Chapter 80 Zhou Guoping talks about his autobiography: "I like to live more clearly"

Xie Juan "I dissect myself as a case" Reporter: Your new work "" (Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, July 2004 edition) is called by the publisher as your second documentary literary work after "Niu Niu: Notes of a Father".I remember you once said that writing is to "say goodbye to a heartbreaking day in your life". Towards a new life.” I think, in a sense, his writing is a kind of “commemoration for forgetting”.So, what is the motivation for writing this second documentary literary work? Zhou Guoping: In fact, in my life so far, I often have the idea of ​​writing an autobiography for myself.I like to live a little more clearly, not in a daze, and writing an autobiography is a way to make myself live a little more clearly.By writing an autobiography, I can systematically review and reflect on the road I have traveled.The reason why I pick up a pen to write now is related to my age.I will be sixty next year, the so-called sixtieth year. Although I don't feel that I am so old at all, unfortunately I cannot deny my age.I figured I'd better face it than pretend to avoid it.With such a healthy mentality, I found that age has become an opportunity, and now is the right time to seriously summarize most of my life.

Reporter: The subtitle of your new work is "My Spiritual Autobiography", which is very intriguing.It makes people realize that this book must be different from the common biographies of reminiscing about the past. In what aspects is this difference mainly manifested? Zhou Guoping: If you call it "Remembrance for Forgetting", then this book may be called "Memories for Reflection".As an autobiography, it is of course inseparable from the recollection of the past, but I hope to get more.My purpose is self-knowledge, and the past is just the material for self-knowledge.The reason why it is called the spiritual autobiography is explained in the preface: "What I want to focus on is my spiritual process, that is, when the main factors that constitute my spiritual quality were initially formed and when they were basically finalized. How does it manifest in each stage of life.” My spiritual journey includes two main lines, one is intellectual life and the other is emotional life. Personality.These two main lines run through the four parts of the book, namely, childhood memories, years at Peking University, ten years in the countryside, and walking on the road. The period when he was a graduate student in Beijing and engaged in philosophical research.The second part occupies the largest proportion in the whole book, and more pages recall Guo Shiying, the son of Guo Moruo, because he is a person who has influenced my life, and the direction of my spiritual pursuit in my life was established under his influence.

Reporter: In the "Preface" of this new book, there is a passage like this: "My understanding of human nature is enough to allow me to look at myself outside the ego to a certain extent, to face all my experiences calmly, and I am not even ashamed Talk about the privacy in the eyes of ordinary people.” In the book, you candidly stated the content that can be called “absolute privacy” such as the resolution method after the awakening of sexual consciousness in your teenage years, two divorces, etc.In recent years, many works describing privacy in the book market have caused widespread controversy. What do you think of the possible discussions?

Zhou Guoping: Experiences in sex, love, and marriage are often regarded as private, which is too general.On this view, anyone who writes an autobiography must forego a vitally important element of lived experience.I don't want to do that.However, I grasp two principles.First, I only write about those experiences and details that are necessary for self-knowledge, which cannot be avoided.Second, do your best to prevent harm to the people involved.When writing these contents, I really don't think they are private.For example, which boy has not experienced the storm of sexual awakening? Look around, how many adults have not experienced marriage change?As far as my state of mind is concerned when I write, I really don’t write them as privacy, but as a human phenomenon worthy of attention.I dissected myself as a case study, and among those books that write about privacy, how many of them did this?It's not that I'm braver than others, it's because I've stood high enough that I can no longer regard privacy in the eyes of ordinary people as privacy.Therefore, it should not be generalized to say whether privacy is written or not. The key is what to write and how to write it.Self-promotion of privacy as a selling point, or entanglement in personal grievances, and mutual criticism, I despise such behaviors extremely.Serious readers will have their own opinions on whether there is even a shred of such things in my book.As for those who misinterpret my book because of limitations of mind or taste, I will not pay attention.Understanding is the basic premise, and on this premise, I will listen carefully to any criticism.

"Siege has become my paradise" Reporter: The last time I saw you was at the Guilin Book Fair held in May this year.The weather was hot that day, and you signed books and sold books under the temporary pergola in the square outside the exhibition hall.I saw your young daughter wrapping her arms around your neck and talking softly—that was a scene that left a deep impression on me.I believe that every reader who has been moved or sighed will feel sincerely happy for this enjoyable scene.Can you talk about your current family life? Zhou Guoping: Thank you for your kindness.My current family life is very happy, with a good wife and daughter, happy and harmonious.

Five years after Niuniu left, I became a father again.I thank God for giving me Jiujiu, so that all my father's love can be found in this world.With the birth and growth of our daughter, our home has a very solid core.I was out again, an incorrigible family man and infatuated father.All temptations retreat into the distance, and the besieged city becomes my paradise.Nine months after tweeting, Heidelberg University invited me to be a visiting professor.I said, how can I be separated from my daughter who is only a few months old for half a year? If the whole family can't come together, forget it.So, our family was invited.We lived on the hillside only one kilometer away from the world-famous ancient castle, and spent many days and evenings in that beautiful scenery.As soon as the holidays came, we traveled around the world with a stroller, and Chubby Jiujiu appeared successively on the streets of Weimar, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Rome, and Florence.I was sitting on the solemn podium of the international conference to give a speech, and suddenly there was a crisp voice calling my father at the door of the conference hall.At that time, I was a little flustered and incoherent. Fortunately, her mother took her away.

Since Jiujiu was able to talk, Hong and I both became her secretary and worked hard to record her remarks.Of course, I couldn’t stop doing this. The child is a born poet and philosopher. I was very pleasantly surprised by her wonderful words, and I read the original human mind that has not been polluted by culture. My life is really quiet. Every day is nothing more than reading and writing. The days seem to be repeating, but I don't feel boring at all. "In my kingdom of writing, I am the undisputed king" Reporter: Many years ago, you criticized people's "universal mediocrity of spiritual life", that is, "the loss of religious life, the reduction of emotional life and the vulgarity of cultural life". On the whole, I think that today, This situation has not changed significantly.But reading your works, I feel that you have an admirable spiritual concentration of "being content with intellectual life and emotional life". Where does this "concentration" come from?

Zhou Guoping: It’s actually very simple. I do feel that reading, writing and enjoying love, family and friendship are the happiest things in the world.This can also be said to be the two major blessings of my life. "Concentration" is not cultivated, it comes directly from the attractiveness of what you do.Therefore, it can also be said that my concentration comes from my luck. Reporter: The first print of your new work is 100,000 copies. It seems that the publisher is very confident in the market.A common phenomenon in the current book industry is that many authors and publishers regard "the market as king" and even "see the needs of the market" to plan and select topics.What is your comment on this?

Zhou Guoping: Two situations should be distinguished.One is to write what you really want to write, and then try to succeed in the market.The other is to decide what to write about yourself with the goal of being successful in the marketplace.I believe I belong to the former case.To date, I have not written a book for the market.However, I don't have a clean freak.What to write and how to write are absolutely up to me. In my country of writing, I am the undisputed king.After writing it, I sincerely welcome the market to serve me and be my capable minister.I really appreciate the market economy.I don't write for the market, but the wonderful thing about the market is that it offers opportunities to someone who doesn't write for it.As for publishing houses planning and selecting topics according to market needs, I think it should be treated differently.Some of the topics planned out in this way are good choices, such as translating books that are becoming popular abroad but are indeed of high quality, which is not only beneficial to the minds of domestic readers, but also economically beneficial.However, it is undeniable that a lot of rubbish has been produced, including best-selling rubbish. This is indeed a big problem in the current book market. The victims are people with low cultural quality, who guide and maintain their reading at a low level. , and it is they who most need to improve their quality through reading.The solution to this problem is quite difficult and requires the comprehensive efforts of all sectors of society, and of course the publishing industry also has its inescapable responsibility.