In 1976, 24 countries jointly recommended a couple of Nobel Peace Prize candidates, calling them "architects of a unique literary organization that realizes the dream of international cooperation."
The couple is the Chinese female writer Nie Hualing and american poet Paul Ingres who founded the "Iowa International Writing Project", and the year they were nominated for the Nobel Prize is the 13th year that the couple has fallen in love. At this time, Nie Hualing was 51 years old, and her husband Paul was 69 years old.
Since then, the literary couple has begun to enter the public eye, and their transnational legendary marriage has begun to be concerned by the world.
To the surprise of many people, the results of her and his cultivation were not smooth sailing, and before they met each other, she and he had turned countless turns, especially her!
True love is never rare, so before meeting true love, everyone will turn countless turns, and sometimes they will be unlucky enough to fall into the pit several times. Nie Hualing had entered the pit before meeting the true love Paul, and the pit she had entered was her first husband.
Nie Hualing's first husband was a classmate of his at Chongqing National Central University named Wang Zhenglu. After the two married, they gave birth to two daughters, named Wang Xiaolan and Wang Xiaowei.
However, the marriage between the two was not better because of the addition of children, on the contrary, the quarrels between the two became more frequent after that.
During the period when the two are together, they are always sweet and less quarrelsome, and a big reason for this is that Wang Zhenglu has a fetish for emotional cleanliness. Usually, emotionally clean people are less than happy that their other half get too close to the opposite sex, and sometimes even normal contact will cause them to be dissatisfied.
In psychology, the source of spiritual cleanliness is mostly inseparable from factors such as "insecurity" and "lack of self-confidence". Wang Zhenglu's spiritual purity was also based on this, and when the two were first together, Nie Hualing did not feel that there was anything wrong with emotional cleanliness.
Nie Hualing even had a little bit of joy in her heart for her husband to care about herself, but with the passage of time, when they walked through this "careful eye" of her husband during the hot love period, Nie Hualing realized that there was a big problem between them.
Once, Nie Hualing entertained guests at home, but later, because she sat down in front of her husband and chatted with the guests, her husband immediately changed his face. After the guests left, Wang Zhenglu split his head and covered his face and asked:
"You two talked pretty well, did you notice that your husband was around?"
Nie Hualing was stunned for a moment, "This is just ordinary small talk, where do you want to go!" But Wang Zhenglu did not spare, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and that night he even proposed to confront the visitors in person to see if the two of them had an affair.
Nie Hualing is a person who likes to socialize, and as early as college, she was widely popular because of her outstanding social skills. But this advantage of the wife, here in Wang Zhenglu, has become a demon-like existence.
In addition to these, her husband Wang Zhenglu's desire to control Nie Hualing is also reflected in many aspects of life, and he has set a lot of house rules for her, which are harsh beyond the imagination of many contemporary women.
Their quarrels with the opposite sex, family rules, and life continued from their college days until Wang Zhenglu went to the United States.
In 1957, Wang Zhenglu went to the United States alone, leaving his wife Nie Hualing and two daughters in China. For Nie Hualing, this was nothing, after all, the days after the separation seemed to be better than before, at least, there were no more frequent quarrels.
Nie Hualing, who had been suffering in this marriage, had thought about divorce, but when she thought of what her mother had endured for herself, she couldn't open her mouth. Nie Hualing's mother was tricked into marrying by her father, but in order for her daughter to have a complete family, she gave up divorce and gave up suicide.
After her father's death, her mother raised Nie Hualing independently until she became an adult.
Nie Hualing felt that the sacrifices made by mothers for their children were an example for her life. Therefore, for the sake of her two daughters, even if the marriage is not satisfactory, she will always keep the marriage for the integrity of the family.
This stubborn thought lasted until Nie Hualing met Paul.
In 1963, five years after separating from her husband, Nie Hualing met Paul. When I first met Paul, she was 38 years old, he was 56 years old, and both were middle-aged.
The encounter was at a cocktail party at the U.S. Information Service compound in Taiwan. At the first sight of Nie Hualing, Paul was deeply attracted by this oriental woman with a melancholy temperament.
Later, Paul was surprised to find that the beautiful, thin woman in front of him was Nie Hualing, the author of his favorite short story collection "Emerald Cat".
Paul had fantasized about the image of the author, and he imagined her to be so different from the real her. At the same time as the surprise, a special emotion slowly arose in Paul's heart.
On that day, Nie Hualing wore a cheongsam and high heels, which was new and full of magic for Paul, who grew up in the West. In just a few glances, this woman with the posture of Yuanna was deeply rooted in his mind.
However, the original Nie Hualing's impression of Paul was not very good, which was related to Paul's excessive enthusiasm. Obviously, Nie Hualing, who has not yet been officially divorced, does not want to have anything to do with Paul, a single man. Therefore, in the face of Paul's sincere invitations again and again, Nie Hualing's reply was similar:
"Tomorrow I'm busy, I'm going to see a lot of people, maybe where we meet."
"I'm busy, I have to send my kids to school, I have to go to college to teach, I have to write, my time is full. ......”
As Paul recounts these pasts in his recollection, his words are filled with helplessness. A conversation at the time of the goodbye later made him more and more excited about this talented and beautiful woman, and Paul asked her:
"You work hard, and the adoptive mother raises her children without complaining."
Nie Hualing stood up and said lightly, "What is the use of complaining?" After saying that, she stood up and threw a graceful back at Paul.
Paul later recalled: "At that moment, I could feel the tension of her erect and delicate body flickering. ”
Nie Hualing's impression of Paul changed at a dinner party in the writer Yu Guangzhong, on that day, she and Paul were invited guests. Because he was eating Chinese food, Paul had to pick up Chinese cutlery: chopsticks.
At first, everything was not too bad, after all, Paul had been in China for a long time and had learned to use chopsticks, but when he wanted to eat pigeon eggs, the painting style immediately changed.
The pigeon eggs are slippery, and paul, who has just held the chopsticks firmly, runs away as soon as the chopsticks pass, so when he finally clamps the eggs while running, Paul can't make the strength to clip the eggs into the bowl.
Nie Hualing on the side looked at it and thought it was very funny, she looked at this "Paul chopsticks egg-by-egg picture" and couldn't help but snicker.
After the meal, Paul offered to invite Nie Hualing for a walk, and she agreed after thinking about it. At this point she was visibly less wary of the tall white man in front of her, and her guard had dissipated long before she was amused by him.
That night, the two walked together in the silent alley. There were many stars that day, and when he looked up at the stars, Paul suddenly pointed to the stars and said:
"To meet such a star in america is to make a wish, do you have any wishes?"
Nie Hualing shook her head, "I haven't had a wish for a long time, what about you?" ”
After hearing this, Paul immediately stopped and looked down at Nie Hualing with deep blue eyes:
"I want to see you all the time, all the time, all the time."
Nie Hualing's whole body froze after listening, she couldn't move for a long time like she had been hit by electricity, how could she not expect that this man would confess to her in such a childish way. But his tone was clear and so serious.
For a long time, Nie Hualing lowered her head, "I haven't divorced yet." Paul took her hand and said word for word:
"In the United States, separated for so long constitutes a fact of divorce, you have to go in that form, I wait for you, I can always, always, always wait." 」
Even at this point, Nie Hualing did not make up her mind to divorce her husband Wang Zhenglu. Because, at this time, their two daughters were still young.
It was not Paul who made Nie Hualing settle down to end this marriage once and for all, but her mother. People say, "Know the daughter Mo Ruomu", Nie Mu held her daughter's hand before she died and said with tears:
"Hua Ling, do you think I don't know your mood?" You've been married for thirteen years, you've only been together for five years, you've been angry every day together, and now you're on the right path to America, and you've been in the U.S. for five years, and you're still happy. If so, why not start over? ”
Nie Hualing did not expect that the traditional mother would persuade her to divorce, and that death completely changed her and made her start to examine life again. After her mother's death, Paul gave her great comfort. He also told her:
"Let's go to the United States together, I will arrange everything for you and the children, the study you want, I will definitely give you a big whole!"
In 1964, with the help of Paul Angle, Nie Hualing came to the Iowa River in the United States before her two daughters. Soon, after settling down, the two daughters also came to the United States.
Paul had promised Nie Hualing that he would give them a complete and beautiful family, a promise that had been fulfilled since the time his two daughters got off the plane. When Paul took Nie Hualing back to his daughters, he said to them, "It's so good, your mother is happy and reunited." ”
Subsequently, with the help of Paul, Nie Hualing's two daughters successfully entered the American school. When they went to school, Paul always greeted the school teachers beforehand and asked them to pay special attention to his Chinese treasures.
A year after that, Nie Hualing and Wang Zhenglu formally divorced. Soon, Paul and Nie Hualing entered into a marriage.
While taking good care of his two daughters, Paul also took good care of Nie Hualing. When encountering any problems in life, Paul will always seek Nie Hualing's advice for the first time, and his respect and love for her have made her regain confidence in her feelings again.
In 1967, Nie Hualing suddenly said to her husband on a whim:
"Why don't we expand our perspective and start an 'International Writing Project' outside of your writing workshop?"
Paul was stunned, but Nie Hualing continued: "Inviting writers from different countries to write here, different cultures and stereotypes, everyone's perspective is different, it will definitely collide with more interesting things." ”
To do such a thing, it requires huge financial support, but also needs to implement layers of trivial matters, but because Nie Hualing wants to do it, Paul has to accept it.
This "whim" was finally accomplished with the joint efforts of the two, and in 1967, the Iowa International Writing Program was officially established. The old saying that "husband and wife are connected to the heart, and their strength is broken" is indeed true.
In the decades since, more than 1,400 writers and poets from more than 150 countries and regions have been invited to participate in the program, of which more than 50 people from Chinese mainland after the reform and opening up, including Bai Xianyong, Yu Hua, Yu Guangzhong, Ai Qing, Feng Jicai, Wang Zengqi, Beidao, Ding Ling and so on.
At the same time as the career blossomed, Paul and Nie Hualing's small home was also run into a very loving appearance. Shortly after coming to the United States, Nie Hualing's daughter Wei Wei, who was fully cared for by Paul, said:
"Mom, let's call him Daddy later."
When Nie Hualing told Paul about this affectionate title, he was very happy, and he also quipped that he was called "old" by them when he was so young. This happiness lasted until Paul's unexpected death in 1991.
After Paul's death, Nie Hualing stayed in the room where she and Paul had lived, and all the furnishings of the room had been maintained as he had been when he left. Many people who visited Nie Hualing's room had expressed their confusion about her outdated computer, but she never explained it, and only those close enough to know that she refused to change the computer because it had been Paul's favorite.
When recalling the 27 years of the two staying together, Nie Hualing's evaluation was:
"Every moment is very satisfied", "There are endless words to talk about, there are things that cannot be done together", "There is a wonderful spiritual communication at all times".
While talking about the years after Paul's departure, Nie Hualing choked up:
"Every day, it's like surviving in death."
Today, the 95-year-old, known as the living "history of modern and contemporary literature," has become less active in her thinking, and she often forgets this and forgets that. However, she always remembers the placement of every object in the house, only because these were arranged by her husband before he died and has not changed for decades.
Nie Hualing has had countless classic quotations in her life, and her most classic quotations about emotions are:
"Don't give up, maybe you'll meet true love around the corner." When that day comes, even if you have fallen into the pit, it is the way to go to him or her, so you will be full of gratitude for the pit. ”