Art life
Hu Peiping (hereinafter referred to as Hu): It seems appropriate to describe your life experience with variety, especially in your youth. I left my hometown, left my relatives, studied and lived in a distant and strange city, and then moved to several universities. After entering the society, I changed several units. What kind of life experience does this wandering life "migration" give you?
Bai mana Jane: After I left home at the age of eleven, I haven't lived with my parents and siblings for almost a long time. Except for holidays, I live alone in the army and dormitory, and then get married by myself. There is not much time to really study and go to school, and it is short-term. The longest time is three years of military art and two years of Chongqing news. Chongqing Journalism College has been stressing party spirit and people's nature for two years, and I have been skipping classes and sleeping. However, later dance performances and interviews with reporters gave me the opportunity to go to many places in Tibetan areas and often travel back and forth between Tibetan and Chinese. These growing experiences made me deeply realize the loneliness and pain brought by different regions, cultures and beliefs.
Hu: Now that you have lived a relatively stable life in this world, will you often think of that kind of "wandering" life when you concentrate on your creation? Do you think they are actually a valuable asset for your literary creation?
Jane mana Bai: The experience of working in different jobs in different periods makes each stage of life look unique and enriches the life experience needed for writing. On the surface, writing is a stable state of a person's desk, but in fact, "wandering" has turned to the inside of the mind and soul.
Hu: Since you were very young, your life has been linked with art, but that's dancing. For many people, being a dancer is actually enviable. Why did you end your dancing career? Do you regret now?
Bai mana Jane: I grew up with the joy of people's labor. No matter what I do, adults are always humming or smiling, and they have a good sense of humor, which makes me understand that all labor has no hierarchy and advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, when the whole country was disarmed that year, the establishment of the Tibet Military Region Cultural and Art Troupe was changed to a propaganda team, and most people were going to the local area. Facing the change of work, we are all very calm, so we naturally changed jobs, happily went to different units and started working in different industries. I went to the radio station, participated in the reporter training class with the group of college students who graduated from the Chinese Department of Xianyang Renmin University, and was admitted to the reporter.
Hu: When you embark on the road of literary creation, you seem to have gone through a period of searching. I studied dance as a child, and later I studied other majors in China Journalism College and Beijing Broadcasting Institute. My first job was a reporter. Although journalists are also creative, they are quite different from literary creation in nature. Can it be said that you really realized that your interest was in literary creation when you were engaged in journalism?
Bai mana Jane: That was after I was thirty years old, when I worked as a host and director in a TV station. Actually, we have to do both editing and broadcasting. Busy at work, already a mother. Sometimes I am too busy to go home and nurse my children, so I consider changing careers. Because I have never stopped writing literature, and feel that I can take care of my family by writing alone, I started to change careers and then transferred to the field of literary creation.
I have a wide range of interests and hope to try various industries. But a person should know what he needs most and what he needs in his heart. For a long time, I felt that my writing passion never stopped, so in the end, I engaged in writing, which conformed to the requirements of my life at that time and my inner pursuit.
There is no doubt that your life experience in the mainland metropolis has had a great influence on your creation, whether it is theme selection or theme expression, this influence seems to run through your whole creation. The most remarkable feature is that your work spans Tibet in space, the characters in the work shuttle between the mainland metropolis and Lhasa, and many events also take place in the mainland; At the same time, your works are full of modern flavor, which is not only reflected in the objective environment, such as fast-paced urban life and dazzling material enjoyment, but also reflected in the spiritual concepts of the characters, such as pursuing individuality and going their own way. I think it is obviously related to your personal life experience to broaden your horizons, isn't it?
Bai mana Zhen: Tibetan traditional culture has bred a kind, humorous, intelligent and harmonious nation. This nation has created a unique human civilization at the highest point of human life. However, when I left my people and kept shuttling back and forth in other areas, I felt surrounded by countless cultural conflicts. When I fall into different social groups, different values, different life pursuits and different life realms again and again, I feel lonely. From this perspective, I seem to feel the pain of my people's soul fission and dignity loss in historical changes-so my writing has been pouring out on this road. Maybe in the future, I will go further on this road, but I understand that Tibetan literature should move from such a situation and narrow gap to the jungle full of humanity and light in world literature.
Hu: In my opinion, you are a woman who regards life as art and art as life. Are you a careless and informal woman in life? Does this living habit have a certain influence on your creation?
Mana Bai: Indeed, life is an art and a career, which should be studied all one's life. Life and art are never antagonistic, but inseparable from each other. My parents and people are very romantic, which makes every detail of life exude elegance and spiritual fragrance. The way they get along with nature, their attitude towards life, their fraternity and their unique spiritual characteristics have sublimated our life into an epic. In such an art of life, my ideas are bit by bit, from the smallest to the deepest, which gives play to women's expertise in writing.
Hu: You seem to have a special affinity for nature. Everything in nature seems to have a strong attraction for you. Of course, this is just an experience when I look at your work. If this experience is reliable, can it be understood that it is spiritually connected with your artistic pursuit of promoting human nature in your creation?
Mana Bai: Nature cares for all life with great love. On the roof of the world, our people have been close to nature for generations, and in the embrace of nature, we are as close as brothers to other life. For ants and microorganisms, they will always care about them and the invisible hungry sneaking around, and will never forget to give them a care, blessing and respect; Don't kill, enjoy time and space with them. So I have described such details and feelings in my collection of essays "Moonlight in Tibet". In ordinary days, in the smallest place in my life, I wrote down the spiritual glory of ordinary Tibetans, and recorded their intimacy, sense of belonging and feeling of home in nature under the cultural care of such a nation.
Hu: Your colorful life experience is a great resource for your creation. However, these resources are only objective materials, and how to transform them into the artistic products you want requires some necessary means of expression. Looking at your works, especially novels, I feel that you are familiar with some expressions of western modernism. Do you often read the works of other writers at home and abroad? When you read, do you pay more attention to their content or artistic expression?
Mana Bai: When reading, the first thing I feel is words. Writing is the carrier of literature, and writing is not good. No matter how many stories and thoughts are loaded on a broken ship.
I have been exposed to Chinese translations of foreign literature since I was twelve or thirteen years old. I was deeply impressed by the eclectic narrative style, stories, characters, ideas and other contents with foreign cultural characteristics.
Hu: Do you have a favorite writer? What do you think attracted you to their creation?
I like Love during Cholera, Biography of Mirariba, Biography of Master Lotus Peanut, Biography of Death in Tibet, Biography of Mother Teresa, Biography of Gandhi, Biography of Simon Bova, Biography of Life and Death in Tibet, Biography of Chanel, The Light of the Hui Deng and The Story of the Buddha.
I like reading. Reading is the most beautiful thing in life.
Besides literary works, I have a wide range of reading interests, and I also like books on fashion magazines, medical journals, life sciences, mysteries of the universe, natural sciences, philosophy, psychology, Buddhism and so on. Many times, inspiration and writing ideas also come from reading books other than literature.
Hu: You seem to be a person with strong feelings for home and country, which can be seen from your poetry and prose. What does home, hometown, or Tibet mean to your creation?
Mana Bai: In this land, the realm of truth, goodness and beauty pursued by people has gone beyond the level of morality and ethics, but comes from profound wisdom about the universe and life. Therefore, when you fall down in the street, or the old people line up in the hospital, you will get warm and heartfelt help and care. And a dog and a bird can get the degree of dying in Tibet. There are many other offerings, such as "Su", which specially lights cedars and adds Ciba, sugar and ghee. Comfort the hungry with the essence of food, sneaking around. Monks offer seven drops of water to Hungry Ghost Road and ghosts as water supply before dropping water every morning. When I walk, I will not swagger my hands and worry about disturbing the infinite existence of consciousness in the air; There are countless rituals and folk customs, such as sprinkling Ganlu pills in the water and printing six-character mantra in the water to take care of all creatures and microorganisms in the water. On the surface, it is naive, but in fact it shows the compassion of the Tibetan people and the life realm of equality of all beings. In such a cultural crowd, the great wisdom and strength of love make me passionate about writing. Wherever I go, I miss Tibet, my Lhasa. There are friendly people, smiles and human civilization. Therefore, I hope that through my words and stories, more people can understand this vast land, how people there rely on nature, how to respect and care for alternative life, how to face diseases and difficulties, how to remain calm and dignified in the face of disasters, and how to face death and rebirth.
Hu: You mentioned your son in many prose works, and you can feel that you are full of instinctive love for him, and sometimes even give people a feeling of being too spoiled and too indulgent. There is no doubt that the birth of your son has had a great influence on your creation. Do you think there is any difference between your son's creation before and after his birth?
Bai mana Jane: Before the baby was born, I was young, ignorant and tireless. After the birth of the child, I shouldered the specific responsibility of another life, which made my life heavy. But the science about the origin of human beings tells us that we are all children of a mother, and human beings are inextricably linked. Tibetan culture and philosophy have long told me that not only human beings, but all sentient beings are related by blood and have been their own children and parents on the road of life and death. Therefore, when I love my children, I try to tell myself not to be obsessed with "my children." Of course, the birth of the child also made me feel the most selfless maternal feelings in life emotions. Whether it is human or other species, all life can thrive because of maternal love. From this point of view, maternal love is undoubtedly the noblest of all life emotions, and it is the great love energy given to us by the creator to protect life.
So for my creation, the arrival of my son also led my writing from the adult world to the primitive world of mankind. As he grew up, I also seemed to enter a flashback of writing and began to try to write cartoons with him. And pay more attention to the current children's education and mental state.
I hope that one day, I can start writing stories about children and teenagers. Because the world is so pure and beautiful.
Hu: Your father seems to have played a key role in your growth and creation. It can be seen from your description that you are full of deep feelings for your father. In what way do you think your father influenced your creation?
Bai mana Jane: My father has always encouraged me to make progress in my studies, which is a great spiritual motivation for me to realize my dream. Let me be confident, brave and full of personality. When I first became a reporter, my father was still young. Father and daughter often ride bicycles to interview together, and father will accompany me to interview. My father will be very happy when the headlines I wrote appear on TV, radio and newspapers. At that time, he gave me many books about news writing, most of which were western, which made my concept of news gathering and writing look very avant-garde. But when I accidentally started writing literature, as a journalist's father, I saw the confusion of literature in his eyes.
Hu: I remember you mentioned in an article that your father opposed your literary creation at first, but after your repeated insistence, he agreed. Your father is against your literary creation. Did you understand your father's good intentions at that time? How did you persuade your father?
Janmana Bai: When I first started writing, my father was always skeptical. Still worried about me. I understand, father. He is worried about the position of literature and art in China society. He is worried that I will be divorced from reality and walk into a secluded way of life. On the other hand, literature often degenerates into kitsch in China's real society. Father's worry is not unnecessary. But I made up my mind. The soil of my literature comes from the snowy area, and I was raised by a nation that pursues spiritual freedom and freedom of mind. So, as I wrote in my poem, "Love, the mountain is behind you, and the grassland will never move-"
Hu: I heard that your mother is also a writer. What kind of influence did your mother have on your creative career?
Bai mana Jane: When I was a child, the scene of my parents and family having tea, discussing and quarreling gave me an initial yearning for happiness. My mother likes writing and is very clever. My mother writes novels and poems in her mother tongue. When she puts aside housework and trivial life, she will show imaginative nature. I remember that when I first tried to write, she took me to Tian Wen's sister's house for consultation many times and accompanied me to the temple to interview the old monk. We also try to write the same story in different languages. For example, once, my mother and I wrote that a beautiful Kangqu girl came to my house for the night. On her way to Lhasa, she met Zhu Gu, a reincarnation of a temple, and fell in love. Before leaving, Zhu agreed to pick her up three years later. She gave birth to a son in my house. Three years later, Zhu Gu did pick up their mother and son and went to India together-my mother and I wrote this true story together, but my mother surreally wrote Zhu Gu as a man who broke his word, showing the spirit of criticizing the Tibetan Buddhist system and religious organizations. I began to write when I dreamed that she became Kang Zhuoma. Express the romance and beauty that faith brings to women. My father is fluent in Tibetan and Chinese. He is a judge. He is partial to his mother's story. My father is on her side. I was very unconvinced at that time.
Hu: Your recent prose collection Moonlight in Tibet, unlike previous works, mostly shows and reflects the life scenes of the city, but begins to pay attention to the depths of the plateau. Is this a sign that you are beginning to change your creative focus? Is Tibet outside the city another inexhaustible artistic treasure for you?