Preface to Ichiro Song of little reunion
As the executor of Zhang Ailing's literary heritage, I have been holding lectures on Zhang Ailing in universities, bookstores and other different places. Every time someone asks me about the unpublished novel little reunion, even the reporter who interviewed me is no exception. In order to answer these questions, I always quote Zhang Ailing's letter to her parents on1March 2, 992-with the original will attached-in which she once said:
If there is any money left, I want to spend it on my works, such as hiring a master translator. Unpublished publications, such as an English article about Lin Biao, are long gone. The novel "little reunion" is going to be ruined. ) I didn't think about it, I'll talk about it later.
What needs to be pointed out here is that wills are legal documents, but ordinary letters are not. Why do you want to "think it over" and "say it again"? As far as I know, this kind of discussion has never happened. 1In September 1995, Zhang Ailing died, and all her property was left to my parents. My father Song Shiwen died in poor health on 19961February. My mother, Song Meifang, couldn't decide the future of little reunion, so she put the manuscript aside. In 2007 1 1 month, my mother died, so I decided about little reunion.
So I always ask my audience whether they should respect Zhang Ailing's own request and burn the manuscript. They always object with one voice. Some people will cite max brod and Kafka as examples: If max brod listens to his friends' orders, the world will lose Kafka's works. Obviously, if I destroy little reunion according to Zhang Ailing's instructions, I will definitely be in sharp contrast with max brod, thus going down in history. Of course, I don't have to obey the democratic vote, because the public may just like gossip.
I know we must make a careful decision. Since Zhang Ailing didn't ask for the immediate destruction of little reunion, she said that we would talk about it later, which proves that there is no room for change. If you want to "discuss", what is the theme? What prompted Zhang Ailing to write this novel? What is the reason for her delay in publishing? Why did you destroy it in the end?
It is naturally impossible to ask the three of them. Fortunately, they left a lot of letters: in forty years, they wrote more than 600 letters, with a length of 400 thousand words. You can find the story of how little reunion was born and why he was temporarily "hidden in the snow". The following are excerpts from relevant letters:
Zhang Ailing1July 975 18
I have been busy writing the novel "little reunion" for the past two months, and the previous manuscript was completely useless. Now I have finished half of it. This article has no obstacles. "..." I talked about myself in little reunion, which was rude. It's always better to expose this place yourself. Not denying yourself, of course.
Zhang Ailing1August 8, 975
Little reunion is getting longer and longer, so there is no half point.
Zhang Ailing September 18th, 1975
Little reunion has been brewing for too long. It was written quickly, but it was finished. Of course, it will take a few more days to get ready to change, otherwise it will be endless. "..." This novel will make you and May laugh for me in some places. But I still want to send it to you to see if there is any chance for Hong Kong and Taiwan to serialize at the same time.
Zhang Ailing September 26th, 1975
Little reunion was put on for a few days, but I copied it today. My novels almost never change, unlike my papers that make mistakes.
Zhang Ailing October 16th, 1975
Little reunion needs to be written in several places-the novel has been revised, obviously a long time ago-so I was lazy for several days. I immediately stopped feeling dizzy. It seems that there is still a period of time before the manuscript is finished, and it is best to serialize it in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the same time. "..." One of the motivations for writing little reunion is Zhu Southwest's letter, saying that I have tried to personalize readers' impressions of me in recent years, hoping that he would not write. Of course it won't take effect, but most of the content of this novel is irrelevant.
Zhang Ailing 1975 1 1 Month 6
Little reunion is a thing of the past, although I've always wanted to write it. Hu Lancheng is now in Taiwan Province province, which makes him more interested. It is really unnecessary, so the contradiction is serious. While putting on makeup, I still don't belong to my heart in other things.
Zhang Ailing December 21st, 1975
Little reunion is still being written. Of course, more and more places need to be repaired.
Zhang Ailing 1976 1 Month 3
Little reunion can't be changed because of the need of the plot. People who have seen Gossip can tell at a glance that there are contents of Whispering and The Record of the Embers (Hong Kong War), although they are different from Rashomon.
Zhang Ailing 1976 1 25th of the month
Little reunion is a complicated and dramatic story, full of shock. It is a love story, not a blank paper and pen and ink lawsuit, and Hu Lancheng's hatred of laughter is not as it was later.
Zhang Ailing1March 97614th
"little reunion" has just filled in the number of pages, about180,000 words (! ), it is really "Happy Birthday". I just used a very long part of the Book of Changes! -"Whispering with Zhang Ailing" also mentioned it, but it didn't mention the title-plus the love story-it didn't. You can probably send it next week. As printed matter, I'm afraid it will arrive a day or two late, otherwise you can read it at the same time.
Zhang Ailing1March 976 18
I just sent it to little reunion yesterday, and I remembered that there were two places that needed to be revised that night. I have no choice but to send two pages here-two pages each-please replace the original two pages.
Yan1March 25th, 976
I received the original little reunion the day before yesterday, and immediately wrote back a letter at noon, telling you to ask Stehen to pay the email when he went to work in the afternoon. In the evening, he went home with another bag, and the original arrived! So we don't have to argue with each other (you know we never argue about anything, except reading your work), so we can get a sneak peek. After reading it, my mood is very complicated. Stehen happened to be very busy and read it carefully, so I haven't seen the end yet ... You must want to hear our reaction, but you must be patient this time.
"……"
I received your letter 18 today, and two pages need to be revised. Very easy to handle. The problem is, Stehen said there are many other small places that he thinks should be brought up for discussion with you.
"……"
This novel will make a grand debut under the condition of public attention (I mean in the literary world). We take it very seriously, so we think of you everywhere. You must understand this sincerity and don't think we are in trouble. You expected that some places would shock us-but it doesn't matter, even if I'm not as conservative and closed as before. I believe that no other readers will understand why you want to write this book so thoroughly as I do. Stehen has never heard of you having an abortion in new york. I remember everything you told me.
Zhang Ailing1April 4, 976
I didn't write little reunion to vent my anger. I always thought that the best material was what you knew best, but I couldn't write it because of nationalist sanctions.
"……"
I talked to Chen Ruoxi in Taibei because my views on the National Government have been influenced by my childhood and youth, and I am not close to him. In recent years, I feel that monolithic nationalism is a bit loose. For example, in the movie, the protagonist British and American spy (played by Kerr Kane) is unpatriotic, so I wrote it sideways. My estimate is wrong. As for the "rogue" who took advantage of it for nothing, I was always worried in my letter before. He probably went to Taiwan Province through his fellow countryman Chen Lifu, and he had helped before. It's a very good idea to become a double agent, but the problem is that I can't even watch spy movies and spy novels. Think about it later. You can keep the manuscript.
Zhiqing read the preface of Zhang Kan and sent another long letter, suggesting that I write about my grandparents and my mother. Now novels and biographies are indistinguishable. I wrote back that "your customized novel is little reunion", and now I am writing to say that after euhoria was passed, many obstacles were found, so it is necessary to deal with and apply facts flexibly, and ask him to be soft on edal according to the facts. But it must have spread.
Song Qi1April 976 15
We are not boors .. To be honest, the concept of the country is also very weak, but we have to face the real problems. If the "rogue" has died or hasn't come out in the mainland, this problem is nothing, but he is in Taiwan Province Province, waiting for a chance to turn over. Now he's turned over, but at least he can drag you down. The novel says that he took all the letters and probably kept them in his hand, so it became documentary evidence, which makes more sense. So now I rewrite my identity and let him die, so I can't open it. One more thing, if you are a double agent, you can't be a government agent, because government agents won't defect. We once made a movie like Cyring, but the script didn't pass. That's why. What is Shao Zhiyong's identity? You don't need to specify it, because the novel is based on the heroine's point of view. The heroine loves his person, that's all, and doesn't pursue his identity. In short, he was killed by a man, and he is said to be a double agent, who can be killed by the Japanese, the puppet government, even the underground members of the government, or the * * * production party. You don't have to study his psychology because you didn't describe him positively at all. As long as it turns out that this is not the case, we use the same set for every woman. Later, when everyone was together, they couldn't help laughing. Before that, Jiuli had been disillusioned. Going to the countryside is not to miss him, but to have a look and fulfill a wish, that's all.
Zhang Ailing1April 22, 976
I am so immersed in this novel. Actually, it's not that I don't know what Stehen said about Taiwan Province Province-but I never thought that underground workers in Chongqing couldn't defect! ! ! Shu Yuan pretends to be an underground worker. After the war, he swaggered into the * * * area with more than ten people, including cooks, and was immediately detained. But under the guise of being a fake official, he still can't. Maybe it can be changed to Taiwan Province Province-I once taught Chinese to a Taiwanese businessman, and I went to university in Japan. Go to the mainland to do business with Japanese troops in Qing Xiang. -The latent countryside after the war, as long as it goes further south, is the Minnan language area. A German overseas Chinese leader once tried to recruit my aunt to Chongqing. This man may be of some use. Jiuli and Xiaokang will face each other in the future, and we will wait until the film is made. This film is at a different level of integration. You can only find the cycle that suits the scene here. Emotion. This is a passionate story. What I want to express is that there is something left after love is completely disillusioned. What I feel now does not belong to this story. No, I'm not busy. These all need to be put aside first. I got all the letters back, otherwise they would have been found.
Song Qi1April 28, 976
Little reunion read it in a hurry for three days, because he had to go to work during the day, and took some notes while reading it. I have written down all the questions about wording, and I can ask you later. Mae finished reading before me, and the notes were not as detailed as mine. Together, they can always cover the ground. Because on the one hand, you are an idol now, on the other hand, you should show your readers good looks; On the bad side, you are a target. To put it mildly, you have become the target of public criticism. Taiwan Province Province is a small place, where writers are jealous and can't get your book, and there are people like Tang Wenbiao. Everyone is waiting for your new book with a microscope, so find fault with the eggs. I hope something big happens to you, and you can look up. For yourself, you have been mediocre for many years, and now you have suddenly become the center of attention. It can be said that it is a rare miracle in the literary world, and it is also a turning point in your writing career. Be especially careful. This is what we did to your new book, The First Concern.
This is an autobiographical novel with almost no disguise, even Atente's. Not to mention us, people who are familiar with your works or have heard a little about your life will see that Chinese and foreign readers are nosy people, and they like to confuse fiction with truth. In particular, readers in China will never pay attention to what fiction is and what autobiography is. This is also something we should keep in mind.
After reading the first third, I have a feeling that the first and second chapters are too messy, a bit like a list of people, inserted into the Pacific War, which has been seen in early works. If serialized in a newspaper, it may not attract readers to "catch up". I considered the suggestion to delete or shorten it, but later I thought that there was a mother and aunt, which had something to do with the following and contained many sentences written by Zhang Ailing, so I gave up.
When we read the passage about Hu Lancheng, the problem of ose in the first two chapters becomes insignificant. I know your title is also ironic. The leading men in the novels of gifted scholars and beautiful women all won the first prize, and then all three wives and four concubines were beautiful and willing to live with him, so it was a "happy reunion". Now the hero in this novel is a traitor, and finally he hides. All the women who are good with him are either divorced and trapped in the situation, or see through him and break up with him. The result is only a moment of scenery, not even "little reunion".
The heroine Jiu Li is written as a bold and unconventional woman: her love is unconditional, even though she knows (1) that this man is a traitor; (2) In addition, he has several women; (3) will be despised by public opinion and relatives and friends. Of course, in the end she was disillusioned and abandoned him. However, we can imagine that some people will point out that Jiuli is Zhang Ailing and Shao Zhiyong is Hu Lancheng. Zhang Ailing knew his identity and personality, but she was still friendly with him and then embellished it. This should be the same. People who are selfish and jealous are all kicking and want to step on you. At that time, you said a hundred times: little reunion is a novel, and Jiu Li is a character in the novel. Unlike Zhang Ailing, no one will pay attention to you.
Don't forget, there is a time bomb next to it: "rogue man" I don't know which line he used. He went to China Cultural Institute in Taiwan Province Province to teach and capitalized his articles. Later, he was accused as a traitor. When the Central Daily attacked him, he had to be dismissed and write under a pseudonym.
When little reunion came out, it was like a fat pig delivered to the door. Why don't you take this opportunity to make a splash and write an amazing article of your own? I keep saying: Jiuli is Aileen, some places are true feelings, some places are transformed, some places are slightly different from my memory, and so on. I can think of all the cheerful feelings. A drowning man is anything he can catch in the water. As a result, you were dragged into the water. Why bother?
I said above that you are an idol. Of course, being an idol also has various limitations and pains. Because there are readers, and the psychology of the public is so unreasonable. You are where you are today, partly because readers appreciate and like your work. The popularity of academics and writers is just icing on the cake. Recently, the official realized that you are the first anti-writer, which is a favorable factor. If the previous speculation comes true, the official is silent and the reader only listens to one side of the story, then the academic defense will not work. Perhaps Taiwan Province's writing career is not over, but the goodwill built up over the years will definitely be wasted. What I said above is not that I am alarmist, but that I am quite experienced in this line and have seen a lot, which is by no means out of thin air.
I know that when you write, you want to write Jiu Li as an unconventional woman. It didn't work. Perhaps only a few readers will say that her unhappy childhood gave her this kind of behavior and psychology, but most readers will not sympathize with her. In short, she is an unsympathetic person. This is a ...
Secondly, these things have accumulated in my mind for many years, and I always want to get them out of your system. Because I have been in the film industry for so many years, I pretend not to know many things. Finally I couldn't help it, which was equivalent to a collapse. Then I changed my environment and tried my best to get it out of my system. Well, since you have written it, you have done it. We should consider your future calmly and objectively.
On the premise that in its recent form, I'm afraid this book can't be published or published. Even Tao Xin will think twice. This book may make a lot of money, but he won't want to destroy the Great Wall. The only way now is to rewrite it. There are two cockroaches: (1) Rewrite Jiu Li and identify her as Aileen. This can't be done, because it is equivalent to rewriting the whole book. (2) Rewrite Shao Zhiyong. This possibility is relatively large. The blue mountain is a mulberry arc. You can change him from a director to an actor. There is no reason why Shao's identity cannot be changed. You can turn him into an underground worker, and as a result, you become a double agent of money, covering your identity with mercy everywhere. Then someone found him and killed him.
For a long time, Li Can went to the countryside alone, indicating that she wanted to see the birthplace of her loved one. As a result, she met a well-off person who was there for the same purpose. As soon as we exchange views. It turned out that he used the same technique and statement to deal with all women, but he had two rural wives, and then she was completely disillusioned. Of course, this change is also a major operation ... but the scope involved is relatively narrow, and the Jiuli and family parts do not need to be changed, at least not completely rewritten, which may save books.
Jiu Li did this because the life she lived made her completely ignorant of the world, so many readers would sympathize with her. At the same time, it can also make "hooligans" speechless. He always doesn't have to say, "Shao Zhiyong is me", because he is a traitor, not an underground worker, and he is not dead yet. No one will believe him if he insists on flattering. Besides, most readers of "Blue Mountain" and "Abortion" will not agree with you. Of course, when you design the whole book, you have a complete master plan, even the smallest changes will be different.
I am not a superman, and I have no experience in writing novels. I know it's easier said than done, and there are problems everywhere. But I talked to Mae several times and thought it was a feasible way. (2) If you don't think this method will work, you should put it aside and think about it first. Just said that it was being revised, but fortunately no third person had read the manuscript. Come back with specific changes after you figure it out.
You already know as much as I do by reading this article. As far as I know, what they were most worried about was Hu Lancheng, Taiwan Province Province. They believe that Hu Huili will use the publication of little reunion and will not worry about Zhang Ailing's life and death.
Song Qi put forward a technical scheme, which is to rewrite the hero into a double-faced spy who was eventually assassinated. Therefore, it is difficult for Hu Lancheng to claim that he is the archetype of male roles. Of course, this will inevitably require a lot of changes.
As a result, Zhang Ailing also agreed with Song Qi's concerns, so she temporarily shelved little reunion and continued to write her Lust, Caution. But throughout her life, she didn't finish revising little reunion.
What is the situation today? Hu Lancheng died in 198 1, so now all the worries about him are gone. As for the politically sensitive issue, Taiwan Province Province today is very different from that at that time, and this concern can be put down.
The rest are actually just two technical problems. First, I am worried that the heroine Jiu Li is "not worthy of sympathy", that is, Song Qi said that she has no sympathy. But if this standard is established, I think many other works of Zhang Ailing will never be published for this reason. For example, how does Cao Can Qiao Qi, the heroine of The Golden Lock, please readers? (See Liu's Re-reading, so in any case, "the heroine is not worthy of sympathy", I don't think this is a reason enough to stop the novel from being published. Secondly, at that time, they were also afraid that readers would regard Jiu Li as a copy of Zhang Ailing, which attracted a lot of criticism. But in my opinion, if Zhang were still alive and read about her on the Internet now, she would understand how insignificant her worries were at that time. In fact, she has passed away, and no criticism can give her any pain. The articles she left to the world will never be belittled by such voices. In addition, the above excerpted letters have fully revealed the original intention and process of her creation, and I don't need to make any excuses for her.
At the beginning of this article, I quoted a letter from Zhang Ailing 1992 to her parents in March, which clearly stated that "little reunion's novels should be destroyed". Readers will probably wonder whether the publication of this book violates Zhang Ailing's wishes. In fact, as long as we refer to her letters with the two editors of Crown again, we will find that she did not destroy little reunion, but actively revised it and planned to finish publishing it as soon as possible. The following are excerpts from three related letters:
Chen Lihua to Zhang Ailing1August 26, 992
Fang Liwan, the editor in charge of your book, told me that almost every day readers write or ask about the publication date of little reunion, because there is still a lack of manuscripts of Comparative Records and little reunion. I look forward to receiving my works as soon as possible, and I also hope that Crown will have the honor to publish them as soon as possible for readers. I am looking forward to it! )
Written by Zhang Ailing1July 30, 993
Also, I forgot that the book Comparative Records and little reunion is too thick and the book price is too high. I'm afraid little reunion is not finished this year. Or "contrast" first.
Zhang Ailing to Chen Lihua 19931October 7th.
"little reunion" must be finished as soon as possible, and you won't break your word to the readers.
On this basis, we should understand that Zhang Ailing didn't want to "destroy little reunion" at all. In her later years, she constantly revised it, probably according to Song Qi's suggestion, but unfortunately she never finished it. My personal opinion is that the double espionage law is redundant, which will only make people misunderstand that Zhang Ailing is cleaning Hu Lancheng's traitor status, so be it.
Zhang Ailing herself said, "The best material is what you know best." Among her published works, Whispering, The Record of Embers and Comparative Record are the most autobiographical and highly praised by readers. But as far as "knowing best" is concerned, no one can compare with little reunion, so it is a great sin to destroy little reunion.
My basis is that little reunion would have been published in 1976 if Song Qi hadn't checked and pointed out the political situation in Hu Lancheng and Taiwan Province provinces. Since these problems no longer exist today, I decided to publish the original manuscript directly without any deletion.
This is why I decided to publish little reunion today. Whether you agree with my decision or not, you should admit that I have at least explained everything here.