Kolding (1909–2000)
Some young writers, in view of the fact that I had some interactions with the previous writer Kolding, asked me to talk about Kolding after visiting Kolding's house. I said that Ke Ling's writing was elegant and talented, and at the same time he was careful and careful, firm and rigorous, even in his old age, in his body, he still maintained the perfect combination of talent and scholarly style.
From May 1, 1993 to April 30, 1994, initiated by the China Miniature Fiction Society and the Singapore Writers Association, and with the consent of the Chinese Writers Associations in Thailand, England, Benelux and Hong Kong, under the sponsorship of Chunlan Company, the "Chunlan World Chinese Miniature Novel Competition" was co-sponsored. There are 28 newspapers and periodicals at home and abroad participating in the competition, providing a publishing garden. This activity has received strong support from party organizations and seniors in cultural circles. Bing Xin, Wang Daohan, Xia Zhengnong, Shi Jingcun and Xiao Qian served as advisers, and the director of the organizing committee and jury of the competition was elected as Ke Ling, who was the president of the Shanghai Center of the International PEN Club at the time. In addition to the Chinese mainland, nearly 10,000 entries were received in the past year, covering the five continents and the Chinese, overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The scale of the competition, the breadth of the scope, the length of time, the number of works, and the great influence are rare in the world Chinese literary scene. In order to do a good job in the selection work, in mid-April 1994, at the invitation of Chunlan Company, the organizing committee and the jury held a meeting in Taizhou, and Mr. Ke Ling, in order to fulfill the responsibility of the director, regardless of his advanced age, was also glad to go under the "escort" of his wife Mr. Chen Guorong. On the first day of the meeting, Elder Ke insisted on participating, listened carefully to everyone's speeches, and also spoke his own opinions. At that time, the social essay selection, in the end, is generally just to announce the list of selected, Ke Lao believes that this is not enough, each of our judges to their own recognition of the work, can not just simply draw a circle, but should write a short comment, one is to show responsibility, the other is to help readers read and understand. Subsequently, Ke Lao took the lead in doing so. His commentary was concise and eloquent, such as the evaluation of the article "Handshake": "The political jokes of the ultra-left era are eloquent and fascinating. Gentle and sarcastic, sneering but not abusive. Comments on the article "New Poker Game": "Imagine novelty, irony and pungency, and draw a vivid picture of the contemporary world." At the same time as announcing the winning works, the judges' comments were also disclosed, which were praised by readers.
The next afternoon, visit the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall. Mei is a native of Taizhou. This outstanding Peking Opera master was also an outstanding patriot. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he had a beard and a clear conscience, showing his noble national integrity. In September 1945, shortly after Japan announced its unconditional surrender, Curing visited Mei Lanfang, who had been closed behind closed doors and lived in seclusion for eight years. At that time, they talked very happily. Mei Lanfang lamented that she had "held back for eight years" and made great sacrifices. Ke Ling said: "Mr. Mei's sacrifice has won the light for the Chinese people, and has won a lot of face for the theater industry, which is worthy of our solemn pen and ink." Therefore, Ke Ling was able to highly praise Mei Lanfang at that time, because he was a revolutionary and patriotic person himself. In Shanghai, where the country fell, he had been fighting and fighting so hard that he had been imprisoned by the Japanese. On this day, he repeatedly discussed in mei lanfang's life exhibition room, and then came to the screening hall to relive films such as "Noble Concubine Drunk" starring Mei Lanfang. Thinking about the past and feeling a lot of feelings, he said to the memorial personnel in a serious tone: Mei Lanfang is the pride of the Chinese, and we must seriously manage this memorial hall.
Author and Ke Ling at Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall in Taizhou (April 1994)
After returning to Shanghai, in order to cooperate with this selection, so that more readers have an understanding of the miniature novel, which has just been separated from the short story and established another portal to become an independent literary variety, several comrades of the Miniature Novel Society discussed and wanted to ask Ke Lao to write an article. After a telephone agreement, Comrade Xu Ruqi and I came to Ke's hometown. Mr. Chen Guorong enthusiastically led the seat and gave tea. Elder Ke was writing in the middle of the room, when he heard us coming, he smiled and walked to the living room, put on his hearing aid because of heavy hearing, and talked to us. When it comes to articles, he modestly says that he lacks research on miniature novels and finds it difficult to write anything. However, after we "grind" and then "grind", he finally said, please send us some materials, see later to set. Although we did not get a positive reply from Elder Ke this time, his serious attitude towards writing deeply infected us.
About ten days later, we visited him again. Or Mr. Guorong opened the door, led the seat, and gave tea. Elder Ke is still writing in the inner world, there is no one else in the family, the old couple support each other, and live a life of pen cultivation that is indifferent to poverty. Elder Ke said to me, "The "World Chinese Miniature Novel Dacheng" that you sent me, more than eight hundred pages, I read it, there are creations, theories, detailed materials, and the foreign sprinkling, so that I have a very good feeling of Liu Grandma entering the Grand View Garden. The 'preface' you wrote seems to have said everything that is to be said, and I cannot think of any new opinions. Mr. Chen Jiaguorong interjected: "Ji Lin (Ke Ling's real name is Gao Jilin) these days put down his hands, reading articles for writing miniature novels, thinking, and writing several beginnings, all dissatisfied, torn off by him." "We said that Ke Lao would be able to write wonderful words for the miniature novel, and we waited.
Later, Curling wrote an article entitled "The Youngest in the Novel Line", which has an original analysis of the origins, history, characteristics, and contemporary popularity of miniature novels. Although it is a theoretical article, it has been dyed by his unique clear and elegant and vivid brushstrokes, and it has also become a beautiful article, which is pleasing to the eye. For example, when he analyzed the miniature novel to "look at the big picture and drop the ink in the small place; see the spirit in the depths, and see the kung fu in the clever place", he wrote: "The joints are a chess game, the magic hands are spring, and the knots are about to go to the autumn wave, which makes people wander endlessly." For the vast and boundless human world, such as a leopard peeking, tasting a cup, weak water three thousand, take a spoon and know the depth. In this way, the unique personality of the miniature novel, such as Yushu Linfeng, can be shown, which is different from its old and heavy brothers. After this article was published in the magazine "Novel Circle", it was successively reprinted by many newspapers and periodicals at home and abroad. Now, more than twenty years later, as an independent branch of the novel family, the miniature novel has initially grown, and Ke Lao's article "The Youngest in the Novel Line" has become a classic text in the history of the development of the miniature novel. The length of this article is as small as a miniature novel, only more than 2,000 words, and people can also see The shining talent of Ke Ling and his serious and rigorous creative attitude.
I say "the same can be seen" because I have seen it many times. In 1990, our publishing house launched the compilation of the third series of the "New Chinese Literature Series", in which the prose volume was prefaced by Ke Ling. The works collected in this series of works are from July 1937 to October 1949, that is, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation. Ke Lao was a person who came over and had contact with most of the works of writers in this period, however, he did not rely on this "capital" to start, but first carefully read the 365 articles and 1.2 million words of 180 prose volumes. Then I expanded and consulted more than sixty prose collections that year, hoping to have a better understanding of the overall situation of prose creation, and then began to write. After the first draft was written, it was "cold processed" for a period of time, and I thought that I was not satisfied, so I resolutely pushed it down and started again. To this end, he also focused on the collection of essays by He Qifang, Qian Zhongshu, Liang Shiqiu, Zhou Zuoren and others, and referred to works on literary history, and finally created a prologue with extraordinary insights and emotional feelings with a deep historical vision and contemporary aesthetic awareness. There are both macroscopic expositions and microscopic analyses in the text, and there are a few brief comments on the works of major writers, such as saying that Bingxin "has an elegant and elegant style of writing, dissolved into smooth and rigorous", Feng Zikai "does not flaunt the spirit of sex, but the clear-sightedness of the heart, the words are from the heart", Ba Jin 'is as enthusiastic as fire, the pen is like the flow of the river", Mao Dun "is good at interpretation, reason is better than feelings", and so on, it seems that the letter and pen are waving, and the good evaluation is natural, in fact, it is repeatedly deliberated, and thousands of hammers are refined. This article is only more than 8,000 words, if it is perfunctory, shoddy, with the talent of Ke Ling, a few days would be enough, but he spent more than three months for it, during which he gave up three opportunities to go out to meetings and inspections. This meticulous and rigorous attitude of excellence has enabled this "preface" to become a masterpiece and won universal praise at home and abroad.
At the beginning of 1992, we planned to publish the "Sixty Years of Ke Ling's Anthology", and the manuscript was compiled and selected by Ke Lao himself. At that time, Elder Ke was 83 years old, and Comrade Chen Xianfa, the editor-in-charge, began to worry about whether Elder Ke would have the energy and time to complete this rather vast and cumbersome compilation and selection work, but a few months later, Elder Ke handed over several manuscripts contained in several large envelopes to Chen Xianfa. All the manuscripts were neatly organized and neatly arranged, with a long catalogue attached to the front, each bag in one roll. When I opened it, the corner of each manuscript was written with a red pen in order, which was orderly and not chaotic. He prepared the best foundation for the work of the editor, and Chen Xianfa was very moved. What he felt was not only Ke Lao's no refusal to do small things, the spirit of serious and down-to-earth work, but also ke Lao's personality of caring for others everywhere and envisioning for others. All the editors who met and intersected with Ke Lao were glad that they had met a literary predecessor whose literary qualities and personality complemented each other.
Speaking of "character", there is one more thing that impresses me deeply. Colling had been preparing to create a novel of "One Hundred Years of Shanghai" many years ago, but due to the sporadic number of copiers, his long writing stopped. In order to reduce the interference of the outside world with him, our publishing house once wanted to arrange a secluded writing place for him, but he felt that he could solve it, so he would not bother the publishing house. We know that his economic conditions are not good, and after he gets started with long stories, other things will be written less, which will affect his income, so in the first half of 1991, a little advance fee was opened for "Shanghai Centennial", which was sent by mr. Li Jisheng, the responsible editor. He declined, saying: "I thank the publisher for its concern, but my manuscript has not yet been written, and it is difficult to say whether it can be written well, and this money cannot be taken now." This noble sentiment of strict self-discipline was of inspiring significance in the literary circles at that time, which was polluted by the unhealthy trend of "looking at money for everything." I once publicized this incident at a literary and art forum in Shanghai, and the participants expressed their appreciation and admiration for Ke Lao's demeanor.
In 1994, our company planned a set of high-quality, high-standard "Contemporary Literary Library", and the writers selected for this library must have these three conditions at the same time: literary everyone; more than 70 years of creative experience; still alive. That is to say, if it is a great writer, an old writer, a living writer. Combing through the Chinese literary scene at that time, only 5 people who fully met these three conditions were Bingxin, Xia Yan, Ba Jin, Shi Jingcun and Ke Ling, of which the 87-year-old Ke Ling was the youngest. Based on his Sixty Years Anthology, Curing made the necessary additions and deletions, supplementing the texts written in the nineties and expanding it into a total of 230 articles in the "Seventy Years Anthology", the earliest one was written on September 1, 1926, the latest one was written on July 4, 1995, and the article "The Youngest In the Novel Line" written in March 1994 was also included in this book. Essays and essays make up the majority.
Curling said: "I exorcise anger in the form of essays and melancholy in prose. "Whether it is anger or melancholy, it is closely linked to the fate of the nation and the storm of the times. Ke Ling's writing, simple and elegant, beautiful and vivid, reading it is a kind of beautiful enjoyment; at the same time, it is profound, full of righteousness, reading it is also a kind of inspiration for thought.
Ke Ling humbled himself that he was "powerless to point out the country", but "he would not miss cangsheng, but he could strive to be humble and feel at ease" in his heart. In fact, Ke Lao, who perfectly combines "literary" and "character" and complements each other, is of great benefit to "Cangsheng", purifying life with his beautiful writing, and also washing "Jiangshan".