cultural center, measuring with her feet and "dissecting" a village with words, from different angles. Her pen follows her footsteps into flesh-and-blood fiction protagonists and vivid stories. Although she has experienced many years of silent cultivation, once she breaks the cocoon and dances, she shows the splendor of summer flowers.
In 2014, her works such as "Ten Years of Shibetsu" gradually shined in the literary world, and then ushered in a period of blowout of masterpieces. After winning the Lu Xun Literature Award in 2018 with her novella "Uncle Li Hai", her new works such as "Penicillin" continue to bring surprises to the literary world. Some say her success has made grassroots creators see the light. She said that only by letting the work shine can it in turn illuminate itself.
Literary critics have noted that Yin Xueyun's novels often include "Hancun" and "Chengcheng", and that "these two place names almost construct a complete and self-contained literary world of Yin Xueyun". Her novels span the countryside and the city, involving the suffering of the underclass, the institutional ecology and the intellectual disputes, and are typical "social novels". In the seemingly small and not grandiose space, the true knowledge is seen in daily life, and the worldly people's hearts in the living environment are portrayed. Yin Xueyun writes about people and things she is familiar with, she is shaping characters, and characters are accompanying her forward.
"After writing a work for a long time, the characters in the pen linger in the feeling. They are like someone in life, making you think, making your heart and mind. They will be accompanied by shadows when walking, and have the desire to talk to him. They are also growing up with the times. Yin Xueyun has become accustomed to living with his characters, and even when he is in a bad mood, he will seek psychological comfort from them. In recent years, Yin Xueyun often looks through some unfinished fragments of the past, some of which are still alive, and the characters and stories can be reactivated; some characters have been "lying" in the computer for a long time, and taking them out has changed with the times. "Writing is a hard job, but at the same time it's fascinating." Yin Xueyun pays attention to the "Han Village" and "Chengcheng" and the outside world, and continues to create new luminous works.
Guangming Daily (13/13/2021)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily