"Joe Factory Director's Last Record" comic strip
At the conference held on December 18, 2018 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, 100 comrades were awarded the title of reform pioneer and awarded the reform pioneer medal. Among them, only two people have won this honor as a writer, one is Lu Yao, the author of "Life" and "Ordinary World", and the other is Jiang Zilong.
A few days ago, Mr. Jiang Zilong gladly accepted the author's interview.
Mr. Jiang Zilong's close-up
Before and after the creation of "Joe Factory Director's Appointment"
After meeting, Mr. Jiang was very humble to the author's congratulations: "Thank you! I'm terrified! ”
Jiang Zilong entered the public eye in the late 1970s. He began to publish works in 1965, and the 1979 "Chronicle of the Appointment of Qiao Factory Director" was recognized as a milestone in Chinese literature in the new era, and he also entered the literary world as the founder and representative writer of "reform literature".
Since then, he has created a series of reform literature, such as "A Day at the Director of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering", "A Factory Secretary's Diary", "Pioneer", "Yan Zhao Lamentation", "Red Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple", "Meridian Flow Notes", "Snake God", "Popularity", "Hollow", "Peasant Empire", etc., as well as short story collections and essay collections, about 10 million words. These works have won many national literary awards and have been translated into more than a dozen languages such as English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Danish and Norwegian. It can be said that Jiang Zilong's works, focusing on shaping the image of reformers in the context of the times, have had a major impact on leading the change of ideology and concepts and promoting the practice of reform, and have stimulated the enthusiasm for reform throughout the country.
Talking about the motivation of continuous creation over the years, Jiang Zilong said: "I am always observing, and my inspiration comes from meticulous observation and understanding. ”
Jiang Zilong recalled the time when he created "The Record of The Director of Qiao Factory".
In the early spring of 1979, the editor of the people's literature magazine sent an editor to Tianjin to apologize for his previous criticism of Jiang Zilong's novel, and at the same time asked Jiang Zilong to write a novel.
Yes, jiang zilong has published many works before, but these works have not brought good luck, but let him bear a lot of blows. Jiang Zilong was born in August 1941 in Cangxian County, Hebei Province, and began his career in August 1958. His greatest hobbies are reading and writing. In 1965, his debut short story "The New Webmaster" was published, which won praise in the literary world as "this young man's extraordinary shot, which should not be underestimated". However, just as he was about to show his skills, his talents were suppressed in that era.
In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held, the obscurantist night gradually faded, a new dawn came, and a new period of great reform and opening up ushered in China's history. It is in this context that a generation of writers represented by Jiang Zilong has issued a loud voice that conforms to the trend of the times.
Jiang Zilong was once far away from the literary world and served as a workshop director in a large factory in Tianjin. He wanted to give up writing, but deep down, he never stopped reflecting on his own creative experience and lessons, and his literary thought became more and more mature. At the same time, he has personal experience and in-depth thinking about the various ills and dilemmas of China's industrial system that ordinary people cannot reach. Therefore, when the editor of "People's Literature" braved the rain to come to the door to ask for a manuscript, his creative passion was ignited at once. After all, he is essentially a writer, which is a fate he cannot get rid of.
Jiang Zilong immediately agreed to the invitation of the People's Literature magazine. Coincidentally, in those few days, he had a small illness and received three days of sick leave, but he threw himself into the creation of new works.
At the time, it was a completely new novel, and there had never been such a novel in the Chinese literary world. This is the "Chronicle of The Director of Qiao Factory", from newspapers, books, pictures (comic strips), to music (radio) like (TV movies), once spread all over the country, so that the readers at that time were refreshed. In my opinion, this novel still has an unstoppable charm even today. Jiang Zilong's talent has also been recognized by the world.
Jiang Zilong smiled and talked about the interesting things after the publication of the novel:
Some people learned from Qiao Factory Director and were dismissed as a result; and a large state-owned enterprise in the northwest took "Qiao Factory Director's Appointment" as the "Central Spirit", and the rectification of the enterprise was quite effective; a nurse in Shenyang wrote a letter saying that it was Qiao Factory Director who saved her father... What is even more interesting is that the Tianjin Economic Commission invited a Shanghai factory director to make a report, and the admission ticket was printed with "Shanghai Qiao Factory Director Came to Tianjin to Pass on the Scriptures and Send Treasures", and an entrepreneur in Tianjin protested to the Economic Committee for this purpose, and found Mr. Jiang to prove that he was the real Qiao Factory Director...
Jiang Zilong focused on the economic reform fields that people are concerned about, and with a strong and robust pen style, he expressed the personality, psychology, spiritual outlook, and struggle for modernization of the reformers with great appeal.
Today, 40 years later, for the concept of "reform literature", Jiang Zilong said that this was originally a conventional concept, but now it has entered the room and is accepted by time and reality. This is an encouragement for the literary creation of realistic themes.
"Joe Factory Director's Appointment" book
"Feel hard, that proves you're on the way"
As a writer with extensive influence and profound insight, Jiang Zilong's most devoted and most important thing is always the literary creation of realistic themes, "If literary creation is divorced from reality, even if it is excellent, its value is also questionable." ”
Talking about how to view the relationship between literary creation and reality, Jiang Zilong replied frankly: "Real life is always greater than literary creation, but it cannot be so big that literary creation can retreat from difficulties, or hide in the distance to look up, ignore, or even despise." In the literary world of any period, the creation of realistic themes cannot be absent. ”
Literature grows and thrives without leaving the soil of reality. Perhaps it is this cognitive seriousness that makes him seem quite serious. Hearing this, Mr. Jiang smiled and said that many people said that he was very serious, but this was mainly related to his long-term supervision of labor in the workshop. In that environment, his facial muscles were always stiff. "Seriousness" is formed in this way, and "seriousness" becomes a habit after a long time.
He said proudly that when he was studying at the Literature Seminar, his classmates gave him the nickname "Fierce God No. 1".
In recent years, in addition to novel creation, "Fierce God" has also published a collection of essays on life guidance.
"Soft and Hard in Life: Jiang Zilong Laments Life", published by Huacheng Publishing House in 2017, has been called "the author's pen is like a mirror, looking at all aspects of all sentient beings and social life: family, friendship, love; career, literature, life perception, philosophy of life; power, family, ethics, morality... The work is visually unique, humorous and exquisite, broad and profound, touching the soul, fully reflecting the author's rich life experience, thoughts and feelings and profound literary skills..."
Published last year, "Life Is Hard, But Believe Enough" is a collection of high-quality essays he has written for 40 years, either writing about life experiences or talking about life philosophies, or expressing emotional attitudes towards a certain situation. For the best-selling of this work, Jiang Zilong admitted that he was unexpected. He thought he was a bit of a "passing" writer and wouldn't have as many people paying attention. Initially he was even skeptical about whether to publish the book, believing that it would be a loss.
Now his concerns were dispelled. In fact, Jiang Zilong has always maintained a passion for life, which is vividly reflected in the book. Despite experiencing many twists and turns, he has always been positive, neither decadent nor tired, nor blindly complaining. He has a straightforward personality and a hard writing style, and his writing can always give people positive and positive guidance. As he has always believed, there are always unsatisfactory places in life, so don't worry and rush too much, and believe in the future enough. In the bumpy road of life, he holds a firm and calm posture, which is what many people lack at the moment. It is also for this reason that this book is considered a gift book for all unhappy young people. He said in the book: "If you are unhappy, it shows that you still have expectations for life; if you feel that you are walking hard now, it proves that you are on the way." ”
Stills from the TV series "Joe Factory Director's Appointment"
"Healthy with Literature", is working on a long novel
Today, Jiang Zilong is nearly old. The greatest joy and spiritual grind of this writer who has written all his life still comes from writing. When asked if there were any new creative plans recently, he said sharply: "Of course I am still writing." But he also reluctantly admits that his sharpness is slowing down, his efficiency is slowing down, "his biggest opponent is himself", and he is trying to overcome the coming aging. He told me that he was working on a novel, but it was intermittent and not yet in the good picture.
Now, he feels that his perception of reality is urgent and fragmented, so he often writes short essays, such as the "Stories and Accidents" series has been published one after another.
He particularly solemnly mentioned that writing is actually a manual work. This view is related to his memory of Barkin. He always kept a clear impression in his mind: one year, he met With Ba Jin at a meeting in Beijing, and during the chat, he said that the creativity of a writer is related to the body, and once the body is not good, the creativity cannot reach a good state. Recalling that at that time, the young Jiang Zilong was physically strong, "Although writing is spiritual labor, the quality of physical condition largely determines the quality and intensity of this spiritual labor." If you are not in good health, you can write occasionally, but if you want to maintain your creative power, such as writing something with edges and corners, it is difficult to say that it is easy."
For Jiang Zilong, writing has a very special meaning. It's a way of life for him, and even a way to maintain health. In his words, it is "to maintain health with literature." When writing, life seems to have a place to rest, so the mind becomes quiet and the mind becomes broad. He can talk to himself, to the world. He combed through his years, regurgitated, and grasped the reality he saw.
He said that if he did not write, his mental state would change badly, he would feel the nothingness of life, and the quality of life would decrease. In this sense, it does make sense to think of writing as a way to maintain health. Jiang Zilong said that many ancients had the habit of maintaining health with literature, but they did not explicitly put forward this slogan. "For example, Yuan Ming, he often has headaches, this time he writes poetry and reads poetry. He especially likes to read his own poems, and when he reads them, his heart will be happy, and his headaches will be relieved. ”
In the impression of most people who care about Jiang Zilong, he is always a person with a strong spirit, and it is rare to see a trace of sadness or helplessness in him. In addition to creating literary works, Jiang Zilong also likes sports, likes ball games when he is young, changes to swimming in middle age, and does not idle in his old age, traveling around. In the book "Life is Hard, But Please Believe Enough", he wrote about his interesting things on the road many times. His life was always dynamic.
In this era, the form of writing has changed a lot, and many writers have established their own public names. Jiang Zilong is unfamiliar with this new way of writing, and he is very sincere and somewhat ashamed to say: "I don't know how to pay attention to it, nor will I get it, but I sincerely envy new media writing." ”
As early as six years ago, in 2013, Jiang Zilong said: "Literature has changed dynasties, and we are absolutely outdated." We're obsolete, we have to admit it. ”
It is not easy for a person who has devoted his life to literature as a profession, and it is not easy to express such opinions so sincerely. His frankness is touching. Even if his collection of essays is so well-sold now, it doesn't seem to be able to reverse this view of him. In his view, the literature of the new era has new characteristics, such as, "it is very outstanding, and it is even more incredible in terms of imagination." ”
In the interview, Jiang Zilong's humility, low profile and peace make people feel like a spring breeze. His voice, gentle and serene, made people feel ironed inside. When asked about his favorite contemporary writers, he listed: "Chen Cun's language, Han Shaogong's wisdom, Li Jianjun's learning, Bi Feiyu's delicacy, Ge's horizontal writing, Chi Zijian is a small woman who specializes in writing big books..."
He looked into the distance, and the famous writer, who had served as vice chairman of the fifth, sixth, and seventh sessions of the China Writers Association, chairman of the Tianjin Writers Association, and vice chairman of the Tianjin Literary Association, fell into a brief silence. He may have made a longer list in his mind, whether there is no end, but he will not list his own name after all.
But his words, which have indeed influenced so many people, are still playing an active role.
The author is curious, what would he particularly like to say about his past self and his future self?
"Suddenly, I think that something a little outdated is not bad, better than not even something outdated." Jiang Zilong finally said this meaningfully.
Author: Lv Zhongshi
Editor: Jiang Chuting