[Notes] Li Jianxue
Bitter Cauliflower is probably the first novel I've ever read.
40 years later, I still remember the main characters and wonderful stories of the novel.
At that time, I was in the fourth grade in Lijiagou Village, and I saw the teacher holding a thick copy of "Bitter Cauliflower". After secretly reading a few pages, I was attracted to the novel. For this interesting book, at the teacher's request, I quietly took out my father's vertical version of "Water Margin" in exchange. In a limited time, he swallowed the jujube and read it; in addition to being able to tell his friends the story he seemed to have unconsciously passed the word pass.
Browsing the "Literature and Art Newspaper" on September 29, I saw the past of Feng Deying and "Bitter Cauliflower".
Feng Deying, a military writer, became famous for his "three flowers" in his early years. Not long after reading "Bitter Cauliflower", I was still at the primary school teacher and read the new book "Mountain Chrysanthemum". As for "Spring Flowers", it was a new version borrowed from the library of the petroleum school.
As far as "Three Flowers" is concerned, "Bitter Cauliflower" is familiar with both novels and black-and-white movies. "Mountain Chrysanthemum" prefers the color movie starring Ni Ping later, and "Yingchun Flower" has a vague impression.
Feng Deying was born in 1935 to a poor peasant family in the Kuncheng Mountains of Rushan, Shandong. Rushan I have been there, where there is a rinchillary sanatorium in Changqing Oilfield, but I do not know that there is Feng Deying's hometown.
In the spring of 1950, Feng Deying, who was serving in the army, came across Ke Lan's novel "The Story of the Iron Barrel" and was deeply moved by the anti-Japanese scene in between. This was his first exposure to fiction, and the first time he felt that his experience could be written into a book.
Feng Deying was a child in the Jiaodong anti-Japanese base area after a brutal war tempering, and his mother was a veteran soldier who had experienced many vicissitudes. Most of Feng Deying's brothers and sisters participated in the construction of base areas and the anti-sweeping struggle. The people and things around him, the bloody experience, are his indelible memories.
In 1953, Feng Deying wrote the first draft of documentary literature in Hainan, with more than 40,000 words, remembering his mother; in 1955, the novel "Mother" was completed, about 180,000 words; the second draft was changed to 280,000 words in Wuhan, and after transcribed, he handed the manuscript to Chen Yi, minister of culture of the General Political Department. Soon after receiving a notice, Feng Deying was asked to go to Beijing to revise the draft. In 1957, the 380,000-word novel was finalized.
During the review, the publisher felt that the title of the novel was a duplicate of Gorky's "Mother", and hoped that the author would change the title of the book. Feng Deying thought of the bitter cauliflower in his hometown; although the roots are bitter and fragrant, they can best represent the image of a strong mother and a poor people. As a result, the novel was renamed "Bitter Cauliflower".
In January 1958, "Bitter Cauliflower" was published as the first novel independently edited and published by the People's Liberation Army Literature and Art Publishing House. Unexpectedly, 2 million copies were snapped up by readers, and 23-year-old Feng Deying became famous overnight.
"Bitter Cauliflower" tells the story of the struggle against the enemy in the Jiaodong anti-Japanese base area, creating a literary image of a Chinese mother. The 1965 film, through the performance of the famous film artist Qu Yun, made this mother image deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Years later, I can still remember the plot of the novel and say the lines of the movie in passing. Especially when I learned that the scene where my mother and Zhao Xingmei took turns weaving before and after De gang's sacrifice, I could still see tears.
No matter from that point of view, "Bitter Cauliflower", there is a truth about literary and artistic creation that cannot be subverted. That is, the author creates with his own experience and real experience, writes about familiar things, writes about familiar people, and writes the main theme of the times; down-to-earth, full of true feelings, even if the language, including human nature, is not so literary, it can move people.
The novel "Bitter Cauliflower" has been published in many editions, with a total circulation of more than 10 million copies, and has been translated into various languages and published abroad.
The novel "Bitter Cauliflower" has influenced generations. Students like me, who grew up in the era of the prevalence of the Red Classics, coupled with an understanding of suffering and an intimate sense of rural life, are more likely to like this kind of novel.
I have always stubbornly believed that talent, experience, and hard work are the main conditions for a good writer. If you have one of them, you can write a good work, and if you have more than two, you will almost have achievements. Many writers today, most of them have no life experience, and even a short experience life can not do. How can you write a really good work by writing entirely by imagination?
"Bitter Cauliflower" is a classic. Feng Deying enriched modern Chinese literature with this novel.
At home in Xi'an on the morning of October 16, 2021.