Chapter 60 Preface to "Wang Ran Ji"

There is a picture of "School Books" in the Northern Song Dynasty, in which a scholar is holding a scroll in one hand and a small object in the other-it is not clear whether it is a hairpin or a stationery-and is scratching his hair, as if hesitating.At the bottom there is a children's tray to bring tea.The background is an example from the illustrations of Bao Gongan and Shi Gongan. The two-fold large screen behind the officials sitting in the hall has a pattern of sea waves on the lower edge of the court clothes.He appears to be well off.Maybe we don't want to read books from other schools.But a little unexpectedly, he was barefoot, with two shoes on the ground, one front and the other reversed, obviously the two feet rubbed each other and faded off, which immediately reminded me of two old people in southern Taiwan who took off their shoes and sat on a low stone wall Looking at the photo of the violin, I can't help but smile leisurely.As a picture, this painting has no special characteristics. The meaning of the small act of taking off the shoes is literary and artistic, and it shows one of the functions of literature and art in a very simple and concise way: it allows us to get close to people who would otherwise be inaccessible.

In terms of written communication, a novel is the shortest distance between two points.Even the kindest prose around you is the attitude towards acquaintances, and you still have to keep a little distance.Only fiction can disrespect the right to privacy.But it is not peeping at others, but more or less identification temporarily, like an actor immersed in a role, which also becomes an experience of oneself. Shouldn't one go into one's heart when writing about villains, and should only stand outside and criticize or vilify them?Today, everyone is quite familiar with the classics in the modern world, and we have a new understanding of the profundity of our own traditional novels. When we are demanding mature works and depth, it is unnecessary to ask such questions.But it seems necessary to mention it here.

The enemy also needs to know oneself and the enemy, but can knowing the enemy not know too much? Because understanding is the beginning of forgiveness?If knowing leads to forgiveness, knowing such a person is more likely to lead to contempt.Lack of understanding will deify evil and become a devil who competes with God, a mysterious and great "prince of the dark world".So far in the West, "Satanism" and "Black Mass" still have its charm. The "May Fourth Legacy" in this collection of novels was written in English and published in 1956, with a Chinese translation published the following year.In fact, the three recent works were also written in 1950, but they have been completely rewritten many times since then, and many additions and changes have been made after "Meeting and Joy" was published. The last major revision of "Floating Flowers and Waves" was to use the practice of social novels. The subject matter is looser than modern short stories, and it is an experiment.

These three short stories have shocked me, so I am willing to rewrite them over and over again for so many years. I even think of the surprise of obtaining the materials at the beginning and the process of rewriting, and I don’t feel that thirty years have passed. .Love is not asking whether it is worth it or not.This is also "this feeling can be regarded as a memory, but it was already at a loss at that time".Therefore, the title of the collection is "Wang Ran Ji". In addition, there are two old works from the 1940s.Mr. Xian Xian, editor-in-chief of the supplement of United Daily News, had a friend who saw it in an old magazine in a library in Hong Kong, photocopied two articles, and sent them to me to ask if they could republish them.A prose "Hua Yuan" I have always kept the manuscript at hand, because it was partially written and has not yet been published.Another novel "How Much Hate" was because it was inconvenient to carry words when I came out of the mainland, so some of them were not brought out.But over the years, the existence of these articles is not unknown. For example, the American scholar Edward Gunn has already seen them in the library and copied them for other scab addicts.Recently, someone also photocopied old periodicals in the library and published a book without authorization, calling it "unearthed antiquities" as his discovery; just take me as a person in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the copyright can be taken as his own.In his tone, he also expressed dissatisfaction with the inclusion of several old works in my book, as if I had violated his rights, and as the victim, I had committed the crime of theft.

The predecessor of "How Much Hate" is my screenplay "No Love".The original script is gone, and another movie script "Love is like a theater" is appended, which was adapted from the stage play "The Tender Trap" by Max Schulman in the United States. The film was released in 1956. Filmed, starring Lin Dai and Chen Hou Zhangyang. Some of the dialogues in "How Much Hate" are too weak, I rewrote two paragraphs, and the other old work "Yin Yuyan Sending Flowers" is too bad, and I can't even change it.I don't want to include it in the collection of novels, but this one has also been pirated and printed, so I can't accept it or ban it, so I had to add an epilogue.I have to explain clearly, otherwise readers will think that I am copying my own work after seeing the double-package case.

(June 1983)