Zweig and the movie "Wushan Cloud"

Text/Ma Jiajun

Stephen Zweig (1881-1942) was an outstanding Austrian writer. He wrote poetry, translated, and mainly wrote biographies and novels. Among them, "Twenty-four Hours in a Woman's Life" and "Letter from a Strange Woman" are the most famous.

"Letter from a Strange Woman" is written: the famous novelist R. receives a letter from a woman he never knew. The letter poured out her life in the tone of the woman: when the woman was thirteen, she secretly fell in love with the young writer who moved upstairs to the door. Later, she accompanied her mother to Innsbruck, where her stepfather lived, but still loved the writer. At the age of eighteen she returned to Vienna alone and worked as a clerk in a clothing store. She often went to the familiar alley to see the lights of the writer's window. The writer invited her to the bedroom, and she settled with her for three nights. After that, the writer went out and heard nothing. The woman gave birth to a son, who was painstakingly raised until she was eleven years old. In order to survive, she sold herself, but still loved the writer. Once, the two met in a luxurious dance hall. The writer did not recognize the woman. He went to the old land to rejoice, and the next morning he gave a sum of money to buy spring expenses. Thirteen-year-old neighbors, eighteen-year-old girls, and twenty-nine-year-old beautiful women, none of which were recognized by the writer. Writers are irresponsible intellectuals who toy with women and immediately forget. Women are self-perfecters who are single-minded in love and do not repay. Zweig's positive and negative attitude is obvious. This letter, in the first person, reveals the girl's heart, very deep, very delicate, very emotional.

In 1948, American screenwriter Howard Koch adapted the novel into a film. Directed by Ofels, the heroine is played by the famous actress Joan Fontaine. Joan Fontaine has made famous films such as "Butterfly Dream" and "Deep Doubt". In the past, China translated the title of this film as "Wushan Cloud".

Adapted from a short story to a movie, there are naturally many changes. First, the film gave the characters names, and the writer changed to the handsome pianist Stephen Brand. This kind of career change is very much in line with the genre of film, and the film adds piano music in many places (such as when a girl visits under the window), which adds romantic and artistic atmosphere. The woman played by Joan Fonden had the name Lisa Bernd. The adaptors complement and render Lisa's life path. In the city where her stepfather lived, Lisa refused to propose marriage to the handsome young officer, highlighting Lisa's fidelity in love. Lisa returned to Vienna and worked as a model in a clothing store. This profession is less specific and highlights The beauty of Lisa. After giving birth to a son, Lisa in the film marries an Austrian nobleman, which is more satisfying to the audience than writing about a woman as a high-ranking prostitute. The son of the nobleman Alyssa and the last name of the child was the musician's surname. But Lisa finally leaves her angry husband and returns to the impoverished pianist. At that time, Lisa and her son contracted typhus on the train. Before she died, she wrote a long letter to the pianist and attached a photograph of her son (which also met the requirements of the visual arts of film). Finally, the film adds an ending: the Austrian nobleman wants to duel with the pianist, who first wants to escape Vienna after doing his affair, but after reading a long letter, he wears the white flowers that Lisa finally met him to fight, and when he leaves the courtyard, he looks back and seems to see the phantom of the thirteen-year-old girl smiling and opening the door for him. This kind of recall of everything about strange women can be taken care of back and forth, arousing the audience's associations, but there is a distance from the vileness of such bourgeois intellectuals who have forgotten about the theme of criticism and playing with women.

(Published in the December 1982 issue of "Window on Film", with film stills)

(Note: The author of this article has authorized this headline)

(Ma Jiajun, a native of Qingyuan, Hebei, born on October 5, 1929, is currently a professor at the College of Literature of Shaanxi Normal University, a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, a member of the Chinese Filmmakers Association, an honorary president (former president) of the Shaanxi Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Russian Literature Research Society, a former president of the Shaanxi Provincial Higher Education Drama Research Society, a former consultant of the Shaanxi Poetry Society, and a former executive director of the Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Social Science Societies. Shaanxi Province to build socialist spiritual civilization advanced individuals, Shaanxi Province to teach and educate advanced teachers, etc., enjoy special allowances from the State Council.

He is the author of 12 kinds of "Nineteenth Century Russian Literature", "The New Stage of Aesthetic History", "Poetry Exploration", "Exploration of World Literature", etc.; 4 kinds of "The Essence of World Literature" and "History of Western Drama" co-authored with his daughter Ma Xiaoyi; 9 kinds of "History of World Literature" (3 volumes) and "Research on Gorky's Creation"; edited 4 kinds of "30 Lectures on European and American Modernist Literature"; co-edited and co-authored "100 Topics of Marxism-Leninism", "Cultural Research Methods", "50 Lectures on Oriental Literature", "Western Literature in the Twentieth Century", etc. and more than 40 kinds.

It has been listed in more than 40 kinds, such as the Dictionary of Chinese Writers, the Dictionary of Chinese Poets, the Dictionary of Chinese Social Science Scholars, the Cambridge Dictionary of International Biographies (27th Edition in English), the Directory of Experts in Russian Studies Abroad (Russian Edition) of the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Classics of Shaanxi Century of Literature and Art. ）