Cao Yu: Cao Yu (19 10- 1996), playwright. Formerly known as Wan Jiabao. Qianjiang people in Hunan. 65438-0928 entered Nankai University, and then transferred to Tsinghua University Western Literature Department. After graduation, he went to Tsinghua University Graduate School to study drama, but soon stopped for some reason. Later, he went to Baoding Middle School and Tianjin Hebei Women's Normal College to teach and create plays. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to the United States to give lectures with Lao She. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), he served as vice chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association, secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Writers Association and president of the Beijing People's Art Theatre. Later, he served as vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association, director of the Chinese Writers Association and chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. His plays include Thunderstorm, Sunrise, Beijingers, Yuan Ye, Home (based on Ba Jin's novels), Clear Sky Wan Li, Sword of the Brave (cooperating with others) and Wang Zhaojun. Now there are Selected Works of Cao Yu and Selected Works of Cao Yu.
"All comrades work hard" —— A letter to Xia Jiashan
"Comrades hard, used in my script creation. I'm sorry, I regret giving you a good time. " This is what Cao Yu wrote to Xia Jiashan of Nankai University on June 4th, 1984+065438. This letter reveals the true story of the rediscovery of Cao Yu's early works.
1985 Cao Yu took a group photo with school leaders and some teachers of Nankai University in Nankai Middle School, with Cao Yu in the front row and 3 on the right.
1922, 12-year-old Cao Yu, with a beautiful fantasy and longing for his future life, was admitted to Tianjin Nankai School. At that time, Cao Yu was brilliant, aggressive and interested. Besides attending classes, he also organized publications and created works with his classmates, and participated in anti-imperialist and anti-feudal drama propaganda activities. Since entering middle school, Cao Yu has a special liking for literature, and has created a large number of literary works after school. Did Cao Yu write any plays when he was studying in Nankai? In order to find out this problem, Xia Jiashan of Nankai University and others decided to visit Cao Yu in Beijing. Cao Yu was very happy to hear that he was from Nankai. He said, "Welcome to be a guest. We are all Nankai alumni. " Xia Jiashan and others explained their purpose. Cao Yu pondered for a while and said in a positive tone, "When I was studying in Nankai, I once translated the script, but that was a long time ago, and now it has been lost."
After bidding farewell to Cao Yu and returning to Tianjin, they began to look for Cao Yu's lost scripts. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were many publications. Where can I find Cao Yu's lost text? They have been reading relevant newspapers and magazines during Cao Yu's middle school in the libraries of Nankai Middle School and Nankai University. Unfortunately, these two schools were bombed during the Japanese invasion of China. At that time, there were not many newspapers and magazines and no clues were found. After that, they went to Tianjin Library to look up the newspapers and periodicals before liberation, and found nothing. At this time, they had to give it a try and look for it at the National Library of Beijing. They looked for a needle in a haystack and read hundreds of publications. Finally, they found two translated plays "Winter Night" and "Madam" with the signature "Xiaoshi" in Nankai University Weekly on 1929. It is said that Cao Yu used the pseudonym "Xiaoshi" when he was young. Is this a lost translation of Cao Yu's play? In order to get confirmation, Xia Jiashan and others wrote a letter to Cao Yu asking about it. A week later, Cao Yu wrote this reply.
Cao Yu said in this letter: "I think I may have translated the script signed' Xiaoshi'. I really can't think of it without reading this book. " Xia Jiashan and others immediately sent copies of these two scripts to Cao Yu. About four or five days later, Cao Yu called from Shanghai and said, "I have finished reading the Winter Night and the Wife you gave me. These two plays were really translated when I was studying at Nankai University. Thank you for taking the trouble to find it. " Cao Yu's lost translation has been found.
Cao Yu's Goodwill towards Hagar
Winter Night and Wife are both family dramas. The author tries to show and describe this society through the cells of family society. In order to adapt to the appreciation psychology of China audience, Cao Yu changed his translation and China's characters, costumes and language according to the needs of the plot. It can be said that these two versions are important experimental works of Cao Yu before he created the family drama Thunderstorm.
"They urgently need to read this book" —— Letter to Cui Guoliang
1985 10 Nankai University received a letter from Mr. Cao Yu, which wrote: "I met Professor Chen of Nanjing University in Chongqing, and his research direction is the history of Chinese drama. It is said that my publishing house has published a book "History of Nankai Drama Movement (Material)". They urgently need to read this book, especially the script of Zheng Xincun. It is said that this play is earlier than Hu Shi's "Lifelong Event" and should be corrected. " The book mentioned in the letter is Historical Materials of Nankai Drama Movement compiled by Cui Guoliang and others.
Nankai Opera is groundbreaking in the history of China's drama, and once had its own glory, but few people mentioned it. In 1980s, Cui Guoliang and Xia Jiashan agreed to search for historical materials of Nankai drama together and compile a historical material of Nankai drama movement, which was initially set as 1909- 1922. After the manuscript is compiled, they want to ask Mr. Cao Yu, who has made outstanding achievements in the history of Nankai drama, to write a preface. When Cui Guoliang visited him with this manuscript, he was very excited. It turned out that before Zhang went to the United States in 1929, he agreed to collect historical materials of drama, and this task was handed over to Cao Yu. By the first half of 1930, Cao Yu had only published the edited version of his play "Race to the Top", but the collection of drama historical materials failed to be realized. After the founding of New China, relevant departments had plans to produce historical materials of China's plays. At that time, Premier Zhou Enlai repeatedly charged: "We should write down the early drama movements in Tianjin and other places in the north." Zeng Yu said, "I'm too busy to do it." Ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Anniversary published the Collection of Fifty Years' Historical Materials of China Drama Movement, and published three episodes successively. Due to the influence of "Left" thinking, the historical materials of Tianjin and North China were not included. Premier Zhou was very dissatisfied. Cao Yu said that Premier Zhou said to the drama critic Feng Zi, "Why don't you talk about such an important drama activity in the north?"
Cao Yu was very happy after listening to the introduction of Historical Materials of Nankai Drama Movement (1909- 1922) compiled by Cui Guoliang and others. He said excitedly, "Premier Zhou asked us to do it long before he died, but unfortunately I was too busy. You did a good job today. Your book has come out, so I'm not afraid of being denied. Let the critics comment after 20 years! " Cao Yu wrote a long preface for this book as promised, and soon introduced it to Chen and others. This is exactly what he said in his letter to Cui Guoliang.
"He is a memorable figure" —— A letter to Gao Sufeng
1980, Gao sufeng, as the editor of Tianjin Federation of Literary and Art Circles, rushed to Shanghai for the fifth anniversary of the magazine's founding and asked Mr. Cao Yu to write an inscription for the magazine. In Cao Yu's home, Mr. Cao Yu mentioned Mr. Li Shutong, the pioneer of modern new culture movement, and suggested restoring Li Shutong's former residence in Tianjin.
On August 1 1, Cao Yu specially sent this letter to Gao Sufeng. He said that Li Shutong was a native cultural celebrity and made great contributions to China's education, art, drama, music and calligraphy. He is the pioneer of China's drama, the first person to introduce western drama to China, and the first person to play the leading role in La Traviata. The letter said: "No matter where he was born, he is a memorable figure." He added: "Uncle Tong became a monk at the age of 39 and died at the age of 62. I'm going to make a casual portrait of his youth or middle age (before becoming a monk). I wonder if it is possible, please agree. " This letter also provides information about Li Shutong's life. Gao Sufeng reported the opinions in Cao Yu's letter to Shi Jian, then deputy director of the Standing Committee of Tianjin Municipal People's Congress. Shi Jian immediately conveyed it to the then mayor of Tianjin and agreed to the plan to restore Li Shutong's former residence. Referring to this matter, Comrade Shi Jian still said with deep feelings: "It was not others who first suggested the restoration of Li Shutong's former residence and put it on the agenda of the city. It's master Cao Yu. If the former residence of Li Shutong is evaluated after the restoration, the first hero should be Cao Yu. "
Cao Yu's letter to Cui Guoliang